London, March 30 (DPA) Britain Wednesday expelled five Libyan diplomats loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and said it would not rule out the supply of arms to the rebels fighting his rule.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said the diplomats, including the military attache, had been asked to leave as they could pose a ‘threat to national security’.
Officials described those affected by the move as ‘strong Gaddafi supporters’ who could be a threat to Libyan opposition figures and students living in Britain.
‘To underline our grave concern at the (Gaddafi) regime’s behaviour, I can announce … that we have today taken steps to expel five diplomats at the Libyan embassy in London, including the military attache,’ said Hague.
Commentators said the move carried echoes of 1984, when British police woman Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead from inside the Libyan embassy while she was on duty policing a demonstration of Gaddafi opponents.
However, Libyan ambassador Omar Jelban would stay in his post as it was considered important to ‘keep communication channels’ open, said an official, who did not want to be named.
The expulsions came came just a day after a major conference on Libya was held in London, at which the possibility of increasing pressure on Gaddafi to open a dialogue with his opponents was among the topics discussed.
Hague also revealed that senior British diplomat Christopher Prentice visited Benghazi earlier this walk for talks with leaders of Libya’s Interim Transitional National Council.
Meanwhile, a heated debate erupted in Britain Wednesday over the controversial issue of possible arms supplies to rebel forces in Libya.
Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron said that such a move could not be ‘ruled out,’ while ‘great care’ needed to be taken in making such a decision.
‘The legal position is clear that the arms embargo applies to the whole territory of Libya,’ said Cameron.
But, at the same time, UN Resolution 1973 allowed ‘all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated area’, he added.
‘Our view is that this would not necessarily rule out the provision of assistance to those protecting civilians in certain circumstances,’ said Cameron.
‘We do not rule it out but we have not taken the decision to do so,’ he added.
However, senior Liberal Democrat Menzies Campbell said the legal position on arms sales was ‘by no means clear’ and the political consequences of supplying the rebels with weapons were ‘difficult to predict’.
Veteran left-wing Labour parliamentarian Denis Skinner urged Cameron not to repeat the ‘errors’ of Afghanistan by arming rebel groups which were later found to have been infiltrated by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.
