DRAFT RESOLUTION:UNITED NATIONS – The United States, France and Britain yesterday pressed the UN Security Council to take immediate action on a proposed no-fly zone over Libya, as Washington suggested it may have decided to back the plan.
Britain, France and Lebanon have circulated to the 15-nation council a draft resolution to authorise a no-fly zone to halt Libyan government air strikes on rebels. But the United States, Russia, China, Germany, India and other council members have been undecided or voiced doubts about the idea.
British, French and Lebanese envoys distributed the draft on Tuesday after the Arab League called on the council over the weekend to establish a no-fly zone in Libya to stop air attacks on rebels by forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy.
In remarks that suggested a reluctant Washington had agreed to support a no-fly zone, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said she was hopeful the council would take a vote on a Libya resolution no later than today.
“We are moving as rapidly as we can in New York to see whether we can get additional authorisation for the international community to look at a broad range of actions, not just a no-fly zone but other actions as well,” Mrs Clinton told reporters in Cairo. “We won’t know until there is an actual vote. We’re hoping that will be no later than tomorrow,” she said.
In an interview with MSNBC, Mrs Clinton said: “We regret absolute willingness to slaughter his own people. But we think that there is a lot that can be done if we can reach international agreement on what should be done,” she said.
Washington had reacted cautiously to the calls for a no-fly zone over Libya. It has insisted that Arab nations would have to actively participate in any such zone over Libya.
French UN ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters ahead of a closed-door session to discuss the draft that he hoped for a vote on the resolution by the end of the week, if possible by this evening, a timetable he said was realistic.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy wrote a letter to the council, saying it was “high time for the international community, through the Security Council, to pull together . . and respond without delay to the urgent appeal of the League of Arab States” for a no-fly zone.
“Together, we can save the martyred people of Libya,” he said. “It is now a matter of days, if not hours. The worst would be that the appeal of the (Arab League) and the Security Council decisions be overruled by the force of arms.”
British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters that London was also emphasising the urgency of the situation to fellow council members.
“But obviously we are not going to put a resolution to a vote that is not going to get the requisite number of votes in order to pass,” he added. – (Reuters)