The European Union is preparing to send ground troops to Libya

April 11 2011 2

The European Union seeks to use the humanitarian operation, which is planned to be deployed in the city of Misrata besieged by Gaddafi, as a pretext to use ground forces to resolve the conflict in this African country. The operation may begin in the next few days. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Angela Merkel) has changed its previous position, saying that military forces should play a leading role in this conflict.

1 April The European Union created its military mission (EUFOR), ostensibly to provide humanitarian assistance. It looks like the first point of deployment of this operation will be the third largest Libyan city of Misurata. The scale of the operation can be easily expanded. For several weeks the city suffered from intense shelling. Last week, the city received more than 600 tons of food from the World Food Program, which is enough to supply more than 40 thousands of people during the month. Turkey is already starting measures to evacuate civilians.

EUFOR has its headquarters in Rome under the command of Italian Rear Admiral Claudio Gaudosi. The EU has two 1500 combat groups of people who can be transferred to Libya within a few days.

On April 7, EU foreign policy commissioner Catherine Ashton officially informed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the EU was “ready to act.” This is a call for the UN to have this international organization ask the EU to take part in resolving the Libyan conflict. Another EU official said that “everyone knows that something needs to be done in the coming days, and we can expect a quick mobilization of the efforts of the international community.”

A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg is to take place today in Luxembourg, which will discuss the plan adopted at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin.

The UN called for a “temporary cessation of hostilities” in Libya to evacuate foreign workers and Libyans wanting to leave the country. If this does not happen, it is likely that there will be an accusation against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has thrown "a challenge to the world community" and used this circumstance as an incidental belli to start military intervention.

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1973, which, in addition to creating a no-fly zone, allows the use of "all necessary measures" for the final settlement of the conflict in Libya.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Germany, said on Friday that German troops "will be available for a humanitarian mission." “If there is a similar request from the UN, we naturally will not shy away from our responsibility,” said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at a meeting of the Bundestag last Friday.

Last week, the commander of the US African Command and the commander of the military operation in Libya until the transfer of this function to NATO forces, General Carter Ham, speaking at a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned that a ground operation in Libya would create a hostile attitude in Africa. Unlike France, Italy and Qatar, Washington has not officially recognized the opposition as the legitimate government of Libya and today refuses to arm the rebels. After the transfer of operational command of the operation to NATO forces, the US armed forces reduced their naval presence in the conflict area from 11 to three warships, and the number of aircraft participating in the operation was reduced from 170 to 90.

The head of the African Union, President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Teodoro Obiang Nguema) expressed open support for Gaddafi and demanded that foreign interference in the internal Libyan conflict be stopped. “I believe that problems in Libya should be solved within the country, and not through foreign intervention, which at first glance would be similar to a humanitarian action. We have already seen this in Iraq, ”Nguema said.

It is also reported that the first tanker under the flag of Liberia, which departed from a port controlled by Libyan rebels with one million barrels of oil on board worth $ 112 million, headed for China. Former Libyan Energy Minister Omar Fathi Ben Shatwan, who fled to Malta, said that in the long run, Russia and China, which did not support the rebel government, lost the opportunity to participate in the development of oil and gas fields in Libya. "The new Libyan democracy will cooperate with those countries that helped it," said the cursory minister.