Europe
NATO, EU to discuss Libya options
BRUSSELS: NATO and EU ministers are to meet to lay out options to deal with Libya's Moamer Kadhafi as leaders ponder military and economic options to resolve the crisis in oil-rich Libya.
The meeting will bring together defence ministers, foreign ministers and prime ministers or presidents for talks Thursday and Friday that will shape the prospects for military intervention via a no-fly zone, humanitarian aid and economic props.
"The policy is getting him to go as soon as possible," said a senior EU diplomat of Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, the one-time pariah whose rehabilitation by Britain, France, Italy and others is now the subject of global hand-wringing.
"No one is expecting Kadhafi will melt away in the next few days, but we are developing a range of responses," added the source, who requested anonymity.
The stakes are high, with oil prices flying and the prospect of a flood of migrants crossing from north Africa into Europe uppermost in the minds of many.
The EU's 27 foreign ministers start the ball rolling in mid-morning when they arrive for talks preparing a full summit of leaders the next day.
Britain and France are lobbying for a United Nations Security Council imprimatur for a no-fly zone. But anxious Washington wants any military action conducted under the banner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with Arab regional backing seen there as essential.
The meeting will bring together defence ministers, foreign ministers and prime ministers or presidents for talks Thursday and Friday that will shape the prospects for military intervention via a no-fly zone, humanitarian aid and economic props.
"The policy is getting him to go as soon as possible," said a senior EU diplomat of Colonel Moamer Kadhafi, the one-time pariah whose rehabilitation by Britain, France, Italy and others is now the subject of global hand-wringing.
"No one is expecting Kadhafi will melt away in the next few days, but we are developing a range of responses," added the source, who requested anonymity.
The stakes are high, with oil prices flying and the prospect of a flood of migrants crossing from north Africa into Europe uppermost in the minds of many.
The EU's 27 foreign ministers start the ball rolling in mid-morning when they arrive for talks preparing a full summit of leaders the next day.
Britain and France are lobbying for a United Nations Security Council imprimatur for a no-fly zone. But anxious Washington wants any military action conducted under the banner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, with Arab regional backing seen there as essential.