By DPA,
Berlin : Germany stepped up pressure Tuesday for a full-scale embargo on Libyan oil and gas exports, with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle saying it was the best way to deny funds to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“The Gaddafi system is finished and the dictator must go,” he told a news conference in Berlin.
“We are urging a full-scale oil and gas embargo. This is necessary so that no fresh money flows into the Gaddafi system,” Westerwelle said. “Our aim is to to get this passed this week by the European Union.”
He said the economic blockade must not just apply to national oil companies, but also to their various subsidiary firms, adding: “Every back door must be closed so the dictator does not get any money.”
However, he did not reverse himself on Germany’s decision last week to abstain from a vote to implement a no-fly zone over Libya.
“We remain sceptical,” he said of the no-fly zone.
He added that the UN Security Council resolution passed Thursday meant the zone was now “applicable international law” and Germany was complying with it.
He repeated his justification for Germany’s abstention in the vote: that Germany was determined not to become a military partner in the operation.
“We will not be committing the German armed forces,” he said. “If we had supported the resolution, this would be at issue now.”