7 Can the coalition send ground forces in?
The resolution excludes the possibility of a “foreign occupation force”. Legally, that means that ground forces can be used as long as they do not exercise effective control over the territory.
Asked whether he could guarantee that no ground forces would be used, Mr Cameron told the Commons:
What I can guarantee is that we will stick to the terms of the UN resolution, which absolutely and specifically rules out an occupying force. We have to be clear: we are not talking about an invasion; we are not talking about an occupying force; we are talking about taking action to protect civilian life, and I think that is the right thing to do.
There is speculation that British Special Forces are on the ground in Libya, helping the Air Force to select targets and, it is reported, aborting one RAF mission because civilians were too close to the target. The government has denied the suggestion.
On 3 April, Mr Hague clarified the government’s position:
We’re sticking very closely here to the United Nations resolution… which makes very clear there must be no foreign occupation of any part of Libya and we will stick to that. There have already been circumstances in which we’ve sent small special forces in to Libya. We rescued people from the desert a few weeks ago as you will remember through doing that. So circumstances can arise where limit, such limited operations take place, but there is going to be no large scale ground force placed in Libya by the United Kingdom.
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