Monday, February 21, 2011

Top U.S. diplomats condemned Sunday violent crackdowns on protesters in Libya and Bahrain but stopped short of calling for a change of government in countries facing a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations.
In Brussels, European Union leaders demanded that Libya end the deadly crackdown, voicing indignation as Tripoli threatened to respond to criticism by opening the floodgates to illegal immigration.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Bahraini government should step up reform efforts rather than attacking peaceful protesters.

“We’ve been very clear from the beginning that we do not want to see any violence. We deplore it. We think it is absolutely unacceptable,” she told the ABC News program “This Week,” according to a transcript released by the network.

“We very much want to see the human rights of the people protected, including right to assemble, right to express themselves and we want to see reform,” Clinton said.

Separately, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said Washington was deeply concerned by reports that Libyan and Bahraini security forces have lashed out at pro-democracy activists.
“There’s no place for violence against peaceful protesters,” Rice said.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rice rebutted accusations that the response of President Barack Obama’s administration to a wave of pro-democracy protests in the Middle East and North Africa has been inconsistent.
“Each of these circumstances will be decided by the people of those countries,” she said. “We are not pushing people out or dictating that they stay.”

She said the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world was a clear signal that societies were ripe for reform. “What we’re encouraging Bahrain and other governments in the region to do is to recognize that this is a yearning for change and reform that is not going to go away, that it needs to be respected and that they need to get ahead of it by leading rather than being pushed.”

Asked if King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s government could survive the protests, Rice said: “I wouldn’t want to be in the business of predictions in this very volatile environment.”
In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers met to discuss how to handle the reform fever spreading across its southern Mediterranean rim.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton focused her attention on Libya’s veteran ruler Moammar Gadhafi, urging his regime to begin dialogue with protesters.
“We have been urging restraint and it is important to continue to do so,” Ashton said. “It is very, very important that the violence stops.”

Germany’s European Affairs Minister Werner Hoyer added: “We are watching with great concern and indignation the violence used by state authorities in Libya and in other states.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said although London has sought to normalize ties with Tripoli, “the world should not hesitate to condemn these actions.

“I think we have to increase the international pressure and condemnation,” Hague, who did not attend Sunday’s dinner but will join EU counterparts at a full-day meeting Monday, told Sky News television.

France’s European Affairs Minister Laurent Wauquiez said Paris “is extremely worried” by events across Libya, saying the news from across the Mediterranean and the deaths “are absolutely unacceptable.”

Europe’s criticism has already angered Tripoli, which warned that it would suspend cooperation in the fight against illegal immigration if the condemnations continue, the EU’s current Hungarian presidency said.

Fears of an influx of migrants are acute in Italy, an entry point for people seeking a new life in Europe but which is already struggling with a wave of arrivals from Tunisia in recent days following the revolution there. – Agencies