TRIPOLI/SFAX, Tunisia | Mon Apr 4, 2011
8:46pm EDT
By Maria Golovnina and Tarek Amara
TRIPOLI/SFAX, Tunisia (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi are staging a "massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata,
evacuees said on Monday, as Libya said it was ready to discuss political reform,
led by Gaddafi.
Libyan TV showed footage of Gaddafi saluting supporters outside his fortified
compound in Tripoli. But some residents of the capital, angered by fuel
shortages and long queues for basic goods caused by a popular revolt and Western
sanctions and air strikes, began openly predicting his imminent downfall.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Libya was ready for a "political
solution" with world powers.
"We could have any political system, any changes: constitution, election,
anything. But the leader has to lead this forward," he told reporters when asked
about the content of negotiations with other countries.
With Libya in chaos, an official in neighboring Algeria told Reuters al Qaeda
was exploiting the conflict to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air
missiles.
The U.S. State Department said it had raised concerns with the Libyan rebels
about the Islamist group obtaining arms in the east of the country, where they
are battling Gaddafi's forces.
Evacuees from Misrata, the rebels' last major stronghold in western Libya,
described the city as "hell". They said Gaddafi's troops were using tanks and
snipers against residents, littering the streets with corpses and filling
hospitals with the wounded.
"You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi," said Omar Boubaker,
a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian
port of Sfax by a French aid group. "Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are
overflowing."
Misrata rose up with other towns against Gaddafi last month but most others have
been retaken by government forces.
"I could live or die, but I am thinking of my family and friends who are
stranded in the hell of Misrata," said tearful evacuee Abdullah Lacheeb, who had
serious injuries to his pelvis and stomach and a bullet wound in his leg.
"Imagine, they use tanks against civilians. He (Gaddafi) is prepared to kill
everyone there."
GADDAFI GREETING
State TV showed what it said was live footage of Gaddafi briefly waving to
supporters through the roof of a Jeep outside his compound while bodyguards
tried to prevent them mobbing him.
But in the lanes of Tripoli's medieval market, some openly forecast his fall as
rebels battle his forces in eastern Libya.
"People from the east will come here. Maybe in two weeks," said one entrepreneur
who asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals. "But now, people are
afraid."
Stalemate on the frontline in the east, defections from Gaddafi's circle and the
plight of civilians caught in fighting, or facing shortages, have prompted a
flurry of diplomacy.
Turkey said it was seeking to broker a ceasefire as an envoy from Gaddafi's
government traveled to Ankara from Athens.
"Turkey will continue to do its best to end the suffering and to contribute to
the process of making a road map that includes the political demands of Libyan
people," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
Turkey also expected envoys from the rebel National Council soon, he added. A
Turkish official said both sides "conveyed that they have some opinions about a
possible ceasefire".
ITALY SAYS GADDAFI MUST GO
Spokesman Ibrahim said Libya was ready to listen to outside reform proposals and
"try our best to meet you in the middle".
But he added: "No one can come to the Libyan nation and say to them: 'You have
to lose your leader, or your system, or your regime' ... Who are you to say
that?"
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini dismissed Libya's stance. "A solution
for the future of Libya has a pre-condition: that Gaddafi's regime leaves and is
out and that Gaddafi himself and his family leave the country," he said.
In Washington, the U.S. Treasury said it had lifted sanctions against former
Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa in the hope that other senior officials
would defect.
Koussa fled to Britain last week.
Scottish police, who want to question him over the 1988 Lockerbie airliner
bombing, for which Libya accepted responsibility and paid compensation to
relatives of the 270 dead, were expected to meet him within days.
U.N.-mandated air strikes to protect civilians, led by the United States, France
and Britain, have so far failed to halt attacks in Misrata by the Libyan army.
At least five people died when Gaddafi's forces shelled a residential area of
the city late on Monday, a doctor said.
"The reception in the hospital is full. Five people were confirmed killed in the
last two hours and five more are in a critical condition," the doctor, who gave
his name as Ramadan, told Reuters by phone from the city.
Libyan officials deny attacking civilians in Misrata, saying they are fighting
armed gangs linked to al Qaeda. Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently
verified as Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely
from there.
A Turkish ship that sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by
Turkish warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands
pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated. Another ship operated by
Medecins Sans Frontieres docked in Sfax with 71 wounded from Misrata.
Abdel Rahman, a witness from Zintan, another rebel hold-out 160 km southwest of
Tripoli, said the situation there was grim.
"Gaddafi's militias are still besieging the town. Petrol is running short and
most cars are parked. Few people drive their cars. We are also worried that if
this goes on for much longer, we will have food shortages too...
"Coalition aircraft fly over but they don't hit the tanks, military vehicles and
soldiers surrounding Zintan."
AL QAEDA CONVOY
In Algiers, a senior security official said that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), the Islamist group's regional wing, was getting hold of weapons in
eastern Libya.
The Algerian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a convoy of
eight Toyota pick-up trucks had left eastern Libya and headed via Chad and Niger
to northern Mali, where in the past few days it had delivered a cargo of
weapons.
"We know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing," the
official said. "Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region
(eastern Libya) with their arsenals and weapons stores, and the elements of AQIM
who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States had
raised its concerns with the rebels.
Gaddafi says the uprising is fueled by Islamist radicals and Western nations who
want to control Libya's oil. The rebels, whose stronghold is the eastern city of
Benghazi, say they only want the removal of Gaddafi and his circle.
After chasing each other up and down the coast road linking the oil ports of
eastern Libya with Gaddafi's tribal heartland further west, the two sides are
stuck around Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km
(15 miles).
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tulay
Karadeniz and Simon Cameron-Moore in Ankara, Lamine Chikhi and Christian Lowe in
Algiers, Ibon Villelabeitia and Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph Nasr in Berlin,
Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Karolina Tagaris in London; Writing by David Stamp
and Kevin Liffey; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
SFAX, Tunisia/ BREGA, Libya | Mon Apr 4, 2011
12:38pm EDT
Reuters
By Tarek Amara and Alexander Dziadosz
SFAX, Tunisia/ BREGA, Libya (Reuters) - Gaddafi forces using
tanks and snipers are carrying out a "massacre" in Misrata with corpses on the
streets and hospitals full of the wounded, evacuees said, with one describing
the besieged city as "hell."
Misrata, Libya's third city, rose up with other towns against Muammar Gaddafi's
rule in mid-February, and it is now under attack by government troops after a
violent crackdown put an end to most protests elsewhere in the west of the
country.
"You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi," said Omar Boubaker,
a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian
port of Sfax by a French aid group. "Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are
overflowing."
Stalemate on the frontline of fighting in eastern Libya, defections from
Gaddafi'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.
But the evacuees from Misrata had more immediate concerns.
"I could live or die but I am thinking of my family and friends who are stranded
in the hell of Misrata," said tearful evacuee Abdullah Lacheeb, who had serious
injuries to his pelvis and stomach and a bullet wound in his leg.
"Imagine, they use tanks against civilians. He (Gaddafi) is prepared to kill
everyone there ... I am thinking of my family."
Swathed in bandages, evacuees gave some of the most detailed accounts yet of
conditions in Misrata, the last major rebel-held city in western Libya which
recalled sieges of town and cities in the Bosnian conflict.
U.N.-mandated air strikes to protect civilians have so far failed to halt
attacks by the Libyan army, which residents said stationed snipers on rooftops
and fired mortars and artillery at populated areas of the city with devastating
effect.
Libyan officials deny attacking civilians in Misrata, saying they are fighting
armed gangs linked to al Qaeda. Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently
verified as Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely
from there.
A rebel spokesman said the city was shelled on Monday.
"The shelling started in the early hours of the morning and it's continuing,
using mortars and artillery. This is pure terrorism. The shelling is targeting
residential areas," the spokesman, called Gemal, told Reuters by telephone,
adding:
"We know there are casualties but I don't know how many."
THOUSANDS LEFT BEHIND
A Turkish ship that sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by
Turkish warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands
pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated.
Another ship operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres docked in Sfax in Tunisia with
71 wounded from Misrata. Many had bullet wounds and broken limbs.
Fears of a massacre in Misrata are helping to propel efforts this week to try
and secure a ceasefire in the North African oil-producing desert state. Sfax
echoed to the sound of sirens as a stream of ambulances ferried the wounded to
hospital.
"We cannot do anything against this massacre any more. We ask the Americans and
the Europeans to put people on the ground and help us end these crimes," said
another injured man, Imed.
A Libyan envoy was in Europe on Monday seeking to end the civil war that has
become locked in a battlefield stalemate between rebels and forces loyal to
Gaddafi.
Libya wanted a negotiated political settlement, Greek officials said, because a
military solution to the conflict between rag-tag rebels backed by Western air
power and Gaddafi's better armed troops now looked impossible.
"The Libyan envoy wanted to convey that Libya has the intention to negotiate," a
Greek official said after the visit by Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati
Obeidi. "We don't think that there can be a military solution to this crisis."
Obeidi arrived in Turkey on Monday for the next leg of his mission and a Turkish
foreign ministry official said both sides in the conflict had "conveyed that
they have some opinions about a possible ceasefire." Obeidi is due in Malta on
Tuesday.
Beyond a willingness to talk, there was no sign of what Libya might offer to end
the war that is bogged down on a frontline around the eastern oil town of Brega,
while civilians are bombarded by Gaddafi forces in western rebel holdouts.
ITALY SAYS GADDAFI MUST QUIT
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who had spoken to Greek officials,
dismissed the Libyan envoy's message saying a divided Libya was not acceptable
and Gaddafi must quit.
After a meeting with Ali Essawi, a member of the Libyan rebel council looking
after foreign affairs, Frattini said Italy, the former colonial power in Libya,
backed the rebels.
"A solution for the future of Libya has a pre-condition -- that Gaddafi's regime
leaves and is out and that Gaddafi himself and his family leave the country," he
said, adding an interim government headed by one of Gaddafi's sons was "not an
option."
One diplomat cautioned, however, that any diplomatic compromise -- for example
one in which Gaddafi handed over power to one of his sons -- could lead to the
partition of Libya.
"Various scenarios are being discussed," said the diplomat. "Everyone wants a
quick solution."
If there were eventually to be a ceasefire leading to the partition of Libya,
control of revenues from the oil ports, including Brega and Ras Lanuf to the
west, would be crucial.
Gaddafi believes the uprising is fueled by Islamist radicals and Western nations
who want to control Libya's oil. The rebels, whose stronghold is in the eastern
city of Benghazi, want nothing less than the removal of Gaddafi and his circle.
The U.N.-mandated military intervention, in which warplanes have attacked
Gaddafi's armor, radars and air defenses, began on March 19 and was intended to
protect civilians caught up in fighting between pro-Gaddafi forces and the
rebels.
