UN chief: Libya's violence must stop

[bluesky79]

Bangkok Post : UN chief: Libya's violence must stop

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Monday that violence in the country ``must stop immediately'' and called for a broad-based dialogue, a UN spokesman said.

Ban had ``extensive'' telephone talks with the beleaguered Libyan leader, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

``The secretary general expressed deep concern at the escalating scale of violence and emphasized that it must stop immediately.

``He reiterated his call for respect for basic freedoms and human rights, including peaceful assembly and information,'' Nesirky said.

In another development, Libyan security forces have launched an operation against ``dens of terrorists'' in a sweep that has killed a number of people, state television reported on Monday.

The report did not give further details on where the operation was being carried out nor on the identity of those being targeted.

Security forces ``stormed the dens of terrorists and saboteurs who are motivated by hatred,'' the report said.

It also urged citizens to cooperate with the authorities to restore security in the country which has been rocked since Thursday by protests against the regime of strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

State television separately showed what it said was ``live footage'' of pro-Kadhafi protests taking place at the landmark Green Square in central Tripoli.

 

[waltky]

Moammar needs to take a powder...

Libyan UN diplomats say Gadhafi should step down
Feb 21,`11 -- Key Libyan diplomats disowned Moammar Gadhafi's regime on Monday and the country's deputy U.N. ambassador called on the longtime ruler to step down because of its bloody crackdown on protesters.

The Libyan ambassador to the United States also said he could no longer support Gadhafi, and the ambassador to India resigned. Almost all Libyan diplomats at the United Nations backed deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi's pleas to Gadhafi to end his 40-year rule and to the international community to intervene. As diplomatic support for Gadhafi began to crumble, Dabbashi warned that if he doesn't leave, "the Libyan people will get rid of him."

Gadhafi's security forces unleashed the most deadly crackdown of any Arab country against the wave of protests sweeping the region, with reports Monday that demonstrators were being fired at from helicopters and warplanes. After seven days of protests and deadly clashes in Libya's eastern cities, the eruption of turmoil in the capital, Tripoli, sharply escalated the challenge to Gadhafi.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon late Monday expressed outrage at the reported aerial attacks, saying they would be "a serious violation of international humanitarian law," and again called for an immediate end to the violence, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Earlier Monday, Ban spoke to Gadhafi for 40 minutes urging a halt to the bloodshed, respect for human rights and protection of the civilian population.

Libya's ambassador in Washington, Ali Adjali, told BBC World that the reports of firing from warplanes spurred his decision not to support the government any more. "To me it is a very sad moment seeing Libyans killing other Libyans," he said. "I'm not supporting the government killing its people. ... I'm (not) resigning Moammar Gadhafi's government, but I am with the people. I am representing the people in the street, the people who've been killed, the people who've been destroyed. Their life is in danger."

Dabbashi, the deputy U.N. ambassador, also said he and the U.N. diplomats were not resigning because they served the people of Libya and not the regime. "This is in fact a declaration of war against the Libyan people," he told reporters, surrounded by a dozen Libyan diplomats. "The regime of Gadhafi has already started the genocide against the Libyan people." Dabbashi said he was writing to the U.N. Security Council calling for action to stop the bloodshed.

MORE

 

[waltky]

If dey won't lissen to the AL, mebbe dey'll lissen to Hillary...

Arab League: Violence Against Protesters Must Come to an End
February 22, 2011 - As protests and crackdowns in Libya intensify, international diplomats, including the head of the Arab League are calling for restraint. At the same time, top diplomats are looking for a way forward in Egypt, which has weathered its own - at-times bloody - popular uprising.

Of the various anti-government protests sweeping the Arab world, Libya's appears to be the bloodiest. Human rights groups and the United Nations are denouncing the violence and asking for investigations into the government's crackdown on protesters. Arab League chief Amr Moussa led an emergency session Tuesday to discuss Libya. Speaking at league headquarters in Cairo, Moussa said violence against protesters must come to an end. Moussa said it is a time of great change in the Arab world, and a violent response will not stop these changes.

