Europe in post-Gaddafi stabilisation bid - diplomat

Europe is stepping up plans to help Libya’s opposition ensure stability in the country should rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, a senior European diplomat said yesterday.

The European Union and the United Nations would likely play pivotal roles under a “stabilisation framework” being prepared for a Libya free of its dictator of four decades, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The post-Gaddafi planning coincides with growing global pressure on the regime three months since the uprising began, with Nato air raids intensifying in Tripoli, threats of prosecution by the International Criminal Court, and the apparent defection of his oil minister.

The goal is to help the opposition, based in its eastern stronghold of Benghazi, build up a police force, form a justice system to deal with post-conflict grievances, and provide basic services once Col Gaddafi falls, the diplomat said.

“The vision is certainly that the UN and the EU will have institutional lead roles in that (post-Gaddafi) period,” the diplomat said.

Britain, which has an office in Benghazi, is playing a leading role in planning the stabilisation framework with the international community, he said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton announced last week that the 27-nation bloc would open an office in Benghazi to shore up assistance for the opposition Transitional National Council (TNC).

Meanwhile, forces loyal to Col Gaddafi have shelled villages and towns to try to take control of the high ground in a western mountain range.

Libya yesterday also freed four arrested journalists – two Americans, a Briton and a Spaniard – an AFP journalist witnessed as they arrived at the capital’s Rixos Hotel.