Prime Minister & Foreign Secretary on the death of Qadhafi
PM David Cameron says people in Libya have an even greater chance now of building themselves a strong and democratic future.
“I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Qadhafi’s victims, from those who died in connection with the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street and obviously all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex.
“We should also remember the many, many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal dictator and his regime.
“People in Libya today have an even greater chance, after this news, of building themselves a strong and democratic future.
“I’m proud of the role that Britain has played in helping them to bring that about and I pay tribute to the bravery of the Libyans who have helped to liberate their country.
“We will help them, we will work with them and that is what I want to say today.”
The Foreign Secretary William Hague said the death of Qadhafi would allow the people of Libya to move on.
“It brings much closer the moment when they can declare liberation, form a transitional government, set the clock ticking towards elections eight months later and everybody can concentrate on a free and democratic future for Libya with far better relations with its neighbours and other countries in the world than it’s had under Qadhafi. So all of that is an exciting prospect now before the Libyan people.
“I hope going forward our role is much more to give advice and expertise on stabilising the country, we’re already doing a lot of that, rather than a military involvement. And the challenges are, well there are many militias that have taken place, taken part in the revolution in Libya, they need bringing in to a unified system under the authority of a transitional Government. So that work now is quite urgent.”