Obama tells Gaddafi to withdraw from rebel strongholds or face air strikes
March 18, 2011 No Comment
• Libyan leader declares ceasefire after UN resolution • PM vows ‘this is not Iraq’ but does not rule out ground troops • Rebels jubilant in Benghazi but fear for a divided nation Muammar Gaddafi has been handed a “non-negotiable ultimatum” by Barack Obama to accept an immediate ceasefire, pull back from Libyan rebel strongholds and permit humanitarian assistance – or face the full onslaught of UN-endorsed air strikes. In an attempt to reassure Middle East opinion and his own domestic audience, Obama said the US would help to co-ordinate a no-fly-zone, but not lead an operation that will include French, British and Arab jets. The US president issued his warning after Gaddafi’s foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, claimed he would accept a ceasefire in the wake of the UN security council resolution passed late on Thursday night authorising “all necessary measures short of an occupation force” to protect civilians. In a stark message, Obama said: “Muammar Gaddafi has a choice. The resolution that was passed lays out very clear conditions that must be met. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Arab states agree that a ceasefire must be implemented immediately.” He said this meant: • All attacks against civilians must stop. • Gaddafi must stop his troops from advancing on the rebel stronghold Benghazi, and pull them back from Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiya. • Gaddafi must establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas. • Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya. “Let me be clear: these terms are not negotiable. These terms are not subject to negotiation. If Gaddafi does not comply with the resolution the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced through military action.” David Cameron warned: “We will judge him [Gaddafi] by his actions and not by his words. What is absolutely clear is the UN security council resolution said he must stop what he is doing – brutalising his people. If not, all necessary measures can follow to make him stop.” The next stage of the international response will be co-ordinated at an emergency conference in Paris, including Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and the leading Arab states that have formed an ad hoc coalition to reverse the Gaddafi advance. It is likely French and British fighter jets will be flying over Libya by Saturday night unless Gaddafi produces more convincing evidence that he has pulled back. Some as yet unidentified Arab states will join the air enforcement. Cameron said he had already ordered British Tornado and Typhoon fighter jets to be deployed to bases in the region, along with air-refuelling equipment. The prime minister said: “This is not another Iraq. There will be no foreign occupation of Libya.” He maintained that military action would be in the national interest. “If Gaddafi’s attacks on his own people succeed, Libya will become once again a pariah state, festering on Europe’s border, a source of instability, exporting strife beyond her borders. A state from which literally hundreds of thousands of citizens could seek to escape, putting huge pressure on us in Europe. “We cannot stand back and let a dictator whose people have rejected him kill his people indiscriminately. To do so would send a chilling signal to others.” Cameron revealed that he had given his cabinet time to read legal advice from the attorney general, Dominic Grieve, setting out why a no-fly zone and other actions will be lawful. The cabinet was also addressed by the chief of the defence staff, Sir David Richards. A summary of the legal advice will be handed to MPs on Monday when they will be asked to vote on a substantive motion to support military action. Cameron won wide praise in the Commons, including support from the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, for his role in securing diplomatic support for a no-fly zone after it looked as if Britain and France were going to be left isolated. But the prime minister has been ambiguous about the extent to which his aim is to remove Gaddafi from power, and still faces questions on how long British pilots will have to police a no-fly zone if a political impasse emerges on the ground. He said: “It is almost impossible to envisage a future for Libya that includes him [Gaddafi]. It is not in our national interest for this man to lead a pariah state on the southern banks of Europe with all the problems that that could entail.” But he also accepted that the UN resolution did not endorse regime change. “The UN resolution is not about choosing the government of Libya. That is an issue for the Libyan people.” Obama stressed that the US would not dominate this UN-backed coalition. He said: “I also want to be clear about what we will not be doing. The United States is not going to deploy ground troops into Libya. We are not going to use force to go beyond a well defined goal: specifically the protection of civilians in Libya.” The Pentagon, in a statement, said Libya has about 30 missile sites, mainly spread along the coast, and that they posed a “significant threat to US and Nato aircraft”. