World leaders meeting in London to plot the future course in war-torn Libya were nearly uniform in their calls for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down, but stopped short of saying they would help the opposition's cause by arming rebels.
After the London Conference on Libya, hosted by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and attended by representatives from 40 countries Tuesday, officials were clear that the desired end point to the international mission is that Gadhafi must go.
While the NATO-led air campaign that began March 19 is aimed at crippling Gadhafi's military capabilities against rebels seeking an end to his 42-year rule, officials said they will not oust Gadhafi by force.
"He will have to make a decision," Clinton told reporters following the summit. "And that decision, so far as we're aware, has not yet been made."
Clinton added that Gadhafi has "lost the legitimacy to lead," a sentiment echoed by other foreign ministers after the summit.
"One thing is quite clear and has to be made very clear to Gadhafi: His time is over. He must go," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. "We must destroy his illusion that there is a way back to business as usual if he manages to cling to power."
Foreign ministers dismissed suggestions that Gadhafi could be granted immunity if he chose to step down. However, they did say talks were underway about possible locations for exile.
"What is indispensable is that there be countries that are willing to welcome Gadhafi and his family, obviously to end this situation which otherwise could go on for some time," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
But in an interview with BBC Radio earlier Tuesday, Hague said it was up to Libyans where Gadhafi ultimately winds up.
"Of course where he goes, if he goes, is up to him and the people of Libya to determine and we will not necessarily be in control of that," Hague said.
International allies were "not going to choose Col. Gadhafi's retirement home," he added.
Arming rebels debated
Tuesday's meeting also ended with consensus on another point: that the international community is so far holding off discussing whether to arm the rebels, who have struggled in clashes with Gadhafi's forces.
"We have not made any decision about arming the rebels or providing any arms transfers," Clinton told reporters. "So there has not been any need to discuss that at this point."
However, she did hint that there is nothing preventing the international community from distributing arms to rebels.
"It is our interpretation that (UN Security Council resolution) 1973 amended or overrode the absolute prohibition on arms to anyone in Libya, so that there could be a legitimate transfer of arms if a country should choose to do that," Clinton said.
Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesperson for the interim National Council, the opposition's political arm, said in London that if the rebels were adequately armed, they "would finish Gadhafi in a few days."
Clinton pointed out that officials did discuss "non-lethal assistance," including ways to help the National Council "meet their financial needs."
Officials also agreed to send a U.S. envoy to meet with members of the opposition in Benghazi, the rebels' nerve centre. U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday that veteran diplomat Chris Stevens will travel to the city in the coming days.
Earlier, the United Nations also announced it will dispatch special envoy Abdelilah al-Khatib, a former Jordanian foreign minister, to hold talks with members of Gadhafi's regime as well as his opposition.
And the officials also agreed to form an international contact group of at least a dozen nations and groups to liaise with the opposition. The members of the group have not been finalized, despite a meeting being scheduled in Qatar in two weeks.
Both Hague and Clinton met privately with Mahmoud Jebril, leader of the National Council, to discuss ways to help the opposition, as well as issues such as imposing further sanctions on the Gadhafi regime.
Hague declined to give specifics about further sanctions, except to say they will be pursued through the United Nations
‘We will not take that hope away'
In his opening address to the meeting, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that even though the rebels' fight continues, supported by a campaign of airstrikes, "It is never too early to start planning co-ordinated action to support peace in Libya over the longer term."
In his remarks, Cameron said the ongoing international military operation is giving Libyans hope.
"Today we must be clear and unequivocal: we will not take that hope away. We will continue to implement the UN resolution for as long as is necessary to protect the Libyan people," he said, praising United Nations Resolution 1973.
Cameron's remarks came at the opening of the summit at London's Lancaster House attended by more than 35 top officials including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Other leaders at the talks include Qatar's emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and foreign ministers from Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Iraq.
Russia, which has been openly critical of the extent of foreign military intervention in Libya, was not invited.
At a news conference in Tripoli, Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim acknowledged the potential of the London summit, but decried any proposals that might amount to political interference.
"Libya is an independent country with full sovereignty," Kaim told reporters. "The Libyan people are the only ones that have the right decide the country's future, and planting division of Libya or imposing a foreign political system is not accepted."
Kaim nevertheless implored the leaders meeting in London to agree on a peace deal.
"We call upon Obama and the Western leaders to be peacemakers not war mongers, and not to push Libyans towards a civil war and more death and destruction," he said.
In his televised speech on the subject Monday night, U.S. President Barack Obama said the intervention was necessary to prevent a massacre. But he said the campaign will not target Gadhafi.
"While our military mission is narrowly focused on saving lives, we continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator, but to its people," Obama said, underscoring the emerging criticism of the Western mission launched March 19.
Echoing the president's remarks, Clinton told the London Summit on Tuesday the international community cannot abandon those in Libya and beyond who are fighting for, "A voice in their government, an end to corruption, freedom from violence and fear, the chance to live in dignity and to make the most of their God-given talents.
"These goals are not easily achieved. But they are, without question, worth working for together," she said.
From his vantage in the British capital, CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy said confusion over the western-led mission's precise aims, allies and intentions in Libya is a growing point of argument as the mission transitions from U.S. to NATO command.
"The UN resolution authorizes use of force to protect civilians, but there are many countries, Russia included, who now believe that the Western forces in Libya are basically being used as the air force of the rebels," Kennedy said, noting reports of Gadhafi's forces coming under attack even as they are in retreat.
But Cameron said the fact air strikes have repelled Gadhafi's forces from several key towns is just a positive side effect of the UN-mandate to protect civilians and enforce the no-fly zone.
"We should do everything we can to protect people and actually -- as a result -- that is actually driving back the Gadhafi regime," Cameron said.
For his part, Gadhafi struck a defiant tone in an open letter to the international community demanding an end to the "monstrous assault" on Libya.
"What is happening now is providing a cover for al Qaeda through airstrikes and missiles to enable al Qaeda to control North Africa and turn it into a new Afghanistan," he said.
With files from The Associated Press
