In a remarkable move, France has recognised the council in Benghazi fighting to oust Muammar Qaddafi from power. “Democracy is a right for all people,” Sarkozy said, urging the EU to recognise the opposition “because nothing would be worse than to see a country in a situation like Somalia, without leaders and representatives.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union needed to send a united signal, “since ‘divide and rule’ would only play into the hands of Qaddafi.” The council France recognised is an umbrella group of Libyan rebels based in the eastern city of Benghazi, which was taken over in a deadly uprising that has spread throughout much of the oil-rich North African country. France’s European Union partners have not followed Paris’s lead and an EU summit in Brussels on March 11 stopped short of deciding on backing a no-fly zone or other military measures against Qaddafi.
Libya however announced, on March 11, the suspension of its diplomatic relations with France. “Today the decision has been taken to suspend diplomatic relations with France,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told journalists in Tripoli. “It’s clear the French government is concentrating on dividing Libya.”