French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault yesterday urged the international community to prepare to help Libya’s unity government if asked, providing military support if necessary.
Libya’s UN-backed unity government is trying to assert its authority in Tripoli, but the sudden arrival of a new prime minister-designate has drawn fury from the unrecognized body in charge of the capital.
“Libya is a concern shared by all the countries of the region and beyond,” Ayrault said in comments to a French newspaper.
Photo: EPA
“The chaos which reigns there today aids the rapid development of terrorism. It is a direct threat to the region and to Europe,” Ayrault said.
While Islamic State militants are being pushed back in Syria and Iraq with the help of international intervention, Muslim militant groups are gaining ground in Libya, he said.
“We must be prepared to respond if the national unity government of [Libyan prime minister-designate Fayez] al-Sarraj asks for help, including on the military front,” he said.
Asked specifically on the likelihood of military intervention, Ayrault replied: “That will depend on the legal government. To think of launching airstrikes outside of the political process is not an option.”
Libya’s unrecognized authorities in control of Tripoli on Wednesday demanded that al-Sarraj leave just hours after he arrived in the capital.
In a televised address, the head of the Tripoli authorities Khalifa Ghweil said Sarraj’s government was “illegal,” asking him to leave the capital or to “hand himself in.”
Ayrault said that the international community must avoid the mistakes of the past, citing military intervention in Iraq.
“That [action] upset the region and brought about extremism and DAESH,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group.
Libya has had two administrations since mid-2014, when the militia alliance overran Tripoli, setting up its own authority and forcing the internationally recognized parliament to flee to the country’s remote east.
International leaders, increasingly alarmed by the influx of people-smugglers and militants in the impoverished North African state, have called on Libya’s political rivals to back the unity government.
The US and its European allies have threatened action against those who undermine the political process.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia