THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
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Re: THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Just watched an interview by Essam Ghemani of the Benghazi National Council. He is convinced the Rebellion will be successful because of the damage
the Nato Countries have done to Gaddafi"s Air Force. and that all hos money overseas has been frozen. When asked if it needed Ground Troops , he said not, that the number of rebels is increasing and all he and everyone else wants is to get back to normality and run his Business.
Last edited by Panda on Fri 25 Mar - 10:50; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : altered spelling)
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Re: THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
there's a good live feed here:
http://feb17.info/news/live-libyan-unrest-march-25-2011/
which also links to a really impressive interactive map (thanks to @Arasmus) here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=215454646984933465708.00049c59184ae1136341a&t=h&source=embed&ll=31.233966,18.06225&spn=9.301267,14.1911
http://feb17.info/news/live-libyan-unrest-march-25-2011/
which also links to a really impressive interactive map (thanks to @Arasmus) here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=215454646984933465708.00049c59184ae1136341a&t=h&source=embed&ll=31.233966,18.06225&spn=9.301267,14.1911
All updates are in Libyan local time (GMT +2).
1:30pm:UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says that “if the Gaddafi regime think the will of the international community is faltering they are in for quite a surprise”.
1:13pm: During the Friday Prayer sermon in Benghazi, the Imam thanked Qatar, France, US, UK and the United Nations specifically for assisting them. He also thanked Russia and China for not standing in the way.
12:20pm: Mohammed in Misrata told the BBC that while it was quiet in the city last night the situation there remains dire, with no electricity and a lack of doctors and medical supplies.”Misrata is besieged now for 35 days,” he said. “They don’t allow food to come in, they cut the water, they cut everything. And they are killing people every day by tanks and by snipers. So really, we don’t see the benefit of the Nato strikes.”
11:33am:The AFP news agency says members of the African Union have met in Addis Ababa for talks on Libya with delegates from Libya, the EU, the UN, the Arab League and the Islamic Conference.
11:20am:BBC defence and security correspondent Nick Childs says the RAF Tornado strike on military vehicles near Ajdabiya last night was part of a significant operation involving several fighter jets and repeated attacks. “There have been a number of British strikes but they have tended to be long-range against significant major targets. This is the first of this type in which the Tornadoes have gone after forces on the ground.”
11:10am: Uganda will freeze some $375 million in assets in the financial services, telecommunications, leisure and infrastructure sectors, according to the AFP news agency, citing local media. Libya owns majority stakes in Uganda Telecom, National Housing and Construction Corporation, and Lake Victoria Hotel.
11:06am:The United Arab Emirates said last night it was sending six F-16 and six Mirage aircraft to join the coalition. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said the participation “will commence in the coming days”
8:23am: Al Jazeera’s Anita McNaught reports from Tripoli on the Gaddafi regimes confusing account of civilian casualties. While it appears that coalition air strikes have led to casualties, it’s so far been impossible to know whether the dead are soldiers or civilians.
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@ksnavarra
#Libya rebel council spokesman #Moustafa_Geriani says 8,000 killed since beginning of uprising in #Libya
5 minutes ago via TweetDeck
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@BoutainaAB
#Gaddafi loading ppl on a big boat from sha'ab sea port in #tripoli to send to #benghazi #libya #feb17 (source in Libya)
about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®
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Re: THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
To be honest Carmen , it"s hard to know what to believe with all these reports coming out. Until International observers are allowed to enter Libya
the Air strikes will not solve much while Gaddafi has Tanks and Trucks to transport Troops. I believe that whatever we think of Gaddafi, he does have support from many of his people which is why the rebellion is limited to pockets of resistancein various Cities.
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@ksnavarra
#Libya rebel council high representation to attend #London summit on #Tuesday
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8:00pm
Gaddafi promotes all members of his armed forces reports Libyan state TV
7:52pm
AFP: The Libyan opposition national council is "off to a good start in word and deed," US ambassador Gene Cretz said on Friday, praising their vision of human and women's rights.
6:39pm
AP: Qatar flies first sortie over Libya after joining international forces
8:21pm
Al Jazeera's James Bays gains exclusive access to a Libyan town under siege to report on the difficult conditions being experienced by the few citizens that have not yet fled the fighting.[/quote]
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/live-blog-libya-march-25
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The infrastructure of these Countries will be severely affected once the rebellion is over, who will pay for the reconstruction? Iraq is a fine example
of the damage which is done.
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Re: THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Panda wrote:
The infrastructure of these Countries will be severely affected once the rebellion is over, who will pay for the reconstruction? Iraq is a fine example
of the damage which is done.
Well, both countries are very wealthy??
Good to see more Arab support for enforcing UNSC
UAE fighter jets on the way to Libya
Kareem Shaheen
Last Updated: Mar 26, 2011
ABU DHABI // The UAE will send 12 warplanes to help enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, becoming the second Arab state to provide military support to the coalition's intervention against Col Muammar Qaddafi's regime.
The UAE will send six Mirage and six F-16 fighter jets to the country, according to a statement released yesterday by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The move isthe biggest military contribution yet by an Arab country to the operation, which is the most serious challenge to Col Qaddafi's four-decade rule.
Sheikh Abdullah said the decision was an extension of the UAE's commitment to humanitarian operations in Libya.
"As an extension of those humanitarian operations the UAE Air Force has committed six F-16 and six Mirage aircraft to participate in the patrols that will enforce the no-fly zone now established over Libya," he said.
A UN Security Council resolution issued last week authorised the use of military force to enforce a no-fly zone and "all necessary measures" short of a ground invasion of Libya to protect civilians, as fears grew of an imminent onslaught by pro-Qaddafi forces on rebel-held cities.
Arab support was seen as crucial to the operation to underscore the coalition and cast it as a truly international effort, not a western intervention that could be used as a propaganda tool by Col Qaddafi.
The UAE set up refugee camps on the Tunisian border with Libya and has sent humanitarian aid to Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.
Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE's participation in the no-fly zone would commence in the "coming days", but gave no specific date for the deployment.
In a response to the UAE's announcement, the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said: "We welcome this important step. It underscores both the breadth of this international coalition and the depth of concern in the region for the plight of the Libyan people."
The White House also welcomed the UAE's decision. "This critical participation by the UAE further underscores the broad, international support for the protection of the Libyan people," it said.
"The UAE has been a leader on this issue within the Gulf Co-operation Council and the Arab League. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the UAE and all our regional and international partners."
The UAE, along with the GCC, led Arab calls for the imposition of a no-fly zone, becoming the first Arab bloc to explicitly call for the measure. It was followed by similar declarations from the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
"Gulf states need to take the lead for a very simple reason," said Dr Mustafa Alani, the director of the security and terrorism programme at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai. "We have a huge vacuum in Arab leadership."
Western diplomatic sources said the announcement was important because it involved a significant military commitment - the largest yet pledged by an Arab state - and because it may encourage other Arab nations like Jordan to pledge military support.
"It will encourage others to follow," said one diplomatic source.
But Dr Alani cast doubt on whether other Arab states could contribute meaningfully to the coalition. Arab powers were caught up in internal difficulties or regional unrest, he said, with Egypt struggling in the aftermath of its revolution and Saudi Arabia intervening in Bahrain and contending with an unstable Yemen on its border.
But there was a "genuine belief in the need to remove a regime like Qaddafi's" within the GCC, said Dr Alani, adding that the Libyan leader was a liability for his people and for the broader Arab world.
The Gulf states, as major buyers of western armaments, are positioned to work with the coalition and can make use of the same maintenance facilities and bases, boosting interoperability. Their planes can "speak with each other", said Dr Alani.
There have been intense diplomatic efforts and "correspondence at the highest levels" between the UAE and leadership in the West about the country's participation, a diplomatic source said.
