TEN British military officers are to be sent to Libya to train Libyan counter-revolutionaries along with a number of French officers.
Foreign Secretary Hague announced yesterday that ‘The National Security Council has decided that we will now move quickly to expand the team already in Benghazi to include an additional military liaison advisory team.
‘This contingent will be drawn from experienced British military officers.’
Hague revealed that a ‘UK diplomatic team led by Christopher Prentice has been liaising closely with the opposition in Benghazi.’
Hague claimed it was ‘not boots on the ground, not fighting forces, not people to fight on the battlefield,’ but ‘we don’t rule out having to do certain things, for instance, a few weeks ago we had to extract certain people from the desert’.
Tory MP John Baron condemned the move, saying: ‘Many of us think we are being drawn into something that day by day looks to be a worsening situation’.
He called again for a recall of parliament and said: ‘There is clear evidence of mission creep.’
He added: ‘The no-fly zone has effectively become the airforce of the rebels and it smacks of regime change.’
Fellow Tory MP Peter Bone added: ‘We are now looking at regime change and we are clearly backing the rebels.
‘I’m not saying whether this is wrong or right, but parliament ought to be recalled to discuss it.’
Hague claimed the deployment was ‘fully within the terms’ of the UN Security Council Resolution on Libya.
The total number of British military personnel in Benghazi would be less than 20 after the new arrivals, the Foreign Office claimed, adding that there was already a ‘small team of defence advisers’ working in the eastern city.
It acknowledged that they would be carrying ‘sidearms’ to protect themselves.
The Foreign Office said the British officers will advise the rebels on intelligence-gathering, logistics, and communications and along with their French counterparts, will be run by a joint force headquarters.
Hague said the team ‘will enable the UK to build on the work already being undertaken to support and advise the NTC (National Transitional Council) on how to better protect civilians’.
He added: ‘In particular they will advise the NTC on how to improve their military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance.’
Hague said the British section of the team will consist of ‘experienced British military officers’.
Hague claimed that the deployment was ‘fully within the terms of UNSCR 1973 both in respect of civilian protection and its provision expressly ruling out a foreign occupation force on Libyan soil’.
He added that the UK would not be returning to the UN Security Council to get its support for the Anglo-French move. The SAS and other special forces are believed to have been in Libya for the last eight weeks.