Neither the Gaddafi troops nor the mostly disorganized rebel force have been
able to gain the upper hand on the frontline, despite the Western air power in
effect aiding the insurgents.
After chasing each other up and down the coast road linking the oil ports of
eastern Libya with Gaddafi's tribal heartland further west, the two sides are
stuck around Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km
(15 miles).
Rebels pushed the army out of much of Brega and toward the outskirts of the
sprawling oil town on Monday in a slow advance west, but were still facing
bombardment with each step.
REBELS MORE ORGANISED
Showing signs of greater organization than in past weeks, rebels moved more
cautiously and held ground more stubbornly than before despite facing Gaddafi's
better-equipped forces.
"Gaddafi's forces are waiting at the western gate exactly. Any advance by the
rebels, they fire at them with mortars," said rebel fighter Youssef Shawadi, a
few kilometers from the gate.
Near the university -- a focus of five days of clashes -- thuds and blasts could
be heard from around the western gate. Black smoke rose as the two sides fired
rockets at each other.
The rebels, who need modern weapons and better training if they are to match
Gaddafi's forces, said the army had laid mines and booby-traps as they withdrew
west from the university.
With warfare raging in Libya, a senior security official from Algeria said al
Qaeda was using the conflict to acquire weapons and smuggle them to a stronghold
in northern Mali.
He told Reuters he had information that Al Qaeda's north African wing, known as
al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had acquired from Libya Russian-made
shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles known by the NATO designation
SAM-7.
"Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya)
with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present
could not have failed to profit from this opportunity," he said, adding:
"If the Gaddafi regime goes, it is the whole of Libya ... which will disappear,
at least for a good time, long enough for AQIM to re-deploy as far as the Libyan
Mediterranean."
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Christian
Lowe in Algiers, Ibon Villelabeitia, Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph Nasr in
Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Tarek Amara, Karolina Tagaris in London;
Writing by Peter Millership; Editing by Giles Elgood)
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda is exploiting the conflict in
Libya to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and smuggle them to
a stronghold in northern Mali, a security official from neighboring Algeria told
Reuters.
The official said a convoy of eight Toyota pick-up trucks left eastern Libya,
crossed into Chad and then Niger, and from there into northern Mali where in the
past few days it delivered a cargo of weapons.
He said the weapons included Russian-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket-propelled
grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and
ammunition.
He also said he had information that al Qaeda's north African wing, known as al
Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had acquired from Libya Russian-made
shoulder-fired Strela surface-to-air missiles known by the NATO designation
SAM-7.
"A convoy of eight Toyotas full of weapons traveled a few days ago through Chad
and Niger and reached northern Mali," said the official, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
"The weapons included RPG-7s, FMPK (Kalashnikov heavy machine guns),
Kalashnikovs, explosives and ammunition ... and we know that this is not the
first convoy and that it is still ongoing," the official told Reuters.
"Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region (eastern Libya)
with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM who were present
could not have failed to profit from this opportunity."
"AQIM, which has maintained excellent relations with smugglers who used to cross
Libya from all directions without the slightest difficulty, will probably give
them the task of bringing it the weapons," said the official.
The official said that al Qaeda was exploiting disarray among forces loyal to
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and had also infiltrated the anti-Gaddafi rebels
in eastern Libya.
The rebels deny any ties to al Qaeda. U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's
supreme allied commander for Europe, said last week intelligence showed only
"flickers" of an al Qaeda presence in Libya, with no significant role in the
Libyan uprising.
"AQIM ... is taking advantage by acquiring the most sophisticated weapons such
as SAM-7s (surface-to-air missiles), which are equivalent to Stingers," he said,
referring to a missile system used by the U.S. military.
Algeria has been fighting a nearly two-decade insurgency by Islamist militants
who in the past few years have been operating under the banner of al Qaeda.
Algeria's security forces also monitor al Qaeda's activities outside its
borders.
The security official said the Western coalition which has intervened in Libya
had to confront the possibility that if Gaddafi's regime falls, al Qaeda could
exploit the resulting chaos to extend its influence to the Mediterranean coast.
"If the Gaddafi regime goes, it is the whole of Libya -- in terms of a country
which has watertight borders and security and customs services which used to
control these borders -- which will disappear, at least for a good time, long
enough for AQIM to re-deploy as far as the Libyan Mediterranean."
"In the case of Libya, the coalition forces must make an urgent choice. To allow
chaos to settle in, which will necessitate ... a ground intervention with the
aim of limiting the unavoidable advance of AQIM toward the southern coast of the
Mediterranean, or to preserve the Libyan regime, with or without Gaddafi, to
restore the pre-uprising security situation," the official told Reuters.
PARIS | Mon Apr 4, 2011
7:14am EDT
Reuters
By Tim Hepher and Karen Jacobs
PARIS (Reuters) - The photograph shows a French Rafale
warplane at the Mitiga air base outside Tripoli. A small crowd of men, women and
children mill around the fighter, its tail fin lit up by the North African sun.
Taken at an air show in October 2009, the picture is one of several grabbed by
military aviation photographers from Dutch website scramble.nl that highlight
one of the ironies in the West's enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya. To
take out Muammar Gaddafi's air defenses, western powers such as France and Italy
are using the very aircraft and weapons that only months ago they were showing
off to the Libyan leader. French Rafales like those on show in 2009, for
instance, flew the western alliance's very first missions over Libya just over
two weeks ago. One of the Rafale's theoretical targets: Libya's French-built
Mirage jets which Paris had recently agreed to repair.
The Libyan operation also marks the combat debut for the Eurofighter Typhoon, a
competitor to the Dassault Rafale built by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. An
Italian Air Force version of that plane was snapped at the 2009 show hosted by
Libyan generals. Two weeks ago, that base - to which arms firms including
Dassault returned last November - was attacked by the West.
Times change, allegiances shift, but weapons companies will always find takers
for their goods. Libya won't be buying new kit any time soon. But the no-fly
zone has become a prime showcase for other potential weapons customers,
underlining the power of western combat jets and smart bombs, or reminding
potential buyers of the defensive systems needed to repel them.
"This is turning into the best shop window for competing aircraft for years.
More even than in Iraq in 2003," says Francis Tusa, editor of UK-based Defense
Analysis. "You are seeing for the first time on an operation the Typhoon and the
Rafale up against each other, and both countries want to place an emphasis on
exports. France is particularly desperate to sell the Rafale."
Almost every modern conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo has served as
a test of air power. But the Libyan operation to enforce UN resolution 1973
coincides with a new arms race --a surge of demand in the $60 billion a year
global fighter market and the arrival of a new generation of equipment in the
air and at sea. For the countries and companies behind those planes and weapons,
there's no better sales tool than real combat. For air forces facing cuts, it is
a strike for the value of air power itself.
"As soon as an aircraft or weapon is used on operational deployment, that
instantly becomes a major marketing ploy; it becomes 'proven in combat'," says a
former Defense export official with a NATO country, speaking on condition of
anonymity about the sensitive subject.
A spokesman for the Eurofighter consortium said it had "never been involved in
talks to sell the aircraft to Libya" and its presence at the Lavex air show
outside Tripoli in 2009 was part of an Italian delegation organized at
government level. Defense sources tell Reuters that Britain and Germany had
vetoed any sale of Italian Typhoons to Libya, but the amount of other Italian
military hardware on display demonstrated warm relations at the time between
Tripoli and the government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
France has been less timid about announcing arms talks with Libya which briefly
held an exclusive option for Rafale jets. A French source, who asked not to be
named, declined to comment in detail on past negotiations but said arms sales
were handled at a government-to-government level.
"HOT WAR" SOLUTIONS
Air shows like the one outside Tripoli 18 months ago are a routine fixture of
the arms industry's marketing calendar. But to convince potential buyers,
Defense equipment needs to be tested and survive what marketers call a "hot
war."
"Battle-testing is something often referred to by the arms industry as an
important factor for promoting their wares to export customers," says Paul
Holtom, director of the Arms Transfers Program at the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
A 'hot war' gives arms buyers a chance to cut through marketing jargon and check
claims are justified. "Everyone is looking at Libya. It is definitely a
showcase," one western Defense company official told Reuters on condition of
anonymity. A Dassault executive, who did not want to be named, said the Rafale
had been "combat-proven" since being deployed in Afghanistan in 2007.
What buyers and the world's military attaches are actually watching out for may
be far less dramatic than Top Gun-style dogfights, which are unlikely to feature
in the one-sided Libyan campaign. Instead, according to industry executives,
prospective buyers will be hungry for detailed information on reliability, the
ability of aircraft to operate seamlessly with other forces or systems and the
ability of operational squadrons to generate high sortie rates for the minimum
amount of repair.
The rewards are huge. India, Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman
and Kuwait are among a growing list of countries shopping for one or more of the
fighters flying sorties over Libya.
The deal of the moment: India's plan to buy 126 fighter jets, an order which
should be worth an estimated $10 billion. Reliability, say industry experts, is
likely to be the key to winning the exports.
Four of the six companies in the running to sell New Delhi planes - Dassault's
Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin's F-16 and Boeing's F/A-18 -
have already helped enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. A fifth contender, the
Saab Gripen, arrived in Sicily at the weekend, ready to take part in the first
air combat action by the Swedish air force in decades.
France is also using its new Horizon-class frigate and latest air-to-ground
missiles.
But it's not just offensive equipment such as planes and missiles. Aerial shock
and awe provides free advertising for companies that build early warning systems
and missile defenses.
"Libya is a reminder that if you can't compete on the level of attack platforms,
then you need to compete on the level of Defense systems," says Siemon Wezeman,
senior fellow at SIPRI. "Libya had reasonable air defenses and yet they didn't
make a dent. If you want to defend yourself, you need either the aircraft or the
defensive systems. You will see countries asking people like Russia and China
what they can provide." U.S.-built systems from companies like Lockheed Martin
and Raytheon are already in high demand in the Gulf, to counter the perceived
threat from Iran.
"CRADLE TO GRAVE TESTING"
But convincing countries to buy expensive weaponry and equipment requires more
than just showing it off. "If you meet 100 percent of the operational
requirement, you have still have won only 25 percent of the race," the former
NATO Defense export official told Reuters.
U.S. diplomatic cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and seen by Reuters, detail
repeated efforts by U.S. diplomats to drum up high-level political support for
fighter jet and other sales -- efforts which according to Defense industry
sources are matched by intense lobbying by France Britain, Russia and others.
One cable, from around the time of the 2009 Libya air show, comes from the U.S.
embassy in New Delhi which recounted how India, once a major Soviet arms buyer,
was warming to the idea of U.S. weapons thanks to their proven combat
capability.
"They recognize the quality of U.S. systems and have been astounded by the
mission-capable rates quoted for U.S. aircraft compared to their older Russian
inventory," the embassy told Michele Flournoy, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense
for Policy, in October 2009.
But a few months later, Saudi Arabia, which buys the vast bulk of its arms from
the United States, had concerns about quality. Unhappy about the number of
GBU-10 laser-guided bombs that had failed to explode when used against Houthi
rebels in Yemen, according to a dispatch from the Riyadh embassy, Saudi
officials asked how the number of duds compared with the failure rate of the
same weapon in Afghanistan. In response, a visiting U.S. general described the
U.S. Air Force's careful "cradle-to-grave testing and maintenance on its bombs."
Saudi officials also complained about a lack of progress in obtaining U.S.
munitions and technology for strikes in Yemen. In the same January 2010 meeting,
the Royal Saudi Air Force chief said that when the U.S. sold its weaponry, "it
was like a car dealer selling five cars, but with only eight tires." Saudi
Arabia is crucial to U.S. weapons makers who are discussing a huge arms package
valued at over $60 billion including 84 F-15 fighter jets and 70 Apache
helicopters built by Boeing.
When it comes to Libya, Paris was almost as eager to take on Gaddafi as it was
to open up military ties after the EU lifted an arms embargo on the country in
2004. But France was not alone in wooing the country after Gaddafi renounced
weapons of mass destruction.
In conversation with an aide to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam in December 2009,
U.S. embassy officials in Tripoli referred to an offer for purchases or
refurbishment of C-130 transport planes and "military exchange and training
opportunities," according to a diplomatic cable from that month. The cable also
mentioned a U.S. offer to Gaddafi's younger son Khamis to "travel around the
United States to tour U.S. military installations." There was no indication how
the conversation was followed up. Khamis, whose forces are fighting the revolt
against his father's rule, is the commander of the military's elite 32nd
brigade, seen by many analysts as the best-trained unit in Libya.
The same cable also suggested that Washington had resisted Libyan requests for
MH-6 "Little Bird" light assault helicopters, and noted Libyan complaints about
slow progress in refurbishing Vietnam-era M113 armored personnel carriers.
Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the C-130 transporter, declined to comment. The
State Department did comment for this article.
"MOST UNSEEMLY"
In the immediate PR battle over Libya, analysts say the Rafale appears to be
winning. Not only was it handed a front-page role on the first day of the
conflict, but it also scored a symbolic victory by reaching Libya equipped for
air-to-ground attack, something the Typhoon has so far only done in tests. The
Typhoon is focusing instead on air-to-air warfare against an enemy whose air
force has been more or less pinned to the ground by strikes on radars and air
defenses.
French officials dismiss any suggestion of deliberate showmanship in the
deployment of Rafales in the opening hours of the conflict, saying their
flexibility made them right for the task of destroying tanks that were closing
on rebel positions in eastern Libya. But there is no doubt the lead taken by
Sarkozy signals a more confident diplomatic posture that France hopes will
benefit Rafale sales indirectly. Countries buying fighters must be ready to
invest in a diplomatic relationship lasting 30 or 40 years, and competitors are
bracing for an all-out French sales offensive once the conflict is over, or even
before.
"Sarkozy has done a great job in getting the Rafale out there and hitting a
convoy early on. He will go to export markets and say this is what our planes
can do," said a defense executive from a rival arms producing nation.
That's something Washington will watch closely. Dispatches over many months show
U.S. efforts to track the hyperactive French president during official visits as
he campaigned from Libya to Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates, for the
first foreign sale of the Rafale. U.S. officials were so outraged by the
"frothiness" surrounding Sarkozy's two-day trip to open a French naval base in
Abu Dhabi in May 2009 -- a "poorly planned" French military maneuver interrupted
vital fuel deliveries to Afghanistan -- that the U.S. ambassador reported the
visit had brought out the "most unseemly" aspects of both host and visitor. "The
Emirati desire to be the object of unrestrained praise met its match in the
French willingness to abase themselves in front of rich clients," according to
the confidential cable. French defense sources say unflattering things about
U.S. lobbying too.
Another potential customer the French and the Americans are fighting over is
Brazil, where the Rafale was until recently seen as best-placed to beat the
U.S.-made F/A-18 and Sweden's Gripen. Brazil is the focus of a fierce diplomatic
contest between Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama to win an order for 36
fighter planes. Obama visited Brazil's new president last month and Sarkozy is
expected to follow suit.
A TIME OF CUTS
Arms exporters typically do well at times of international instability. But they
also depend on budget stability in their home country. That's because arms
importers prefer to buy from places whose own armed forces are signing up for
the same weapons, guaranteeing future support and spares.
Turmoil in the Middle East emerged just as defense officials and lawmakers were
gearing up to cut U.S. defense spending, which accounts for half of the world's
arms business, for the first time in a decade or more. The ferment may make it
harder for American lawmakers to argue the case for immediate cuts -- though it
may also, analysts say, encourage them to scrutinize more closely the release of
technology to loyal buyers whose governments are looking less stable.
"There are probably positive impacts over the next five years on the defense
industry because of what has happened in the last couple of weeks. When the U.S.
military is used as it is being used in Libya, and in an invisible humanitarian
sense in Japan, it probably discourages the Congress from taking an axe to the
defense budget," said Joel Johnson, analyst with Virginia-based Teal Group.
At the same time, defense industry executives and military officials say they do
not expect a return to the double-digit revenue growth seen after the September
11, 2001 attacks -- given the sheer size of the U.S. deficit and a generally
more sober approach to military requirements and programs.
"We're probably facing a flat period" of U.S. spending, Johnson said, "but flat
at pretty high levels."
(Reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Andrea Shalal-Esa and Mark
Hosenball in Washington, Karen Jacobs in Atlanta, Sabine Siebold in Berlin,
Editing by Sara Ledwith and Simon Robinson)
TRIPOLI | Mon Apr 4, 2011
6:41am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The Libyan government sent an envoy to
Greece on Sunday to discuss an end to fighting, but gave no sign of any major
climbdown in a war that has ground to a stalemate between rebels and forces
loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi flew to Athens carrying a
personal message from Gaddafi to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that
Libya wanted the fighting to end, a Greek government official told Reuters.
"It seems that the Libyan authorities are seeking a solution," Foreign Minister
Dimitris Droutsas told reporters.
But there was no indication on what Tripoli might be ready to offer -- beyond a
willingness to negotiate -- to end a war that has become bogged down on a
frontline in the eastern oil town of Brega, while leaving civilians trapped by
Gaddafi's forces in the west.
Underlining the plight of civilians in western Libya, a Turkish ship that sailed
into the besieged city of Misrata to rescue some 250 wounded had to leave in a
hurry after crowds pressed forward on the dockside hoping to escape.
"It's a very hard situation ... We had to leave early," said Turkish consular
official Ali Akin after the ship stopped to pick up more wounded in the eastern
rebel stronghold Benghazi.
Turkey's foreign minister ordered the ship into Misrata after it spent four days
waiting in vain for permission to dock.
It arrived under cover from 10 Turkish air force F-16 fighter planes and two
navy frigates, Akin told Reuters.
The U.N.-mandated military intervention that began on March 19 was meant to
protect civilians caught up in fighting between Gaddafi's forces and the rebels.
STALEMATE IN BREGA
Neither Gaddafi's troops nor the disorganized rebel force have been able to gain
the upper hand on the frontline in eastern Libya, despite Western air power in
effect aiding the insurgents.
After chasing each other up and down the coastal road linking the oil ports of
eastern Libya with Gaddafi's tribal heartland further west, both sides have
become bogged down in Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more
than 25 km (15 miles).
Yet Western countries, wary of becoming too entangled in another war after
campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, have ruled out sending ground troops to help
the rebels.
The United States, which has handed over command of the operation to NATO, said
it had agreed to extend the use of its strike aircraft into Monday because of
poor weather last week.
But it has stressed its desire to end its own involvement in combat missions,
and shift instead to a support role in areas such as surveillance, electronic
warfare and refueling.
The combination of stalemate on the frontline and the plight of civilians caught
in fighting or facing food and fuel shortages has prompted a flurry of
diplomatic contacts to find a way out.
Greece said Obeidi would travel to Malta and Turkey after his talks in Greece,
which has enjoyed good relations with Gaddafi for a number of years.
Papandreou had been talking by phone with officials in Tripoli as well as the
leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Britain over the last two days.
One diplomat cautioned, however, that any diplomatic compromise -- for example
one in which Gaddafi handed over power to one of his sons -- could lead to the
partition of Libya.
That was a possibility ruled out by western countries before the air strikes
were launched.
"Various scenarios are being discussed," said the diplomat. "Everyone wants a
quick solution."
The rebels, meanwhile, are working to impose discipline among the ranks of their
many inexperienced volunteers in order to not only hold their positions but push
forward.
If there were eventually to be a ceasefire leading to the partition of Libya,
control of revenues from the oil ports, including Brega and Ras Lanuf to the
west, would be crucial.
The rebels named a "crisis team" with Gaddafi's former interior minister as
their armed forces chief of staff, and attempted to stiffen their enthusiastic
but untrained volunteer army by putting professional soldiers at its head.
"We are reorganizing our ranks. We have formed our first brigade. It is entirely
formed from ex-military defectors and people who've come back from retirement,"
former air force major Jalid al-Libie told Reuters in Benghazi.
Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday. The
volunteers, and journalists, were being several kilometers (miles) east of the
front.
Without a backbone of regular forces, the lightly-armed volunteer caravan has
spent days dashing back and forth along the coast road on Brega's outskirts,
scrambling away in pick-ups when Gaddafi's forces attack with rockets.
SHELLING IN MISRATA
In the west, Gaddafi's forces continued to besiege Misrata, shelling a building
that had been used to treat wounded, a resident said, killing one person and
wounding more.
Misrata, Libya's third city, rose up with other towns against Gaddafi's rule in
mid-February, but it is now surrounded by government troops after a violent
crackdown put an end to most protests elsewhere in the west of the country.
"It is very, very bad. In my street, Gaddafi bombed us," said Ibrahim al-Aradi,
26, one of the evacuees on board the Turkish ship that brought the wounded from
Misrata.
"We have no water, no electricity. We don't have medicine. There are snipers
everywhere," he told Reuters.
After weeks of shelling and encirclement, Gaddafi's forces appear to be
gradually loosening the rebels' hold on Misrata. Rebels say they still control
the city center and the port, but government troops are pressing in.
Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified because Libyan
authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from the city, 200 km
(130 miles) east of Tripoli.
