LUXEMBOURG (AP) — France and Britain urged their NATO allies on Tuesday to do more to pressure Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, with Paris chiding Germany for a lackluster effort and lamenting the limited U.S. military role.
Marwan Naamani, AFP/Getty Images
A top NATO general retorted that the alliance was “doing a great job.”
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe shred NATO’s united front Tuesday, saying its actions were “not enough” to ease the pressure on Libya’s rebel-held city of Misrata, which has been subjected to weeks of bombardment by forces loyal to Gadhafi.
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Juppe said NATO must do more to take out the heavy weaponry that Gadhafi’s forces are using to target civilians.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague agreed that the allies must “intensify” their efforts, but in a more diplomatic tone.
“The U.K. has in the last week supplied additional aircraft capable of striking ground targets threatening the civilian population of Libya,” said Hague. “Of course, it will be welcome if other countries also do the same. There is always more to do.”
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet deplored that France and Britain carried “the brunt of the burden.” He complained that the reduced U.S. role — American forces are now in support, not combat roles in the airstrike campaign — have made it impossible “to loosen the noose around Misrata,” which has become a symbol of the resistance against Gadhafi.
Longuet also criticized Germany, which is not taking part in the military operation, and said Berlin’s commitment to back the humanitarian effort for Libyans was “a second chance” at best.
France’s frustration with the stalemate on the ground, where Libyan rebels have struggled to capitalize on Western air attacks, has been echoed in several Western capitals.
Germany does not take part in NATO’s military airstrikes in Libya because it sees the operation as too risky. Italy has also been reluctant to get involved in the airstrikes because, as Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has noted, it was the North African nation’s colonial ruler.
And the reduced U.S. role since NATO took over command on March 31 has also affected the operation.
“Let’s be realistic. The fact that the U.S. has left the sort of the kenetic part of the air operation has had a sizable impact. That is fairly obvious,” said Swedish Foreign MinisterCarl Bildt.
NATO Brig. Gen. Mark Van Uhm sharply rejected French criticism of the operation in Libya, saying the North Atlantic military alliance is performing well and protecting civilians effectively. He said the alliance was successfully enforcing an arms embargo against Libya, patrolling a no-fly zone and protecting civilians there.
“With the assets we have, we’re doing a great job,” Van Uhm told reporters.
However, he repeatedly declined to comment on reports that some alliance members were limiting their planes to patrolling the no-fly zone and prohibiting them from dropping bombs, saying that was a matter for governments to comment on.
When it came to providing humanitarian aid to beleaguered Misrata, Britain, France and Italy all said some aid was getting through without special military protection.
“Humanitarian assistance is getting through to Libya, including to Misrata. That, so far, has not needed military assistance to deliver it,” Hague said.
He said the task was huge.
“Events in the Middle East are the most important events so far in the 21st century in the world, and the responsibility of the European Union is commensurate with the historic nature of those events,” Hague said.
The 27-nation European Union said over the weekend it was ready to launch a humanitarian mission in Misrata soon, with possible military support, if it received a request from the U.N.
IHH, an Islamic aid group in Turkey, said it would send an aid ship to Misrata on Wednesday carrying food, powdered milk, infant formula, medicines and a mobile health clinic. Separately, Van Uhm said two aid ships had already visited the city and another would arrive Tuesday.
The IHH has a mission to assist Muslims in the Middle East region. It deployed dozens of activists, including doctors, two days after the Libyan uprising began in February and established a tent city and a soup kitchen at a Libyan border crossing with Tunisia.
Meanwhile, Libya’s former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, was traveling to Doha, Qatar, to share his insight on the workings of Gadhafi’s inner circle, British offcials said.
British officials said they hope Koussa’s trip to Doha, where Arab and Western leaders are meeting to chart the way forward in Libya, will give participants a better idea of how to force Gadhafi out of office.
“He’s a Gadhafi insider. He may be able to offer solutions where others are falling short,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Qatari officials have not spoken publicly about Koussa’s arrival and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Hague is co-chairing the meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad Bin Jabr Al Thani. Among those scheduled to attend are Juppe, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas, and U.S. envoy William J. Burns.
Koussa had been held at a safe house since he fled to Britain late last month, but agents from Britain’s external intelligence agency MI6 stopped questioning him last week, according to the British official.
Britain’s Foreign Office said Koussa was “a free individual, who can travel to and from the U.K. as he wishes.”
Noman Benotman, a relative of Koussa’s, said he believed Koussa had “cleared most of the legal hurdles in the U.K.” surrounding his alleged involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing and Libya’s arming of the Irish Republican Army.
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