SEBASTIAN MOFFETT, JOHN W. MILLER e STACY MEICHTRY
● A comprova delle difficoltà di coordinamento delle azioni tra i membri Nato
o martedì i britannici hanno comunicato il loro piano di invio di 20 consulenti militari per addestrare i ribelli libici,
o il giorno seguente – in concomitanza con l’incontro del presidente francese con Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader del Consiglio di Transizione Libico a Parigi – simile annuncio da parte di Francia (che non ha specificato il numero) e Italia, 20 istruttori per le forze dei ribelli, senza accompagnarli però sul terreno.
o La decisione dei tre paesi europei segue la richiesta di un urgente intervento militare delle potenze sul terreno da parte dei ribelli assediati a Misurata.
o La Francia aveva già inviato ufficiali di collegamento per cooperare con l’inviato speciale francese a Bengasi in coordinamento con le forze dei ribelli.
o Alcuni diplomatici già cooperano con i leader dei ribelli a Bengazi; una dozzina di militari britannici specializzati in logistica e intelligence, coopereranno con il Consiglio di transizione libico,
o A poche ore dai nuovi impegni europei 4 missili delle forze Nato avrebbero colpito un quartiere di Tripoli, causando 8 vittime civili e 18 feriti.
o L’invio di ufficiali rispetterebbe la risoluzione Onu sulle operazioni militari in Libia.
– Ufficiali Nato dichiarano che non c’è stata alcuna discussione su un’azione militare terrestre in Libia;
o un ufficiale italiano ha invece dichiarato che la UE ha incaricato l’Italia del comando di un potenziale dispiegamento di soldati per assicurare i rifornimenti di aiuti; per questa missione occorre il consenso UE.
– La Francia non intende chiedere una nuova risoluzione Onu per modificare le direttive della missione militare.
– L’Amministrazione USA non ha approvato al richiesta dei ribelli di accedere ai MD di $ del regime Gheddafi che sono sotto sequestro; non ha neppure approvato l’armamento dei ribelli, perché privi di addestramento, e per timore che cadano nelle mani di islamisti.
– Il portavoce Casa Bianca: l’invio di consulenti aiuterà l’opposizione, ma non modifica la politica di Obama di non mandare truppe americane sul terreno.
o Lasciare Gheddafi al potere rappresenta un rischio strategico per i rifornimenti energetici e la sicurezza regionale; ciò non significa necessariamente inviare soldati, ma rafforzare un opposizione armata (Lesser, del German Marshall Fund, Washington).
– Il dipartimento di Stato americano ha deciso di stanziare $25 mn. in equipaggiamenti “non letali” per aiutare i ribelli a difendere civili e aree abitate dai civili.
– Il comandante supremo Nato ha chiesto un contributo militare alla Cekia, che finora non aveva pensato di inviare soldati, anche perché non richiesta.
– Il principe della corona libico, Mohammed El Senussi, invitato a Bruxelles da alcuni conservatori britannici, ha dichiarato che intende aiutare l’opposizione a organizzare libere elezioni; si è detto disponibile a tornare sul trono, la popolazione glielo chiederà. El Senussi, 48 anni, è in esilio a Londra con la famiglia dal 1988. Ha aiutato gli oppositori libici.
Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi, prozio di Mohammed El Senussi, fu l’ultimo re di Libia riconosciuto dalla costituzione del 1951 riformata nel 1963, e venne rovesciato nel 1969 da Gheddafi.
By SEBASTIAN MOFFETT, JOHN W. MILLER and STACY MEICHTRY
– PARIS—France and Italy said they would send a small number of liaison officers to advise and train Libyan opposition forces, but both countries ruled out ground troops to complement an allied air campaign against Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.
– The plan comes after Britain said Tuesday it would send up to 20 military advisers to aid the rebels and signals a stepping up of efforts to dislodge the Libyan leader. The separate announcements also highlighted the difficulty of coordinating the actions of North Atlantic Treaty Organization members.
– Hours after the European commitments, a series of explosions rocked Tripoli, the Libyan capital, early Thursday morning. State television quoted a military source saying a neighborhood was struck with four missiles resulting in the death of seven people and injury of 18, all of them civilians. It blamed "crusader aggression," its term for NATO forces.
– The claims couldn’t be independently verified because reporters are banned from going anywhere in Tripoli without official escort. Since the start of the allied campaign last month, the government has distorted the targets of bombardment and inflated death tolls.
– NATO officials say there has been "no discussion" of a coordinated land action in Libya. But an Italian official said the European Union[e] had enlisted Italy to command a potential deployment of troops to secure routes for the delivery of aid supplies to beleaguered zones. The official added that any such deployment would need EU consensus.
"I hope we’ll take a step forward," Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told a news conference in Rome, without providing further details.
– France, the first country to recognize Libya’s opposition, has no plan to seek a new resolution by the United Nations Security Council to change the guidelines of the mission, French government spokesman François Baroin said Wednesday.
– He said France’s dispatch of liaison officers "to organize the protection of civilians" conformed to the U.N. resolution authorizing the international military operations in Libya. He added that France didn’t intend to send ground combat troops "in any way or form."
– He didn’t say how many officers would go, or where. A spokeswoman for France’s foreign ministry said a small number of liaison officers had already been sent to work with France’s special envoy in Benghazi on coordination with the rebel forces.
