Philip Hammond 'less than candid' over plan for United Kingdom troops in Libya

Philip Hammond, the British foreign secretary, has been accused of a lack of openness as he faces fresh calls to set out plans for troop deployments in Libya, according to the Guardian.

A testy letter from the foreign affairs select committee charges Hammond with being less than candid, not straightforward, and leaking details of their correspondence to the media.

The call for a statement came as the newly installed Libyan government held back from an immediate request for the use of western ground troops to combat the growing threat of Daesh in the north of the country and help stabilise the oil-rich country riven by five years of civil war.

The chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Crispin Blunt, wrote to Hammond on Tuesday saying his committee remained “deeply concerned about potential British involvement in Libya”.

He repeated his request for Hammond to make a full Commons statement on current UK deployment in Libya and future plans as well as to set out his assessment of the effectiveness of the Government of National Accord, the new UN-recognised body claiming to run the country.

Blunt had originally raised with Hammond the issue of the British contribution to a Libyan International Assistance Mission after a briefing with UK embassy officials in Tunis and Cairo suggested as many as 1,000 UK troops are set to be deployed.

In his letter he writes: “The welcome candour of the briefings by all who we met in Tunis and Cairo contrasts with the less than candid reply to my request for detail on a rapidly developing situation that may require further active British engagement.”

He adds that the diplomatic challenge in Libya can only be made more difficult by the Foreign Office not dealing straightforwardly with parliament.

In a letter briefed to a Sunday newspaper, Hammond had accused Blunt of misunderstanding or enhancing briefings with UK diplomats in Tunis and Cairo. But Blunt in his letter claimed Hammond’s denials were so narrowly drawn “as to be wholly and deliberately misleading to the uninformed reader”.

The US military claimed this week that the number of Daesh fighters in Libya has doubled in the past year to between 4,000 and 6,000.

The Italian foreign minister, Paulo Gentiloni, visited Tripoli on Tuesday amid growing concerns about the number of refugees being picked up in boats off the Italian coast. 

Source : MENA