WHEN CARICOM  leaders  deal with the agenda item on “Community Relations and Foreign Policy Coordination” at their 32nd regular annual summit which begins in Basseterre on this Friday, they can hardly avoid the Libyan crisis of NATO bombing raids and the killings of civilians in addition to deaths caused by forces opposed to and supporting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
They would be well aware of the position adopted in early May by their Foreign Ministers, and since endorsed, expressing CARICOM’s support for the initial call by the African Union (AU) urging an immediate end to the ongoing bombing raids by NATO war planes that were contributing to the rising death toll and destruction in that North African state, that also happens to be among the richest oil nations.
CARICOM Foreign Ministers were specific in calling—consistent with the AU’s stand—for a speedy resort to a resolution process “that would reflect the legitimate demands  and aspirations of the Libyan people…”
However, while the UN Security Council remained inactive in reviewing its controversial majority-approved “no fly zone” resolution on Libya that NATO countries have been exploiting for “regime change” in Tripoli, both the AU and the Arab League have sharpened their demands for a halt to the war against Libya that no longer masks a design to get rid of the Gaddafi regime.
Against the backdrop of the horrible tragedies in Syria and other Middle Eastern states, such as Yemen and Bahrain, it is not only indecent but a serious threat to the rule of law for the UN Security Council to remain complacent in reviewing its original vote on Libya.
This, moreso,  since NATO war planes now go directly after Colonel Gaddafi in their bombing raids that are frequently wasting the lives of  the very people they were intended to save – Libyan civilians.
Within a week, earlier this month, both the AU and Arab League were separately warning the NATO war allies in Libya of the support they also stand to lose in the wider international community, not only in Africa and the Middle East, with their unchecked bombing raids and with absolutely NO indication of any interest in a cease-fire to allow serious negotiations between the Gaddafi regime and the rebel command located in Bengazi.
At a meeting on June 15 between the UN Security Council and the African Union High-Level Ad Hoc Committee on Libya, the AU made clear its position against the current NATO approach in Libya. Since CARICOM has working relationships with both the AU and Arab League, it would be interesting to learn what emerges out of the coming summit in St. Kitts and Nevis on NATO’s war on Libya.
(Courtesy yesterday’s Barbados Nation editorial)