On Tuesday, the US vice president Joseph Biden discussed the situation in Libya and the region with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
"The vice president expressed his strong appreciation for the UAE's significant humanitarian contribution to the international effort on Libya," said a White House statement.
"We have always said that Arab leadership and participation is crucial," Mrs Clinton said yesterday. "The Arab League showed that leadership with its pivotal statement on Libya. We are deeply appreciative of their continuing contributions."
Qatar also dispatched two warplanes and two military transport planes to Libya as part of the coalition.
kshaheen@thenational.ae
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/uae-fighter-jets-on-the-way-to-libya?pageCount=0
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Thanks Carmen, lets hope Gaddafi will be toppled very soon, with the parlous state of Britains finances, we can"t afford a protracted mercy mission.
It"s the Dictators who have all the money, what"s the betting they have already shifted much into off shore accounts. I just wonder whether these
rebels will , in the event of vkictory, be able to form a Government able to govern well.
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Re: THE DOMINO EFFECT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Panda wrote:
Thanks Carmen, lets hope Gaddafi will be toppled very soon, with the parlous state of Britains finances, we can"t afford a protracted mercy mission.
It"s the Dictators who have all the money, what"s the betting they have already shifted much into off shore accounts. I just wonder whether these
rebels will , in the event of vkictory, be able to form a Government able to govern well.
That is what worries me. Are they just a bunch of thugs with AK47s? I did not like to see that little toddler of about 3 being posed on top of a tank with a rebel flag, for the cameras. WTF are these people thinking about, exposing little wee kids to a warzone?
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I think the thugs have got more than AK47s - and some of the snipers seem to come from quite far afield - yesterday there was a report of female Colombian snipers in Misurata!!
@iyad_elbaghdadi There are reports from Tripoli of suspicious movements in secure trucks from the city towards the south. Maybe gold? Cash? Weapons? #Libya
23 minutes ago via web
Misurata: Fresh revolutionaries have safely reached the city for the first time in weeks. #Libya
27 minutes ago via web
Ajdabia: Gaddafi's troops had infiltrated some neighborhoods with mercenaries & snipers. Now securely with revolutionaries. #Libya
27 minutes ago via web
Some quick reports from #Libya, whatever I can have some confidence in...
29 minutes ago via web
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Tim Marshall, a well respected sky News pundit said the other day that this is a sunni/shiite uprising in the Yemen and I suspect it is true of most of these rebellions. where are they getting the arms and ammunition,? has this plan to have all the Middle East in revolt simultaneously been planned over
several years?
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@ DoDSpokesman
#OdysseyDawn: #Gaddafi has virtually no air defense left & diminishing ability to command & sustain the ground forces attacking his people
about 1 hour ago via web
Reply Retweeted (Undo)
#OdysseyDawn: 3 core coalition tasks under UNSCR 1973 - enforce the arms embargo, implement a no-fly zone, & protect the people of #Libya
about 1 hour ago via web
#Libya Our message to regime troops is simple: Stop fighting. Stop killing your own people. Stop obeying the orders of Col. #Gaddafi
about 23 hours ago via web
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@AlanFisher
#Breaking #Libyan rebels seize control of strategic oil town Ajdabiya: AFP - not confirmed elsewhere
about 1 hour ago via web
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Libyan rebels take Ajdabiya
The key eastern city, previously under government control, has fallen into opposition hands.
Last Modified: 26 Mar 2011 08:31
Coalition warplanes pounded government forces in Ajdabiya, boosting rebel efforts to launch new offensives [AFP]
Libyan opposition rebels have taken the strategic eastern city of Ajdabiya from government control, Al Jazeera's correspondent there reported.
"There is no doubt about it, you can probably hear some of the celebrations behind me, Ajdabiya is in opposition hands," Al Jazeera's James Bays said from the city on Saturday.
"Gaddafi forces have been controlling the ring road that goes around Ajdabiya ... that has been the situation for six days, but they have now been cleared from that position."
"The opposition forces tell me their may be some pro-Gaddafi forces hiding, snipers possibly on buildings, they are telling us to take care," Bays said, but he added that Ajdabiya was "firmly back under the control of opposition fighters".
Rebel fighters were now on their way to the key oil port town of Brega, Bays said.
"The road is open beyond Ajdabiya, and [the rebels] are heading, streaming along that road ... they are on the road and they are moving forward."
Earlier on Saturday, rebels reported having entered Ajdabiya in a bid to wrestle control of the strategic area.
Many fighters belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were held hostage after fierce fighting on Friday, rebels said.
Pro-Gaddafi forces are now mainly positioned in the west of the city, having previously held the entire city, they said.
On Friday, western warplanes bombed Gaddafi's tanks and artillery outside the town to try to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels retake the strategic area.
Plumes of smoke filled the sky as the pace of coalition air strikes escalated, forcing terrified residents to flee Ajdabiya, which is 160km south of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"We entered the town," Colonel Mohammed Ehsayer, who defected from the army to join the rebellion told AFP news agency at a rebel outpost a few kilometres east of the city.
Misurata fighting
Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled an area on the outskirts of the city of Misurata on Friday, killing six people including three children, a rebel said.
The Libyan port, the North African country's third biggest city, has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi since an uprising began on February 16.
Officials and rebels said on Friday aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies to Misurata.
"There is a fairly regular supply going into Misurata," Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross operations in eastern Libya, told Reuters.
"But we are deeply concerned about the reports we are receiving about fighting in the city."
Casualties have overwhelmed the local medical clinic and prompted international concern about the safety of civilians.
Residents say electricity, water and regular land and cell phone service to Misurata are not functioning. Reports from the city cannot be verified independently because Libyan authorities have prevented journalists from going there.
On Thursday, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the government was in total control of the city, a claim denied by rebels.
AU proposal
Meanwhile, on the diplomatic front, the African Union said it plans to facilitate talks to help end the conflict in Libya between government and rebel forces.
"The AU action is ... aiming at facilitating dialogue between the Libyan parties on reforms to be launched to
eliminate the root causes of the conflict," the union's commission chairman Jean Ping told a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday.
He said that the process should end with democratic elections in Libya.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had rejected any form of foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and a Western coalition began air strikes on Libyan military targets.
Libya's delegation to the meeting, at which the rebels were not represented, called for an end to
air strikes and said the government was committed to upholding a ceasefire it declared on Sunday.
The delegation said Tripoli is ready to implement an AU roadmap to resolve the Libyan crisis, while also demanding a halt to the Western-led coalition's military intervention.
"We are ready to implement the Road Map envisaged ... (by) the High-Level Committee mandated by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union," said a statement from the delegation headed by Mohammed al-Zwai, secretary general of the General People's Congress.
The AU roadmap calls for an immediate end to all hostilities, "cooperation on the part of the relevant Libyan authorities to facilitate humanitarian aid," and "protection for all foreign nationals, including African migrant workers."
The delegation called on the international community to oblige the "other parties" in the conflict to respect a ceasefire, referring to the opposition, and demanded "the cessation of the air bombardment and the naval
blockade carried out by Western forces and the United States".
Freelance foreign policy
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, said it was not the first time that a Libyan delegation "conducted a little freelance foreign policy on the sideline" and that there was no way of telling if the offer was sincere.
"In much the same way we had the foreign ministry go out on a limb a few days ago and say that they declared a ceasefire," she said.
"That was in complete contradiction of the facts on the ground and also the rhetoric coming from Colonel Gaddafi himself who wasn’t saying anything to do with a ceasefire.
"He was saying: We'll fight to the death; we'll chase you into your homes. We'll pursue this war to the end."
"A rebel spokesman in Benghazi said they weren't consulted in this initiative. Some reports say they were even invited to the meeting others say they were but refused to go. Others are saying there isn't an opening for negotiating, that they simply want the bombing to stop and Gaddafi and his family to leave."
However, diplomatic efforts may be sidelined, if reports by the Washington Post are confirmed with respect to US and NATO considering arming the Libyan opposition.
The newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unamed US and European officials, that the Obama admnistration believe the UN resolution that authorised international intervention in Libya has the "flexibility" to allow such assistance.
According to newspaper, Gene Cretz, the recently withdrawn US ambassador to Libya, said administration officials were having "the full gamut" of discussions on "potential assistance we might offer, both on the non-lethal and the lethal side".
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/03/201132681812362552.html
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U.S., allies ponder arming Libyan rebels
Gallery: Conflict and chaos in Libya: As forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi continue attacks on rebels and international strikes begin, thousands of Libyans flee the fighting.
Text Size PrintE-mailReprints
By Karen DeYoung, Friday, March 25, 9:41 PM
The United States and its allies are considering whether to supply weapons to the Libyan opposition as coalition airstrikes fail to dislodge government forces from around key contested towns, according to U.S. and European officials.
France actively supports training and arming the rebels, and the Obama administration believes the United Nations resolution that authorized international intervention in Libya has the “flexibility” to allow such assistance, “if we thought that were the right way to go,” Obama spokesman Jay Carney said. It was a “possibility,” he said.
Gene Cretz, the recently withdrawn U.S. ambassador to Libya, said administration officials were having “the full gamut” of discussions on “potential assistance we might offer, both on the non-lethal and the lethal side,” but that no decisions had been made.
The coalition has stepped up its outreach to the opposition, inviting one of its senior leaders to a high-level international conference in London on Tuesday, called to determine future political strategy in Libya.
Increased focus on aiding the rebels came as NATO reached final agreement on taking over command and control of all aspects of the Libya operation, including U.S.-led airstrikes against forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, at NATO’s Joint Forces Command headquarters in Naples, Italy, is expected to take command of the operation early next week.
The NATO decision, made late Thursday, followed days of debate over the scope of alliance participation and came in time for President Obama to brief a bipartisan group of nearly two dozen congressional leaders in a call Friday afternoon.
Obama has scheduled a speech at the National Defense University on Monday night “to update the American people” on actions taken “with allies and partners to protect the Libyan people . . . the transition to NATO command and control, and our policy going forward,” the White House announced.
Unlike a week ago, when the White House discouraged questions during a briefing for lawmakers as the Libya mission began, Obama entertained queries from lawmakers during an hour-long call Friday. He was asked repeatedly about the goal of the operation and how long it would take.
His emphasis on the mission’s humanitarian objectives, and plans to decrease U.S. involvement as other nations increase their roles, appeared to satisfy some, but not all.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) called Obama’s presentation “very clear, very strong” and said he expected strong bipartisan support. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ind.) said through a spokesman that he appreciated the update but wanted more clarity “on the military objective in Libya, America’s role, and how it is consistent with U.S. policy goals.”
The United States has flown the majority of the combat air sorties over Libya since strikes began last weekend. The administration has been eager to hand off both its lead combat role and overall operational command in keeping with Obama’s portrayal of the operation as an international humanitarian mission.
Arab support for the effort has been a key selling point, and the Pentagon announced that fighter planes from Qatar had participated for the first time Friday in no-fly patrols over Libya. The United Arab Emirates also announced it would send F-16s for the patrols.
The Arabs are not expected to participate in ongoing combat strikes being flown by U.S, French and British forces. In a Pentagon briefing, U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, said that allied warplanes had flown 153 missions and launched 16 additional Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan forces and installations in the past 24 hours.
But Gortney said that so far the attacks had not had a discernible impact on the ability of Gaddafi’s forces to fight and attack Libya’s cities.
“We have seen a degradation in [Libya’s] ability to command and control their forces as a result of the fires we are putting out there,” Gortney said. “But we haven’t seen it have a large enough effect that is changing the total effect on the battlefield.”
