Britain to supply telecoms equipment to Libyan rebels

Poor communications have dogged rebel forces, who are trying to shape their enthusiastic but largely inexpert troops into a military outfit capable of taking the battle to Col. Gaddafi’s army as the two sides have become entrenched around the oil terminal town of Brega.

A fortnight ago, confusion led a rebel anti-aircraft crew to shoot down one of their own few captured jets as it patrolled the skies above Benghazi, and on Saturday, 13 rebel fighters were killed by an airstrike after allied aircraft mistook their celebratory firing into the air for hostile loyalist action.

Mr Cameron, on a whistlestop tour of the Italian air base which is the hub of the UK operation, said he would bolster the fight against Col. Gaddafi’s forces by sending four more Tornado jets from RAF Marham in Norfolk to Italy.

They will take the number of ground attack Tornados to 12, while the number of Typhoons, which police the no fly zone, remains at 10. Mr Cameron said the British forces had performed “as ever very brilliantly”.

In a further development, Mr Hague also said Britain would lobby for the removal of EU and UN sanctions against key Libyan government figures who renounced the Gaddafi regime. That included Moussa Koussa, the former foreign minister who defected upon arrival in the UK last week.

Mr Koussa was not being offered immunity from prosecution, Mr Hague reiterated, adding that Gaddafi’s former spy chief was being urged to co-operate with requests for interviews from law enforcement authorities, including the Scottish Crown Office and Dumfries and Galloway Police, “in relation both to Lockerbie as well as other issues stemming from Libya’s past sponsorship of terrorism”.

Mr Hague said: “We will treat those abandoning the Gaddafi regime in the following way. In the case of anyone currently sanctioned by the EU and UN who breaks definitively with the regime, we will discuss with our partners the merits of removing the restrictions that currently apply to them while being clear that this does not constitute any form of immunity whatsoever.

“We will begin such discussions at the EU this week in the case of Moussa Koussa. Sanctions are designed to change behaviour and it is therefore right that they are adjusted when new circumstances arise. We continue to offer our full support to the investigations of the International Criminal Court.”

A trusted envoy of Muammar Gaddafi was undertaking a tour of Libya’s few European allies today, apparently seeking a political solution to the conflict.

Abdelati Obeidi, the Deputy Foreign Minister, arrived in Athens yesterday for talks and today moved on to Turkey. He was initially suspected to be following his former boss, Mr Koussa, in defecting from the regime, but his mission is now seen as a sign that the regime may be softening its hard line in the face of the sustained attacks. He will visit Malta tomorrow.

The Greek government’s preconditions, said Dimitris Droutsas, the Foreign Minister, were: “Full respect and implementation of the United Nations decisions, an immediate cease-fire, an end to violence and hostilities, particularly against the civilian population of Libya.”

Turkey, a Nato member in the unique position of having maintained contact with both sides in the Libyan conflict, was willing to act as a mediator between Gaddafi and the rebels, Ankara’s ambassador to Tripoli said yesterday.

“Turkey is a regional power with a long standing historical and cultural relationship with Libya,” S. Levent Sahin Kaya said. “We do not make a distinction between the opposition and the Gaddafi side, we are seeing a whole solution. We do not want a divided Libya.”

In Tripoli, Moussa Ibrahim, the Government spokesman, told a small group of reporters that Libya was very open to the concept of peace deals.

“We are optimistic that a general political solution can be found for the Libyan crises. Especially we are very positive about any peace deals. We have been the most positive party in the whole conflict.”

But Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, derided Mr Obeidi’s proposals as “not credible”. “We have decided to recognise the [rebel] council as the only political, legitimate interlocutor to represent Libya,” he said.

Mr Hague added: “Of course the Gaddafi regime has three times announced a ceasefire and continued their attacks. I think these attempts to have discussions with other countries are a sign of the pressure that the regime is under but the solution is in their hands – to adopt a genuine ceasefire and then, in the interests of their country, to make clear that Colonel Gaddafi will go.”

Meanwhile, Colonel Gaddafi’s London-educated son, Saif al-Islam, has proposed a deal under which his father would transfer power to a constitutional democracy under Saif al-Islam’s interim direction. This option is unlikely to be accepted either by Gaddafi or the Interim Council in Benghazi.

Also today the US military pulled its fighter jets out of the Libyan conflict and handed command to Nato. Mr Hague told the House that the allies had, since Thursday, flown 701 sorties of which 276 were strike missions.

The US withdrawal from the front line today will leave Britain and France to bear the brunt of combat operations and came as the head of the RAF said that his service was already “stretched to the limits”. Washington has provided 90 of the 206 aircraft policing the no-fly zone over Libya, and the United States Air Force will continue to provide support, including Awacs surveillance planes, electronic reconnaissance aircraft and aerial refuelling tankers.

The RAF is expected to continue flights to enforce the Libyan no-fly zone for at least the next six months, said Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton.

“On current planning we can continue in Afghanistan, the Falklands and Libya with what we have got. But that does bring you nearer the point that you have just about exhausted the bag. It’s a heck of a lot to be doing at one time,” he told The Guardian.