In a NATO air strike, Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Arab,29, and three grandchildren were killed. Gaddafi survived the attack and has been fighting a rebellion against his 41-year rule in which scores of civilians have been killed. Journalist were taken to the house hit by three missiles, with its roof blown away and mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging. It is expected that Gaddafi would appear or make a declaration today when the funerals are expected.
Denying the allegations of fabricating the death by some media to discredit NATO, Deputy Minister Khaled Kaim said: “The air strikes were a fourth attempt to assassinate Gaddafi.” Even before a formal announcement, the Embassies of Britain and Italy were attacked and burnt by angry crowds.
The United Nations has decided to withdraw its international staff from Tripoli after its compound was attacked by angry mob and some vehicles stolen. Martin Nerisk, a UN spokesman, said that “the decision to leave the country was based on the overall security situation in Tripoli.”
NATO denied targeting Gaddafi or his family and cleared that it was targeting only military targets in the area of the bombed site. It also stated that NATO continued its precise strikes against regime’s military installations in Tripoli overnight, including striking a known command and control building in the Babal al- Aziziyah neighborhood.
NATO Commander in Chief Charles Bauchard said: “The targets were part of a strategy to hit command centers that threatened civilians.”
However, Libyan Government official Musa Ibrahim claimed that “what was now left was the law of the jungle.” He said: “We think it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with protecting civilians.”
Thousands of civilians have lost their lives in fighting between rebels and government forces prompting a huge humanitarian crisis. On Sunday, an aid filled ship was shelled by government forces off Misrata, a lifeline for aid agencies.
Rights group claim hundreds of people have been killed in the city with government forces bombings. Refugees poured in across the border in Tunisia. A fleeing Libyan said: “I never thought I would have to leave my house but today, at the age of 80, I find without taking possession and without knowing where I am going to stay here in Tunisia.”
BERLIN, April 15 (Xinhua) — Two days of NATO foreign minister meeting in Berlin ended up with mixed outcomes on Friday, combined with vows of unity and signs of division over scope of the alliance military campaign in Libya.
In press conferences during the meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen continually restated that the NATO is strictly implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 ” both in letter and in spirit”, and taking the responsibility of protecting civilians in Libya from attacks with “all necessary measures”, just as the resolution asked for.
He stressed that the NATO has no intention of interfering with Libyan people’s political process, and the future of the violence- torn North African country will be in hands of its own people.
Participants of the NATO Foreign Minister meeting pose for the official portrait during the second day of NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Berlin, Germany(Courtesy: Xinhua)
However, the alliance set a clear condition on this no interfering — the departure of current Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. “NATO is absolutely determined to continue its operation for as long as there is a threat against Libyan civilians and it is impossible to imagine that threat disappear with Gaddafi in power,” Rasmussen said in the closing press conference.
On Thursday, his words looked less straightforward: NATO ” endorsed” the outcome of the first meeting of the Contact Group, which called for Gaddafi to leave power.
However, the position was greatly strengthened by an article published Friday in The International Herald Tribune and other two mainstream newspapers. The authors represented three prominent members of NATO — U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“So long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO must maintain their operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds,” they vowed, adding that their countries ” have been united from the start” in responding to the Libyan crisis.
In a joint statement, NATO foreign ministers made clear three objectives of its military operation in Libya: the end to all attacks and threat of attacks against civilians, the withdrawal of all Gaddafi’s forces to bases, and an immediate humanitarian access.
Goals are clarified within the alliance, but the Berlin talks still failed to offer a clear answer to how to achieve them, as rifts remained among the powers with different considerations of interests.
Only six out of NATO’s 28 members are conducting air strikes in Libya as the United States has moved back to a supporting role late March. Many countries, such as Italy, have put restrictions on the use of their planes.
Calls for more contribution from allies were repeatedly heard during the Berlin session, and Rasmussen told reporters that the alliance is in need of several precision fight aircraft and sophisticated equipment at the moment.
