No military action against Libya without UN mandate, says France

As the international community considered imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, France warned that no international military action against leader Moamer Kadhafi without a clear mandate from the United Nations.

Reuters/Jacky Naegelen

"At the moment I am talking to you, no military intervention is expected," Foreign Minister Alain Juppé told the French parliament Tuesday, hours after taking up his new post.

“I say very clearly that no intervention will be undertaken without a clear mandate from the United Nations Security Council."

Britain and the US are pushing for a no-fly zone to be imposed quickly over Libya to stop Kadhafi from using air power against the popular uprising against him.

"It is not acceptable to have a situation where Colonel Kadhafi can be murdering his own people, using aeroplanes and helicopter gunships and the like," said British Prime Minister David Cameron. "It's right for us to plan and look at plans for a no-fly zone.”

The US military moved naval and air forces nearer Libya for possible joint Nato military action.

Top US commander General James Mattis told the US Senate on Tuesday that securing a no-fly zone over Libya would first require an operation to destroy the country's air defence systems, which include dozens of surface-to-air missiles that can shoot down warplanes.

France’s Minister for European Affairs, Laurent Wauquiez, worried about the message such an operation would send.

"Could it not be caricatured? Would it not be turned back against us, with people saying: 'The West is attacking because Libya has oil?'” he said Tuesday in an interview with RMC radio.

European Union leaders will gather in Brussels on 11 March for a special summit on the crisis in Libya.