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British lawmaker demands recall of parliament over Libya mission

Arab World Materials 15 April 2011 17:10 (UTC +04:00)
A British politician Friday demanded the recall of parliament to debate the terms of the ongoing military mission in Libya - in the wake of a joint call by Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the United States and France for regime change.
British lawmaker demands recall of parliament over Libya mission

A British politician Friday demanded the recall of parliament to debate the terms of the ongoing military mission in Libya - in the wake of a joint call by Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the United States and France for regime change, DPA reported.

Cameron, President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy repeated their call that Moamer Gaddafi must step down in a joint article in the Times, Le Figaro and the International Herald Tribune Friday.

The article came in the wake of meetings of the Libya Contact group in Doha this week, and a NATO foreign ministers conference in Berlin.

But parliamentarian John Baron said Friday such a call went beyond the terms of the United Nations resolution endorsing military action in the strife-torn North African state.

Baron - who was the only lawmaker from Britain's senior ruling- coalition Conservative party to vote against military action in Libya - said that the mission in Libya "has changed quite significantly."

Originally, he said "the emphasis was very much on humanitarian assistance. This has changed into a mission of regime change.

"If one was being charitable one would say that this is mission creep. If one was being uncharitable, one would say this was always the underlying motive."

His verdict echoes that of the French Defence Minister, Gerard Longuet, who also Friday suggested in Paris that the mandate had now changed beyond the terms of the UN resolution.

"Resolution 1973 ... did not speak about Gaddafi's future," Longuet told French television.

The British parliament is currently on an Easter holiday until April 26. A recall, which would have to be ordered by the Speaker of the House of Commons, would be an extremely rare occurrence.

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