William Hague says Nato must increase efforts to destroy Gaddafi weapons

Any viable peaceful future for Libya means Gaddafi must go, says foreign secretary

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• Richard Norton-Taylor
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 April 2011 14.18 BST
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William Hague speaking before the EU foreign ministers meeting, which he said would discuss increasing humanitarian aid to Libya. Photograph: Nicolas Bouvy/EPA
Nato countries must step up efforts to destroy heavy weapons in the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces, British and French foreign ministers said as they prepared for a meeting of EU ministers. Those fighting to enforce UN resolutions had to "maintain and intensify" their efforts through Nato, said William Hague. Alain Juppe, his French counterpart said not enough was being done to combat Gaddafi's troops. "Nato must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations," he said. For largely political reasons, France was reluctant to hand over the control of military operations to Nato on 31 March. However, in recent days Nato aircraft, some British, have increased their strikes. Reuters news agency reported that forces loyal to Gaddafi bombarded the western entrance to the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah in eastern Libya. A witness reported about eight blasts, apparently from artillery, around the western entrance. Ajdabiyah, which sits on a junction of routes that lead into the rebel-held east, has been a focus of fierce battles in the past two months. Before joining other EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Hague said: "Any viable future for Libya involves the departure of Colonel Gaddafi." He repeated: "To have any viable peaceful future for Libya, Colonel Gaddafi needs to leave." He said the meeting would discuss how to increase humanitarian aid to the Libyan population. Hague told journalists: "Events in the Middle East are the most important events so far in the 21st century in the world, and the responsibility of the European Union is commensurate with the historic nature of those events." It was crucial for Europe, through bold and positive policies, to be "a magnet for positive change", Hague added. A Reuters/Ipsos Mori poll found most people in Britain, Italy and the US felt their country could not afford military action, while a majority in all countries polled except France felt Nato action in Libya did not have clear objectives. However, the poll, conducted last week, found that 63% of Britons, 71% of Americans, 67% of the French, and 76% of Italians wanted the west to help oust Gaddafi.