PARIS
- Group of Eight foreign ministers will try to agree in Paris on what
action should be taken in Libya, to speed up a UN Security Council
decision on whether to impose a no-fly zone, France said on Monday.
The
current G8 president, France said Libya would be a priority during
talks on Monday and Tuesday between US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan and Russia.
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"The
conclusions from the March 11 European summit and the Arab League's
March 12 resolution clearly demonstrate the international community's
firm commitment to protecting Libyan civilians," French Foreign Ministry
spokesman Bernard Valero said.
"This issue will be discussed as a
priority at the foreign minister's meeting with his G8 counterparts
with the aim of reaching an agreement that will enable the Security
Council, which has received an official request from the Arab League, to
move forward as fast as possible."
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that it would be a
nightmare for Libya's people if Gaddafi managed to crush a rebellion and
hold on to power
"If Gaddafi went on to be able to dominate much
of the country, well this would be a long nightmare for the Libyan
people and this would be a pariah state for some time to come," Hague
told BBC Radio.
Turkish
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile said that any NATO military
operation in Libya would be unhelpful and fraught with risk.
"We
have seen from other examples that foreign interventions, especially
military interventions, only deepen the problem," Erdogan, whose country
is the only Muslim member of NATO, said at a conference in Istanbul.
"Therefore
we see a NATO military intervention in another country as extremely
unbeneficial and, moreover, are concerned that it could create dangerous
results," said Erdogan.
"We need to give the Libyan people permission to chart their own course," he said.
Denying a report by al Jazeera
television, a Pentagon spokesman said that the United States has not
made a decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
"That is a decision, a political decision ultimately, that
has not been taken," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell
told MSNBC television. He added that a no-fly zone was still,
however, an option "under consideration."
On the ground Monday, pro-Gaddafi troops advancing east took Brega early on Sunday in what
looked like an increasingly confident drive towards the rebel stronghold
of Benghazi.
However, the rebels, inspired by the overthrow of
the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents to try to end Gaddafi's four-decade
rule, said they had re-taken Brega on Sunday night. There was no way of
verifying the rival claims.