France and Italy Wednesday joined the U.K. in sending military advisers to assist Libya's rebel shadow government in its Benghazi stronghold.
France
and
Italy
Wednesday joined the
U.K.
in sending
military advisers to assist
Libya
's
rebel shadow government in its
Benghazi
stronghold.
"We are going to help you,"
France
's
President Nicolas Sarkozy told Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of
Libya
's
Transitional National Council, which leads the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi's
42-year-old rule, aides said.
French officials said Sarkozy and Abdel Jalil had discussed stepping up
coalition air strikes against Gadhafi's forces, and insisted that the rebel
leader had not requested support from coalition ground troops.
"
France
has
placed a small number of liaison officers alongside our special envoy to
Benghazi
who
are carrying out a liaison mission with the TNC," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Christine Fage told reporters.
"The precise objective is to give the TNC essentially technical,
logistical and organizational advice to reinforce the protection of civilians
and to improve the distribution of humanitarian and medical aid."
"We have invited the French president to come visit
Benghazi
. I
think that would be very important for the revolution's morale," Abdel
Jalil said after the meeting. Sarkozy's office said it had "taken
note" of the invitation.
Separately
Italy
--along
with
France
and
Qatar
one
of only three states to recognize the TNC--announced the dispatch of 10
officers.
"There is a clear understanding that the rebels have to be trained,"
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters after meeting British Defense
Minister Liam Fox in
Rome
.
The announcement came the day after
France
's
main ally in the drive to aid the to rebels defeat Gadhafi's forces, the
U.K.
said
it would send advisers to help organize the stalled rebellion, amid heavy
civilian casualties.
Western powers have nevertheless strongly denied they are preparing to break
their taboo against putting foreign combat troops on the battlefield to bolster
the two-month-old revolt.
"We are not envisaging troops on the ground, in any shape or form,"
government spokesman Francois Baroin told journalists following a cabinet meeting,
adding that the advisers would number "fewer than 10."
Baroin also said
France
wasn't seeking new United Nations Security Council action that would give the
allies a broader mandate to intervene in
Libya
.
"We are not taking the initiative to seek a new Security Council
resolution. The French position is stable and unchanged on this problem of
applying Resolution 1973," he said.
That resolution permitted the use of force to protect Libyan civilians, but
explicitly forbade a "foreign occupation force"--a phrase which some
states interpret as banning any ground intervention at all.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01