World conference on Libya ends with pledges to keep pressure on Gadhafi

By African Bulletin on March 30, 2011

More than 40 foreign ministers and representatives from key regional  & international organisations have expressed in London resolve to step up military pressure on Gadhafi until he steps down.
At the end of their meeting, convened Tuesday in UK to look into the situation in Libya, the world leaders pledged  humanitarian aid and continued airstrikes to protect civilians, but made it clair that it be up to the Libyans themselves to force Gadhafi out.

Participants at the London conference reaffirmed the importance of a full and swift implementation of all of the restrictions and sanctions imposed by recent UN Security Council resolutions, specifically the use of “all necessary measures” to protect civilian areas from attack by Libyan government forces.
They vowed to maintain the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Libya, affirming that there would be no occupation of any kind.
Besides agreeing to keep the pressure on Gadhafi, the U.S. and European diplomats met with leaders of the rebel council and set up a multinational Libyan contact group to coordinate political strategy in the weeks ahead.
Although the question of whether to arm the rebels was not publicly discussed at the conference, a split emerged between the US and Nato over this issue.
While, President Obama said, in a series of interviews with major US TV networks (NBC, CBS & ABC ), “I’m not ruling it out, but I’m also not ruling it in”.
For the US administration, such a step would be legal under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which authorized the use of force to protect the lives of Libyan civilians.
But Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said giving arms to rebels would not be permitted under international law. According to some analysts, this shows the incoherence of the international community’s approach in handing Libyan crisis.         Behind the scenes, there are those who believe a different approach may be needed if this crisis is not going to end in stalemate. In a bid to stop bloodshed,  Italy and some of the African countries wonder if one way out would be to afford the Libyan leader an exit route of some kind.