TRIPOLI – The leaders of Britain, France and the United States (US) said a Libyan future including Moammer Gaddafi was “unthinkable”, as Russia charged Friday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was exceeding its UN mandate in the restive Arab nation.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama penned a joint article dismissing a Libyan future with Gaddafi as “unthinkable” and saying his staying on would represent an “unconscionable betrayal” by the rest of the world.
“It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government,” said the article, which appeared Friday in the London Times, The Washington Post and French daily Le Figaro. Obama acknowledged there was a “stalemate” on the ground in Libya, but said he still expected the three-week-old air campaign to succeed in ousting Gaddafi eventually.
Aisha Gaddafi, the embattled leader’s daughter, said the West’s demand that her father leave power was an “insult” to all Libyans, in a defiant appearance before a crowd of his chanting supporters in Tripoli early on Friday. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Britain voiced optimism, however, that NATO allies would supply more combat planes for the Libyan mission, but Italy ruled out ordering its planes to open fire.
Thousands protest across Syria
DAMASCUS – Thousands of protesters massed across Syria after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday as a global outcry widened over a deadly crackdown on month-old, anti-regime demonstrations. The protesters took to the streets of the restive city of Daraa as well as other centres in the Kurdish-populated northwest, a day after embattled President Bashar al-Assad unveiled a new government.
Activists said up to 3,000 protesters marched to the centre of Daraa and more were on their way to the southern city, where security forces shot dead at least seven people last Friday. “Between 2,500 and 3,000 people showed up at Al-Saraya area in the centre of the city, chanting slogans in favour of freedom and against the hostile regime,” said the activist on condition of anonymity.
Security forces looked on as protesters chanted “Death rather than humiliation!” he said, adding that other demonstrators were “going to come from nearby villages.” On Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Syrian security and intelligence services of torturing many of the hundreds of protesters detained since the demonstrations began. AFP
