France to send military liaison officers to Libya

PARIS, Apr 20 (agencies): France, jointly with Britain, will send military liaison officers to opposition rebel forces locked in a conflict with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's army. Government spokesman Francois Baroin stressed France had no intention of sending troops into Libya, where Western powers are struggling to break a deadlock in a two-month-old conflict. "A small number of liaison officers (will be placed) with the National Transition Council in order to organise the protection of the civilian population," he told a news briefing. He said they would number up to 10 and that this was an initiative in partnership with the Western-led coalition intervening in Libya. The French officers are expected to advise rebel leaders on how to organise their ragtag forces, which are struggling against Gaddafi's bigger, better-armed and better-trained army. Meanwhile:A rebel official in Libya's besieged city of Misrata pleaded for Britain and France to send troops to help fight Muammar Gaddafi's forces, while a son of the strongman said he was "very optimistic" his father's regime will prevail. A senior member of Misrata's governing council, Nuri Abdullah Abdullati, said they were asking for the troops on the basis of "humanitarian" principles, in the first request by insurgents for boots on the ground. Previously, he told reporters, "we did not accept any foreign soldiers in our country, but now, as we face these crimes of Gaddafi, we are asking on the basis of humanitarian and Islamic principles for someone to come and stop the killing." "Before we were asking for no foreign interference, but that was before Gaddafi used Grad rockets and planes. Now it's a life or death situation."