OnIslam.net

LONDON – As the stalemate in the Libyan conflict continues, Britain has joined France in softening their position on having embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi going into exile.

"What is absolutely clear... is that whatever happens, Gaddafi must leave power," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told a London press conference Monday, July 25, ahead of talks with French counterpart Alain Juppe, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The top British diplomat said that Gaddafi can stay in Libya after leaving power.

"Obviously him leaving Libya itself would be the best way of showing the Libyan people that they no longer have to live in fear of Gaddafi," he said.

"But as I have said all along, this is ultimately a question for Libyans to determine," added Hague.

The softening tone marks a shift in the British stance as London earlier insisted that Gaddafi must leave the country as part of a settlement to the Libyan conflict.

But having Gaddafi going into exile expose him to arrest under a warrant on war crimes charges issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

London's new position comes after France floated a proposal stating that Gaddafi could stay on in Libya, provided he relinquishes power.

France and Britain are leading a NATO military campaign against Gaddafi after his troops launched a deadly crackdown on protestors demanding an end to his 42-year rule.

Estimates say that at least 10,000 people have been killed in the bloody crackdown.

Five months into the revolt against his rule, Gaddafi is still holding doggedly onto power despite weeks of NATO strikes on his military and command structures.

The conflict has now reached a stalemate, with Gaddafi in control of most of the west of the country, while the opposition is hemmed in to their stronghold in the east and a few pockets in the west.

Pressures

The shift in the British position is seen as a result of pressures on London over its involvement in the Libyan conflict.

"At the moment we are embroiled in two foreign conflicts: Afghanistan which we can do nothing about and Libya which we can," Government official told The Independent.

"If that means altering our insistence that Colonel Gaddafi has to leave Libya then so be it."

Prime Minister David Cameron also wants Britain's role in Libya to be over by the time of the Conservative Party Conference in October and the new Parliamentary session.

Cameron fears that without a decisive breakthrough by the Libyan opposition in Benghazi, allied action in Libya could drag on for months.

The British shift is also adopted by the Libyan opposition.

"Gaddafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions," opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told the Wall Street Journal.

"We will decide where he stays and who watches him. The same conditions will apply to his family."