THERE IS a terrible sense of time running out. Muammar Gadafy’s counter-offensive is making ground. Liberated towns are falling. Casualties are mounting. Ill-equipped, under-trained rebels, are little match for his firepower, their enthusiasm and courage notwithstanding. Benghazi and its alternative government are looking beleaguered, desperately pleading for help, for an internationally imposed no-fly zone.
Meanwhile, the world community sits by, mouthing platitudes about solidarity, pleading diplomatically with Gadafy to depart, tinkering around with sanctions, as another Srebrenica threatens. Yesterday, at last, the UK and France circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution which would authorise the imposition of a no-fly zone, though it was unclear when this might be tabled.
The means are there – US and Nato planes and aircraft carriers. Planning has been under way and a no-fly zone could, in reality, be imposed within hours. But although Britain and France have led the way in calling for action – and France by recognising the rebel government – the reaction of European allies, notably Germany, and of the US and Russia, has been lukewarm.
A US reluctance to get involved even in limited military action is understandable. The US’s global policeman role, even when legitimised by the UN, has ensured it is viewed in the region with, at best, suspicion. Mission creep, ambiguity about objectives, and the absence of exit strategies in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned high-minded operations into what have been portrayed as exercises in imperialist outreach. Without strong support from allies, the US is unsurprisingly reluctant to be seen as leading the charge and should certainly not be expected to shoulder alone the military operation which needs to be carried out by a “coalition of the willing” involving Arab states.
Support is strong within Libya and regionally. At the front, pleas for foreign help from the embattled fighters themselves have grown by the day. Abdul Hafidh Gogha, vice chairman of the rebels’ shadow government, says that a no-fly zone would give them at least a fighting chance. “We feel we have the right to ask for help.”
Breaking unprecedented ground, the Arab League at the weekend also demanded the UN create a no-fly zone, declaring that the Libyan government had “lost its sovereignty”.
At the security council, whose mandate is a sine qua non of any operation, there remains the challenge of a Russian or Chinese veto, although a doubtful Moscow has hinted that its current objections are mainly practical. But permanent members of the security council have duties as well as rights – humanitarian obligations, and obligations to safeguarding international security – that go well beyond their narrow national interests and are the raison d’etre for their privileged position on the council. The time has come for them to step up to the plate and defend the people of Libya as they did – belatedly – the people of Bosnia. Success is by no means guaranteed. A no-fly zone may not be enough to break Gadafy’s grip. But to do nothing is unconsionable.