Libya

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord the Leader of the House for the Statement that he has just given on Libya. Noble Lords will be aware that MPs in another place are debating and voting today on the UK’s involvement in military action by the United Nations-led coalition in Libya. Our role in this House is not that today, but this is a serious and important matter and it is right that this House should consider these matters today as well.

First, I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, about members of the UK’s Armed Forces who are engaged in that military action. We are and should be proud of what they do and of their ability, expertise and bravery. We share the concern of the families of service personnel at times of such action.

At a time of military engagement, it is particularly important to be clear about what is being done and what the strategy is, and about purpose and support. The Prime Minister said last week in relation to Libya and to the military action being taken by the UK and by UK forces that,

“what we are doing is necessary, it is legal, and it is right”.

We on these Benches agree with that. We support what the United Nations is doing, what Britain is doing with its allies in the coalition and what the Government here are doing in relation to Libya.

However, in addition to giving support, it is our job as an Opposition to maintain scrutiny and to hold the Government to account. That is what we must and will do. Strong support and rigorous scrutiny through this House are our clear job and responsibility as an Opposition, so, as I said, that is what we will do. We can all see from our television screens and other sources that the position on the ground in Libya and in the air above it is fast moving. It is in the nature of military action, especially in modern military engagement, that that is the case. The job of politicians in these circumstances is not to second-guess the military commanders—they are doing their job, on behalf of us all—but it is right that we should consider the broader position and the context for that military action. That is the job for both Houses of our Parliament today.

In relation to Libya and the current military action, I ask the Leader of the House about four principal areas: the action that Colonel Gaddafi is taking against his own people; our response to that action; our strategy for that response; and the position at and after the cessation of military activity.

In all this, the shadow of Iraq looms large. Iraq and the UK’s part in the military activity there were controversial at the time and remain controversial now. Inevitably, what happened in Iraq is bound to lead to hard questions about the wisdom, practicality and consequences of intervention, including this intervention in Libya. However, as my right honourable friend the shadow Foreign Secretary put it today,

“while Iraq should inform us, it should not paralyse us”.

That is right.

When Colonel Gaddafi announced that, in relation to 700,000 of his own countrymen and countrywomen in Libya who had sought freedom, as so many have done this spring across the Middle East, there would be “no mercy and no pity”, we have a clear responsibility to act. When Libyan government officials declare that there will be house-to-house revenge, we have a clear responsibility to act. When at least 1,000, probably many more, of Libya’s own people have been killed by the Gaddafi regime, according to the UN, we have a clear responsibility to act. Action over Libya was and is necessary precisely because of Gaddafi’s explicit actions—because of what he has done and what he proposed to do.

Will the Leader of the House confirm that action in these circumstances is action to protect the Libyan people? We should not forget that a responsibility to protect was agreed by the Security Council in the United Nations General Assembly following the atrocities in Kosovo and Rwanda, when the world community failed to protect. The United Nations Security Council resolution allows all necessary measures to maintain and restore international peace and security under Chapter 7 of the UN charter. Will the noble Lord confirm that regime change is not an objective, that the proper focus will be the protection of the Libyan people, that measures have to be measured and proportionate and that Gaddafi is not a target unless he becomes or acts as part of the command and staff of any particular action?

It is important that the Government as a whole speak with one voice on this issue. I would be grateful if the noble Lord could confirm that, although the comments made by the Secretary of State for Defence were perhaps unfortunate, they should not be taken as indicating that the Government have any intention of acting outside the confines of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

I pay tribute to the former Leader of your Lordships’ House, the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton of Upholland, who in her role as the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs was, I know, closely involved in important discussions with the Council of Ministers, the Arab League and the G8. The noble Baroness sometimes gets a rough ride in the media. She is tough enough to take it, but she deserves credit, too, for what she does and what she is able to do in difficult circumstances such as these.

The important decision of the Arab League to support a no-fly zone for Libya and the decision of the United Nations Security Council in passing Resolution 1973 show clearly the strength of feeling and the strength of purpose in the international community. We all recognise that without that decision by the league there would have been no United Nations Security Council resolution.

Will the Leader of the House set out the form of the current coalition—the number of countries involved and the number that are likely to be involved? Britain, France and the United States have so far taken the lead. The US has made it clear that it does not wish to remain as the principal agent in the coalition, although it will strongly and forcefully both support it and play its own full part in it. Who will act as the principal agent in the coalition? Will that be a job for NATO? How will the coalition be organised in terms of relations with the members of the coalition? Will that be done by continuing international summits, such as the one convened in Paris last Friday that the noble Lord mentioned?

Could the Leader explain to the House what the UK Government judge to be the meaning of the phrase used in the United Nations resolution that “all necessary” force is now authorised to prevent the slaughter of the civilian population in Libya? Does that, in the Government’s view, include, as necessary and appropriate at some point in the future, the use of ground troops in addition to the airborne forces that we are currently deploying? In the coalition’s strategy, will the Leader confirm that there is no intent for coalition forces to be or to become an army of occupation? Could he say what will constitute success in Libya? Is the creation of a stalemate between the regime and those against it a legitimate objective for the coalition? How far have the UK, the UN or the coalition considered the issue of partition, and what might that mean in practice for those taking part in the coalition? What will constitute the end game?

In Iraq, much attention was focused on the legitimacy of the military conflict, but much attention was also concentrated on accusations that, in taking military action, insufficient attention was paid to what would happen when that military action was, in the main, over. What happens subsequent to the military action is of course dependent on the outcome of that action. Libya and the Libyan people will and must be dominant in that. However, the Arab League, the African Union and the coalition will also be important. No one would expect that, at the very moment that military action is taking place, equal attention could or should be given to what happens after the shooting stops. Equally, one of the ways in which Iraq should inform us is that, however difficult it is, attention must be given to what happens afterwards. If the humanitarian need to act is pressing now, a different kind of humanitarian aid will be pressing after the military action.

Britain is in a better position to consider these issues because of our values as a nation, a democracy and a country where both the rule of law and human rights are paramount. Humanitarian requirements are strong. Multilateralism is the best way to respond to them. That is why we support the United Nations overall and, specifically, in relation to Libya.

Can the Leader of the House give a commitment that this House will have the earliest possible opportunity to debate these issues in full in a day-long debate? Can business perhaps be so arranged that such a debate could take place this week or next week at the latest—maybe even on Friday 1 April? I am very grateful to the Minister for saying that he will keep us informed about Libya and the military action. I presume that the noble Lord means that he will do so through Statements and, perhaps, in briefings on a variety of bases for Members of this House.

Throughout the Middle East, the world is turning on its axis. The changes in some countries have been enacted differently. There has been violence in Bahrain, for example, and Yemen. There was certainly bloodshed in Egypt. The removal of President Mubarak was not carried out without blood being spilt. However, overall, Egypt managed to change without the kind of large-scale violence, murder and war crime that we have seen and are seeing in Libya. Change is possible without what is tantamount in Libya to civil war. However, Libya is different; it is a special case. In Libya, the leader of the country is making large-scale threats against his own people. He is enacting those threats by attacking and killing his own people on a massive scale. That demands a response—a proportionate and just response, but a clear response of the kind that the United Nations is giving. We support the Government in that response. We will maintain our responsibility to scrutinise what the Government are doing but, in seeking to protect the people of Libya, the Government, the coalition and the UK Armed Forces fighting there now, today, in our names, have our support.