France rejects Italian Libya ceasefire call

France has opposed Italy’s call for a suspension in hostilities in Libya. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday called for a “humanitarian” pause, but French officials said that it would help Moamer Kadhafi’s forces.

Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

"We have seen the effects of the crisis and therefore also of Nato action not only in eastern and south-western regions but also in Tripoli," Frattini told a parliamentary committee meeting. "I believe an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities is required in order to create effective humanitarian corridors."

He called for negotiations to continue on a more formal ceasefire and peace talks, he said

But France wants Nato and its allies to “intensify the pressure on Kadhafi”, foreign ministry spokesperson Bernard Valero said, claiming that a pause would allow Kadhafi to “play for time and reorganise”.

"Any pause is operations would risk allowing him to play for time and to reorganise. In the end, it would be the civilian population that would suffer from the smallest sign of weakness on our behalf," he said.

Frattini also called for more detailed information on Nato operations and condemned "the dramatic errors that hit civilians" after the alliance admitted that a bomb misfired at the weekend. Nine people were killed, according to the Libyan government.

Last week Nato warplanes hit a column of rebel vehicles.

But the Nato mission’s spokesperson insisted that “our reputation and credibility is unquestionable” and accused the Kadhafi regime of using human shields and firing missiles from mosques.

In other news in the Libyan conflict:

• China said it recognised the rebel Transitional National Council as an “important dialogue partner”, whose “representative nature” is increasing daily;
• Germany is looking for evidence of abuses by pro-Kadhafi forces so as to pass it on to the International Criminal Court but is “unlikely” to issue an arrest warrant itself, the federal prosecutors office said;
• Nato warplanes carried out raids on the western towns of Khomas and Nalut, according Libyan state media;
• New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Kadhafi’s forces of laying landmines in the Nafusa mountains near the Tunisian border.