DIPLOMATIC MANOEUVRES:MARY FITZGERALDTHE DISPUTE over who should take command of military action in Libya was easing yesterday, with governments discussing plans to allocate political control to a multinational steering group backed by Nato's command structure.
With the United States keen to hand over command within days, the US, France and Britain agreed on Tuesday that the Atlantic alliance should play an operational role, but the assent of all 28 Nato states is needed, and they have been split over whether it should also exercise political control.
France insisted the alliance would have only a “technical role”.
Ambassadors of the alliance met again yesterday to decide on the extent of Nato involvement in the UN-mandated mission to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians. One of its members, Turkey, says the air campaign against Muammar Gadafy’s forces has already gone beyond the scope of last week’s UN Security Council resolution.
However, Brig Gen Pierre Saint-Amand of Nato’s military staff said Turkey was sending five warships and a submarine to join a separate Nato operation off Libya to enforce a UN arms embargo. That mission aims to intercept and board ships suspected of delivering arms to the Libyan government.
France, which launched the air campaign against Libya with Britain and the United States last Saturday, argues that having Nato in charge would erode Arab support by giving the intervention an exclusively western image.
French foreign minister Alain Juppé said representatives of the countries taking part in the coalition, as well as the African Union, the Arab League and the European Union, would hold a “contact group” meeting in London next Tuesday.
Qatar has sent four warplanes, the United Arab Emirates has offered support, and British prime minister David Cameron said Kuwait and Jordan had agreed to make logistical contributions to protect civilians in Libya.
One possible command model suggested by the French is the Nato-led International Peace Assistance Force in Afghanistan, in which non-Nato participants get a seat in the political steering group.
In five days of strikes, western aircraft have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya and more than 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired.
Amid reports of further strikes against targets near the rebel-held city of Misurata yesterday, the commander of British air forces in the region said Col Gadafy’s air force “no longer exists as a fighting force”.
Air vice-marshal Greg Bagwell said the allies could now operate “with near impunity” over the skies of Libya.
“We have the Libyan ground forces under constant observation and we attack them whenever they threaten civilians or attack population centres,” he said. Libya’s opposition movement announced it had formed an “interim government” as fighting between rebels and regime forces continued in several cities.
Head of the new administration is Mahmoud Jibril, who had been working as the rebels’ representative to the international community.
Earlier this month he met French president Nicolas Sarkozy, after which France announced it would recognise the rebel council as the sole representative of the Libyan people.
“The provisional national council is a legislative body, but we need an executive body to take control and provide an administration,” opposition spokesman Nisan Gouriani told Al Jazeera.
The rebels had been wary of describing their fledgling administration in Benghazi as an interim government because they feared this would give the impression of a country divided into two distinct regions. Mr Gouriani said the rebels had been clear from the beginning that Libya “is one unit” and should not be split.
“Our capital is Tripoli and will forever be Tripoli,” he said.