college/ss2013/1_Web Mining/SS12/Sachen Chris/Exercise04/Dataset/All/12021.data

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worldnews
africaandindianocean
libya
8448784
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# Libya: Britain to continue Libyan mission 'until Gaddafi overthrown'

##  Britain on Wednesday said for the first time that it would continue the
Libyan mission until Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown as it forged an
international pact to bankroll and sustain the rebels.

![A boy of 10 on guard for the rebels on the front line along the western
entrance to Ajdabiya. He said his father had given him his gun and asked him
to stand in for him ][1]

A boy of 10 on guard for the rebels on the front line along the western
entrance to Ajdabiya. He said his father had given him his gun and asked him
to stand in for him  Photo: REUTERS

[![Damien McElroy][2]][3]

By [Damien McElroy][4], Doha 10:08PM BST 13 Apr 2011

At a meeting in Doha attended by members of the Libya Contact Group -
comprised of European, US and Middle East allies - William Hague, the foreign
secretary, declared Col Gaddafi would be a threat for as long as he remained
in Libya. A ceasefire would not be enough.

"It will end at some stage with the departure of Gaddafi, with a political
process in Libya that is a more inclusive process," Mr Hague said.

It will raise concerns about another protracted war, coming on the back of the
ongoing commitment in Afghanistan and the six-year long Iraq war.

At a time when Britain is implementing deep cuts in its defence and foreign
office budgets, the commitment will put severe pressure on stretched Whitehall
departments.

Already half the diplomatic service officials based at the Foreign Office in
London have been engaged on the Middle East upheaval, particularly the Libyan
crisis, since February.

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Terrorism experts have also warned that intelligence resources in MI6 and GCHQ
have been diverted from countering international Islamic radicals to
undermining the Libya regime.

The coalition forces agreed to a statement yesterday which will provide
financial backing, armour for rebel forces and humanitarian aid. Britain is
giving the rebels 1,000 sets of body armour from surplus UK defence supplies.

Reading the final statement, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa
al-Thani said the group wanted "an immediate end to all attacks against
civilians, and for Gaddafi and his regime to pull back all regime forces from
Libyan cities they have forcibly entered, occupied or besieged".

However it stopped short of agreeing to arm the rebels, something the Italians
had earlier called for.

"It is institutionally but also, I think, morally justified, since Gaddafi's
change in tactics," Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister had said.
"He is hiding tanks in streets exactly to make impossible Nato air strikes to
destroy tanks."

Mr Hague stressed that the Government was only handing over "non-lethal"
supplies, but admitted that Mr Frattini's reading of the UN resolutions would
in certain circumstances "provide people with the means to defend the civilian
population".

Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who defected from Col
Gaddafi's camp last month, was also in Doha on the sidelines of the contact
group talks to meet the rebels. However they refused to meet him because of
his human rights record.

While Qatar is keen to exploit Mr Koussa's knowledge of the regime, the
opposition feel he is too tainted having spent decades as Col Gaddafi's top
intelligence operative.

Mr Hague was forced to defend the decision to allow him to leave Britain for
Doha, saying it was up to police and prosecutors to act if they believed they
had cause to arrest him.

"We behave according to the law. The matter of arrests is for prosecuting
authorities and police; that is not for ministers to decide," he said.

"He is not detained, he came here of his own volition. If he was under arrest,
he wouldn't be allowed to leave."

One Arab official said that Mr Koussa was in discussions to move to a third
country, possibly Morocco. "Frankly we couldn't have stopped him leaving but
it's a development we wouldn't have chosen," said one British diplomat. "At
this stage it'll be interesting to see if he comes back."

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8448784
/Libya-Britain-to-continue-Libyan-mission-until-Gaddafi-overthrown.html

Telegraph

## [Libya News][14]

  * ### [News »][15]

  * ### [World News »][16]

  * ### [Africa and Indian Ocean »][17]

  * ### [Damien McElroy »][3]

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