Skip to main content

French press review 22 February 2011

The situation in Libya dominates Tuesday morning's front pages.

Advertising

The Le Monde headline reads "Libya's bloody revolution continues behind closed doors," a reflection of the fact that dependable information on the numbers involved in anti-regime protests, the numbers of dead, the alleged use of airborne anti-tank weapons against demonstrators, even the whereabouts of the Supreme Leader, Muamer Khadafi, all remain difficult to confirm.

Le Monde says hundreds of people have died. Human Rights Watch puts the confirmed death toll at 233, while an unnamed western diplomat tells Le Monde there could be as many as 1,000 dead.

Le Figaro has "Khadafi's Libya in blood and flames". Communist l'Humanité's front-page headline reads "Khadafi against his people". Libération's summary is the stark "Libyan massacre". And even the normally sobre business paper, Les Echos, goes for "Khadafi's regime on the brink."

All analysts point to the similarities and differences between the revolt in Libya and those in Tunisia and Egypt.

The similarities are a long-standing, dictatorial regime - Khadafi's 42-year-reign makes Ben Ali and Moubarak look like mere beginners - and the massive involvement of ordinary people calling for change.

The differences are in the level of violence on both sides, and in the degree of support Khadafi appears to have been able to mobilise. Le Figaro points out that he has always been careful to balance tribal interests in awarding key posts. He has skillfully used the machinery of the People's Council, the Revolutionary Committee, and the army to maintain his own iron grip. All of which suggests that a Tunisian or even Egyptian resolution of this crisis is unlikely. All commentators raise the very real spectre of civil war in Libya.

The day's other main story concerns last weekend's meeting here in Paris of the finance ministers of the so-called G20 nations, the world's twenty most powerful economies, accounting between them for no less than 85 per cent of the world's wealth.

The meeting was a disaster, with very little consensus on how to help the global economy down the road to recovery. The Chinese don't want to be criticised for having heaps of cash in reserve and a grossly under-valued currency. Since nobody else wants to antagonise China, the rest of the lads agreed to say nothing, and smile while saying it.

The problem with the G20, says Le Monde, is that the interests of individual nations tend to make any overall agreement impossible. With several member nations facing elections in the near future, the idea of sacrificing national demands to the broader good seems even less likely than it ever did.

Le Monde says the conditions for a continuation of financial crisis remain in place, and no one has the political courage to do a damn thing about it.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.