[1]France said on Thursday that it was now only a question of how Muammer Gaddafi's regime meets its downfall rather than whether the veteran Libyan ruler can survive in power.
"The question today is to know under what conditions Gaddafi goes, not how he's going to be able to hold on to power," Foreign Minister Alian Juppe told lawmakers.
"Besides protecting civilians, especially in (rebel bastion) Benghazi, we have already destabilised Gaddafi," he said as an international coalition continued to bombard Gaddafi's forces to prevent them attacking civilians.
Juppe however admitted that were differences of opinion among European Union members as to how to get Gaddafi to step down after four decades in power.
"Some of our partners feel that sanctions are sufficient. There is disagreement on this point."
Juppe noted that in UN Security Council resolutions authorising military intervention in Libya 'it is not written in black and white that we want to get rid of Gaddafi'.
But his departure is apparently now an inevitable outcome of the crisis for Britain, France and the United States, which have been at the vanguard of military operations in Libya, Juppe said.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/nursejpgcropdisplayjpg-285