Nato Rejects the Idea of Arming Rebels in Libya
Turkish PM Meets David Cameron in England (reuters.com)
Nato, who has assumed control over the operation in Libya, said that arming rebels in this country was not an option, a view expressed also by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said, in a joint press conference in London, with British PM David Cameron, that arming those who fight Qaddafi in the field now would produce a new situation in the north African country that would be rather difficult to manage in the future.
This statement is contrary to what Cameron had told yesterday the members of the House of Commons and also to the comment made by US State Secretary Hillary Clinton, who said that under UN resolution 1973 all measures to defend Libyan citizens were allowed, thus making possible the arming of the rebels, although no decision in this regard had been made yet.
Hours after Nato took over the operations, pretty much as Turkey had said in a flareup with France within the coalition over what should happen next, the secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen laid down the purposes of this operation: enforcing the arms embargo on Libya for as long as Qaddafi hangs in; the protection of the Libyan citizens; the rejection of the idea of arming civilians.
Turkey is playing the hand of the power entitled to have an important saying in the operation in Libya led under Nato umbrella, especially since the United States has decided to assume little role in it, and Turkey is the second-largest power within Nato, after the U.S., not to mention that it has a leverage in the fact that Libya is a Muslim country.
Coalition in Libya (reuters.com)
The debate seems far from being over since reports come from Libya saying that in spite of the fact that the bombings executed by the coalition of willing governmental troops are still gathering enough fire power to chase rebels out of the recent conquered western territories forcing them back into withdrawing toward the city of Benghazi, where all started.
Meanwhile, Libyan foreign minister seems to have arrived in London, were he was denied immunity, and voices were heard in favor of holding him accountable for whatever he did while in the service of presidential regime.
