Libya’s shame
AS the rolling tide of revolutionary fervour, which swept away presidents in Egypt and Tunisia, swells in Libya, it would be wrong to underestimate Muammar Gaddafi. The bloody scenes of the weekend, in which up to 300 protesters are believed to have been killed, are a sign that if the ageing leader is to be removed, it will take longer than the 18 days which drove Hosni Mubarak out of Cairo.
A vicious crackdown on dissent in Benghazi, Libya’s second city, shows that Gaddafi’s regime remains dangerous and closed to the outside world, despite Britain’s attempts to normalise relations since Tony Blair’s “deal in the desert”.
While it may seem strange that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary and Richmond MP, has stopped short of demanding the removal of Gaddafi from power, this may be necessary, because the colonel could try to claim Western interference as a justification for a further use of force. Instead, pressure on the dictator to improve his dreadful record on human rights should be led by African states, in the hope that one day this awful leader will be forced from office.