– Italy plans to send 10 instructors to "mentor" and train the rebel forces without accompanying them in combat, Mr. La Russa said, explaining that the training was necessary to counter Col. Gadhafi’s superior forces. "They will not be on the battlefield," he said.
– The announcements came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader of Libya’s National Transitional Council, at the Élysée Palace in Paris. Mr. Sarkozy assured Mr. Abdel Jalil that France would help his forces.
– Asked about the decision to send French, British and Italian advisers into Libya, White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama "believes it will help the opposition." But, Mr. Carney added, "it does not at all change our—the president’s—policy on no boots on the ground for American troops."
NATO officials say the mission in Libya will continue until Col. Gadhafi’s forces are no longer a danger to civilians.
– However, "the notion of leaving Gadhafi in power is a strategic risk no one wants to take," because of fears of the effect on energy supply and regional security, said Ian Lesser, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington. That doesn’t necessarily mean sending troops, but would require the capabilities of an armed opposition, he said.
– The State Department said Wednesday it planned to provide up to $25 million in nonlethal equipment to help the rebel National Transitional Council "protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in Libya."
– The Obama administration hasn’t acceded to rebel requests for access to billions of dollars in frozen assets tied to Col. Gadhafi’s regime. Likewise, the U.S. has so far balked at providing the rebels with weapons because they lack training and because of concerns the arms could find their way into the hands of Islamists.
– Diplomats are already cooperating with Libyan rebel leaders in the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi. About a dozen British military personnel, including officers with logistical and intelligence expertise, will work with the National Transitional Council.
– NATO’s top military commander, U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, was in Prague for talks with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on Wednesday and Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
Mr. Stavridis’ visit comes as NATO is seeking to get military contributions from member states that haven’t participated in the campaign in Libya. The Czech government previously said it wasn’t planning to contribute troops for the mission in Libya, partly because it hasn’t been asked to do so.
– The mountain town of Yifran came under heavy shelling, and the Associated Press reported. While the Libyan government holds most of the west, there are rebel-held areas in western Libya, particularly the Nafusa mountain area that is home to Libya’s Berber minority.
– International aid officials said more than 10,000 people from the Nafusa mountain area have fled to Tunisia in recent days, avoiding official border crossings manned by Gadhafi loyalists. The refugees stay in camps near the Tunisian border towns of Dehiba and Remada, or are being hosted by Tunisian families.
Firas Kayal, an official with the U.N. refugee agency, said the Libyan border area "has apparently been under heavy fighting and shelling between opposition forces and Gadhafi.”
The refugees "enter in the cars, through the mountains, cars filled with luggage and families and women and children and personal items,” he said.
– In Brussels, Mohammed El Senussi, the exiled crown prince of Libya, made an appearance at the European Parliament at the invitation of some British Conservative Party members.
– Since his family went from house arrest into exile in London in 1988, Mr. El Senussi, 48 years old, has helped lead opposition events. He said he was eager to play a role in rebuilding his country, no matter what form it took.
Fighters and civilians escape the besieged Libyan city of Misrata in small fishing boats and larger ferries. Video courtesy of Reuters.
"Whether people want a constitutional monarchy or a republic, I will do my best," he told an audience. He said he would help the opposition organize "free and fair elections. It is my task to serve the people."
Under a constitution drafted in 1951 and revised in 1963, the last king of Libya was Mr. El Senussi’s great uncle Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi. Col. Moammar Gadhafi overthrew him in 1969.
– The decision to send a small number of officers by the three European countries came after rebel leaders in the besieged city of Misrata called for urgent intervention from foreign ground troops, the first such call by Libyan rebels since the country’s uprising began two months ago.
—Adam Entous and Sam Dagher contributed to this article.
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* April 20, 2011, 9:57 AM ET
– Mohammed El Senussi, the exiled crown prince of Libya, made an appearance at the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday morning, on invitation of some British conservatives. On a hot April day during the Easter break, the packed briefing room felt like a crowded theater compared to the conspicuously empty halls of Parliament.
AFP/Getty Images
– El Senussi, 48, looked young, fit and trim, like the prosperous Londoner he’s been since his family went from house arrest into exile in 1988. Since then, he has helped lead opposition events and is now eager, he said, to play a role in rebuilding his country, no matter what form it takes.
– “Whether people want a constitutional monarchy or a republic, I will do my best,” he told the audience of parliamentarians, staff and journalists. In any case, he said, he would help the opposition organize “free and fair elections, it is my task to serve the people.”
– In other words, if they ask him to be king, he would say yes. Under a constitution drafted in 1951 and revised in 1963, the last King of Libya was El Senussi’s great uncle Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi. Col. Moammar Gadhafi overthrew him in 1969. El Senussi has been in touch with the Transitional National Council, he said. He not yet been formally asked to lead Libya as king.
– The prince, whose full name is Mohammed El-Hassan El-Rida El-Mehdi El-Senussi, and who was introduced as a descendant of the prophet Mohammed, declined to answer a question about whether NATO countries should send in ground troops. That, too, should be “the will of the people”, he said.
Gadhafi, he said, “only understands one language, the language of force.”
El Senussi voiced confidence that Libya would be rebuilt out of the “chaos” left behind by Gadhafi. There is no al Qaeda in Libya, he said, and the colonel’s lieutenants were so dependent on their master that “if he disappears, the problem also disappears.”