ELISABETH BUMILLER, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK & ALAN COWELL
US President Barack Obama ordered Colonel Muammar Gaddafi today to implement a ceasefire immediately and stop all attacks on Libyan civilians or face military action from the United States and its allies in Europe and the Arab world.
In one of the most forceful statements he has issued from the White House, Obama said that his demands were not negotiable: Gaddafi had to pull his forces back from major cities in Libya or the United States and its allies would stop him. Obama said that he was forced to act because Gaddafi had turned on his own people and had shown “no mercy on his own citizens”.
Obama said that with the passage on Thursday night of a United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing military action against Gaddafi to protect Libyan civilians, the US would not act alone, and in fact that France, Britain and Arab nations would take the lead.
That is the clear desire of the Pentagon, which has been strongly resistant to another American war in the Middle East. Obama said flatly that American ground forces would not enter Libya.
“Gaddafi has a choice,” he said. “The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Arab states agree that a cease-fire must be implemented immediately. That means all attacks against civilians must stop.”
The UN resolution — which passed with 10 votes, including that of the United States, and abstentions from Russia, China, Germany, Brazil and India — was written in sweeping terms to allow for a wide range of actions, including strikes on air-defense systems and missile attacks from ships.
“Let me be clear, these terms are not negotiable — these terms are not negotiable,” Obama said. “If Colonel Gaddafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences. The resolution will be enforced through military action.”
He set no deadline and gave no hint when the military action would commence, but said that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would travel to Paris on Saturday to consult with allies on further action. An allied military strike against Libya did not appear to be imminent.
Specifically, Obama said, Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing against the town of Benghazi and pull them back from other cities, and water, electricity and gas supplies must be allowed in, as well as other humanitarian aid.
He spoke as the United States, Britain and France pushed forward against Libya on Friday as they declared that a ceasefire abruptly announced by Gaddafi’s government was not enough, and as reports came in from the region of continuing attacks in some places.
Clinton, echoing remarks hours earlier by Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, said in Washington on Friday morning that the United States would be “not responsive or impressed by words.”’ She said that the allies would “have to see actions on the ground, and that is not yet at all clear.”
Only hours after the United Nations Security Council voted late Thursday to authorize military action and a no-fly zone, Libya executed a remarkable about-face on Friday, saying it would call an “immediate cease-fire and the stoppage of all military operations” against rebels seeking to oust Gaddafi.
But people fleeing the eastern city of Ajdabiya said government forces were still bombing and conducting other assaults.
The announcement of the ceasefire came from Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa. In London, Cameron told the House of Commons that the British Air Force would deploy Tornado jets and Eurofighter Typhoon warplanes, “as well as air-to-air refueling and surveillance aircraft.”
“Preparations to deploy these have already started, and in the coming hours they will move to airbases from where they can take the necessary action,” Cameron said.
Obama administration officials said that allied action against Libya had to include the participation of Arab countries and were insistent, as one senior official put it, that the red, green and black of Arab nations’ flags be prominent in military operations. As of Thursday night, the US said it had firm commitments from both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to contribute fighter jets to the effort, and that Jordan had also agreed to take part, although to what extent was not yet clear by Friday.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Cameron will attend the meeting in Paris on Saturday with European, European Union, African Union and Arab League officials to discuss Libya, Sarkozy’s office announced. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations will also take part, his office said.
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