He said Gaddafi’ forces has changed tactics and hidden heavy arms in highly-populated areas. To avoid possible civilian casualties, NATO has to make precision attacks.
Although Rasmussen said he was confident that the alliance would “step up to the plate,” the NATO chief did not announce any specific pledges or promises during the two-day meeting, simply saying that he “heard indications that gave me hope.”
Rasmussen said in several occasions that the Berlin meeting has “a very positive discussion and a clear expression of unity of purpose and resolve.” However, even before the meeting, signs of discord have emerged as France and Britain impatiently pressed their allies to make more robust contribution for the ongoing mission in Libya, where three weeks of air strikes failed to help the rebels gain the upper hand in the battle field against government troops.
A French official said earlier that Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden should do more for the joint mission. But Spain government responded Thursday that it had no plan to take part in any air strikes.
Another vital player, the United States also did not say if it would send more jets in Berlin. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed that the NATO members are “sharing the same goal” and “contributing in many ways to see that goal realized”, avoiding discussion on new pledges and downplaying divisions within the alliance.
“As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important,” she added. Washington handed over the control and command to NATO on March 31, but it still assumed one third of flying missions.
On the first meeting of the Contact Group on Libya this week in Doha, countries discussed on whether the international community could provide the rebel army with arms for counter attack government troops or for self defense.
NATO members differ on this issue. Italy was in favor of the suggestion, but collected few positive response. As NATO’s mission should be in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which request an arms embargo to Libya, sending weapons to rebels would violate the rules of the resolution.
“As regards to arms, we have been mandated by the UN Security Council to enforce an arms embargo and we will do so in strict conformity,” Rasmussen said, adding that he received no request of amending the resolution in the meeting.
Analysts said that in coming months, NATO’s resolve and coordination capability would be put to serious test as the two conflicting sides in Libya came into a seesaw battle, with Qaddafi’ s force controlling the west and rebels the east.
NATO has apparently been aware of that. Answering questions of German magazine Spiegel, Rasmussen said that “the worst outcome would be a military stalemate or a de facto partition of Libyan society, in which Libya would become a failed state and a breeding ground for terrorist groups — and that so close to Europe’s borders.”
BRUSSELS, March 31 (Xinhua) — NATO assumed the leadership over all combat operations in Libya as of 0600 GMT on Thursday, taking over from an international coalition in charge since March 19, the AFP reported, citing a diplomat as saying.
Foreign ministers and global organisations meet in London as US and UK hold talks with Libyan opposition members.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has met a leading member of the Libyan opposition in London, ahead of a meeting between world powers on the future of the north African nation.
Tuesday’s meeting with Mahmoud Jibril of the Libyan National Council is another sign that the US administration is looking to expand ties with rebel leaders, but an official stressed it did not constitute formal recognition of the opposition.
William Hague, the UK’s foreign minister, also met Jibril, who was invited to Britain for talks but not to the conference in the capital, which Hague is hosting.
Hague said the Libyan transitional council was an “important and legitimate political interlocutor” but that Britain was committed to strengthening ties with a “wide range of members of the Libyan opposition”.
Plans for Gaddafi
Leaders meeting in London are expected to discuss an end game for Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s leader, and the country’s political future.
Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, said several nations planned to table a joint deal aimed at swiftly ending the conflict, setting out proposals for a ceasefire, exile for Gaddafi and a framework for talks on Libya’s future between tribal leaders and opposition figures.
However Hague said international powers were “not in control” of where Gaddafi might go if he went into exile.
“I’m not going to choose Colonel Gaddafi’s retirement home,” he told BBC radio. “Where he goes, if he goes, is up to him and the people of Libya to determine and we will not necessarily be in control of that.”
Frattini has suggested that some African countries could offer Gaddafi “hospitality”, he said on Monday.
