Nato appears ready to target Muammar Gadafy, writes MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
NINE WEEKS and four days after French fighter jets strafed Muammar Gadafy’s forces as their armoured convoy advanced on rebel-held Benghazi, marking the beginning of UN-authorised intervention in Libya’s uprising, little appears to have changed.
Gadafy, who has ruled the country since 1969, still clings to power in the capital Tripoli. The rebels remain ensconced in Benghazi, their de facto capital in the east, and rebuff any peace plan that does not include their basic demand for Gadafy and his family to relinquish power and leave the country.
Gadafy may appear increasingly isolated – a recent decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for him, his son Saif ul-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi pushes him further into a corner – but he shows no sign of backing down.
Nato bombing has damaged the Libyan leader’s military capability – though there is some disagreement over the extent to which it has been depleted – but not enough to break the deadlock between rebels and government forces. While pressure has eased somewhat on the string of key rebel-held towns in Libya’s eastern flank, fighting continues in the west, with the towns of Zintan and Misurata in particular subject to heavy shelling by regime forces.
With frustrations building over the failure to dislodge Gadafy, and Libya high on the agenda of US president Barack Obama’s meetings in Europe this week, Nato air strikes on at least 15 targets around Gadafy’s Tripoli compound on Monday night, the heaviest bombardment in the capital since the UN resolution approving intervention came into effect in mid-March, indicates a more forceful turn in strategy.
So too does the news that France will soon deploy 12 attack helicopters as part of the mission. French foreign minister Alain Juppe said the attack helicopters – capable of firing air-to-ground missiles – would “better tailor” Nato’s ability to strike military targets on the ground and “allow more accurate hits”.
Already the rhetoric emanating from France and Britain – both of which have pushed harder on the Libya question than any other country – and to a lesser degree, the US, suggests the objective has now gone beyond protecting civilians to seeking to target Gadafy himself.
But the decision to use helicopters is a risky one for Nato, given they would fly lower than fighter aircraft and therefore be more vulnerable to ground fire.
There are fears that the downing of a French helicopter could draw Nato ground forces into perilous rescue attempts.
As the military campaign intensifies, so too does the diplomatic effort, ahead of a G8 meeting in France later this week. Jeffrey Feltman, US assistant secretary of state, became the most senior US official to visit Benghazi this week, where he met members of the rebels’ national transitional council.
His trip came on the heels of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton’s visit to eastern Libya, during which she opened an EU office in Benghazi.
The rebel council is being courted in several quarters. On Monday its head, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, met Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu for talks in Ankara.
Mr Davutoglu described the rebel council as “a legal and credible representative of the Libyan people”. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who has been one of the most sceptical voices regarding Nato’s intervention, also met with rebel figures this week and acknowledged the council’s legitimacy.
With rebel hopes of a military victory all but abandoned, opponents have sought the collapse of the Gadafy regime from within, encouraging senior officials to defect. Rumours that Libya’s top oil official has forsaken the regime and is now in Tunisia have yet to be confirmed.
Similar speculation surrounds the whereabouts of Gadafy’s wife and daughter. Libya’s ambassador to Germany this week announced that he was no longer loyal to Gadafy. The net is tightening.