Gaddafi's troops are also mopping up resistance in the mountainous southwest of
Tripoli.
Government forces shelled the small town of Yafran, southwest of the capital on
Sunday, killing two people, Arabiya television reported, quoting a witness.
They also shelled the city of Zintan, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the
capital, a resident said.
"Gaddafi's brigades bombarded Zintan with tanks in the early hours on Sunday.
There has been random bombardment of the northern area (of Zintan). They are
still besieging the town," the resident, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou in Athens, Alexander
Dziadosz in Brega, Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Christian Lowe in Algiers, Tom
Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by
Myra MacDonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
U.S. offers free flights out for employees in Syria
WASHINGTON
| Sun Apr 3, 2011
10:05pm EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The United States is offering free flights out of Syria to family
members of U.S. government employees, the State Department said on Sunday.
It also advised U.S. citizens in Syria, where dozens of people are reported to
have died in anti-government protests, to closely examine their security
situation and consider leaving because of the unrest.
The U.S. travel warning on Syria is the third issued in less than two weeks.
Last week, the United States advised its citizens to put off nonessential travel
to Syria and urged those already in the country to consider leaving because of
the protests, which followed popular revolts elsewhere in the Arab world.
The unrest in Syria has presented the gravest challenge to the 11-year rule of
President Bashar al-Assad, who took power after the death of his father, Hafez
al-Assad, in 2000.
The United States has long had a contentious relationship with Syria, which
maintains an anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports the militant groups
Hezbollah and Hamas.
BENGHAZI,
Libya | Sun Apr 3, 2011
4:32pm EDT
By Angus MacSwan
BENGHAZI,
Libya (Reuters) - A Turkish ship rescued 250 wounded from the besieged Libyan
city of Misrata on Sunday, but left behind thousands of people pleading to be
evacuated, a Turkish diplomat and witnesses said.
Swathed in bandages, evacuees on board gave one of the most detailed accounts
yet of conditions in Misrata, the last major rebel-held city in western Libya,
and surrounded by government troops after rising up against Muammar Gaddafi in
mid-February.
"It is very, very bad. In my street, Gaddafi bombed us," said Ibrahim al-Aradi,
26, who had wounds in his groin.
"We have no water, no electricity. We don't have medicine. There are snipers
everywhere," he told Reuters.
Others spoke of Gaddafi's forces bombing mosques and houses.
"When Gaddafi's men hear the NATO planes they hide in houses and mosques. When
the planes are gone they destroy them," said Mustafa Suleiman, a 30-year-old
computer engineer.
"Even the big supermarket was destroyed. Some of my friends were killed. We have
no vegetables, no fruit, only bread. Gaddafi wants to kill Misrata by fighting
and starvation," Suleiman said.
Guarded by heavily armed Turkish police special forces, wounded men of all ages
lay on mattresses on one of the car decks of the ship, a white car ferry called
the Ankara chartered by the Turkish government.
They had wounds in all parts of their bodies, and were being attended by Turkish
medics.
Hamen, a Libyan doctor who was accompanying the men, said: "Misrata is terrible.
I have seen terrible things. Thirty people killed in one day. These are my
patients. I must stay with them but I want to go back."
TURKISH
FIGHTER PLANES
Turkey's foreign minister ordered the ship into Misrata after it spent four days
out at sea waiting in vain for port authorities to give permission to dock, said
Ali Akin, head of consular affairs with the Turkish foreign ministry.
It arrived under cover from 10 Turkish air force F-16 fighter planes and two
navy frigates, he told Reuters.
He said the ship had to make a hasty departure with the wounded and 100 of their
relatives after a large crowd pressed forward on the dockside hoping for passage
out of Libya, including 4,000 Egyptians.
"It's a very hard situation. We had to leave early."
The hospital committee in Misrata had told Turkish authorities that 120 needed
to leave on the ship but far more were eventually put on board, he said.
"There is no room in the hospital so they treat some and send them back to their
homes," said Akin. "This meant it was not easy to collect them."
The ferry docked in the eastern Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Sunday to
pick up more wounded before heading to a port in Turkey.
As the ship arrived and blew its foghorn, several hundred rebel supporters
waiting at the dockside burst into chant, crying: "The blood of martyrs is
spilled for freedom" and "Muammar Gaddafi: Misrata has real men."
Ayman Mohammed, a 25-year old man with a badly burned face who was waiting on
the dockside in a wheelchair to be carried onboard, said he was happy to be
among the evacuees.
He said he was in his car when he was hit by a bomb in Ras Lanuf, an oil town
which has seen fighting between rebel forces and troops loyal to Gaddafi. "I
will come back to Benghazi. I want to kill Gaddafi," he said.
Others waited for news from their trapped families.
"My family is in Misrata ... uncles, cousins. I have had no contact," said
Tihani Aktal, 30, tears streaming from her eyes.
"We don't know if they are dead or alive."
Akin, who said he was on assignment in Benghazi, added that Misrata port was
still under the control of the rebels fighting forces loyal to Gaddafi.
(Writing by
Ibon Villelabeitia and Tom Pfeiffer; editing by Myra MacDonald)
Defectors stiffen Libyan rebel defense of oil town
BREGA, Libya | Sun Apr 3, 2011
11:55am EDT
Reuters
By Alexander Dziadosz
BREGA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels put their best troops
in to battle Muammar Gaddafi's forces for the eastern oil town of Brega on
Sunday while Western warplanes flew overhead and the sound of explosions ripped
through the air.
Libya's civil war is in danger of getting bogged down in a stalemate as neither
Gaddafi's troops, tanks and artillery, nor the chaotic rebel force is able to
gain the upper hand, despite Western air power effectively aiding the
insurgents.
The rebels are, however, attempting to put their house in order, naming a
"crisis team" with the former interior minister as the armed forces chief of
staff, to try to run parts of Libya it holds and reorganising their military
forces.
Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday with
the less disciplined volunteers, and journalists, kept several kilometers
(miles) east of the front. The insurgents have also deployed heavier weapons.
The sound of explosions and machinegun fire came from the town, a sparsely
populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles), as warplanes flew
over, but it was not clear if the jets had launched air strikes on Gaddafi's
positions.
Without the backbone of regular forces, the lightly-armed volunteer caravan has
spent days dashing back and forth along the coast road on Brega's outskirts,
scrambling away in their pick-ups when Gaddafi's forces fire rockets at their
positions.
The enthusiastic volunteers tend to get on well with the rebel army, made up of
soldiers who defected to the rebels, but a small scuffle broke out near Brega's
eastern gate on Sunday as a soldier berated them for their lack of discipline.
"These revolutionaries go in and fire and that's it. They don't have any
tactics, these guys. They cause problems," said the soldier, Mohammed Ali.
REBELS REORGANISE
The rebels say they now are restructuring their forces to end the pendulum swing
of their euphoric advance in the wake of Western air strikes followed by
headlong retreat in the face of government artillery.
"We are reorganising our ranks. We have formed our first brigade. It is entirely
formed from ex-military defectors and people who've come back from retirement,"
Former Air Force Major Jalid al-Libie told Reuters in Benghazi.
Asked about numbers, he said he could not reveal that, but added, "it's quality
that matters."
The aim was for the trained force to steel resistance of the many volunteers so
the rebel army could hold ground.
"Before the end of the week you will see a different kind of fighting and that
will tip the balance," said Libie, a former fighter pilot.
The rebel leadership called for NATO-led air assault to continue despite 13
rebel fighters being killed in a strike as they tried to take control of the
eastern oil town of Brega.
NATO has conducted 363 sorties since taking over command of the Libya operations
on March 31, and about 150 were intended as strike missions, but NATO has not
confirmed hitting any targets.
A Reuters correspondent visiting the scene of the air strike saw burned-out
vehicles, including an ambulance, by the road near the eastern entrance to
Brega. Men prayed at freshly dug graves covered by the rebel red, black and
green flag nearby.
Most blamed a Tripoli agent for drawing the "friendly fire."
But some gave a different account. "The rebels shot up in the air and the
alliance came and bombed them. We are the ones who made the mistake," said a
fighter who did not give his name.
A rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, told Reuters the leadership still wanted
and needed allied air strikes. "You have to look at the big picture. Mistakes
will happen. We are trying to get rid of Gaddafi and there will be casualties,
although of course it does not make us happy."
While fighting in the east risks stalemate, in the west Gaddafi's forces are
besieging the city of Misrata, shelling a building that had been used to treat
wounded, a resident said, killing one person and wounding more.
Misrata, Libya's third city, rose up with other towns against Gaddafi's rule in
mid-February, but it is now surrounded by government troops after a violent
crackdown put an end to protests elsewhere in the west of the country.
HUNDREDS KILLED
Doctors say hundreds have been killed in Misrata despite two weeks of Western
airstrikes meant stop the killing of civilians.
A doctor who gave his name as Ramadan told Reuters by telephone from the city
that 160 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in fighting in Misrata over
the past seven days.
Ramadan, a British-based doctor who said he arrived in Misrata three days ago on
a humanitarian mission, had no figure for the total toll since fighting began
six weeks ago.
"But every week between 100 or 140 people are reported killed -- multiply this
by six and our estimates are 600 to 1,000 deaths since the fighting started," he
said.
After weeks of shelling and encirclement, Gaddafi's forces appear to be
gradually loosening the rebels' hold on Misrata. Rebels say they still control
the city center and the port, but government troops have pushed into the center.
One Benghazi-based rebel said food supplies were acutely low in Misrata. "There
are severe food shortages and we call on humanitarian organizations to help,"
said the rebel called Sami, who said he was in regular contact with a Misrata
resident.
Some supplies are getting through the rebel-held port though, and a Turkish
ferry, kitted out as a hospital ship, evacuated 250 wounded along with 100 care
workers from Misrata on Sunday, Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said.
The ship is bound for Benghazi, where a further 1OO patients were waiting to be
picked up, along with 30 Turkish and 40 foreign citizens, and brought back to
Turkey, Anatolian said. The ferry had to wait off Misrata for five days due to
clashes.
Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified because Libyan
authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from the city, 200 km
(130 miles) east of Tripoli.
Gaddafi's troops are also mopping up resistance in the mountainous southwest of
Tripoli.
Government forces shelled the small town of Yafran, southwest of the capital on
Sunday, killing two people, Arabiya television reported, quoting a witness.
They also shelled the city of Zintan, about 160 km (100 miles) south-west of the
capital, a resident said.
"Gaddafi's brigades bombarded Zintan with tanks in the early hours on Sunday.
