London (Platts)--18Mar2011/1202 pm EDT/1602 GMT

The Libyan government will halt all military operations immediately and accept the demands of a UN resolution Thursday which approved a no-fly zone over the country, foreign minister Mussa Kussa said in Tripoli Friday.

"Libya has decided an immediate ceasefire and an immediate halt to all military operations," Kussa told a press conference.

He said that, because Libya is a member of the United Nations, it is "obliged to accept the UN Security Council's resolutions."

Kussa said Libya would also respect "all human rights" and seek dialog on the future of the country, and invited international observers to carry out "fact-finding" missions in the country.

"The Libyan state encourages the opening of all dialog channels with everyone interested in the territorial unity of Libya," he said.

Kussa said, however, that provisions of the resolution such as the no-fly zone, "which includes commercial and civilian flights [and] which will increase the suffering of the Libyan nation and Libyan people and will have a negative impact on the general life of Libyan people."

He said that the international community "should have exempted civilians from the resolution to secure their quality of life," and that "the total and inclusive freezing of all Libyan assets and investments will have a very negative impact on normal Libyans and also will negatively impact [Libya's ability] to fulfill its contracts and agreements locally and internationally."

It was also "very strange and unreasonable that the Security Council allows in its resolution the use of military power, and there are signs that this might indeed take place," Kussa said. "This goes clearly against the UN charter, and it's a violation of the national sovereignty of Libya," he added.

The UN Security Council late Thursday approved a no-fly zone over Libya against the forces of Moammar Qadhafi and voted to allow "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians.

The resolution, which also tightened sanctions on banks and companies controlled by the regime, was passed by a vote of 10 in favor to none against, with five abstentions--Brazil, China, Germany, India and Russia.

French government spokesman Francois Baroin, quoted by AFP, said earlier Friday that the military action against Libya would come "rapidly...within a few hours."

British premier David Cameron told parliament that UK military aircraft, including fighter jets and surveillance planes, would move to airbases "in the coming hours" to prepare to enforce the no-fly zone.

Cameron said the government was satisfied that the legal basis for the deployment of UK forces and assets had a "clear" and "unequivocal" legal basis and that UN Security Council resolution 1973 both authorized and set the limits of any action.

"Specifically, it excludes an occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, which was a clear agreement between all the sponsors of the resolution, including the United Kingdom and, of course the Arab League," he said.

Cameron said he had spoken with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan in recent days and that "a number of Arab nations have made clear that they are willing to participate themselves in enforcing the resolution."

He did not, however, say which Arab countries would participate.

Earlier Friday, AFP reported that Qatar would contribute to international efforts to protect Libyan civilians.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, asked to comment on Libya's ceasefire offer, said members of the 27-nation bloc were "looking at the details," AFP reported.

"On the military side, the critical questions will be for the military planners to work out what should be done. The issue of course is what's the significance of the statement on the ceasefire and how that fits in," she said, quoted by AFP.

--Margaret McQuaile, margaret_mcquaile@platts.com

--Robert Perkins, robert_perkins@platts.com

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