A new paradigm? Hague issues tough warning to dictators
By Ian Dunt
Countries who oppress their people will find it increasingly difficult to “hide from the world”, the foreign secretary has said.
In a speech which hinted at a toughening up of Britain’s attitude to dictatorships, the William Hague framed the Arab uprisings of 2011 as a game changing moment in world history, with language not dissimilar to the way Tony Blair concluded the “calculus of risk” had changed after September 11th.
The uprisings in north Africa and the Middle East are “already set to overtake the 2008 financial crisis and 9/11 as the most important development of the early 21st century”, the foreign secretary said.
Countries that oppress their people “will find it increasingly hard to escape judgement of their own people or… the reach of international law”, he added.
The speech came a day after numerous MPs complained that British action in Libya could be perceived as hypocritical, given the country’s relationship with dictators in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, among others.
Mr Hague insisted that Britain was reviewing its arms deals in the region, but today saw him go a step further and issue a strongly-worded rebuke to dictators across the world.
Hours before Mr Hague’s speech, George Osborne told the Commons that the cost of the Libyan mission would be “tens of millions not hundreds of millions”.
Meanwhile, the armed forces minister Nick Harvey admitted he couldn’t rule out the presence of armed forces in Libya, because the language of the UN resolution technically allowed it.
The comments came as a new YouGov poll for the Sun showed 45% of Brits were in favour of military action in Libya but a substantial 36% were opposed.
A separate ComRes poll for ITV showed only one in three (35%) thought it was right for the UK to take military action against Colonel Gaddafi’s forces in Libya.
“I don’t think we would at this stage rule anything in or rule anything out but I agree with the distinction that you draw between landing an occupying force and the use of anybody on the ground,” Mr Harvey told BBC1’s Breakfast.
While the UN resolution explicitly forbids occupation of any part of Libya, it still allows for limited operations on the ground, experts believe.
Mr Harvey also admitted a permanently divided Libya was one potential outcome of the situation.
“That is one possible outcome,” he conceded.
“If it is, so be it, that wouldn’t be desirable. But a stable outcome where they weren’t killing each other would in a sense be one way of achieving the humanitarian objective.”
The comments come after the Lords were told that the no-fly zone could last for 12 years, if it resembles western efforts to protect the Kurds in Iraq.
Analysts are growing increasingly concerned at the contradictory messages emerging from government, not least those of David Cameron and General Sir David Richards, the chief of the defence staff, who appeared at loggerheads over the issue of whether Colonel Gaddafi could be targeted yesterday.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD)was quick to insist that the mission was proceeding successfully however, after a third night of fighting saw heavy anti-aircraft fire and explosions in Tripoli.
Residents in rebel-held cities of Misrata and Zintan are under attack by government forces, Reuters reported, but the rebel stronghold of Benghazi was safe.
“The very fact that many news organisations are still able to have correspondents reporting freely in the heart of Benghazi is a testament to the immediate effect this operations has had,” an MoD spokesman said.
US, French, Danish, Italian and British aircraft were joined by Spanish F-18s for the first time last night.
The mission remains under American control, but Washington is desperate to pass it on to either Nato or a joint French and British system, if only European leaders could agree.
HMS Westminster and Cumberland remain at their stations off the coast of Libya. The MoD insists that their presence deters the Libyan navy from shelling coastal towns, as they had been before the international action.
The British jets who returned home without firing due to civilians at the start of the week completed a successful mission last night, however, providing armed reconnaissance to protect civilians from attacks on the ground.