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppé, said everything was ready to launch military strikes, and that a ceasefire would need to cover the whole country. The announcement of a ceasefire was dismissed by a rebel commander in the anti-Gaddafi stronghold of Benghazi, who accused the Libyan leader of bluffing. Khalifa Heftir told reporters: “Gaddafi does not speak any truth … All the world knows that Muammar Gaddafi is a liar. He and his sons, and his family, and all those with him are liars.” Tripoli said it had asked Malta and Turkey to help monitor the ceasefire. Reports continued of fighting in Misrata, a key port between the capital and Benghazi. Officials in Tripoli were tight-lipped about the details of the ceasefire. The decision seemed based on hopes that it would sow division inside the UN. There was little evidence of any wish to engage in real dialogue with the Benghazi rebels. Libyan state media all but ignored the ceasefire, continuing its stream of patriotic programmes and announcements, playing clip after clip of pro-Gaddafi demonstrators declaring their support for the leader. Tripoli seemed calm but tense throughout the day, with police patrol cars visible in unusual numbers in the centre of the city as officers checked identity cards. Several explosions to the west added to an already jumpy mood. Libya Middle East Barack Obama Muammar Gaddafi United States US foreign policy United Nations Ewen MacAskill Patrick Wintour Ian Black Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Death toll rises as government forces start to use live rounds in increasingly violent crackdown on nationwide protests Yasir Saeed was the first casualty dragged into the mosque. Blood was still trickling from the gaping bullet wound in the back of the 32-year-old English teacher’s head as doctors lowered his mangled body on to a blanket, muttering a short prayer before closing the lids of his eyes. Gradually, his corpse was joined by others lined up in a row alongside him. One by one, miniature Qur’ans were placed on their chests as their blood soaked through the carpet beneath them. The scene was desperate and chaotic. It followed the worst day of violence in Yemen since protests against president Ali Abdullah Saleh began in earnest over a month ago. At least 45 people were killed and hundreds of others wounded as security forces and plainclothes government loyalists opened fire on protesters trying to march through the capital, Sana’a. Parliamentary opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabri accused the regime of a massacre and said: “These killings will not help keep Ali Abdullah Saleh in power.” Saleh responded by calling for a state of emergency, saying this meant that ordinary citizens would not be able to carry weapons. But it was not immediately clear if Saleh has the military power to impose such an order, with the Arabian peninsula nation deeply divided and wracked by weeks of civil disturbance that have left well over 70 people dead. “What happened today was very regrettable, the death of our children,” the president said. Last week he had ordered his security forces to ensure the safety of protesters. Saleh went on to describe the victims as “martyrs of democracy” and accused those responsible of trying to undermine a peace initiative backed by Saudi Arabia. Friday’s protests had started peacefully. More than 100,000 Yemenis filled a mile-long stretch of road by Sana’a University for a midday prayer ceremony mourning the loss of seven protesters killed in clashes with riot police last weekend. As the prayers came to an end, however, the sight of billowing black smoke from a burning car caught the attention of protesters who began surging en masse towards it. Witnesses say security forces fired six shots into the air before turning their weapons on those charging towards them. As violence flared, plainclothes men appeared on the roofs of nearby houses and began firing down on the demonstrators with Kalashnikovs. Sana’a University, the scene of the bloodshed, is next door to the mosque where many of the dead and dying were taken, the deafening sound of the muezzin’s call to prayer intermixed with the noise of gunfire echoing off the walls. Medics scrambled to reach the wounded as the wheels of decrepit ambulances, trying to escort them to a proper hospital, spun hopelessly in the mud. Inside the mosque a throng of veiled women wailed with grief and tried to force their way past a line of students who had linked arms to ensure only medics and those in need of their help made it over the threshold. Meanwhile injured men, most in their early 20s, writhed in agony on shabby mattresses on the ground. “The most common injuries were bullet wounds to the chest and the head, although some are suffering from exposure to teargas,” said one doctor who did not wish to be named. “They shot people in the back of the head as they were running away,” said Mohammed al-Jamil, an Indian doctor treating the wounded with specks of blood on his hands and face. “Whoever did this wanted these people to die,” he added, tearing open a box of syringes. Witnesses said children were among the dozens wounded by gunfire. “My brother is 12 years old, they shot him twice, once in the arm and once in the leg,” shouted a young man through a crackling microphone to a roaring crowd of thousands outside the mosque. “Saleh would rather shoot us all before stepping down.” Until now government forces have largely been using water cannon, rubber bullets and teargas to disperse anti-regime rallies, but live rounds were fired on Friday in what appeared be the beginning of an increasingly violent crackdown on nationwide protests. Yemen, the youngest and poorest country in the Arab world neighbouring Saudi Arabia, has been hit by weeks of protests set in motion by uprisings in north Africa that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to the Gulf states of Bahrain and Oman, as well as Saudi Arabia itself. Saleh has maintained a firm grip on power for over three decades and has rejected calls to step down, saying he will only do so when his current term of office expires in 2013. “We condemn these crimes against humanity,” said Mohammed al-Qadhi, a prominent member of Yemen’s ruling party who resigned last week and has since survived two assassination attempts. “Even if it’s plainclothes men firing on the protesters it is still the government’s responsibility to protect them.” The intensification of force used against demonstrators has led to concern that protesters will retaliate, threatening the possibility of a broad war that could engulf the country. “In Yemen, violence is almost always met with more violence. If the regime does not stop these crackdowns immediately then we will soon find ourselves in the throngs of a bloody civil war,” said Mohammed al-Faqih, professor of politics at Sana’a University. Yemen Middle East Arab and Middle East protests Protest guardian.co.uk
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