By IRNA,
London : “Today is about a new beginning for Libya – a future in which the people of Libya can determine their own destiny, free from violence and oppression,” Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday.
“But the Libyan people cannot reach that future on their own,” Cameron told a special convened London conference, aiming to create a political process for the future of Libya without Muammar Gaddafi.
“A new beginning for Libya is within their grasp and we will help them seize it,” he told delegates from more than 40 countries and international organisations, but including less than half of UN Security Council members and without any Libyan representatives.
Outside the venue at Lancaster House, dozens of peace campaigners from Stop the War Coalition joined by Libyans waving their national flags called for an end to military attacks being led by Britain, France and the US, warning that Libya could become another Iraq and Afghanistan.
But inside the conference, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton threatened that military strikes on Libya will continue until Gaddafi fully complies with UN demands to cease violence against civilians and pull forces out of occupied cities.
The international community would work to boost pressure on and isolate the Libyan government to ‘make clear to Gaddafi that he must go,’ Clinton said.
Some legal experts in Britain have joined Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is boycotting the conference, in expressing concern that the military action is in breach of the UN mandate.
Philippe Sands, professor of international law at University College London, warned that coalition forces were facing a ‘major problem’ to justify their latest strikes on legal grounds.
Professor Nicholas Grief, director of legal studies at the University of Kent, said it was possible there could be an attempt to bring the matter before the international court of justice.
Former high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lord Ashdown, has also cautioned that the coalition forces were facing ‘a moment of danger’ over the legality of their actions.
Legal experts said the international coalition may have overstepped what was agreed by the UN resolution sanctioning military action to ‘take all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack’.
Ahead of the conference, British Foreign Secretary William Hague repeated denials made by both Cameron and US President Barack Obama that the military action was not involved in regime change.”
Hague, who held a separate meeting with Mahmoud Jabril, special envoy for Libya’s interim transitional national council (ITNC), insisted the UK is committed to strengthening ties with a “wide range of members of the Libyan opposition who are working to create a Libya where the legitimate aspirations of its people can be met.’
Although excluded from the conference, Cameron’s spokesman said that the views of the ITNC, which published its own vision for a democratic Libya, would be reflected.