UN Declares No Fly Zone For Libya And Calls For Cease-Fire

The UN Security Council has agreed on the adoption of a no fly zone in Libya, allowing the international community to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians.

The Security Council voted in favor of the resolution 10 - 0, with Brazil, China, Germany, India and Russia choosing to abstain. 

The resolution authorizes states working in tandem with the UN and Arab League to take all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack, however it specifically rules out the deployment of any form of occupying forces on the ground.

US Ambassador Susan Rice declined to discuss details surrounding the use of force, while Libya’s Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said he hoped military help would come as quickly as possible. Dabbashi said its main purpose was to protect Libyan civilians, not to overthrow the Gaddafi regime.

 German Ambassador Peter Witting explained that his country chose to abstain because of the resolution’s military component. 

India’s Deputy Ambassador argued the Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Libya wasn’t given enough time to carry out his mandate and deplored the fact the decision for military intervention was taken with so little reliable information coming out of Libya.

 The Secretary General’s envoy to Libya, Abdul Ilha Khatib, returned from Tripoli earlier this week after having spent two days meeting Libyan officials.

The decision to authorize a no fly zone and allow for possible air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces comes following support from the Arab League as well as from Libya’s own rebelling representatives at the UN. Arab League members are expected to take a leading role in enforcing the No Fly Zone, although it remained unclear which specific countries would participate and to what extent. 

The first paragraph of the resolution calls for an immediate cease fire and an end to all attacks against civilians. But in a message broadcast on Libyan state television today, Col. Muammar Gaddafi announced that his forces were to begin an assault tonight on the Eastern city Benghazi, Libya’s second most populated urban area, warning that they would crush any opposition they encountered.

 Benghazi was one of the first Libyan city to fall into the hands of protesters after large scale demonstrations broke out against the regime on February 15th. The city has since served as home base for the Libyan National Council, whose forces have been fighting troops loyal to the regime over the past week. 

 France, one of the co-sponsor behind the resolution. was one of the first Security Council member states to meet with representatives of the Libyan National Council and to recognize it as Libya’s legitimate government last week. 

 French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe travelled to UN headquarters in New York to attend today’s Security Council consultations. Juppe told the Council that it only had had days, perhaps even a few hours, to prevent large scale humanitarian crisis. 

 Speaking from Tunis earlier today, Secretary of State Clinton said the adoption of an effective no fly zone would require targeted bombings of Gaddafi’s defense systems.