By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) -The United States and allies on Thursday asked the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to probe the forced grounding of an airliner in Minsk as Belarus insisted there had been no coercion, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
ICAO’s 36-nation governing council met on Thursday to examine demands for a probe. Poland, Ireland, Britain, Germany and Canada also backed the call, which appeared likely to secure the backing of a majority of the council, the source said.
Belarus scrambled a fighter and used a false bomb alert to divert the Ryanair flight to Minsk and detain a dissident Belarusian journalist. The plane, traveling from Athens to Vilnius, was almost in Lithuanian airspace when ordered to land.
The incident sparked international outrage and calls for sanctions against Belarus. Minsk accused the West of using the episode to wage “hybrid war.”
Belarus told the meeting that the airliner had not been forced down by authorities and that the pilot could have chosen to land in Lithuania, said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
Lithuania asked why passengers on board the plane had not been evacuated after landing, which is the normal practice for bomb scares, said the source.
The ICAO meeting was due to end at 1 pm ET (1700 GMT) but might not have an agreed statement ready until Friday, spokesman Anthony Philbin said by email. The council has limited powers of investigation.
Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan earlier told reporters that Dublin wanted ICAO to use Article 55e of its Convention, which allows an investigation into avoidable obstacles to the development of international navigation.
Montreal-based ICAO cannot impose binding rules on governments but wields clout through its safety and security standards, which are approved by its 192 member states.
“We wish to remind those who demanded we take punitive action against that country that our agency was never assigned that type of role or capability,” ICAO tweeted on Wednesday.
ICAO said officials from Belarus, Ireland, Lithuania, and Poland would also be present at the governing council meeting to underscore their priorities and concerns.
(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Conor Humphries in Dublin, Allison Martell in Toronto and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago. Editing by Bill Berkrot and Mark Potter)