There has been random bombardment of the northern area (of Zintan). They are
still besieging the town," the resident, called Abdulrahman, told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Maria Golovnina in Tripoli, Angus
MacSwan in Benghazi, Christian Lowe in Algiers, Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph
Nasr in Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by
Elizabeth Fullerton)
U.S. Shifts to Seek Removal of Yemen’s Leader, an Ally
April 3, 2011
The New York Times
By LAURA KASINOF and DAVID E. SANGER
SANA, Yemen — The United States, which long supported Yemen’s
president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly
shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the
required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and
Yemeni officials.
The Obama administration had maintained its support of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh in private and refrained from directly criticizing him in public, even as
his supporters fired on peaceful demonstrators, because he was considered a
critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda. This position has
fueled criticism of the United States in some quarters for hypocrisy for rushing
to oust a repressive autocrat in Libya but not in strategic allies like Yemen
and Bahrain.
That position began to shift in the past week, administration officials said.
While American officials have not publicly pressed Mr. Saleh to go, they have
told allies that they now view his hold on office as untenable, and they believe
he should leave.
A Yemeni official said that the American position changed when the negotiations
with Mr. Saleh on the terms of his potential departure began a little over a
week ago.
“The Americans have been pushing for transfer of power since the beginning” of
those negotiations, the official said, but have not said so publicly because
“they still were involved in the negotiations.”
Those negotiations now center on a proposal for Mr. Saleh to hand over power to
a provisional government led by his vice president until new elections are held.
That principle “is not in dispute,” the Yemeni official said, only the timing
and mechanism for how he would depart.
It does remain in dispute among the student-led protesters, however, who have
rejected any proposal that would give power to a leading official of the Saleh
government.
Washington has long had a wary relationship of mutual dependence with Mr. Saleh.
The United States has provided weapons, and the Yemeni leader has allowed the
United States military and the C.I.A. to strike at Qaeda strongholds. The State
Department cables released by WikiLeaks gave a close-up view of that uneasy
interdependence: Mr. Saleh told Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the American
commander in the Middle East, that the United States could continue missile
strikes against Al Qaeda as long as the fiction was maintained that Yemen was
conducting them.
“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours,” Mr. Saleh said, according
to a cable sent by the American ambassador. At other times, however, Mr. Saleh
resisted American requests. In a wry assessment of the United States, he told
Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, that Americans
are “hot-blooded and hasty when you need us,” but “cold-blooded and British when
we need you.”
The negotiations in Sana began after government-linked gunmen killed more than
50 protesters at an antigovernment rally on March 18, prompting a wave of
defections of high-level government officials the following week. The American
and Yemeni officials who discussed the talks did so on the condition of
anonymity because the talks are private and still in progress.
It is not clear whether the United States is discussing a safe passage for Mr.
Saleh and his family to another country, but that appears to be the direction of
the talks in Sana, the capital.
For Washington, the key to his departure would be arranging a transfer of power
that would enable the counterterrorism operation in Yemen to continue.
One administration official referred to that concern last week, saying that the
standoff between the president and the protesters “has had a direct adverse
impact on the security situation throughout the country.”
“Groups of various stripes — Al Qaeda, Houthis, tribal elements, and
secessionists — are exploiting the current political turbulence and emerging
fissures within the military and security services for their own gain,” the
official said. “Until President Saleh is able to resolve the current political
impasse by announcing how and when he will follow through on his earlier
commitment to take tangible steps to meet opposition demands, the security
situation in Yemen is at risk of further deterioration.”
In recent days, American officials in Washington have hinted at the change in
position.
Those “tangible steps,” another official said, could include giving in to the
demand that he step down.
At a State Department briefing recently, a spokesman, Mark Toner, was questioned
on whether there had been planning for a post-Saleh Yemen. While he did not
answer the question directly, he said, in part, that counterterrorism in Yemen
“goes beyond any one individual.”
In addition to the huge street demonstrations that have convulsed the country in
the last two months, the deteriorating security situation in Yemen includes a
Houthi rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and an
active Qaeda operation in the southeast. Houthi rebels seized control of Saada
Province a week ago, and armed militants have taken over a city in the southern
province of Abyan where Al Qaeda is known to have set up a base.
Among Yemenis, there is a feeling that there is a race against the clock to
resolve the political impasse before the country implodes. In addition to the
security concerns, Yemen faces an economic crisis.
Food prices are rising; the value of the Yemeni currency, the rial, is dropping
sharply; and dollars are disappearing from currency exchange shops. According to
the World Food Program, the price of wheat flour has increased 45 percent since
mid-March and rice by 22 percent.
Analysts have also expressed concern that Mr. Saleh is depleting the national
reserves paying for promises to keep himself in power. Mr. Saleh has paid
thousands of supporters to come to the capital to stage pro-government protests
and given out money to tribal leaders to secure their loyalties. In February he
promised to cut income taxes and raise salaries for civil servants and the
military to try to tamp down discontent.
“It’s not a recession, it’s not a depression, it’s a mess,” said Mohammed
Abulahom, a prominent member of Parliament for Mr. Saleh’s governing party who
now supports the protesters.
The fact that the Americans are “seriously engaged in discussion on how to
transfer power shows their willingness to figure out a way to transfer power,”
he said.
He said the Americans “are doing what ought to be done, and we will see more
pressure down the road.”
The criticism of the United States for failing to publicly support Yemen’s
protesters has been loudest here, where the protesters insist the United States’
only concern is counterterrorism.
“We are really very, very angry because America until now didn’t help us similar
to what Mr. Obama said that Mubarak has to leave now,” said Tawakul Karman, a
leader of the antigovernment youth movement. “Obama says he appreciated the
courage and dignity of Tunisian people. He didn’t say that for Yemeni people.”
“We feel that we have been betrayed,” she said.
Hamza Alkamaly, 23, a prominent student leader, agreed. “We students lost our
trust in the United States,” he said. “We thought the United States would help
us in the first time because we are calling for our freedom.”
Late Saturday night, Yemen’s opposition coalition, the Joint Meetings Parties,
proposed an outline for a transfer of power that has become the new focus of the
talks. The proposal calls for power to be transferred immediately to Vice
President Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi until presidential elections are held.
The young protesters have rejected the proposal, or any that would leave a
leading Saleh official in charge.
Late Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council, an association of oil-rich countries
in the Persian Gulf, added its backing to the talks, issuing a statement saying
it would press the Yemeni government and opposition to work toward an agreement
to “overcome the status quo.” The group called for a return to negotiations to
“achieve the aspirations of the Yemeni people by means of reforms.”
So far the council, including Yemen’s largest international donor, Saudi Arabia,
has not taken part in the negotiations, Yemeni officials said.
There were also more clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in
the city of Taiz. Hundreds of people were injured by tear gas, rocks and
gunfire, and there were conflicting reports as to whether a protester had been
killed. Witnesses said security forces fired at the protesters and into the air.
Early Monday, security forces in Hodeidah, a western port city, used to tear gas
to break up a protest march on the presidential palace there.
According to Amnesty International, at least 95 people have died during two
months of antigovernment protests.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and David E. Sanger from
Washington.
BREGA, Libya | Sun Apr 3, 2011
10:45am EDT
Reuters
By Alexander Dziadosz
BREGA, Libya (Reuters) - Often carrying little more than milk
cartons, cans of tuna and spare mattresses, hundreds of young volunteers
continue to flock toward the front line of Libya's revolt, even if many cannot
fight.
Rebel military commanders asked volunteers last week to hang back from clashes
with forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi to allow more experienced fighters to
coordinate strategy following a chaotic eastward retreat on Wednesday.
But with schools and many businesses still shut and young men with little to do,
the volunteers' vehicles -- an eclectic blend of pickup trucks, minivans and
even taxicabs -- still litter the road outside Brega, the eastern oil town where
fighting has rumbled on for four days.
"We won't go back until Libya is liberated," Mohamed Khairallah, 21, said as he
sat beside the stark desert road near the city. "Or until we die martyrs," his
friend Saleh added, waving his cigarette. Neither man was armed.
Some have nevertheless continued to push ahead. Anwar Ibrahim, a 24-year-old
volunteer, claimed to have trapped several Gaddafi troops in an ambush in Brega
on Sunday morning, attacking them with machine guns and killing two.
"They were doing reconnaissance and we were doing reconnaissance. They came in
two cars, a white one and black one, and we laid an ambush for them," he said.
Ibrahim brought a friend over to verify his report. His friend, sporting a thin
goatee, nodded confirmation, but said only one Gaddafi fighter was killed.
NEW ORDERS
Hoping to break a stalemate, rebels fighting Gaddafi's troops, tanks and
artillery are trying to reorganize their military forces. They say they are
bringing to the front better trained units, made up of defectors from the
military.
But the persistent zeal of the volunteers has frustrated some of the more
experienced fighters.
A scuffle broke out on the eastern outskirts of Brega on Sunday as a young man
tried to advance toward the front. Fighters restrained the man as he shouted
obscenities.
"They don't have tactics, these guys," said Mohammed Ali, a rebel special forces
soldier nearby. "They go in, they fire, and that's it."
The danger of such an approach is obvious. Mohamed Geheny, 16, from Benghazi,
hunched near a pickup truck outside Brega, pointed to his bandaged knee and said
he was hit by shrapnel in an earlier fight.
"My parents aren't scared," he said, squinting in the desert sun. "If we die our
souls will return to God. We'll be martyrs."
Most of the volunteers have obeyed the rebel military's pleas, however and
stayed down the road from Brega, just out of range of Gaddafi's Grad missile
launchers, much feared by the lightly-armed volunteers.
Some have tried to find other uses for themselves, working as mechanics,
converting their trucks into ad hoc ambulances or simply cheering as rebels fire
rockets from the desert.
"We can bring wounded back, and we can bring food and water up to those who have
weapons," said Saleh Soliman, 20, sitting in the back of his friend's pickup.
Others spend time sparking campfires to make tea, posing for photos on the
charred wreckage of vehicles and even smoking water pipes as they wait for the
rebel army to clear the way.
Hamza el-Obeidy, a 26-year-old volunteer seated on a truck mounted with an
anti-aircraft machine gun taken from the government military camp in Benghazi,
said he intended to fight, but since Friday he only fired when the military gave
orders.
"Most of the revolutionaries are listening to the orders," he said. "If they
don't, they might get killed."
SANAA | Sun Apr 3, 2011
6:23am EDT
Reuters
By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammad Ghobari
SANAA (Reuters) - Dozens of Yemeni protesters were wounded on
Sunday when police used live rounds, tear gas and batons to try to break up
demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Taiz, a medical source
said.
About 10 people had been hit by live bullets but most were suffering
asphyxiation from tear gas, the doctor said.
Saleh had called on opponents demanding he step down to end weeks of street
protests on Sunday, in a further sign the veteran ruler has no intention of
resigning soon.
