Downing Street Says

Asked for a response to the Italian Foreign Minister’s comments that Libyan hostilities should cease, including NATO bombings, the PMS referred to the statement published following Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, which included Italy, which said that the EU was unwavering in its commitment to protecting Libyan civilians, including through the intensification of pressure on the Libyan regime.

Asked if the Italians were inconsistent in their position, the PMS reiterated that they had signed up the Council statement. Put that the Italian Minister had made the comments after European Council, the PMS said we had a strong and broad coalition that was fully committed to carrying out the mission set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1973. The PMS added that we had increased pressure on the Libyan regime and believed that pressure had proved effective. It was discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday and everyone signed up to the statement. He said he expected it to be discussed further at European Council.

Asked if the PM had any concerns over the doubts being expressed by military chiefs about the operation, the PMS said the military view here was that the pressure we were putting on the Libyan regime was proving effective.

Asked about the Government’s views on the need for a ceasefire, the PMS said our view was that we should continue to intensify pressure on the regime.

Put that we were losing support from the Arab League which was crucial to securing the UN Security Council mandate, the PMS responded that if you looked at what was happening we were continuing to apply pressure on the Gaddafi regime. He added that the pressure was coming through military, political and economic pressure and that there was still a very broad and strong coalition in favour of action.

Asked if the MoD would be giving a statement on costs and if so, when, the PMS said he believed they would update the House next week but he did not know the precise timings.

Asked how long the campaign in Libya would last and whether the PM understood military concerns about this going on beyond the summer, the PMS said we had a very clear objective to protect the civilian population and the right approach was to intensify pressure on the regime. He added the CDS had been very clear that we could continue to do that as long as we chose to do so.

Asked for an assessment on how the military operation to date had gone, the PMS said our assessment was that pressure was having an effect in Libya. He added that if you looked at what was happening in the west of the country, if you look at what was happening in the south and areas of the country that were traditionally strongholds for Gaddafi, that pressure was having an effect.

Asked if there was a Plan B considering Gaddafi remained in power, the PMS said that the plan was to continue to intensify pressure on the regime.

Asked if the PM agreed that there was an asymmetric warfare whereby generals were allowed to speak on the situation but the PM may not, or at least not wish to reprimand them for doing so publically, the PMS said the PM made his position clear at yesterday’s press conference.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Libya

No Comments »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries