Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Gulf Arab states called Monday for a no-fly zone over Libya, in the region’s first explicit support of the move, amid British-French steps to seek U.N. authority for the action as Moammar Gadhafi’s warplanes counterattacked against rebels.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said that the U.S. and its NATO allies are still considering military options to stop the violence with the White House pushing back against pressure from some U.S. lawmakers for direct intervention.
Rebels swiftly rejected an olive branch offered by an associate of Gadhafi, and fighting escalated around the oil port of Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast.

With civilians surrounded by forces loyal to Gadhafi in two towns, Misrata and Zawiya, in the western part of Libya, fears were growing of a rising humanitarian crisis inside the country if the fighting was not stopped. 
In Abu Dhabi, foreign ministers from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council Gulf (GCC) called for a no-fly zone to be imposed in Libya, and for an urgent Arab League meeting to discuss the situation.
In a statement, the GCC also condemned the “crimes committed against civilians, the use of heavy arms and the recruitment of mercenaries” by the Libyan regime.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said the Gulf monarchies reached their decision after Libyan authorities “totally refused to allow aid” to reach civilians.
He said “those responsible should be brought to justice.”

“We call on the international community, especially the U.N. Security Council, to face their responsibilities in helping the dear people,” Sheikh Abdullah told the meeting.
Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa supported a no-fly zone when he spoke to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe in Cairo Sunday, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Monday in Paris.

But major powers have been deeply divided over British and French calls for the council to order a no-fly zone.
“At the U.N. Security Council we are working closely with partners on a contingency basis on elements of a resolution on a no-fly zone, making clear the need for regional support, a clear trigger for such a resolution and an appropriate legal basis,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Meanwhile, a French diplomatic source said France was “working with our partners in New York on a no-fly zone resolution.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, visiting Afghanistan where foreign forces have been fighting for a decade, cautioned that any action in Libya “should be the result of international sanction.” The White House said all options were on the table, including arming rebels.

Russia, a key permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with veto powers, said it opposed foreign military intervention. “The Libyans have to solve their problems by themselves,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stressed the need for U.N. authorization. “I can’t imagine the international community and the United Nations would stand idly by if Gadhafi and his regime continue to attack their own people,” he said.

“We have asked our military to conduct all necessary planning so that we stand ready at short notice,” he added.
NATO has launched 24-hour air surveillance of Libya with AWACS reconnaissance aircraft, U.S. ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said.

Daalder said NATO representatives were discussing other possible moves, including a no-fly zone and helping to enforce the U.N.-mandated arms embargo on Libya, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers Thursday.
Obama said he wanted to “send a very clear message to the Libyan people that we will stand with them in the face of unwarranted violence and the continuing suppression of democratic ideals.”
Swiss-based exile group Libyan Human Rights Solidarity said forces loyal to Gadhafi had launched a new attempt to capture Zawiya, a rebel-held town 50 kilometers west of the capital.

It was impossible to verify the report because residents in the town were no longer reachable by phone.
In the rebel-held city of Misrata, the wounded were being treated on hospital floors because of a catastrophic shortage of medical facilities in the besieged city, a resident said.
In the east, warplanes launched air strikes on the rebel-held oil terminal town of Ras Lanuf 600 kilometers east of Tripoli, witnesses said. One ripped through a car carrying a family.

Shipping sources said the fighting had closed the oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega. Brent crude prices rose above $118 a barrel Monday and U.S. prices pushed to their highest level since September 2008.
The fighting has been erratic, with small groups engaging each other, guerrilla-style, in hit and run raids. Air attacks have been fitful and bombing often inaccurate.
The resilience of Gadhafi’s troops and their ability to counterattack has raised the prospect there may be prolonged bloodshed.

Government forces’ advance on Ras Lanuf forced residents to flee and rebels to hide weapons in the desert.
One man complained of the rebels’ inexperience, as a fighter lay on his back and fired an automatic weapon ineffectually at a warplane.

“Look at the way they’re firing at the plane,” he said. “They have no experience, no leadership and no strategy.”
Libya’s foreign minister told reporters in the capital Tripoli that the Western allies were trying to split the North African country by secretly building up contacts with rebel leaders.
“It is clear that France, Great Britain and the U.S. are now getting in touch with defectors in eastern Libya. It means there is a conspiracy to divide Libya,” said Moussa Koussa.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said that U.S. officials were seeking to learn as much as they could about Libyan opposition groups, but that arming the rebels was only one option on the table.
“On the issue of … arming, providing weapons, it is one of the range of options that is being considered,” Carney told reporters.

One of Gadhafi’s sons, Saadi, said Libya would descend into civil war if his father stepped down, Al-Arabiya television reported, adding that Libya would turn into a new Somalia and that the country’s tribes would fight each other.

In an interview with France 24 television, Gadhafi said Libya was an important partner for the West in containing Al-Qaeda and illegal migrants trying to reach Europe. “There are millions of blacks who could come to the Mediterranean to cross to France and Italy, and Libya plays a role in security in the Mediterranean,” he said. – Agencies