29 Mar 2011

Libya: rebel council releases its vision for future

The Interim National Council of Libya doesn’t seem to have its own email and so it’s the Foreign Office that’s releasing its “Vision of a Democratic Libya.”

It backs a referendum on a new democratic constitution, one undivided Libyan state and equal rights for women. It also lists in a relatively short (two page) declaration that freedom of expression should include “sit-ins” – has someone been looking at the fall-out from the Fortnum and Mason sit-in on Saturday? The document also calls for a mixed economy.

No doubt the British “officials” on the ground in Benghazi will have, along with others, given advice on what the text should include. But how do you hold future rulers of Libya to these standards if you don’t have real (military) presence on the ground? The answer comes: economic muscle and UN sanctions.

The Government is now clear that Col Gaddafi can sneak off to exile somewhere even though it has been proclaiming that he will not escape the reach of international law. It feels the benefits of an early departure would outweigh the protracted attempt to capture him.

By the way, the delegate list to the London Conference includes the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Mennini. Not quite sure why. The Albanian and Icelandic Foreign Ministers are also attending.

Read the full declaration here

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