"We call on the opposition coalition to end the crisis by ending sit-ins,
blocking roads and assassinations, and they should end the state of rebellion in
some military units," Saleh told visiting supporters from Taiz province, south
of Sanaa.
"We are ready to discuss transferring power, but in peaceful and constitutional
framework," he added to chants of "No concessions after today!."
His ruling party also said it had not received a proposed transition plan from
opposition parties that envisages Saleh handing power to a vice president while
steps are taken toward a national unity government and new elections.
"We haven't got it yet," an official said.
Weeks of protests inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have brought
Saleh's rule to the verge of collapse, but Saleh, a perennial survivor, has
resisted the calls to jump.
He has received sustenance from the United States, which has talked openly of
its concern over who might succeed a man they view as an ally who helped them
contain al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based wing of the militant
group.
Opposition groups stepped up actions against Saleh in the port city of Aden,
seat of a separatist movement by southerners who say the 1994 unification of
South Yemen with Saleh's north has left them marginalised.
Much of the city was deserted in a second day of civil disobedience as
businesses stopped work. Opposition groups have also called on people to stop
paying taxes and utility bills.
Thousands have been camped out around Sanaa University since early February, but
in the past two weeks Saleh has begun mobilizing thousands of his own supporters
on the streets.
On Saturday, seven protesters were wounded in the Western port of Hudaida when
riot police used batons and teargas to disperse demonstrators. Protesters said
police fired live rounds and tear gas on Sunday to disperse them in Taiz.
SALEH DIGS HEELS IN
Saleh, in power for 32 years, has only said he would be prepared to step down
within a year following new parliamentary and presidential elections and that an
abrupt exit would cause chaos. On Saturday, he thanked thousands of supporters
gathered near the presidential palace for backing the constitution.
"I salute you for your heroic stand and thank you for supporting constitutional
legitimacy," he told the crowd amid a sea of his portraits and banners
supporting his continued rule.
The opposition plan would see the army and security forces restructured by a
vice-president acting as temporary president, a statement from Yemen's
opposition coalition said on Saturday.
Wide discussions could then be held on constitutional changes, a unity
government and new elections.
Talks have been off and on over the past two weeks, sometimes in the presence of
the U.S. ambassador. Sources say Saleh wants to ensure he and his family do not
face prosecution over corruption claims that the opposition has talked about.
The death of 52 protesters on March 18, apparently at the hands of government
snipers, led to a string of defections among diplomats, tribal leaders and key
generals, spurring Saleh to warn against a coup that he says will lead to civil
war.
At least 82 people have died so far in the protests.
Key foreign backers like the United States and the oil giant Saudi Arabia are
concerned over who would succeed Saleh.
They have long regarded Saleh as a bulwark of stability who can keep al Qaeda
from extending its foothold in a country which many see as close to
disintegration. Opposition parties say they can handle militants better than
Saleh, who they say made deals in the past to avoid provoking Islamists.
(Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Libya shells town in west as rebels name "crisis team"
TRIPOLI | Sun Apr 3, 2011
12:17am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled a
building in Misrata early on Sunday to try to dislodge rebels from their last
big stronghold in western Libya where a doctor says hundreds have been killed.
Like many cities, Misrata rejected Gaddafi's rule in a revolt in February. In a
violent crackdown, Gaddafi's forces restored control in most places in western
Libya, leaving Misrata cut off and surrounded, with dwindling supplies.
In the rebel capital of Benghazi in the east, the anti-Gaddafi council have
named a "crisis team," including the former Libyan interior minister as the
armed forces chief of staff, to try to run parts of the country it holds.
The rebel leadership has also called for the NATO-led air assault against
Gaddafi forces to continue despite 13 rebel fighters being killed in a strike as
they tried to take control of the eastern oil town of Brega.
The shelling in Misrata hit a building that was previously being used to treat
the wounded from the fighting in Libya's third largest city and killed at least
one person and wounded several more, a resident said.
"We have one confirmed dead and we don't know how many wounded. The ambulances
are arriving now, bringing the wounded," said the resident, speaking by
telephone from a building now being used as the makeshift hospital.
After weeks of shelling and encirclement, government forces appear to be
gradually loosening the rebels' hold there, despite Western air strikes on
pro-Gaddafi targets. The rebels say they still control the city center and the
sea port, but Gaddafi's forces have pushed into the center along the main
thoroughfare.
A doctor who gave his name as Ramadan told Reuters by telephone from the city
that 160 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in fighting in Misrata over
the past seven days.
Ramadan, a British-based doctor who said he arrived in Misrata three days ago on
a humanitarian mission, had no figure for the total toll since fighting began
six weeks ago.
"But every week between 100 or 140 people are reported killed -- multiply this
by six and our estimates are 600 to 1,000 deaths since the fighting started," he
said.
One Benghazi-based rebel said food supplies were acutely low in Misrata. "There
are severe food shortages and we call on humanitarian organizations to help,"
said the rebel called Sami, who said he was in regular contact with a Misrata
resident.
Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified because Libyan
authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from the city, 200 km
(130 miles) east of Tripoli.
FRESHLY DUG GRAVES
Rebels said on Saturday they had also lost men in a NATO-led air strike.
The 13 fighters died on Friday night in an increasingly chaotic battle over
Brega with Gaddafi's troops, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal
road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers were seen fleeing east from
Brega toward the town of Ajdabiyah after coming under heavy mortar and
machinegun fire.
A contingent of more experienced and better organized rebel units initially held
their ground in Brega, but with most journalists forced east, it was unclear
whether they had remained inside the town or had pulled back into the desert.
A Reuters correspondent visiting the scene of the air strike saw at least four
burned-out vehicles, including an ambulance, by the side of the road near the
eastern entrance to the town.
Men prayed at freshly dug graves covered by the rebel red, black and green flag
nearby.
Most blamed a Tripoli agent for drawing the "friendly fire."
But some gave a different account. "The rebels shot up in the air and the
alliance came and bombed them. We are the ones who made the mistake," said a
fighter who did not give his name.
A rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, told Reuters the leadership still wanted
and needed allied air strikes. "You have to look at the big picture. Mistakes
will happen. We are trying to get rid of Gaddafi and there will be casualties,
although of course it does not make us happy."
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for NATO, which this week assumed command of the
military operation launched on March 19, declined to say whether its forces were
involved in the Brega incident.
"We are looking into the report," said spokeswoman Oana Lungescu. "However, if
someone fires at our aircraft, they have the right to protect themselves."
NATO has conducted 363 sorties since taking over command of the Libya operations
on March 31, and about 150 were intended as strike missions, but NATO has not
confirmed hitting any targets.
Brega is one of a string of oil towns along the coast that have been taken and
retaken by each side after the U.N. mandated intervention intended to protect
civilians.
The volunteers have frequently fled under fire, raising questions about whether
the rebels can make any headway against Gaddafi's better-equipped and
better-trained forces without greater Western military involvement.
In Benghazi, the rebel council named its "crisis team" on Saturday to administer
parts of the country it controls.
Omar Hariri is in charge of the military department, with General Abdel Fattah
Younes al Abidi, a long serving officer in Gaddafi's armed forces, as his chief
of staff.
Younes, a former Libyan interior minister, changed sides at the start of the
uprising in mid-February but is distrusted by many in the rebel camp because of
his past ties to Gaddafi.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz east of Brega, Angus
MacSwan in Benghazi, Christian Lowe in Algiers, Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo, Joseph
Nasr in Berlin, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Alison Williams, Editing
by Ron Popeski)
April 2, 2011
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A look at the latest developments in political unrest across
the Middle East
on Saturday:
LIBYA
A NATO airstrike intended to thwart Moammar Gadhafi's forces kills 13 rebels
instead, opposition officials say, but they call it an "unfortunate accident"
and stress it doesn't diminish their support for the international air campaign
that is aimed at protecting them. NATO says it's investigating, but it appears
that its aircraft were retaliating against ground fire. Two rebels who survived
the strike say it happened after somebody in their convoy fired heavy weaponry
into the air.
Medical officials in the besieged western city of Misrata say government forces
killed 37 civilians over the past two days in an unrelenting campaign of
shelling and sniper fire and an attack that burned down the city's main stocks
of flour and sugar.
___
SYRIA
Syrian authorities tighten security and make sweeping arrests as President
Bashar Assad tries to cut off two weeks of deadly pro-democracy demonstrations
that are threatening his family's ruling dynasty. U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon expresses deep concern about the violence and calls on Syria's
government to address the "legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."
___
YEMEN
Yemen's opposition presents its clearest vision yet of how it hopes to see power
transferred as it presses for the ouster of longtime leader President Ali
Abdullah Saleh. Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters hurl stones at
riot police backed by tanks in the southern province of Aden, as dueling rallies
are held in the capital.
___
OMAN
Dozens of protesters stage a sit-in in the capital, Muscat, to demand probes
into alleged state abuses after clashes with security forces left at least one
person dead and sharply boosted tensions in the strategic Gulf nation. The
unrest suggests that high-level shake-ups and other concessions by Oman's rulers
have fallen short of the demonstrators' demands for greater political freedoms.
___
IRAQ
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calls the international crackdown on
Libya's Moammar Gadhafi "selective," chastising foreign forces for singling out
one oppressive Mideast regime without helping peaceful protesters in others. He
makes clear he isn't advocating widespread use of military force, but the
Shiite-led Iraqi government has been frustrated with the West's hands-off
approach to the crackdown in Bahrain, where Shiite protesters are challenging a
Sunni-led leadership closely allied with Washington.
Syrians chant "freedom," receive wounded in suburb
AMMAN | Sat Apr 2, 2011
10:51pm EDT
Reuters
AMMAN (Reuters) - Hundreds of Syrians chanted "freedom" as
they gathered late Saturday in the Damascus suburb of Douma to receive
protesters wounded when they confronted security forces the day before, a
witness said.
Around 50 wounded arrived in secret police cars to Municipality Square, where at
least five people were killed on Friday when security forces fired at protesters
demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption, according to human right
defenders.
Secret police agents gave the names of 25 more serious cases in hospital, the
witness said.
"They promised to give the bodies tomorrow morning to the families. We are
expecting 15 dead," said the witness, who lives in the suburb.
Another witness who toured the suburb Saturday said shops in at least one main
commercial street were closed in solidarity with the protesters, who gathered
after Friday prayers despite the heavy presence of regular police forces and
secret police.
The killings in Douma brought to at least 60 the number of deaths in protests
against Baath Party rule that erupted in the southern city of Deraa 15 days ago
and spread to the capital, the coast and areas in between.
EAST OF BREGA, Libya | Sat Apr 2, 2011
3:07pm EDT
Reuters
By Alexander Dziadosz
EAST OF BREGA, Libya (Reuters) - A NATO-led air strike 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.
