Friday, March 04, 2011

President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that Moammar Gadhafi leave office and said he is examining the “full range” of military options, while the Libyan leader struck at rebel control of a key Libyan coastal road for a second day.

Venezuela said Gadhafi had agreed to its proposal for an international commission to negotiate an end to the turmoil in Libya. But Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam said there was no need for any foreign mediation in the crisis, a leader of the uprising rejected talks with the veteran leader, and the Arab League said cautiously the plan was “under consideration.”

In eastern Libya, witnesses said a warplane bombed Brega the oil terminal town 800 kilometers east of Tripoli, for the second day, part of a struggle for control of a strategically vital coast road and oil industry facilities.
Warplanes also launched two raids against the nearby rebel-held town of Ajbadiya, witnesses said.

At the White House, Obama did not rule out establishing a “no-fly” zone over Libya, a move that his Pentagon chief said a day earlier would amount to an act of war because it would require bombing Libya’s air defenses.
“We are looking at every option that’s out there, in addition to the non-military actions that we’ve taken. I want to make sure that those full range of options are available to me,” he said. A no-fly zone “is one of the options that we would be looking at.”
Obama said he had authorized the use of U.S. military aircraft to help move refugees who have fled the unrest in Libya.

“I don’t want us hamstrung. I want us to be making our decisions based on what’s going to be best for the Libyan people in consultation with the international community,” Obama told a White House news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
“We will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Moammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave,” Obama said. It was his most explicit statement of support for rebels challenging Gadhafi’s rule.

He pledged to hold Gadhafi and his loyalists accountable, saying the U.S. and the entire world were outraged by violence against the freedom fighters.
Obama said his main focus was on limiting civilian deaths, while acknowledging his fear that the crisis could devolve into deadlock.

“There is a danger of a stalemate that over time could be bloody,” he said. 
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France and Britain would support the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Libya if Gadhafi’s forces continued to attack civilians.
Back in Libya, rebels leading the unprecedented popular revolt pushed their front line west of Brega.
They said they had driven back troops loyal to Gadhafi to Ras Lanuf, site of another major oil terminal and 600 kilometers east of Tripoli.

They also said they had captured a group of mercenaries.

Seif el-Islam said Brega was bombed to scare off militia fighters and to gain control of oil installations.
“First of all the bombs [were] just to frighten them to go away,” he told Britain’s Sky News.

In an angry scene at al-Uqayla, east of Ras Lanuf, a rebel shouted at a captured young African and alleged mercenary: “You were carrying guns, yes or no? You were with Gadhafi’s brigades yes or no?”
The silent youth was shoved onto his knees into the dirt. A man held a pistol close to the boy’s face before a reporter protested and told the man the rebels were not judges.

In The Hague, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Gadhafi, three of his sons and members of his inner circle, could be investigated for alleged crimes committed since the uprising broke out in mid-February.

A spokesman for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Gadhafi ally, said the Libyan government had accepted a Venezuelan plan to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict in Libya.
The plan would involve a commission from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East trying to reach a negotiated outcome between the Libyan leader and rebel forces.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the plan was under consideration and he was waiting for details from Caracas.

But Seif el-Islam in an interview with Sky News that he had not heard about the offer by Chavez, adding: “We have to say thank you … but we are able and capable enough to solve our issues by our own people … ourselves. There is no need for any foreign intervention.”

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley  brushed aside Venezuela’s proposal for mediation end to the violence in Libya, saying Moammar Gadhafi does not need to be told “what he needs to do.”
Oil prices fell briefly on news of the plan, but traders said the fall was due to profit-taking and they were sceptical about any Venezuelan mediation. Brent crude fell more than $3 but by 2000 GMT had recovered to $114.82.

An aide to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebels’ National Libyan Council, told Reuters the rebels were open to talks only on Gadhafi’s resignation or exile to avoid more bloodshed. “There is nothing else to negotiate,” he said.
He also called for foreign air strikes to set up a “no-fly zone” to help the rebels topple Gadhafi.
Save The Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres said they were struggling to get medicine and care to Libya’s needy, with gunmen blocking roads.

Just outside rebel-held Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, officials took foreign journalists to a local refinery to show it was controlled by the state. Officials said it was running normally.
But in the center of Zawiya, rebels were fully in control and said they had enough forces to repel any government attack. – Agencies