International   

Doha meet short of rebels' hopes

DUBAI: The first meeting of an international contact group on Libya has agreed to exert more pressure on the regime of Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi, but stopped short of expanding the list of countries that formally recognise the opposition.During the meeting on Wednesday in Doha, participants discussed establishing a fund that will channel resources to the opposition operating from Benghazi, Libya's second largest city. British Foreign Minister William Hague, who co-chaired the first session of the conference with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamed bin Jassem, called for setting up a temporary financial mechanism that would support the Transitional National Council (TNC) of the opposition. Analysts say this arrangement can ensure an interrupted flow of essential humanitarian supplies to the east, and would not violate the existing sanctions on Libya. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the enormity of the task by pointing out that nearly 3.6 million Libyans could require humanitarian assistance.

But the proposal for an emergency fund is unlikely to meet the aspirations of the dissidents, who were hoping for the lifting of sanctions over eastern Libya. That would have enabled them to tap Libyan overseas bank accounts and pay in foreign currency for imports of essential products and other goods. Ahead of the meeting, opposition leader Mahmud Shammam said there was an expectation from the meeting that more countries would formally recognise the TNC. Al Jazeera quoted Mr. Shammam as saying: “We want to move from the de facto recognition of the council to an internationally-recognised legitimacy.”

The meeting in Doha took place amid a military stalemate, and participants appeared to be preparing for the long haul. A decision has been taken to hold the contact group meetings every month, and Italy would host the next conference in May. However, many European countries present in Doha, appeared unenthusiastic on militarily bolstering the opposition, either by equipping it with modern weapons, or by reinforcing NATO-led air strikes against Qadhafi loyalists. Italy and Belgium appeared to resist exhortations from Britain and France for greater military activism, while Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country was prepared to strengthen its contribution for the humanitarian mission.Despite the failure of a recent African Union (A.U.) initiative to broker a ceasefire, the search for a diplomatic solution to end the Libyan civil war has not been given up. Mr. Ban is heading to Cairo on Thursday for talks with the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, chairman of the A.U. commission Jean Ping and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.  The meeting is expected to discuss a Turkish proposal of engineering a ceasefire by persuading Qadhafi-forces to leave occupied cities.

However, the proposal may not make much headway as the opposition has been insisting on the departure of Mr. Qadhafi and his sons as its precondition for a breakthrough. At Doha, the delegates discussed arrangements that would allow the United Nations and the International Red Cross to access battle zones such has the western opposition-held city of Misurata, which the pro-regime forces have besieged.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Doha meet short of rebels' hopes
No new emergency: Japan
Drones back in action over Pakistan
U.N. official denied visit to Manning
Mubarak, sons detained
Something to write home about
Pakistan rejects claim
Woman accused of killing husband escapes jail

Copyright © 2011, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu