BENGHAZI – LIBYAN REBELS said yesterday that Nato was too slow to act and they would take the issue up with the UN Security Council unless the alliance “did its job properly”.
“Either Nato does its work properly or I will ask the [rebel] national council to raise the matter with the security council,” said Abdel Fattah Younes, head of the rebel forces, speaking at a news conference in Benghazi in the rebel-held east.
He said Nato’s inaction was allowing forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy to advance and letting them kill the people of the rebel-held city of Misurata “every day”.
“Nato is moving very slowly, allowing Gadafy forces to advance,” he said. “Nato has become our problem,” he said.
Gadafy’s forces shelled Misurata for much of yesterday, a rebel spokesman said. “Misurata was shelled with tank fire, artillery and mortars, mainly [around] Tripoli street and the port area. The shelling started around 10am and stopped at 5 in the afternoon,” the rebel, called Abdelsalam, said by phone.
Western powers have destroyed almost one-third of Gadafy’s military since launching air strikes last month but Nato has been forced to change bombing tactics because of human shields. Misurata is now the priority for Nato air strikes.
As fresh details of the military campaign emerged, the International Criminal Court said it had evidence Col Gadafy’s government had plans to crush protests by killing civilians even before the uprising in Libya broke out.
“We have evidence that after the Tunisia and Egypt conflicts in January, people in the regime were planning how to control demonstrations inside Libya,” court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in the Hague.
“The planning at the beginning was to use tear gas and [if that failed to work] . . . shooting,” said Mr Moreno-Ocampo who is investigating Col Gadafy, his sons and close aides, and who will be requesting arrest warrants in the coming weeks.
Nato-led air power is now holding the balance in Libya, preventing Gadafy forces from overrunning the revolt in the North African desert state but unable for now to hand the rebels victory.
More than one million people need international relief as a result of the fighting in Libya, the United Nations said. Assistance would be needed for more than 400,000 people who have left Libya and for 600,000 inside the country.
A Turkish ship arrived at the port of Cesme in western Turkey yesterday afternoon, carrying 321 injured Libyans after visiting Benghazi and Misurata. Sirens wailed as ambulances rushed the injured to nearby hospitals.
In the capital Tripoli, angered by fuel shortages and long queues for basic goods caused by sanctions and air strikes, some residents began openly predicting Gadafy’s imminent downfall.
Stalemate on the frontline of fighting in eastern Libya, defections from Col Gadafy’s circle and the plight of civilians caught in fighting or facing food and fuel shortages prompted a flurry of diplomacy to find a solution to the civil war.
The government has offered concessions. Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Libya was ready for a “political solution” with world powers and offered a “constitution, election, anything. But the leader has to lead this forward.”
Libya’s Abdelati Obeidi, who last night was appointed foreign minister, ended a diplomatic shuttle to Greece, Turkey and Malta to set out the government position. His predecessor Moussa Koussa, once a close ally of Gadafy, has defected to Britain.
Turkey is expecting an envoy to visit from the opposition in the coming days and is listening to both factions. “Both sides have a rigid stance,” a Turkish foreign ministry official said after Mr Obeidi’s visit. “One side, the opposition, is insisting that Gadafy should go. The other side is saying Gadafy should stay. So there is no breakthrough yet.”
There has been talk of Col Gadafy staying on as an historic figurehead with one of his sons overseeing a change in Libya towards democracy. But many western leaders see no role for the Libyan leader in its future.
“My view is very clear. There is no future for Libya that involves Col Gadafy still being at the helm. How could there be when he’s literally been trying to butcher his own people?” said British prime minister David Cameron.
“But let’s be clear, when Gadafy leaves, that is when the real difficulties start and we need to prepare for that – that is, bringing the country together again,” said Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt, who was involved in the Balkans conflict. – (Reuters)