To Amr Moussa Secretary General of the League of Arab States
media_general.dept[at]las.int
I write as a Green Party political activist in the UK, deeply concerned at the developing humanitarian situation in Libya.
I am glad that the League of Arab States has recognised that there is a clear legal basis for intervention in Libya under the UN's Responsibility to Protect. This is already being implemented in the seizure of Gadafi's financial assets.
The Libyan people have made very clear that they do not want foreign soldiers on their soil, but equally clear that they want and need protection from Gaddafi's bombers under the UN's Responsibility to Protect. Specific calls for a No Fly Zone from the Libyan Interim Transitional National Council are uncertain, but it is clear that if Gaddafi uses his jets to bomb civilian areas, those calls will come, and so the international community had best make preparations.
I am aware of all the dangers and difficulties of a NFZ, not least the perception that it can be interpreted as yet another intervention by the West in Arab affairs.
Therefore it is be much to be preferred that the Arab League itself should deliver the NFZ. You have rightly concluded that you are in favour of it.
I very much hope that the proposal that the Arab League undertake to implement a Libyan NFZ, if requested by the Libyan people and the UNSC, on the agenda of your meeting this week, and that plans for implementation and even moving hardware into position takes place so that delivery is possible as soon as the decision is taken.
Given the enormous stakes that hang on the outcome of the Libyan uprising, and given the existence of the Responsibility to Protect policy, the international community has an obligation to implement a No-Fly Zone, and the best agency to deliver it is the Arab League.
Sincerely
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