The South African Civil Society Information Service

BRICS vs War on Libya

16 Apr 2011

With growing economies and a population of nearly three billion people, do the U.S. and its Western allies have to listen to what the BRICS countries said at their summit this week? Robery Naimam of Just Foreign Policy tries to answer this question put to him by Russia Today.

The BRICS countries represent 40% of the world's population, they're all on the UN security council with two having permanent seats. The BRICS represent a 5th of the global economy.

According to Naiman part of the global debate over the Libyan conflict has to do with geopolitics and economic influence.

The coalition that has implemented the UN resolution on Libya cannot say that they are representing the international community if the BRICS (with the exception of South Africa) disagreed with the UN resolution by abstaining from voting.

Naiman believes that the individual BRICS countries voted the way they did because they were blindsided. He argues that they didn't have a chance to develop a co-ordinated response before the UN resolution was passed.

Part of the problem is that there were huge differences even within NATO with respect to the military intervention. Britain and France were the cheerleaders, while Germany and Turkey were opposed to it. The US was apparently a somewhat reluctant participant and has now pulled back from its own military involvement to some degree.

There is also a dispute about the political parameters of the dispute with the British and the French backed by the US, essentially reinterpreting the UN security council resolution. For them a ceasefire would necessarily mean overthrowing the Libyan government.

The BRICS nations support the African Union plan for a resolution of the conflict in Libya which is based on a diplomatic solution.

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