Despite the deaths on Friday night, the rebel leadership called for continued
air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, who have reversed a rebel advance on the
coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers were later seen fleeing east
from Brega toward the town of Ajdabiyah after coming under heavy mortar and
machinegun fire.
A contingent of more experienced and better organized rebel units initially held
their ground in Brega, but with most journalists forced east, it was unclear
whether they had remained inside the town or had pulled back into the desert.
A Reuters correspondent visiting the scene of the air strike saw at least four
burned-out vehicles including an ambulance by the side of the road near the
eastern entrance to the town.
Men prayed at freshly dug graves covered by the rebel red, black and green flag
nearby.
"Some of Gaddafi's forces sneaked in among the rebels and fired anti-aircraft
guns in the air," said rebel fighter Mustafa Ali Omar. "After that the NATO
forces came and bombed them."
The strike killed 13 rebels and wounded seven, rebel leadership spokesman Hafiz
Ghoga said, calling it a "regrettable incident."
"The military leadership is working on ways to prevent a recurrence," Ghoga told
reporters at the rebel headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi. Rebels at
the scene said the bombing happened around 10 p.m. local time on Friday.
Another rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, told Reuters the leadership still
wanted and needed allied air strikes.
"You have to look at the big picture. Mistakes will happen. We are trying to get
rid of Gaddafi and there will be casualties, although of course it does not make
us happy."
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for NATO, which this week assumed command of the
military operation launched on March 19, said the alliance was looking into the
reports.
Gaddafi forces fired rockets on Brega overnight and fighting continued further
west around the town's university early on Saturday, rebels said.
But at the eastern gate of the town, dust rose from the road as volunteers known
as the "shebab," or youth, streamed away in cars after coming under heavy fire
from Gaddafi's forces.
The volunteers have frequently fled under fire, raising questions about whether
the rebels can make any headway against Gaddafi's better-equipped and
better-trained forces without greater Western military involvement.
REBELS FEAR INFILTRATION BY GADDAFI LOYALISTS
Brega is one of a string of oil towns along the coast that have been taken and
retaken by each side after the U.N. mandated intervention which was intended to
protect civilians in Libya.
Rebels have been trying to marshal their rag-tag units into a more disciplined
force after a rebel advance along about 200 km (125 miles) of coast west from
Brega was repulsed and turned into a rapid retreat this week.
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, dozens of volunteer fighters were waiting with
their pick-ups at a checkpoint east of Brega.
Volunteer fighter Khalid Salah said the rebels were waiting for the arrival of
heavy weapons to begin another counter-attack. Aircraft could be heard
occasionally overhead.
The stalled rebel campaign has left rebel-held areas in western Libya, notably
the city of Misrata, stranded and facing intense attacks from Gaddafi's forces.
One Benghazi-based rebel said food supplies were acutely low in Misrata due to
the siege. The rebel, called Sami, said he was in regular contact with a Misrata
resident who had told him one person died and six were injured in clashes on
Saturday.
"There are severe food shortages and we call on humanitarian organizations to
help," said Sami. "The city has been under siege for a month and a half. The
main shortages are fruit and vegetables because those come from the south and
the southern entrance to the city is controlled by Gaddafi's men."
Contacted by Reuters, Sami reported sporadic clashed on Saturday after heavy
fighting on Friday, when fire from a tank belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces hit a
dairy factory.
"They are trying to starve and kill people inside the city by all means," said a
British-based doctor who had spoken to his friends in Misrata on Saturday.
On Friday, a rebel leader, speaking after talks with a U.N. envoy in Benghazi,
offered a truce on condition that Gaddafi left Libya and his forces quit cities
under government control.
The Libyan government dismissed the ceasefire call.
"They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities .... If this is not mad then
I don't know what this is. We will not leave our cities," spokesman Mussa
Ibrahim told reporters.'
State-controlled Libyan television also said that coalition forces bombarded
"civilian and military locations" in western Libya late on Friday.
It said the strikes were in the towns of Khoms, between the capital Tripoli and
Misrata, and Arrujban, in the southwest.
Showing footage of two men receiving medical treatment while lying in hospital
beds, it said, "This is the result of attacks by crusader aggressors in Khoms."
One of the men was shown lying in bed with a bandaged right foot. Blood could be
seen on the bandage. The other man was shown having his chest stitched up by a
female medic.
A resident in Khoms, contacted by telephone, said he had heard the bombing on
Friday. "It was from the area of the naval base," he said. "Today it is quiet."
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Tom Pfeiffer
in Cairo, Maria Golovnina in Tripoli; Joseph Nasr in Berlin, writing by Myra
MacDonald/David Stamp; editing by Matthew Jones)
RIYADH (Reuters) - A total of 5,080 people have been convicted
of terrorism crimes in Saudi Arabia, where al Qaeda launched a campaign in 2003
to overthrow the Western-allied monarchy, state media reported on Saturday.
The reports did not give a time frame for the convictions. Saudi Arabia, with
the help of foreign experts, managed to quash an al Qaeda campaign from 2003 to
2006 that targeted expatriate housing compounds, embassies and oil facilities.
Riyadh destroyed the main al Qaeda cells within Saudi Arabia, but some militants
slipped into neighboring Yemen and regrouped to form a Yemen-based regional wing
that seeks, among other things, the fall of the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family.
The official news agency SPA said the cases of 2,215 people had been transferred
to a special terrorism court, quoting a prosecution statement.
"This statement gives clear results of the progress regarding sending the
detainees to justice," Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told state
television.
Western rights groups have reported human rights violations in the treatment of
alleged militants in Saudi Arabia, a charge the conservative Muslim country has
rejected.
(Reporting by Riyadh newsroom; Editing by Peter Graff)
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft killed three Palestinian
gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday, medical officials and the Israeli
army said.
Residents said the planes fired on a car in which the three men were traveling
near the town of Khan Younis.
An Israeli military spokesman said the air strike was aimed at "a Hamas
terrorist squad planning to kidnap Israelis over the upcoming Jewish holiday of
Passover."
Hamas, Gaza's Islamist rulers, confirmed the men were members of its armed wing,
but denied they were planning a kidnapping and threatened reprisal. "The enemy
will pay for this assassination crime," a statement said.
Saturday's air strike raised to 15 the number of people killed since a flare up
of violence last month.
Israel and the Palestinians have signaled a readiness to return to a de facto
ceasefire which has kept the border mostly quiet since the end of the December
2008-January 2009 Gaza war.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Maayan Lubell)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly appointed U.S. special envoy
Princeton Lyman will depart on Saturday for meetings in Ethiopia and Sudan on
the transition of South Sudan to independence in July, the State Department
said.
Lyman was scheduled to participate in discussions in Ethiopia on security in
Sudan before meeting senior Sudanese officials in Khartoum on North-South issues
and on Darfur.
Following that, Lyman was to return to Ethiopia for discussions on economic
arrangements between North and South Sudan.
President Barack Obama appointed Lyman, a veteran U.S. Africa hand and former
ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria, as special envoy for Sudan on Thursday.
Lyman said he would work on outstanding issues such as border demarcation,
citizenship and division of oil revenue on his trip, as well as agreement on the
disputed border region of Abyei.
The State Department also said Robert Loftis, the acting U.S. coordinator for
reconstruction and stabilization in Sudan, was to depart on Monday to meet U.S.
officials in Juba and governors in southern Sudan on security and stabilization
priorities.
(Reporting by Charles Abbott, editing by Anthony Boadle)
U.N. council condemns attack on U.N. in Afghanistan
UNITED NATIONS | Fri Apr 1, 2011
7:07pm EDT
Reuters
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council condemned
an attack on the U.N. compound in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif on
Friday that left at least 12 people dead, including seven U.N. staff.
U.N. officials in New York said earlier as many as 20 U.N. staff may have been
killed in the attack. But U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters
the final U.N. death toll was seven.
The U.N. officials said the earlier figure had included non-U.N. Afghans
demonstrating against the burning of Islam's holy book, the Koran, by an obscure
American pastor.
"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the
violent attack against the United Nations operations center," Colombia's U.N.
ambassador, Nestor Osorio, president of the Security Council this month, told
reporters.
He added that the council "called on the government of Afghanistan to bring
those responsible to justice."
The confirmed dead were three international U.N. staff and four international
Gurkha guards. No Afghan nationals working for the United Nations died in the
attack, although five Afghan demonstrators were among the dead, Le Roy said.
Norway's U.N. mission said on its Twitter page that Norwegian Lieutenant Colonel
Siri Skare, 53, was among those killed in Mazar-i-Sharif. Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt also posted a Twitter message that said a young Swedish man
had been killed.
Le Roy said a Romanian was also among the dead.
'CLEARLY ARMED'
The peacekeeping chief suggested the demonstrators involved in the attack were
more than protesters. Several U.N. diplomats told Reuters they suspected there
were insurgents mingling among the mob that stormed the U.N. compound.
"Some of them were clearly armed," Le Roy said, adding that they appeared to
have targeted the foreigners at the compound. "We are not sure at all that the
U.N. was the target."
"Maybe they wanted to find an international target and the U.N. was the one in
Mazar-i-Sharif," Le Roy said, adding that an investigation of the incident was
still in progress.
The United Nations was temporarily evacuating staff from Mazar-i-Sharif and
reviewing its security in Afghanistan, he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Nairobi that the attack was
"outrageous and cowardly." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said
in a statement it was a "horrific and senseless attack."
The U.N. Staff Union, which represents U.N. employees worldwide, issued a
statement expressing outrage at the attack.
"The Staff Union requests the Afghan authorities to investigate the incident, to
take all possible measures to protect U.N. staff throughout the country and to
prevent the reoccurrence of such tragic events," the union said.
The deaths came after protesters demonstrating against the burning of the Koran
over-ran the U.N. compound, police said.
An Afghan police spokesman said two of the U.N. dead were beheaded by attackers
who also burned parts of the compound and climbed up blast walls to topple a
guard tower. Le Roy said no one was beheaded, although one victim's throat was
cut.
The worst previous attack on the United Nations in Afghanistan was an insurgent
assault on a Kabul guest-house where U.N. staff were staying in October 2009.
Five U.N. staffers were killed and nine others wounded.
In October 2010, several militants were killed when they attempted to ambush the
U.N. compound in Herat dressed in burkas worn by women.
There have been other assaults on the world body in trouble spots in the Middle
East and North Africa.
A bomb attack on the U.N. compound in Algiers in December 2007 killed 17 U.N.
staff. The bombing of a hotel in Baghdad in August 2003 where the U.N. mission
had its headquarters took the lives of at least 22 people, including the U.N.
special envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - At least four people died in protests
across the Arab world demanding political change and better living standards on
Friday, the Muslim day of prayer and a rallying point for the wave of unrest in
the region this year.
