THE GOVERNMENT is expecting a response from Britain as to whether it is considering basing Eurofighter Typhoon jets at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.
Asked to comment on reports in the British press that the UK was considering using its air base in Cyprus to police Libyan skies, Stefanou said the government contacted the British government after reading the same media reports.
“We’ve had some contacts and we are expecting to get some information on this issue. We still have nothing,” he said.
Asked if Britain is obliged to inform and request permission from the Republic of Cyprus for such activities, Stefanou referred to the treaties signed regarding operation of the British Bases in Cyprus. “As far as I know information must be given on this issue,” he said.
On Monday, British Prime Minister David Cameron was quoted saying that he has asked the head of Britain’s armed forces to work with allies to examine whether a no-fly zone was possible over Libya.
Cameron has been considerably vocal in his calls to take concerted action against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, referring to the need to prevent him from attacking Libyan civilians by air again.
However a senior US military official said yesterday establishing a no-fly zone in Libya would be a ‘challenging’ military operation.
“My military opinion is that it would be challenging,” General James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, told a Senate hearing. “You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here. It would be a military operations – it wouldn’t be just telling people not to fly airplanes.”
US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice stopped short of saying the Obama administration was ready to impose a no-fly zone over Libya that would prevent Gaddafi using aircraft against rebels fighting against him.
Cameron said it was unacceptable that “Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people using airplanes and helicopter gunships.”
The Times newspaper quoted UK officials saying that one option for enforcing a no-fly zone would be to station Typhoons in the Akrotiri base.
Sky News yesterday reported that two VC10 tanker aircraft are already in Cyprus and have been offering support during the extraction of civilians from Libya. Sky said the UK’s Ministry of Defence was contemplating using the tanker aircraft to assist any Typhoons stationed in Cyprus.
The Financial Times (FT) quoted UK officials saying: “Akrotiri would be very useful if we wanted to deploy. That would seem most logical.”
Various media reports suggest the chances of securing approval for a no-fly zone from the UN Security Council or NATO appear slim. According to the FT, Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said intervention by NATO in Libya was “unthinkable” and described any such thought as an “absurdity”. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO.
Britain’s two military bases in Cyprus, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, are the remnants of its colonial legacy on the island. Britain succeeded in negotiating sovereignty over the bases when Cyprus gained its independence in 1960 from British colonial rule.
Last December, WikiLeaks released a number of US diplomatic cables which revealed that Britain was concerned over Cypriot “hypersensitivity” and human rights violations regarding use of its Akrotiri airbase for CIA rendition flights.
According to the cables, British officials voiced concern that the British government could be complicit in the torture of suspects through use of its RAF Akrotiri airbase by US spy planes. The US dismissed British concerns saying they risked the spread of terrorism.