As U.S. and allied forces bring in more surveillance aircraft, he said, they should be able to mount more lethal attacks on Gaddafi’s ground forces.
Officials have said that no consideration is being given to the use of allied ground forces to push out Gaddafi loyalists. But if the current stalemate on the ground continues, the U.S. could bring in slower-moving AC-130 gunships, attack helicopters or armed drones that can mount more discreet strikes and are better suited to battles in urban terrain.
“Those are all weapons in our toolbox that are being considered,” Gortney said.
Rebel officials said that coalition airstrikes against pro-Gaddafi forces partially surrounding the contested eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya failed to dislodge them, although al-Jazeera reported Friday night that government forces on the eastern side of the town had been overwhelmed and either been taken prisoner or retreated to the west.
The two sides have been shelling each other for a week. Rebel forces have been using the reprieve brought by the airstrikes to regroup and ask for additional weapons from “friendly nations,” said Mustafa Gheriani, spokesman for the Benghazi-based opposition Interim National Council.
A number of officers and soldiers from Gaddafi’s army and air force have defected to the rebels, some taking their weapons with them — including aircraft — and the opposition has seized munitions from captured government bunkers. But the bulk of the rebel force is largely untrained and disorganized, without anti-tank or long-range weapons.
International opponents of arming the rebels have said that both the identity and the aims of the opposition are too uncertain, or that the arms embargo authorized by the United Nations applies to both the Gaddafi government and the rebels.
“I think I am right in saying that the resolution is clear,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament on Monday. “There is an arms embargo, and that arms embargo has to be enforced across Libya.” Legal advice “suggesting that perhaps this applied only to the regime,” Cameron said, “is not in fact correct.”
A Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity about disagreements within the coalition, said there is a “legal debate about whether we can or not [arm the rebels]. . . . It would be a big step to go down that route,” the diplomat said.
Both the United States and France, in closed-door discussions, have cited legal “flexibility.” Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that the language in U.N. resolution authorizing international action to protect Libyan civilians “is not specific,” one council diplomat said.
Portuguese U.N. Ambassasor Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, who heads the U.N. Security Council’s Libya sanctions committee, agreed Friday that the applicable wording of the resolution was “open to a lot of interpretation,” Reuters reported. Asked whether it allowed arms shipments to the rebels, Cabral said “I would not interpret it that way.”
deyoungk@washpost.com
Staff writer Tara Bahrampour in Benghazi, Libya, Colum Lynch at the United Nations and Greg Jaffe and Felicia Sonmez in Washington contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-allies-ponder-arming-libyan-rebels/2011/03/25/AFJP9mYB_story.html?hpid=z1
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@ksnavarra
#Adjdabya in pro-democracy fighters hands. Celebrations underway #Libya #NFZ
4 minutes ago via TweetDeck
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@BaghdadBrian
It seems gaddafi forces holed up in #ajdabiya are afraid of being attacked by coalition forces if they withdraw #libya
1 minute ago via Twitter for Android
Reply Retweet
@Reuters
FLASH: Both gates of Libya's Ajdabiyah in rebel hands, whole town recaptured - rebel fighters and witnesses
2 minutes ago via web
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Confirmed Ajdabiyah back in the hand of rebels. In Tripoli ,woman bursting into Hotel to try to tell story to the World of her ordeal, Gaddafi minders
pulled her away from Reporters trying to talk to her. Although Reporters tried to speak to her, minders grabbed her and bundled her into a car.
Libyan Hospital severely under pressure with casualties, pro and anti Gaddafi , injured .
It is reported that Gaddafi is arming civilians, is this to expect them to take part in the rebellion because the tide is turning against him?
pulled her away from Reporters trying to talk to her. Although Reporters tried to speak to her, minders grabbed her and bundled her into a car.
Libyan Hospital severely under pressure with casualties, pro and anti Gaddafi , injured .
It is reported that Gaddafi is arming civilians, is this to expect them to take part in the rebellion because the tide is turning against him?
