Britain calls for Gaddafi ultimatum
Britain is pressing for an EU emergency summit declaration calling for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down, as it emerged that the Libyan leader's security forces detained and repeatedly beat members of a BBC news team.
In a joint letter with Germany, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the upheaval in the EU's "southern neighbourhood" presents Europe with a challenge and opportunity on a scale matching the revolutions of 1989.
On Libya it said the EU should agree a declaration that "the EU and its member states will not work or co-operate with Gaddafi and that he has to step aside to allow for a true democratic transformation of the country".
The letter, sent to EU foreign policy chief Baroness Cathy Ashton, came as it was revealed that three members of the BBC's Arabic staff were accused of being spies and held for 21 hours in Libyan military compounds.
The trio were arrested on Monday at an army checkpoint at Al Zahra, six miles south of the western city of Zawiyah, before being interrogated, hooded, handcuffed, repeatedly assaulted and subjected to a mock execution. Their "abhorrent treatment" was condemned by the BBC and the Foreign Office who promised a "day of reckoning" for the abuses.
A FCO spokesman said: "This is yet another example of the horrific crimes being committed in Libya. The regime had invited journalists to Libya to see the truth. This truth is even more glaring today than it was before."
The Government's calls for a EU declaration on Col Gaddafi also came after Baroness Ashton told MEPs in Strasbourg that the dictator "should be sent back into the cold".
After hosting talks in Brussels with EU foreign ministers on the medium-term response to the crisis in Libya, she will go to Nato headquarters to join alliance defence ministers, including UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox, to discuss the prospects for implementing a no-fly zone.
No immediate decisions are likely, and Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted the organisation is engaged in "prudent planning" - assessing various potential responses to the developing crisis. But Nato is "not looking to intervene" in Libya.
Any no-fly zone would in any case require a United Nations mandate and significant support, particularly from countries in the region.
Britain is pressing for an EU emergency summit declaration calling for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down, as it emerged that the Libyan leader's security forces detained and repeatedly beat members of a BBC news team.
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| Britain calls for Gaddafi ultimatum |
On Libya it said the EU should agree a declaration that "the EU and its member states will not work or co-operate with Gaddafi and that he has to step aside to allow for a true democratic transformation of the country".
The letter, sent to EU foreign policy chief Baroness Cathy Ashton, came as it was revealed that three members of the BBC's Arabic staff were accused of being spies and held for 21 hours in Libyan military compounds.
The trio were arrested on Monday at an army checkpoint at Al Zahra, six miles south of the western city of Zawiyah, before being interrogated, hooded, handcuffed, repeatedly assaulted and subjected to a mock execution. Their "abhorrent treatment" was condemned by the BBC and the Foreign Office who promised a "day of reckoning" for the abuses.
A FCO spokesman said: "This is yet another example of the horrific crimes being committed in Libya. The regime had invited journalists to Libya to see the truth. This truth is even more glaring today than it was before."
The Government's calls for a EU declaration on Col Gaddafi also came after Baroness Ashton told MEPs in Strasbourg that the dictator "should be sent back into the cold".
After hosting talks in Brussels with EU foreign ministers on the medium-term response to the crisis in Libya, she will go to Nato headquarters to join alliance defence ministers, including UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox, to discuss the prospects for implementing a no-fly zone.
No immediate decisions are likely, and Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted the organisation is engaged in "prudent planning" - assessing various potential responses to the developing crisis. But Nato is "not looking to intervene" in Libya.
Any no-fly zone would in any case require a United Nations mandate and significant support, particularly from countries in the region.
