End game in Libya

Though the Foreign Secretary’s surprise trip was always going to prompt a hostile response from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, this conflict will have to be solved, at some stage, by diplomatic means – and, hopefully, this is the beginning of that process.

It should also be remembered that Mr Hague would have faced far greater criticism, from human rights campaigners, if Britain, and others, had not intervened to prevent pro-Gaddafi forces carrying out a mass slaughter of Libya’s freedom fighters.

This is one lesson that has been learned from the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 and which will be at the centre of former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic’s forthcoming war crimes trial.

Yet there is a danger of “mission creep” taking place as Britain’s military undertakings escalate with the use of Apache attack helicopters, Nato extending its mission by a further 90 days and Britain putting an International Stabilisation Response Team on standby.

These are probably the right things to do, but the Foreign Secretary – and his Nato counterparts – need to be far clearer on how they intend to bring Colonel Gaddafi’s tyranny to an end. For Libya’s ruler is proving to be a very stubborn foe, despite key targets in Tripoli being bombed round the clock.

He clearly intends to fight to the finish, rather than accept the will of his people who seek the democratic freedoms now spreading across North Africa and the Middle East. Yet the question for Mr Hague is this: despite Britain helping to avert an even greater humanitarian crisis in Benghazi, Misrata and elsewhere, what is the end game – and how will this be achieved?