Group of Eight powers yesterday dropped proposals for military intervention to end bombardments in Libya and turned to the United Nations to increase the pressure on its ruler Muammar Gaddafi with tougher economic sanctions.
A drive by France and Britain to impose a no-fly zone over Libya failed to win round the United States, Russia and other European Union powers, in particular Germany, diplomats said, and the G8 power bloc kicked the problem back to the UN Security Council.
Diplomats at the UN said separately that the main powers on the Security Council were expected to distribute a draft resolution for tougher sanctions against Libya to all council members yesterday.
G8 foreign ministers “agreed that the UN Security Council should increase the pressure, including through economic measures, for Muammar Gaddafi to leave,” said the French minister Alain Juppe.
“Ministers called on Muammar Gaddafi to respect the legitimate claim of the Libyan people to fundamental rights, freedom of expression and a representative form of government,” said Mr Juppe, host of the talks in Paris, reading a statement.
The statement welcomed measures under way at the UN Security Council “as a matter of urgency” to protect Libyans from the fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Col Gaddafi.
However, Mr Juppe later admitted that the plan for a no-fly zone had been overtaken by events in Libya as Col Gaddafi’s forces advance on the rebels. He blamed China for preventing firmer action at the Security Council.
“If today we are stuck, it’s not only because Europe is impotent, it’s because at the Security Council, for now, China doesn’t want any mention of a resolution leading to the international community’s interference in a country’s affairs,” he told the foreign affairs committee.
“Russia is evolving and the Americans haven’t yet defined their position on Libya,” Mr Juppe added.
Mr Juppe said Col Gaddafi is outgunning Libya’s rebels, whom the leader of four decades has driven out of several towns with shelling and airstrikes.
France and Britain wanted their G8 allies to back a no-fly zone to ground Libyan warplanes and France had even talked of targeted air strikes against Col Gaddafi’s strategic sites.
The plan has the backing of the 22-nation Arab League, considered crucial for dealing with the region.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia wants more information about how Arab League members envisage a no-fly zone being implemented over Libya.
China, the only veto-wielding member of the Security Council not represented at the Paris G8 talks, opposes a no-fly zone.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the decision should be up to the United Nations. “The G8 is not the decision-making body,” he told reporters.
The Libyan opposition national council’s representative Mahmoud Jibril and his delegation have been seeking formal support abroad and a no-fly zone.