world business news: Post-Gaddafi Libya 'must learn from mistakes made in Iraq ...

Libya stabilisation report submitted by UK to Benghazi opposition outlines priorities after ceasefire

Britain is calling for a "politically inclusive settlement" in post-Gaddafi Libya that will take heed of the mistakes made in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.

A detailed "stabilisation document", overseen by the Department for International Development, has been submitted to the Benghazi-based Libyan opposition and sets out priorities after a ceasefire between the regime and rebels.

It assumes that Gaddafi ? wanted by the international criminal court for alleged crimes against humanity ? will leave or be forced from power, but it does not predict when that will happen. "It (the stabilisation process) must be Libyan-owned and United Nations-led," Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, said on Tuesday. "The work seeks to ensure that the international community learns the lessons of what happened in Iraq."

Issues range from preventing looting and revenge attacks to providing basic services, and ensuring effective communications to ensure Libyan citizens know what is happening at a time of uncertainty. Unarmed UN monitors would most likely police a ceasefire if the environment was "benign" but there are discussions about a heavier peacekeeping force. Turkey, Nato's only Muslim member, is expected to play a key part.

Britain, playing a leading role in Nato's bombing campaign, has ruled out contributing to any peacekeeping force on the principle that it will not put "boots on the ground", insisted Mitchell.

Security and justice are the second of five priorities, with the recommendation that Libya should not follow the Iraqi example of disbanding the army, which has been seen by some officials as a strategic mistake that helped fuel the insurgency in the sensitive and volatile circumstances after Saddam Hussein's overthrow.

"The report has learned the lesson of Iraq about the importance of using to the maximum possible extent existing structures," Mitchell said. "One of the first things that should happen once Tripoli falls is that someone should get on the phone to the former Tripoli chief of police and tell him he has got a job and he needs to secure the safety and security of the people of Tripoli. Of course, at that stage the sanctions on assets will be unfrozen and money will be able to flow much more easily than it is at the moment so as well as having a job he might actually get paid."

Benghazi's rebel leaders "have spent some time working out who to call at that point and who to engage with to demonstrate the importance of good order". The US, Britain and the UN would have "strong input" into a post-Gaddafi political settlement; the EU, Nato and the UN would take the lead on issues of security and justice; Australia, Turkey and the UN would help with basic services; Turkey, the US and the international financial institutions would lead on the economy. But, added Mitchell: "It is incredibly important that the whole of this process is Libyan-owned. This has been done as a service to the Libyan people."

The 50-page report, which includes recommendations on infrastructure, oil exports and basic services such as education, water and health, was produced by the UK-led international stabilisation response team, and is expected to win Libyan opposition, international and Arab approval at a meeting of the Libyan contact group in Istanbul in mid-July.

"The position for Colonel Gaddafi is getting more and more difficult every day," said Mitchell. "In military terms he has lost half of all his capacity. The international criminal court arrest warrants ? have sent a signal to Gaddafi's militias and his supporters. In the days of the mobile phone you can photograph human rights violators and war criminals in action. People at all levels, including in his militias, are leaving and defecting. All of this suggests that his time is limited."