Daily Times

In his address to his loyalists in Tripoli, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi warned of dire consequences if there is any foreign military intervention in Libya. Yesterday, two US warships entered the Mediterranean headed for Libya. In addition, warships from Britain, France, Italy, Canada and South Korea are on their way, ostensibly to evacuate the refugees. The quick response by the West to the humanitarian crisis of Libya, where thousands of people are waiting at the border with Tunisia to be evacuated, is welcome but is also a cause of concern because the warships sent for aid could also be used for military purposes. Foreign intervention in Libya would be difficult because it is unlikely that there would be consensus in the UN Security Council on this issue. Even if such a proposal is accepted, it would have practical difficulties, and serious consequences for the region.

In the past, foreign powers have pursued their interests in other countries in the name of humanitarian intervention. These did not always work out the way they were intended, led to unintended consequences, and certainly a trampling of very important aspects of international law and sovereignty. If the world system has to be run on the basis of a mutually agreed system, big powers cannot single out certain countries for such action when it suits them and leave out others when it does not. Western powers never intervened in Myanmar, where the military has ruled with an iron fist for decades, while the US rode roughshod over all the norms of international conduct and attacked Iraq on fabricated charges of possessing weapons of mass destruction. Interest-based, rather than principle-driven interventions cannot be condoned. The Arab League, which met to discuss the Libyan crisis, has also opposed the idea of foreign intervention because it would not only add to the problems of the Libyan people, it would cause enormous ripple effects and destabilise the whole region.

Venezuela has proposed a mediation plan for a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Libya. There might be other such proposals on the cards. It would be best to resolve the Libyan crisis through credible mediation rather than military intervention. *