Tag: Libya

LAHORE - Lahore High Court Bar Association Monday unanimously carried a resolution against the American attack on Libya under the cloak of protecting life of the Libyans and has demanded that Muslims must immediately act for guarding sovereignty and independence of Libya moving the United Nations and dissociate with this international body if no response comes through it.
The General House of the Bar with President Asghar Ali Gill in the chair, voted for the resolution presented

TUNIS - The United Nations is talking to all parties in the Libyan conflict to provide aid to those in need "as soon as possible", an envoy said on Sunday. "Nothing is on the table ... the situation is very fluid and unpredictable," Rashid Khalikov, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, told a news conference in Tunis.
"Timeframe, I can give you only one timeframe: as quickly as possible because we have to do something to reduce the suffering of the population ... Dialogue

BREGA - Heavy fighting between Libyan rebels and forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi resumed on Sunday on the outskirts of the key oil town of Brega, an AFP journalist reported.
The rebels had claimed to have recaptured the town, 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, on Saturday but pro-Kadhafi snipers were said to be still active and others were apparently holed up in the university.
Early on Sunday morning, the rebels pushed forward and were occupying the

EAST OF BREGA - The US military is poised to withdraw its combat jets and Tomahawk missiles from the air campaign against Libya's regime as NATO allies take the lead in bombing Moamer Gaddafi's forces.
A NATO-led airstrike killed 13 Libyan rebels in a "regrettable incident", a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, in an increasingly chaotic battle with Muammar Gaddafi's forces over the oil town of Brega. Meanwhile, US officials on Friday confirmed that American fighters,

LONDON - About 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the British government said in a human rights report published on Thursday.
"Whilst there has been no official death toll, several sources report that approximately 1,000 people have already been killed and many more have been injured during the recent violence," the report from Britain's Foreign Office said.
The Foreign Office also said

LONDON - About 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the British government said in a human rights report published on Thursday.
In a quarterly update on human rights in Libya covering the period since an uprising began against Gaddafi's rule, Britain's Foreign Office said it was appalled by reports of serious human rights violations during the conflict.
"Whilst there has been no official

LONDON - British warplanes have bombed Libyan tanks, armoured vehicles and a surface-to-air missile site around Misrata, where rebels were pounded by Muammar Gaddafi's forces, officials said Thursday.
RAF Tornado aircraft flying from the Italian base of Gioia del Colle carried out the strikes Wednesday around the rebel-held city as part of a multinational operation to protect civilians, the Ministry of Defence announced.
"In the course of these patrols the aircraft launched

LONDON - Seven out of 10 Britons think coalition forces enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya could get sucked into another Iraq-style conflict, a poll showed on Tuesday. The ComRes poll carried out for the Independent newspaper found 47 percent think the government was wrong to launch air strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, while 43 percent approve of the decision.
Tuesday's poll found that 71 percent of those questioned feared the intervention could drag on, despite Prime

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama to give a prime-time address to the nation aimed at winning the support of a war-weary American public for the military intervention in Libya.
After inheriting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning president finds himself embroiled in yet another conflict, this time one of his own choosing and one that many at home are not convinced by.
In his address at 7:30 pm (2330 GMT) from the National Defense University in

BRUSSELS - The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) agreed on Sunday to take command of military operations in Libya from a US-led coalition, a NATO official said.
"NATO has decided today to implement all aspects of the UN Resolution 1973 to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack from the [Muammer] Gaddafi regime," a NATO official said on condition of anonymity. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on US television that the country would

JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesian Muslims rallied peacefully in the Indonesian capital on Sunday to condemn the coalition air strikes in Libya and urge leader Moamer Kadhafi to step down. Protesters from the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) shouted "Libya! Freedom!" and "Dictator, No! Oppression, No! Murder, No!"
"The people and government of Indonesia should join with Russia, China, Turkey and India to oppose the military invasion by the allies in Libya," PKS leader

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for immediate peaceful dialogue in Libya saying he was concerned about the safety of civilians there and urged "reconciliation" across the Middle East.
"I launch a heartfelt appeal to international organisations and those with political and military responsibilities to immediately launch a dialogue that will suspend the use of arms," he told pilgrims in the Vatican. "Faced with the ever more dramatic news coming from Libya, my

LONDON - A week into military strikes on Libya, foreign powers may be at the beginning of a long war with little agreement on whether they should be protecting civilians from Muammar Gaddafi or ousting the leader himself.
While British, French and US attacks have saved the opposition in Benghazi, Gaddafi remains in power in Tripoli and is still bombarding rebels in the western city of Misrata. Part of the issue, some analysts say, is that neither Libya's rulers nor the opposition

DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates will send 12 planes to take part in operations to enforce the no-fly zone in Libya.
"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. UAE participation in the patrols will commence in the coming days," said UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan.
The statement said the UAE planes would be an extension of the Gulf Arab

BERLIN - Germany's watershed decision to withhold support for military action in Libya has sparked fears of a new go-it-alone stance in Berlin that could cost it precious credibility and influence. "We are not neutral," Merkel insisted again Wednesday in a speech, defending Berlin's abstention from a UN Security Council vote to create a no-fly zone in Libya to stop pro-government forces from slaughtering civilians. "We of course like the rest of the world want to see the end to the

NAPLES - A NATO maritime task force charged with preventing arms from entering Libya said on Thursday they cannot be sure of blocking all routes into the country but "are closing the main front door." "The sea is the easiest, fastest and most direct way to get arms into Libya. We are cutting off that area," Rinaldo Veri, head of Operation Protector told reporters at NATO's navy base in Naples, headquarters for the embargo mission. "I hope we can close all the windows, but one thing is

MOSCOW - By refusing to veto the UN resolution allowing military action against Libya and siding with the West, Russia has betrayed its interests and lost tens of billions of euros, Russia's ex-envoy in Tripoli said on Thursday. Vladimir Chamov was dramatically fired from the post of Russia's ambassador to Libya before the UN Security Council last week gave the green light to a military operation against Libya. His comments in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper