British MPs condemn PM over Libya

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/175016.html

British lawmakers have condemned Prime Minister David Cameron's talk of regime change in Libya as “outrageous”, saying he is illegally seeking to topple Muammar Qaddafi.

Members of Parliament (MPs) called for a recall of parliament on Friday, insisting that they had only supported the government in its attempt to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians as stipulated by the UN Security Council resolution 1973 last month, British media reported.

David Cameron drew MPs' condemnation when he published a joint article by US president Barack Obama, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy, boasting that Qaddafi “must go, and go for good”.

Cameron, Sarkozy and Obama penned a joint article, in which they dismissed a Libyan future with Qaddafi as "unthinkable", alleging that his staying on would represent an "unconscionable betrayal" by the rest of the world.

"It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government," said the article, which appeared on Friday in the London Times, The Washington Post and the French daily Le Figaro.

However, several Labour Party MPs in Britain put their weight behind the demand for the parliament to be recalled saying that it was outrageous to be talking about regime change in Libya.

“This joint letter makes it clear to the world that NATO will not stop till Gaddafi is removed. If that isn't regime change I don't know what is”, said John Baron, the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billercay.

"You only recall Parliament if there has been a material change of emphasis and this is a clear change of mission. The bottom line is that regime change is illegal under international law", added Baron who is also a member of the foreign affairs committee.

"What they have come out with is totally against what was agreed in Parliament", said Halifax MP Linda Riordan.

Thomas Docherty, a member of the defense select committee, said he would back a vote to authorize regime change in Libya, but he added, "this is well beyond what the House of Commons voted for. It is well beyond the resolution."

This is while that French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said in Paris, the US, Britain and France are thinking beyond UN resolution 1973, which authorizes action to protect Libyan civilians, and now seek regime change.

However, other world powers including the BRICS group -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - have urged that "the use of force should be avoided" as far as the Libya crisis is concerned.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has gone further, arguing that Resolution 1973 did not authorize military action of the kind being carried out in Libya by attack jets from NATO and some Arab countries.