Allies want U.S. to hold-off

Press, 15 April 1986, Page 10

Allies want U.S. to hold-off

NZPA-Reuter The Hague European Community Foreign Ministers holding an emergency meeting in The Hague will seek a diplomatic way to defuse the confrontation between Washington and Libya, according to Dutch officials.

Almost the entire United States Sixth Fleet, 30 warships carrying 170 jets and about 20,000 troops, is massed in the Mediterranean as President Ronald Reagan contemplates a retaliatory strike against Libya for its alleged support of terrorism.

A White House envoy, Vernon Walters, spent a busy week-end lobbying leaders in London, Bonn, and Paris. The Soviet Union accused Washington of meddling in the affairs of a sovereign State, and Libya’s leader Colonel Muammar Gadaffi has won backing from the 21-nation Arab League, and a pledge of unspecified Syrian support of the Americans’ strike. The Dutch, as holders of the rotating Community presidency, are hosting the hastily arranged meeting at the request of Spain and Italy, disturbed by Colonel Gadaffi’s threat last week to hit southern

European cities if N.A.T.O. forces attacked Libya.

The Netherlands and West Germany are leading moves to try to defuse the tension, but diplomats say some support for United States military plans could come from Britain and the new Right-wing Government in France.

West Germany’s Foreign Minister, Mr Hans-Dietrich Genscher, would fly to Washington after The Hague meeting, hoping to offer West European advice that a military strike against Libya would be counterproductive, Bonn officials said.

The West German Interior Minister, Dr Friedrich Zimmermann said that Bonn had no firm evidence of Libyan involvement in the April 5 bombing of a West Berlin discotheque in which two people were killed. The discotheque . was frequented by United States soldiers and the Americans have blamed Libya for the bombing. Mr Reagan will discuss possible military action with his national security advisers today, but one official said a conciliatory

signal from Tripoli could defuse the crisis. John Whitehead, a deputy Secretary of State, said that any United States plans for retaliation could be dropped if Colonel Gadaffi were to end his Government’s support of terrorist activities. Colonel Gadaffi could accomplish this by “simply calling off the actions that he is now planning,” Mr Whitehead said.

United States intelligence operatives had learned of “literally dozens of future terrorist actions around the world” that Colonel Gadaffi was planning or supporting at the present time. He gave no details, and offered no evidence.

Libya said yesterday it opposed all terrorism and called for Arab support if it was attacked by the United States.

A Foreign Ministry statement issued by the official news agency, Jana, and monitored by the 8.8. C. denied any connection with “recent terrorist attempts and operations.”

If aggressive moves were made on Libya “it will retaliate forcefully,” the agency said.