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Canada FM pays secret visit to Libya

28 June 2011 00:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Canada’s newly appointed Foreign Minister John Baird paid a secret visit to Benghazi, Libya on Monday to meet with anti-Gaddafi rebels, APA reports quoting news.xinhuanet.com website.

The main aim of Baird’s first trip as foreign minister was to get a firm grip on how well-prepared the dissidents are to actually govern the country if Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi is deposed.

His visit came as a stalemate between Libyan dissident groups and Gaddafi forces prompted questions about whether the NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya is working.

"It was important to me to come here and get the facts for myself," Baird told The Canadian Press.

"Canada wants to be a part of the important transition," he said.

Baird spent half a day in rebel-held Benghazi to meet with the leader of the National Transitional Council (NTC) Mahmoud Jibril as well as some of his colleagues. And he delivered trauma kits to help their cause.

He said he’s pleasantly surprised at the caliber of Libya’s rebel council members, CBC News reported.

"I was frankly surprised -- pleasantly" at the capabilities of the rebel council members, he said. "I was very impressed with them."

But he added, "I don’t think we’re going to move from Gaddafi to Thomas Jefferson." The post-Gaddafi regime, he cautioned, "won’ t be perfect."

Canada recently joined European and Arab countries in recognizing the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

The group is setting itself up as an alternative to Gaddafi But some of Canada’s allies fear the council’s military strength and political know-how are too thin to do the job.

After Benghazi, the minister traveled on to visit Canadian military forces stationed in Sicily, Italy, who are spearheading the Canadian participation in the NATO-led bombing campaign against Libya.

Canada has seven fighter jets taking part in the NATO-led bombing campaign, along with a warship, surveillance planes and aerial refueling planes. There are about 650 military personnel engaged in the effort.