Allies Expand Libya Air Campaign, Debate Chain of Command

Allies Expand Libya Air Campaign, Debate Chain of Command

March 22, 2011, 8:34 AM EDT

(Updates with oil prices in fifth paragraph, Erdogan in seventh, Turkish offer in 13th. For more on Middle East turmoil, see EXTRA and MET.)

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Allied forces expanded their air campaign over Libya to thwart Muammar Qaddafi’s fighters and enable rebels to regain control of cities, as leaders debated who should be in overall control of the operation.
Aerial strikes enabled rebel forces to push out from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi as the United States Africa Command indicated that an F-15E jet crashed because of technical difficulties. At the same time, Norway is keeping its fighters grounded until there is clarity on the chain of command as France, the U.K. and allies including Turkey and the Arab states struggle to agree on whether NATO should guide the operation.
“The biggest obstacle to the Libyan intervention right now isn’t the Arab world but rather differences among France, the U.K. and the U.S. about who’s in charge,” Jan Techau, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels and former NATO defense analyst, said by telephone.

The conflict, which began in February in Benghazi, is the bloodiest in a series of uprisings that have spread across the Middle East this year and ousted the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. Five members of the UN Security Council abstained from last week’s resolution that authorized the military operation, which is intended to limit civilian casualties.

Oil Markets

Oil traded near the highest price in more than a week as the airstrikes threatened to prolong a supply disruption. Crude for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was at $102 a barrel, down 33 cents, at 11 a.m. London time, after rising as high as $102.67. Yesterday, it gained $1.26 to $102.33, the highest settlement since March 10. Tension in the region is adding a risk premium of $15 to $20 a barrel to Brent oil prices, according to Societe Generale SA.

Libyan rebels in Benghazi said they have created a new national oil company to replace the corporation controlled by Qaddafi. Its assets were frozen by the United Nations Security Council. Libya has the largest oil reserves of any country in Africa, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

The option of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization taking charge of military operations may hinge in part on the extent of reservations expressed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Dialogue with the Libyan regime must continue, the premier said today in a speech to his party in parliament. Turkey has doubts over whether military intervention is justified, he said.

NATO Debate

Both Britain and Italy supported giving leadership to NATO, which requires unanimous approval from its member countries, including Turkey. The Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday that NATO should “take on the command and control” of military operations.

Complicating matters, Arab League countries, who called for the no-fly zone, may not want to operate under NATO’s leadership, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a news conference March 20.
U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said Spain, Belgium, Denmark and Qatar have joined the coalition. The U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Canada have at least 25 ships off the coast of Libya, including the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and the Italian carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi
The U.K. and U.S. were angered by France’s decision to launch the first attack March 20 without fully consulting its allies, the London-based Financial Times reported today, citing unidentified diplomats.



Lack of Strategy

“I’m not convinced we have much of a strategy or goals. Our own set-up and lack of a real plan is more worrying than a backlash in the Arab world, which so far isn’t happening,” said Techau.
Turkey has assumed diplomatic functions in Libya on behalf of the U.S., U.K., Italy and Australia at their request, Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said today.

The Turkish embassy in Tripoli, which played a key role in negotiating the release of foreign journalists held in custody by Libyan forces, agreed to perform consular and diplomatic functions for the four nations after they closed their missions, Unal said in a telephone interview today.

As allied planes targeted radars operated by loyalist forces, rebel troops moved west from Benghazi toward Ajdabiya, the Associated Press reported. In Misrata, the largest rebel- held city in the west of the country, Qaddafi’s forces shelled the main electricity station, cutting off power from most parts of the city, Mohamed al-Misrati, a resident who witnessed the attack, said by satellite phone from the city.

Civilian Casualties

Dozens of people were killed and more than 150 others wounded in the ongoing attack on the city, which involved tanks shelling residential areas, al-Misrati said. There are no reliable estimates of the number of casualties from the weeks of fighting.

On the crashed U.S. warplane, Kenneth Fidler, a spokesman for the United States Africa Command, said in a phone interview from Stuttgart, Germany that “indications are that it was not due to hostile action.” Both crew members ejected and were later rescued.

Attacks late yesterday targeted early warning radars, communication centers and surface-to-air missile sites in and around Tripoli and Misrata, aircraft hangers at the Ghardabiya airfield, and an armored convoy south of Benghazi. The coalition struck a command-and-control facility in a Qaddafi compound in Tripoli, General Carter Ham, the U.S. commander for combat operations against Libya, said yesterday.

Coalition Flights

The coalition flew between 70 and 80 sorties yesterday, with more than half conducted by non-U.S. aircraft, Ham said. France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and the U.K. enforced the no-fly zone over Benghazi and coalition vessels patrolled the coast, he said. Both Italy and France deployed aircraft carriers.

Obama and other alliance leaders, including U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have declared that their political objective is to force Qaddafi from power after more than four decades. Ham said it is “possible” the Libyan dictator would remain in power for some time.

China today called for an immediate cease-fire in the North African country. The United Nations resolution authorizing the military action was meant to “protect the safety of civilians,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a briefing in Beijing today.

“The military actions taken by relevant countries are causing civilian casualties,” Jiang said. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday described the allied offensive as a “crusade.”

--With assistance from Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul, John Fraher in London, Peter Hirschberg in Hong Kong, Brendan McGarry in Washington, and Grant Smith and Kitty Donaldson in London. Editors: Digby Lidstone, Louis Meixler.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brendan McGarry in Washington at bmcgarry2@bloomberg.net; Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net

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