Turkey, which has offered to attempt to mediate a permanent ceasefire, has also said the talks would gauge international support for scenarios under which Gaddafi could quit, including whether he could appoint another person in his place.
Gaddafi has called on foreign powers to end their “barbaric offensive” against Libya, in a letter addressed to those meeting on Tuesday.
In it he likened the NATO-led air strikes to military campaigns launched by Adolf Hitler during World War II.
A spokesperson for the British foreign office said it would not dignify the letter with any further comment.
“The world has been clear that Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy. We will judge him on his actions and not his words. His two calls for a ceasefire were a sham,” the spokesperson said.
Khaled Kaim, Libya’s deputy foreign minister, also told a news conference in Tripoli on Monday that foreign leaders had no right to attempt to impose a new political system on the country.
“Libya is an independent country with full sovereignty,” he said.
“The Libyan people are the only ones that have the right decide the country’s future, and planting division of Libya or imposing a foreign political system is not accepted.”
“We call upon Obama and the Western leaders to be peacemakers not warmongers, and not to push Libyans towards a civil war and more death and destruction,” he said.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, has said the international air campaign, which began March 19, has breached the terms of the UN resolution which authorised the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya.
But David Cameron, Britain’s prime minister, insisted that the coalition had not gone beyond its remit.
He instead paid tribute to the “skillful and dangerous work” of pilots who destroyed 22 pro-Gaddafi tanks, armoured vehicles and heavy guns over the weekend.
The prime minister said British pilots have so far flown more than 120 sorties and completed more than 250 hours of flights as part of the international action in Libya.
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) — Though U.S. President Barack Obama took 27 miniutes on Monday to strongly defend his policy on military action in Libya, many still believe the policy remains murky.
Facing mounting domestic and international criticism for his ambiguous policy, Obama aimed to clarify his position amid voices doubting how the military intervention will end at this stage.
Critics, however, fault Obama for not providing an outline of what comes next despite its swift transfer of command to NATO.
Worrying the United States would be entangled into another prolonged war similar to the one in Iraq, Obama declared NATO would formally take over full command of the military operations in Libya starting from Wednesday.
Transferring command to NATO, as Obama put it, will “significantly reduce” the risk and cost to U.S. military and taxpayers.
Indeed, gigantic bills of the military action will be especially sensitive when the United States is facing mounting domestic pressures to cut spending almost everywhere.
“The United States does not want to be seen as leading another war in the Middle East and does not want to be at the forefront of what will undoubtedly be a very difficult transition in Libya, even if Gaddafi is removed,” said Marina Ottaway, Middle East expert with the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“Also, there is a sense in Washington that the North African countries are more important to Europe than to the United States, so Europe should play the major role,” she told Xinhua.
Obama said the burden of action should not be “America’s alone” and allies and partners should “bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs.”
Some believe that Obama’s speech failed to clear up the controversies.
CNN host Eliot Spitzer said the speech has not successfully explained the confusion of the administration’s policy on Libya.
Richard Myers, former U.S. chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, also doubted that the United States can really keep a limited role, as U.S. involvement in the past often “escalated.”
Citing the example of Iraq, Myers said eight years after Saddam Hussein was forced out of power, the government largely formed by opposition is still weak and U.S. forces are still there.
“U.S. leaders don’t seem to know much about the political dynamics in Libya or how the situation will likely turn out,” Ted Carpenter, expert with the Cato Institute, told Xinhua.
“Perhaps most surprisingly — and something that is very worrisome — policy makers know little about the rebels the coalition is supporting, the tribal divisions in Libya, the possible geographic split between eastern and western Libya, and the extent of Islamist strength in that country. Any one of those factors could prove to be a big problem,” he added.
Tension mounts over military action as Ankara accuses Sarkozy of pursuing French interests over liberation of Libyan people
Ian Traynor
Turkey has launched a bitter attack on French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s and France’s leadership of the military campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, accusing the French of lacking a conscience in their conduct in the Libyan operations.