Speaking alongside the Arab League chief at a news conference, Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he is concerned that civil war could break out in Libya. Later Tuesday, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on Libya's state television. Speaking for more than a hour, he said he would die on Libyan soil as a "martyr," and he called on his supporters to fight against those who challenge his more than four-decade rule. New York-based Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that witnesses in Tripoli report Libyan forces have fired randomly at protesters in the capital during the past two days. The rights' group adds that sources from hospitals in the capital report seeing at least 62 bodies, but it is difficult to confirm that figure.

Witnesses in other cities also report more attacks by forces loyal to Mr. Gadhafi. Much of the non-government information coming out of Libya is provided by amateur video and other witness reports. The government has tried to stem the flow by shutting down the Internet and interrupting phone service. Mr. Gadhafi has lost the support of some Libyan diplomats around the world. The nation's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said Monday that the international community must protect the Libyan people from what he called "the genocide it is facing now."

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who is in Cairo, called for nations to unite in their criticism of violent crackdowns on peaceful protesters. She emphasized that leaders and demonstrators must find a way forward. "But in the longer term, you know, as we say everywhere, it's for people in these countries to be able to feel that they have a say in their own future, a say in their own destiny, but to do that in a peaceful manner, and being here in Egypt is a very good example of how that can be done," Ashton said. Ashton announced that officials from around the globe will meet in Brussels Wednesday to discuss additional ways to support Egypt. She said the European Investment Bank is already discussing a proposal to give Egypt an extra $1.6 billion through its funding programs.

Source

See also:

Clinton: Libyan Bloodshed 'Completely Unacceptable'
February 22, 2011 - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday said violence unleashed against Libyan protesters is "completely unacceptable" and that the United States will take "appropriate steps" to deal with the situation. Clinton and other U.S. officials are focusing on the safety of several thousand American citizens in Libya.

Officials here indicate they are tempering their Libya rhetoric out of concern for Americans who might become stranded in Libya. But Clinton’s remarks still were the harshest by the United States thus far about the violence there. At a press event with Latvian Foreign Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis, Clinton called the bloodshed in Libya, which might have claimed hundreds of victims, "completely unacceptable" and said it is the responsibility of Libyan authorities to respect the universal rights of their people.

She said that although the Libyan government shutdown of communications is limiting U.S. understanding of the situation, the American and world response to the violence is unequivocal. "I think that the message today is very clear and unambiguous from the entire international community. There is no ambivalence. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the violence must stop and that the government of Libya has a responsibility to respect the universal rights of all of its citizens, and to support the exercise of those rights," she said. Clinton said the safety and well-being of Americans in Libya is the Obama administration’s highest immediate priority and that the United States is in contact with officials in Libya and neighboring states on their behalf.

Officials here say several thousand Americans, many with dual U.S. and Libyan citizenship, live in the North African country, including hundreds working in the oil industry. The State Department on Monday ordered the evacuation of family members of embassy staffers and non-emergency personnel from the U.S. mission in Tripoli. But officials noted with some concern that none of the affected group of several dozen people has been able to leave.

Clinton noted with approval steps by the monarchy in Bahrain to ease tensions after deadly violence there between security forces and protestors, including a prisoner release and overture for dialogue with opposition elements. "We hope Bahrain’s friends across the region and around the world will support this initiative as a constructive path to preserve Bahrain’s stability and help meet the aspirations of all its people. As we have said, these steps will need to be followed by concrete actions and reforms," she said.

Appealing for continued restraint in Bahrain, Clinton urged parties there to "work quickly" so that a national dialogue can produce meaningful measures that respond to the legitimate aspirations of all of the people of Bahrain. The Sunni Muslim-led Persian Gulf state, with a Shi'ite majority, hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and is considered critical to American security interests. Clinton also condemned reports of continued violence in Yemen, while welcoming initial steps by authorities in Egypt and Tunisia toward democratic reform.

Source

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - just tell Moammar he ain't President no more an' if he don't like it he can sit inna corner an' pound salt...

