Hague statement on Libya in full
Read William Hague’s statement on the situation in Libya in full, on politics.co.uk.
William Hague: Good afternoon, well Colonel Gaddafi is speaking at the moment and he is saying that there, that he believes there is a conspiracy of world leaders against him. There is no such conspiracy. It is his own people who are rising up against him and trying to overthrow him and it is his own people who he has shamefully failed to protect from his own forces in recent days.
We are appalled by the levels of violence unleashed by the Libyan Government in recent days. The situation in Libya is worsening and it remains highly unpredictable. The United Kingdom has raised this issue today at the UN Security Council in New York. We strongly support the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in calling for a full and transparent investigation in to reports of attacks on Libya citizens. We will continue to press for access for human rights monitors. We will also raise Libya in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The Libyan Government is trying to stop the world seeing what is happening in Libya, but we will do everything we can to make sure they are held accountable for their actions.
The safety of British nationals in Libya is of paramount concern to us. In light of the fluid and dangerous situation we are urgently reinforcing our team on the ground with specialist personnel to provide additional help and assistance to British nationals. Already this week British nationals seeking to leave Libya have encountered significant difficulties. Many are currently in Tripoli Airport without immediate flights out of the country following flight cancellations, closures of air space and so on. We’re working closely with airlines to assist as many British nationals as possible to depart Libya. In addition I’ve decided to mobilise further resources in support of an assisted departure.
First we continue to work intensely with airlines and other countries in order to assist as many British nationals to leave as possible. Second we’re making arrangements for a charter plane to travel to Libya in the next forty eight hours. We are urgently seeking landing clearances and permissions from the Libyan Government and in support of this we will send a rapid deployment team of Foreign Office officials to assist British nationals.
Third, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland is being redeployed from the Eastern Mediterranean to international waters near Libya so that it is pre-positioned in case it is required to play a role in assisting British nationals.
As part of this effort and in line with our travel advice we will also assist some of our Embassy staff and their families who are not needed to deal directly with the current situation to leave Libya while sending additional specialised Foreign Office personnel trained in crisis response. This situation is extremely fluid, we will provide further information regularly as the situation develops. British nationals requiring assistance or further advice can call the Foreign Office on numbers published on our website. I call on the Libyan authorities to protect the safety of all foreign nationals and provide necessary assistance to the British Government, including providing the necessary permissions and clearances for our ship and aeroplane in order to allow us to secure the same departure of our citizens from Libya.
A couple of questions.
Gary O’Donoghue (BBC): Foreign Secretary, you’ve said that you’re going to send HMS Cumberland. Is there any possibility that that will go in to one of the Libyan ports to take off British nationals with or without permission? And what will happen to the charter flight if permission is refused for that?
WH: Well I’m hopeful of course that the charter flight will be given permission to land. We’ve been working on this with the Libyan authorities today. Many other countries are in the same situation, other countries are sending flights, chartered flights to pick up citizens and they all require, just as we require, clearance to land. So that is what we’re pursuing and I hope we will get that clearance.
In the case of HMS Cumberland as I’ve explained it will be positioned in international waters near Libya in, for the eventuality of it being needed. And yes in the normal course of events of course we would ask permission for it to enter port and to enter Libyan waters and that is what we would expect to do.
Gary O’Donoghue (BBC): On the question of the international action you’re proposing, what exactly are you asking the Security Council to do and what is your view of the calls for sanctions on Libya now?
WH: Well we are asking the Security Council to have a formal meeting and then to have a strong statement from the Security Council, really as strong a statement as we can put together from the United Nations Security Councils, as well as calling for a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for which we need sixteen of the forty seven members to, to call a special meeting on Libya. But most of all I want the Libyan authorities to know that the world is not just watching and not just passing statements and not just saying things about Libya, but that we want to make sure that serious abuses of human rights are properly investigated in the future. The United Kingdom will be in favour of some form of international investigation and I want them to know therefore there is a serious chance that they will be held accountable for their actions.
Jon Craig (Sky News): Foreign Secretary, Jon Craig from Sky News. What was it that led you to believe yesterday that Colonel Gaddafi might have fled Libya to go to Venezuela and what do the events of recent days say about the wisdom or otherwise of the British Government doing deals with Gaddafi in recent years?
WH: Well there, there’s been a variety of information about his whereabouts. Clearly, it’s clear from the speech now going on that he is actually still there in Tripoli. But there are many indications of the, that the structure of the state collapsing in many ways in, in Libya. It, it’s turned out it hasn’t so far involved Colonel Gaddafi’s departure, but the resignation of so many Ambassadors and diplomats, reports of Ministers changing sides within Libya itself shows that the system is in a very serious crisis and in that situation those remaining in authority should be trying to protect their citizens, to maintain the safety of people in Libya and that is what they are not doing.
As to past action, well I’ve had my disagreements with past Government policy on Libya. If the, if David Cameron and I had had our way there would have been no release of Megrahi for instance. But we also have to recognise that the work done with Libya that turned them away from a weapons of mass destruction programme and from sponsoring international terrorism was important and was the right thing to do otherwise of course we would be facing an even worse situation now of a country in the situation that Libya is in today also in possession of some very, very deadly weapons. So that I think was the right thing to do.
Thank you very much indeed.