The vitriolic criticism, from both the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the president, Abdullah Gül followed attacks from the Turkish government earlier this week and signalled an orchestrated attempt by Ankara to wreck Sarkozy’s plans to lead the air campaign against Gaddafi.
With France insisting that Nato should not be put in political charge of the UN-mandated air campaign, Turkey has come out emphatically behind sole Nato control of the operations.
The row came as France confirmed that one of its fighter jets had destroyed a Libyan air force plane, the first to breach the no-fly zone since it was imposed on 19 March. The Libyan G2/Galeb trainer aircraft was destroyed by an air-to-ground missile just after it landed at an air base near the rebel-held town of Misrata, a French military spokesman said.
The clash between Turkey and France over Libya is underpinned by acute frictions between Erdogan and Sarkozy, both impetuous and mercurial leaders who revel in the limelight, by fundamental disputes over Ankara’s EU ambitions, and by economic interests in north Africa.
The confrontation is shaping up to be decisive in determining the outcome of the bitter infighting over who should inherit command of the Libyan air campaign from the Americans and could come to a head at a major conference in London next week of the parties involved.
Using incendiary language directed at France in a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “I wish that those who only see oil, gold mines and underground treasures when they look in [Libya’s] direction, would see the region through glasses of conscience from now on.”
President Gül reinforced the Turkish view that France and others were being driven primarily by economic interests. “The aim [of the air campaign] is not the liberation of the Libyan people,” he said. “There are hidden agendas and different interests.”
Earlier this week, Claude Guéant, the French interior minister who was previously Sarkozy’s chief adviser, outraged the Muslim world by stating that the French president was “leading a crusade” to stop Gaddafi massacring Libyans.
Erdogan denounced the use of the word crusade yesterday, blaming those, France chief among them, who are opposed to Turkey joining the EU.
Senior Nato officials are meeting in Brussels for the fourth day in a row to try to hammer out an agreement on who should assume command of the no-fly zone over Libya from the Americans who are determined to relinquish command within days.
Sarkozy has agreed to give Nato military planners operational command of the campaign, but refused to grant the alliance political and strategic control, insisting this should be vested in the broader “coalition of the willing” taking part.
Turkey has responded by blocking Nato planning operations for Libya while stressing that Nato should be given “sole command”, senior Nato diplomats said.
Turkey, Nato’s second biggest army after the US and its only Muslim member, appears bent on winning the argument. It is already taking part in Nato patrols in the Mediterranean to police an arms embargo on Libya. It wants to limit and shorten the air campaign and proscribe ground attacks on Libya by Nato aircraft. If Nato is given political command of the air effort, Turkey would be able to exercise a veto in a system run on consensus.
The US’s top military officer in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, Nato’s supreme commander Europe, has gone to Ankara to try to mediate a deal.
The Turks are incensed at repeated snubs by Sarkozy. The French failed to invite Turkey to last Saturday’s summit in Paris which presaged the air strikes. French fighters taking off from Corsica struck the first blows. The Turkish government accused Sarkozy of launching not only the no-fly zone, but his presidential re-election campaign.
While the dispute over Libya is substantive and political, it also appears highly personal, revealing the bad blood simmering between the French president and the Turkish prime minister.
Sarkozy went to Turkey last month for the first time in four years as president. But the visit was repeatedly delayed and then downgraded from a state presidential event. He stayed in Turkey for five hours.
“Relations between Turkey and France deserve more than this,” complained Erdogan. “I will speak with frankness. We wish to host him as president of France. But he is coming as president of the G20, not as that of France.”
While the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is also opposed to Turkey joining the EU, she has voiced her objections moderately. Sarkozy has declared loudly that culturally Turkey does not belong in Europe, but in the Middle East.
France has blocked tranches of Ankara’s EU negotiations on the grounds that it should not be seen as ever-fit for membership.
