India and 14 other members of the UN Security Council have agreed to hold yet another meeting of the powerful body to consider sanctions against the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya to end the brutal crackdown by forces loyal to him against anti-government protesters.
The UNSC, which met in an emergency session on Libya on Friday, will again hold talks from 2130 hrs IST on Saturday to discuss a draft resolution aimed at imposing sanctions on
the Gaddafi regime.
The Council would consider the draft resolution,"including specific targeted measures aimed at putting an end to violence, helping achieve a peaceful solution to the current crisis, ensuring accountability and respecting the will of the Libyan people," the UNSC President for this month, Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, said.
Meanwhile, French ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud,ruled out the military option to deal with the Libyan situation right now and sought a strong international response
to the crisis.
"Military operation is not an option at this stage, very clearly," Araud told reporters outside the UN Security Council. "The continuing brutal and bloody repression against the civilian population is appalling in Libya."
"As noted by the President of the French Republic (Nicolas Sarkozy), we follow these events with horror and compassion. Such use of force (by the Libyan regime) against its own people is shameful," he said.
The international community cannot remain a spectator faced with these massive violations of human rights, he said.
Araud's remarks came after the UN Security Council's emergency meeting on Friday, during which it discussed the draft resolution, introduced by the British Ambassador to the UN Sir Mark Lyall Grant. on sanctions against Libya.
"I was encouraged by the response from other Council members. We now need to move forward with the urgency that the situation demands. We need to act to bring an end to the
violence as soon as possible," the British Ambassador said in a statement.
"The seriousness of the situation in Libya requires a strong response from the international community. We have prepared with our British, German and US partners a draft resolution. It has been circulated among the members of the
Security Council," he said.
"We have had the first consultations right now on this text and I can say, quoting the Russian Ambassador that we have seen there is a large communality of views among the members of the Security Council," Grant said.
Araud said that "We want a robust text... which sends a clear message to the Libyan authorities," hoping that there is unanimity among Security Council members on sanctions.
"As for sanctions, there is absolutely no problem, everybody will agree on it. I can bet there is no problem on arms embargo... I don't see any reason why we wouldn't get a
resolution tomorrow," he said Friday evening.
"As for the sanctions it will be sanctions on targeted assets, and visa ban, all these usual sanctions. We have already a list of people who will be targeted by these sanctions. And of course, at the top of the list, there is the Gaddafi family. But you don't have only the Gaddafi family, you have the main members of the leadership," Araud said adding that the list includes some 20 people.