William Hague denies UK and France at odds over Libya tactics

Published on Monday 25 July 2011 20:03

BRITAIN and France are "absolutely united" behind military intervention in Libya, Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday, as he dismissed talk of tensions over the tactics used against Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Mr Hague received the backing of French foreign minister Alain Jupp, who claimed the UK and France were working in "perfect co-operation" in Libya.

The two were meeting for bi-lateral talks at the Foreign Office, which will centre on how to deal with Colonel Gaddafi as he clings to power.

Amid claims that the French were growing impatient with the lack of military progress in Libya, Mr Hague said Col Gaddafi had to go before a political settlement could be found.

He said: "On the question of Libya, the UK and France are, as we have been throughout, absolutely united Our military work has already been very successful in preserving civilian life.

"We will continue with those efforts as long as it is necessary to implement the UN Security Council resolutions, but of course we want a political settlement, acceptable to the people of Libya.

"The only way to arrive at such a settlement is for Colonel Gaddafi to go."

Speaking at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office, Mr Jupp said the UK and France were working along "exactly the same lines". He added: "We think that we must continue to exert strong pressure on the Libyan regime with the same methods.

"If we did not intervene four months ago it would have been a massacre in Benghazi and I think we may be proud to have taken this courageous decision.

"We are absolutely clear that at the end of the day, Gaddafi is going to have to abandon power, all military and civil responsibility, and then it will be for the Libyan people themselves to decide what (his] fate will be either inside Libya or outside Libya."

Earlier yesterday, the Ministry of Defence said British jets had bombed a key intelligence building being used by Gaddafi forces. The attack on the Central Organisation for Electronic Research (COER) building in Tripoli came in the early hours of Sunday morning and involved RAF Tornado and Typhoon aircraft.

COER is described by Libya as an engineering academy, but the MoD insisted it was a "wholly legitimate" target as it had long been used as a cover for the "nefarious activities" of the regime.