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Sounds like desperate measures, Panda.
NY Times columnist:
NY Times columnist:
@ NickKristof
But after 10 weeks, Serbia backed down. Now Kosovo is overwhelmingly regarded as a worthwhile intervention that saved lives.
about 10 hours ago via web
Re: Kosovo, what I meant is that Kosovo NATO campaign in '99 (arguably first humanitarian war) began w/ lots of naysayers.
about 10 hours ago via web
With Ajdabiya and Misrata, the tide in #Libya seems to be turning. Give the rebels time. Kosovo took 10 weeks.
about 11 hours ago via web
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Libyan Woman Struggles to Tell Media of Her Rape
TRIPOLI — A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli Saturday morning and fought off security forces as she told journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of the Qaddafi militia. After nearly an hour, she was dragged away from the hotel screaming.
“They say that we are all Libyans and we are one people,” said the woman, who gave her name as Eman al-Obeidy. “But look at what the Qaddafi men did to me.” She displayed a broad bruise on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to came from binding around her hands and feet.
She said she had been raped by 15 men. “I was tried up and they defecated and urinated on me.,” she said. “They violated my honor.”
She pleaded for friends she said were still in custody. “They are still there, they are still there,” she said. “As soon as I leave here they are going to take me to jail.”
For the members of the foreign press here as guests of the government of Col.l Muammar el-Qaddafi — and largely confined to the Rixos Hotel except for official outings — her intrusion was a reminder of the brutality of the Libyan government and the presence of its security forces even among the surrounding hotel staff. People in hotel uniform who just hours before had been serving coffee and clearing plates grabbed table knives and rushed to physically constrain both the woman and the journalists.
Ms. Obeidy said she was a native of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi who had been stopped by Qaddafi militia on the outskirts of the city. After being held for about two days, she said, she had managed to escape. Wearing a black robe, a veil and slippers, she ran into the Rixos Hotel here asking specifically to speak to the news service Reuters and the New York Times. “There is no media coverage outside,” she yelled at one point.
“They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whiskey. I was tied up,” she told Michael Georgy of Reuters, the only journalist who was able to speak with her at length.“I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up immediately after this.” She added, "Look at my face. Look at my back.” Her other comments were captured by television cameras.
A wild scuffle ensued as journalists tried to interview, photograph and protect her. Several journalists were punched, kicked and knocked on the floor. A television camera belonging to CNN was destroyed in the struggle, and security forces seized a device that a Financial Times reported had used to record her testimony. A plainclothes security officer pulled out a revolver.
. Two members of the hotel staff grabbed table knives to threaten both Ms. Obeidy and the journalists. “Turn them around, turn them around,” a waiter shouted, attempting to block the foreign news media from having access to Ms. Obeidy. A woman on the staff shouted, “Why are you doing this? You are a traitor!” and briefly put a coat over Ms. Obeidy’s head.
There was a prolonged standoff behind the hotel as the security officials apparently restrained themselves because of the presence of so many journalists, but she was ultimately forced into a white car and taken away.
"Leave me alone," she shouted from the garden as one man tried to cover her mouth with his hand.
"They are taking me to jail," she yelled, trying to resist the security guards, according to Reuters. "They are taking me to jail."
Questioned about her treatment, Khalid Kaim, the deputy foreign minister, promised that she would be treated in accordance with the law. Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said that she appeared to be drunk and mentally ill. “Her safety of course is guaranteed,” he said, adding that the authorities were investigating the case, including the possibility that her reports of abuse were “fantasies.”
Charles Glover of the Financial Times, who had put himself in the way of the security forces trying to apprehend her, was escorted out of the country shortly afterward. He said that that night before he had been told to leave because of what Libyan government officials said were inaccuracies in his reports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/world/middleeast/27tripoli.html?_r=3&hp#h[]
Video footage from the hotel:
Last edited by carmen on Sat 26 Mar - 13:41; edited 1 time in total
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