The European Union, whose top leaders met at a two-day summit in Brussels, has adopted further sanctions against Libya under a United Nations Security Council resolution "to insure that oil and gas revenues do not reach the Kaddafi regime."
Technical details about implementation of the sanctions have yet to be determined. EU Member states will propose similar measures at the United Nations Security Council, the summit summit conclusions say on Friday.
"Tightening sanctions on oil and gas was necessary to ensure Kaddafi does not pay his mercenaries with oil resources," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, adopted last week in New York, calls for military intervention in Libya to protect civilians from attacks by Kaddafi’s forces. This intervention was spearheaded by France and Britain.
The Security Council under a separate resolution referred Kaddafi to the International Criminal Court for allegedly ordering attacks on unarmed civilians during upheavals in February.
In its conclusions, the EU summit reiterated its call on the Libyan leader to relinquish power immediately "in order to allow Libya to rapidly embark on an orderly and Libyan-led transition to democracy through a broad-based dialogue."
The EU "stands ready to help foster this dialogue, including with the National Transition Council, and assist a new Libya economically and in the building of its new institutions, in cooperation with the United Nations, the Arab League, the African Union and others."
At a press conference after the summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that Paris and London were preparing an initiative aimed at finding a "political and diplomatil solution" for Libya. "There will be a French-British initiative to show clearly that the solution is not only military," Sarkozy said.
He said he would like to associate Germany to this initiative. Germany broke ranks with France and Britain when it abstained during the vote of UN Security Council Resolution 1793 last week
"This military operation is not aimed at toppling Kaddafi,"the French president said. "It’s not for us to decide which should be the future Libyan government nor what should be Kaddafi’s fate," Sarkozy added.
EU Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, stressed to journalists that the EU showed "unity and determination" on Libya, stressing that the military action taken under the UN resolution "helped save thousands of lives."
In the meantime, NATO said it would take command of the opetrational enforcement of the no-fly zone, while strikes on Kaddafi’s forces on the ground will remain within the command of the US, France and Britain.
Sarkozy has insisted that the coordination of the international campaign in Libya must "remain eminently political" even if NATO takes military command of operations. "Operational, technical coordination will be at NATO level, but political coordination will be at the level of the coalition" launched by the United States, Britain and France, he said.
An international conference of Foreign Ministers to coordinate strategy and military operation against Kaddafi will be held next week in London.
During their Brussels meeting, the 27 EU heads of state or government also expressed their concern at the situation in other Arab countries, namely Syria, Yemen and Bahrein. "The European Council strongly condemned the escalation of violence and the use of force against demonstrators, and urged all parties concerned to engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue without delay or preconditions," said the conclusions.
Anti-government protests spread across Syria on Friday, challenging the regime of President Bashar al-Assad after its forces killed dozens of demonstrators in the south.
In the southern city of Deraa, which has been in revolt for a week, gunfire and tear gas scattered a crowd of thousands after people lit a fire under a statue of late president Hafez al-Assad, whose son Bashar has ruled since his death in 2000.