A second U.N. Security Council authorizing expanded armed intervention in Libya is "impossible," Spain's defense minister said here Tuesday, adding that the goal of the current military operation should be to "create spaces for politics."
The Spanish government wants to see strongman Moammar Gadhafi depart Libya "as soon as possible," but regime change is not the aim of the U.N.-approved military operation, Carme Chacon told the defense committee of the lower house of Parliament.
She appeared before the committee to ask for a two-month extension of Spain's role in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya, as well as possible Spanish assistance for U.N.-authorized operations providing humanitarian aid.
The minister said that the Spanish government wants both Gadhafi to step down and a cease-fire to be declared.
But she insisted that the goal of the military operation is to protect the civilian population by establishing a no-fly zone and a naval embargo to prevent arms and mercenaries from entering Libya.
"That is the mission of the (Spanish) armed forces...and nothing else," Chacon said.
The defense minister acknowledged that Libya runs the risk of becoming a "failed state," something that she said must be "avoided at any price" by supporting diplomatic endeavors.
Now, she said, the allies are asking Spain to continue helping maintain the no-fly zone for two more months, since a total of three months is a period that has been considered "reasonable" by both the United Nations and NATO.
She said that any new mission of humanitarian aid, in case the United Nations requests it, will consist for the Spanish armed forces of escort duties for the evacuation of civilians by air or sea, and the provision of ships for carrying food, medicine and other needed goods.
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