Opposition declares new Libya government as Qaddafi hangs on
February 27, 2011 - Two key cities in Libya's west appeared to fall to opposition forces this weekend as leaders in the country's 'liberated' east moved to fill the governance vacuum that Qaddafi's ouster would create.

A key city in western Libya appeared to have been taken completely out of Muammar Qaddafi’s grasp today, as opposition forces in Libya's 'liberated' east made initial, symbolic steps toward creating a new transitional government. Zawiya, about 50 miles west of Libya's capital, Tripoli, has been the scene of vicious fighting in recent days. Residents told the Monitor by phone that the center of the city has been cleared of Qaddafi’s loyalists, and opposition forces have even seized a few tanks. This account meshed with reporting from the Associated Press, which has a reporter on the ground in Zawiya.

Yesterday, Misurata, another strategic western town, fell and Qaddafi’s writ now seems mostly confined to Tripoli and his hometown of Sirte. Between the two locations, he appears to have at least 10,000 heavily armed men under his command, and they’ve already shown a willingness to use heavy machine gunfire and anti-aircraft guns on lightly armed protesters. Unlike in Egypt or Tunisia, two neighboring countries that drove out their dictators with relatively little bloodshed, Qaddafi’s Libya doesn’t have true functioning state institutions. While in those two countries a long-time ruling elite remains largely in control of state bureaucracies (angering many democracy protesters) when Qaddafi goes, there will be an enormous vacuum.

Libya’s constitution? Qaddafi’s own “Green Book,” a rambling screed about something called democratic socialism. Here in Benghazi and the rest of the east, the book -- required reading for all schoolchildren -- has already been pulled from the bookshelves and in most cases burned. Today, a group of largely self-appointed leaders in eastern Libya tried to address that looming vacuum by declaring a symbolic transitional government. But the manner in which it was announced, and paucity of detail about it, are also indications of the challenges to come.

Former justice minister takes charge

See also:

US Lawmakers Urge Washington to Support Establishment of Provisional Government in Libya
February 27, 2011 - Two top U.S. lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to support the establishment of a provisional government in eastern Libya as international calls urging Moammar Gadhafi to step down grow and more towns come under opposition control.

Anti-government protest leaders in the city of Benghazi announced Sunday they have formed a "national council" in the eastern part of the country seized from forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. In western Libya, opposition forces gained control of Zawiya, a key city 50 kilometers from the capital, Tripoli. Mohammed Amran is a resident of Zawiya. "Yes, Zawiya is free. Benghazi, Isdabya, Tobruk; yes, Derna," he said.

Mr. Gadhafi dismissed his opponents on Sunday, saying they are only a small group surrounded by his forces. In a telephone interview with Serbia's Pink television station, the Libyan leader condemned sanctions imposed over the weekend by the U.N. Security Council in connection with his government's deadly crackdown on demonstrators. The Security Council has agreed to refer the Libyan government's actions to a permanent war crimes tribunal to investigate possible crimes against humanity.

U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman say the Obama administration should impose a no-fly zone over parts of Libya to keep Moammar Gadhafi from using air strikes against his own people. And they say the United States should support Libya's opposition. Senator McCain spoke Sunday on NBC television's "Meet the Press" program. "We should recognize a provisional government, perhaps somewhere in eastern Libya, perhaps Benghazi. We should make it clearer that we will provide assistance to that provisional government," he said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Khaddafi gonna be roomin' with Milosevich...

International Criminal Court becomes involved in Libya rebellion
The International Criminal Court in the Hague has said a formal investigation will be run on possible crimes against humanity in Libya.

The probe has been brought on by prosecutors in response to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said there will be a presentation this week to the court on alleged crimes committed in Libya since February 15th, when violent protests sprang up.

He said he would name those likely to be be prosecuted on Thursday. On the weekend, the United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC for further investigation.

International Criminal Court becomes involved in Libya rebellion

 

[High_Gravity]

The UN is worthless, I doubt Ghadaffi cares about what they have to say.