Libya
1. France argued for weeks that NATO should have as little involvement as possible in the Libyan issue in order not to offend the Arab countries. In the end, the Alliance assumed responsibility for all missions related to resolution 1973. Have you seen any negative reactions from Arab countries in your diplomatic relations?
2. Are all of the United Arab Emirates’ aircraft deployed to Sardinia attached to an American unit? Or are some of these planes (Mirage 2000?) - or will they be – attached to a French unit in order to conduct joint air operations, as was the case with Qatar?
Regarding your first question, I want to reaffirm the minister’s statement to the National Assembly on March 23:
“We see this operation as a United Nations operation, under a UN mandate. It is being implemented by a coalition of European, North American and Arab countries. This coalition of countries needs a “secular arm.” During the initial phase of the intervention, this consisted of the American command, in close cooperation with the French and the British. Today we agreed that this secular arm will be comprised of both NATO and the European Union. NATO will be responsible for operational planning and execution and, following the decisions taken on Monday, the European Union will oversee everything that relates to the humanitarian operations, including maritime operations.
It order to clarify the situation, we have just taken the initiative - with my British colleague - to hold a meeting on Tuesday in London of a Contact Group made up of all the countries that are participating in the entire operation, plus the African Union, the Arab League and all of the European countries that would like to join us, in order to clearly signal that it’s the Contact Group - and not NATO – that will assume the political leadership of the operation.
For those States that are not participating in the military intervention, there is thus a Contact Group which aims to assume the political leadership of the operations, and which will hold its first meeting in London on March 29 at foreign minister-level.
This first meeting of the Ministerial Contact Group on Libya, at the invitation of the United Kingdom, will bring together the members of the coalition and, notably, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the friends of the coalition, and, we hope, the National Transitional Council which has been invited.
The African Union has a key role to play in the Libyan crisis. The meeting which took place on Friday in Addis Ababa provided an opportunity for the African Union to adopt a road map (ceasefire between the Libyan factions, political reforms, facilitation of humanitarian operations, protection of foreign nationals) which is perfectly in line with the coalition’s objectives.
The aim of this meeting is to assume political leadership of the military operations and prepare for the future and for the transition which we hope will be swift.
We should now move towards a political phase in order to allow the Libyans - when the time comes - to determine their political system and to choose their leaders themselves.
Regarding your second question, please refer to the Ministry of Defense.
Today, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, stated that the allies’ interference in the civil war in Libya was in violation of UNSCR 1973. What is your reaction?
As we’ve always said, and as President Sarkozy reaffirmed at his press conference in Brussels, the coalition of voluntary countries is acting strictly in accordance with resolution 1973.
I reaffirm that the measures we are taking in accordance with this resolution are the subject of regular reports to the UN Secretary-General. On Thursday, the UN Security Council held consultations on the implementation of resolution 1973. The UN Secretary-General participated in the Paris Summit for the Support to the Libyan People on March 19 and will be in London tomorrow (Tuesday) for the meeting of the Contact Group devoted to the Libyan crisis.
We are consulting closely with our Russian partners, notably with respect to the Libyan crisis.