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Africa North

France working for Libyan no-fly zone

2011-03-06

BORDEAUX, France - French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Saturday his country was working with Britain to get a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose a no-fly zone in Libya.

"We are working in New York with the British to get a UN Security Council resolution creating an air exclusion zone to avoid bombings," he said in Bordeaux.

You don't need the UN. Honestly. You've trapped yourselves into thinking you do, but you don't. Tell the UN to push off and you'll see that nothing bad happens to you in response. These are the guys who put Libya on the Human Rights Commission, fergawdsake, it's not like they're going to punish you.

"We are watching very carefully" the situation in Libya and "this morning I spoke by telephone with minister Younes" Abdel Fatah, Libya's former interior minister until he resigned who is now in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"We are on the side of all those who want to win their freedom and make a successful democratic transition," Juppe said shortly before leaving for Egypt and his first official visit outside Europe since being appointed.

On Sunday he was due to meet in Cairo the secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa.

Oh that'll be a great help. You'll get a carefully-worded statement of vagueness from the Arab League.

On Thursday, Juppe and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said they were preparing measures to propose to the European Union summit on Libya set for next Friday, specifically mentioning a possible no-fly zone.

The uprisings in the Arab world have proved testing for France. Its diplomats have been accused of having failed to see them coming and ministers of having had links with despotic and corrupt leaders.

Since he replaced Michele Alliot-Marie as foreign minister on Tuesday Juppe has made "refounding" President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for the Mediterranean a priority. This has been made essential by the upheavals in progress and the departure of Egyptian former president Hosni Moubarak, Sarkozy's chief partner in the scheme.

President Sarkozy: if you want to implement a no-fly zone, as opposed to just talk about it, you'll need to get the Charles De Gaulle out to sea real soon. Use a task force centered on her to set up coverage over Benghazi as a start. Then negotiate with the new rebel government to put a small contingent of aircraft with a support and protection package into the airport there. That secures Benghazi and demonstrates to the world which side you're on.

Then you and the Italians (you DO have the Italians in on this, don't you?) need to convince Malta to let you put a squadron of attack aircraft in there. Bring tanker support in from Sicily. You'll need intel aircraft as well to identify potential anti-air units still loyal to Qadaffy, and you'll then need to eliminate them as a threat. If you can do that through subterfuge and propaganda so the much better. But you need to convince them that they shouldn't be the last men to die for Glorious Batshit-Crazy Leader.

Now then: perhaps the Italians could bring in the Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Cavour, both excellent small carriers, to the western coast of Libya. Between them and the aircraft you base in Malta, along with tanker and intel support, you suppress air units still loyal to Qadaffy there. The Benghazi strike group and the De Gaulle keep Libyan air units out of the east.

The idea here is to limit the mission strictly to enforcing a no-fly zone by Qadaffy-loyal air units. Don't allow mission creep to take hold. You're not going to bomb armor units, etc., and you'll take out only those anti-air assets that threaten your aircraft. That's quite enough -- ask the US Air Force and Navy about enforcing the NFZ over Iraq a decade ago.

I realize I'm no military expert. Listen to yours, but make it clear that if it CAN be done, then it WILL be done. This is going to be damned hard, but if you and the Italians (you don't need the Brits or the Spanish) can pull this off, the Libyan people will thank you. Maybe. But they will sell you oil.

You may thank me later.

Posted by:Steve White

#3 **weak, like my coffee.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-03-06 13:02

#2 Absolutely Steve.

Going to the UN is only cover to not do something, see Ivory Coast. After Sarkozy's MU lead, I would love to see France Gallic the f@k up. Expel any members who disagree with the stability and prosperity of the Mediterranean. May lose some members, but the ones who stick around will have proven their good intentions and the concept of a MU will be stronger.

*not necessarily suggesting the MU or no-fly is a good idea, honestly quite mixed about both, but every time a head of state publically suggests a NFZ and fails significant action they look very week. With the US taking a decisively ambiguous and el prez dusting off the ol golf clubs already it becomes a EU problem. I have a feeling that there would be great political point dividends for France, if France pulls this off. I'd also get a kick out of a thumb to the UN for a more local idea and quite honestly if North Africa decides to flee from its own harvest are they going to catch a boat north or catch a truck south?

Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-03-06 13:01

#1 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Saturday his country was working with Britain to get a United Nations Security Council resolution to impose a no-fly zone in Libya.

What's the appropriate French word for 'cowboy'*?
Don't let us stop you. Go right ahead. Let us know how it all comes out.

*Google says 1.cow-boy 2. vacher 3. bouvier

Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-03-06 09:25

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