Havel sees West's intervention in Libya as necessary

March 7 (CTK) - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is convinced that a military intervention of Western countries will be necessary in Libya if the civil war continues there, he said in an interview for yesterday's issue of daily Hospodarske noviny (HN).

Havel called Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi an insane criminal who must be removed from power.

The West should learn a lesson from the situation in former Yugoslavia where an intervention against Serbia was postponed for long, Havel added.

Havel told the paper that if the fights in Libya continued and Gaddafi kept committing further and further crimes, Western countries must intervene.

"It (the intervention) can have various forms. From the aid to local rebels through the blockade of airspace to a targetted attack on the places where Gaddafi is hiding," Havel told HN.

Havel said previously that the whole world considered Gaddafi "an odd phenomenon" or "a jester."

"And the whole world was wrong. It turned out that he was an insane criminal," Havel pointed out.

The lesson from the Yugoslavia should make the West act really quickly in the case of Libya even if such a decision were unpopular now, Havel said.

The unrest in Libya arouse in mid-February. Gaddafi, who was in power for over 40 years, refused to give up. He claims he is fighting against terrorism.

The conflict stirred up a humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of people fled from Libya, mainly to the neighbouring Tunisia.

A possible intervention against Gaddafi is being discussed in Western countries.

Havel, 74,playwright and anti-communist dissident, was Czechoslovak president after the collapse of the communist regime from December 1989 to 1992 and Czech president in 1993-2003. Since he left the post, Havel has primarily focused on human rights in the world.