Syrian security forces killed at least three protesters in a Damascus suburb on
Friday, witnesses said, and one man also died as Omanis demanded jobs and better
wages.
Elsewhere in the Arab region protests were largely peaceful. In the Yemeni
capital Sanaa, tens of thousands took to the streets in separate demonstrations
both for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Saleh told a rally he would sacrifice everything for his country, suggesting he
had no plans to step down in the face of weeks of sometimes violent protests
that have brought his 32-year rule to the verge of collapse.
"I swear to you I will sacrifice blood and soul and everything precious for the
sake of this great people," he said.
Bahrain released a prominent blogger but detained several other people,
including a pro-opposition doctor, while in Saudi Arabia hundreds of Shi'ites
staged peaceful protests in the kingdom's oil-producing east in support of
fellow Shi'ites in Bahrain and political freedoms at home, activists said.
Witnesses in the Damascus suburb of Douma said the three killed were among at
least 2,000 people who chanted "Freedom. Freedom. One, one, one. The Syrian
people are one" when police opened fire to disperse them from Municipality
Square.
An official source said via state news agency SANA that "armed groups" on
rooftops had opened fire on citizens and security forces gathered in Douma,
killing and wounding dozens.
Activists said Syrians had taken to the streets after Friday prayers in
Damascus, Banias on the coast, Latakia port and the southern city of Deraa,
where unprecedented protests challenging President Bashar al-Assad's 11 years in
power began last month.
In his first public appearance since the demonstrations began, Assad had
declined on Wednesday to spell out any reforms, especially the lifting of a
48-year-old emergency law that has been used to stifle opposition and justify
arbitrary arrests.
"Thousands gathered today in Deraa, spontaneously, after Friday prayers in Deraa
from all the mosques, rejecting the president's speech," political activist Abu
Hazem told Al Arabiya television from Deraa.
Hundreds of Omani protesters seeking jobs and better wages clashed with security
forces in the industrial town of Sohar and a man died after being hit by a
rubber bullet, a government source said. Protesters threw stones and the troops
fired in the air to disperse them.
Bahrain released blogger Mahmood al-Yousif but detained several other people,
including a pro-opposition doctor, opposition sources said.
The tiny island kingdom's Sunni rulers have stepped up arrests of cyber
activists and Shi'ites, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing since
security forces broke up pro-democracy street protests earlier this month.
Al-Yousif, who for years has promoted anti-sectarianism under the slogan "No
Shi'ite, No Sunni, Just Bahraini," was detained on Wednesday and released late
on Thursday.
"I'm back home now with my family. Everything is fine," he told Reuters by
telephone. "I've been treated well enough. They investigated me but didn't find
anything."
Opposition sources said Abdul Khaleq Al Oraibi, a doctor at Salmaniya Hospital,
Bahrain's biggest, had also been detained.
DEMANDS MUBARAK BE PUT ON TRIAL
Egyptians rallied in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities demanding ousted
President Hosni Mubarak and other former officials be put on trial.
Mubarak was toppled on February 11, but reformers who drove the protests that
brought him down are concerned by what they see as the lingering influence of
elements from his administration.
Activists called for Friday's rally to "protect the revolution." One banner held
aloft in Cairo's Tahrir Square read: "The people want corruption put on trial to
save the revolution."
The reformers want tougher steps to recover assets they say Mubarak and others
took from the state and seek deeper change in Egypt which is now ruled by the
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, led by the defense minister who served
under Mubarak.
(Writing by Michael Roddy; editing by Andrew Roche/David Stamp)
LONDON (Reuters) - Reuters correspondent Suleiman al-Khalidi
was released by the Syrian authorities on Friday, three days after he was
detained in Damascus.
A week after Syria expelled another Reuters foreign correspondent, Khalidi was
set free to cross back into Jordan, where he is based, shortly after 4 p.m.
(1400 GMT).
But Reuters had still had no contact with photographer Khaled al-Hariri, a
Syrian based in Damascus, since he disappeared in the capital four days ago. He
was last seen arriving at work on Monday morning.
A Syrian official has said the authorities were working to establish what had
happened to him.
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said: "Thomson Reuters is relieved that
Suleiman is now free and has returned home.
"However, we remain deeply concerned about the whereabouts of Khaled and call
upon the Syrian authorities again to help ensure his safe and timely return to
his family."
Khalidi, a Jordanian who covered unrest which broke out in the Syrian city of
Deraa two weeks ago, has worked for Reuters for more than 20 years, in Jordan,
Kuwait, Syria and Iraq.
Hariri has worked in Syria for Reuters for more than 20 years.
Earlier in the week, two Reuters journalists from Lebanon were detained in
Damascus and held incommunicado for two days before being released and expelled
on Monday.
Reuters correspondent Khaled Yacoub Oweis, a Jordanian who had been based in
Damascus for five years, was expelled from Syria last Friday for what a Syrian
official described as his "unprofessional and false" coverage of events.
Reuters said it stood by its coverage from Syria, where the protests have posed
the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
ARAB UNREST
On Friday, witnesses said Syrian security forces killed at least three
protesters in a Damascus suburb. And the state news agency acknowledged for the
first time that worshippers in Deraa and Latakia, scenes of protests and deadly
clashes last week, had gathered after weekly prayers to call for faster reforms.
A number of other Arab governments facing unaccustomed public opposition have
taken action against the media this year.
On Wednesday, the Libyan government expelled a Reuters correspondent from
Tripoli. Two weeks earlier, Saudi Arabia expelled the Reuters foreign
correspondent from Riyadh.
Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists, said: "We documented over 300 individual attacks on journalists
throughout the Middle East in the last several months and that's a conservative
number.
"Circumstances differ in each case; repressive police action; attacks against
individuals; but the aim is always the same -- to confront and control
journalists trying to provide independent accounts in the country and to the
world.
"That's what we're seeing across the region and Syria."
Reuters, part of New York-based Thomson Reuters, the leading information
provider, employs some 3,000 journalists worldwide.
Reporting in English, Arabic and more than a dozen other languages, as well as
providing video and photographs, it has had bureaux across the Middle East for
well over a century.
Libyan government dismisses rebels' "mad" truce offer
TRIPOLI/AJDABIYAH, Libya | Fri Apr 1, 2011
9:11pm EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina and Alexander Dziadosz
TRIPOLI/AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's
government scorned rebel conditions for a nationwide ceasefire, and there was no
sign of international diplomatic efforts cooling the Libyan conflict.
Western-led forces bombarded "civilian and military locations" late on Friday in
the towns of Khoms, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Tripoli, and Arrujban, about
190 km to the southwest, state-controlled Libyan television said.
A rebel leader, speaking after talks with a U.N. envoy in Benghazi, earlier on
Friday offered a truce on condition that Gaddafi left Libya and his forces quit
cities now under government control.
"They are asking us to withdraw from our own cities .... If this is not mad then
I don't know what this is. We will not leave our cities," government spokesman
Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli a few hours later.
Rebels speaking from Misrata said Gaddafi's forces had intensified their siege
of the insurgents' last western enclave with an intense bombardment that was
killing and maiming civilians.
"They used tanks, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and other projectiles
to hit the city today. It was random and very intense bombardment," a spokesman
called Sami told Reuters by telephone. "We no longer recognize the place. The
destruction cannot be described."
Authorities do not allow journalists to report freely from the city.
Gaddafi's government in turn accused Western leaders of a "crime against
humanity," saying allied warplanes had killed at least six civilians in a new
attack. "Some mad and criminal prime ministers and presidents of Europe are
leading a crusade against an Arab Muslim nation," Ibrahim said.
REBELS TRY TO STRENGTHEN DISCIPLINE
Civilian deaths haunt the calculations of coalition governments. Casualties
could shatter a fragile consensus between Western and Arab capitals which first
called for the U.N. mandate to create a no-fly zone and protect civilians.
Libyan rebels moved heavier weaponry toward government forces at Brega on Friday
and sought to marshal their ragtag units into a more disciplined force to fend
off Gaddafi's regular army and turn the tide of recent events.
Rebels said neither side could claim control of Brega, one of a string of oil
towns along the Mediterranean coast that have been taken and retaken by each
side in recent weeks. Warplanes flew over Brega, followed by the sound of
explosions.
Rebels said more trained officers were at the front, heavier rockets were seen
moving from the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi toward Ajdabiyah to the
south late on Thursday and checkpoints were screening those going through.
The new approach has yet to be tested after the rout rebels sustained this week
when a two-day rebel advance along about 200 km (125 miles) of coast west from
Brega was repulsed and turned into a rapid retreat over the following two days.
On the road between Ajdabiyah and Benghazi were newly-dug rebel gun
emplacements.
Two weeks ago, Gaddafi's forces were at the gates of Benghazi and the Libyan
leader pledged "No mercy, no pity" for rebels who would be flushed out "house by
house, room by room."
A U.S. think tank said the military chief of the rebels, Khalifa Hefta, is a
veteran Arab nationalist guerrilla foe of Gaddafi who had backing in the past
from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
While Western action has failed to bring any end to fighting or a quick collapse
of Gaddafi's administration, signs have emerged of contacts between Tripoli and
Western capitals.
Foreign minister Moussa Koussa defected in London this week and a Gaddafi
appointee declined to take up his post as U.N. ambassador, condemning the
"spilling of blood" in Libya. Other reports of defections are unconfirmed.
A British government source said Mohammed Ismail, an aide to Gaddafi's son Saif
al-Islam, had visited family members in London, and Britain had "taken the
opportunity to send some very strong messages about the Gaddafi regime."
REBEL OIL EXPORTS
Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil discussed how a truce might be
achieved, after meeting U.N. special envoy Abdelilah al-Khatibset in Benghazi:
"We have no objection to a ceasefire but on condition that Libyans in western
cities have full freedom in expressing their views... Our main demand is the
departure of Muammar Gaddafi and his sons from Libya. This is a demand we will
not go back on."
But there appeared to be confusion over a truce even within rebel ranks. "We do
not agree to the ceasefire. We are defending ourselves and our revolution," said
rebel spokesman Hafiz Ghoga.
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan in Benghazi, Souhail Karam in Rabat,
Edmund Blair and Ibon Villelabeita in Cairo, Michael Georgy in Tunis, Christian
Lowe in Algiers, William Maclean, Olesya Dmitracova, Karolina Tagaris and Keith
Weir in London; writing by Andrew Roche; editing by David Stamp)
Thousands call for freedom in Syria, 3 killed in unrest
DAMASCUS | Fri Apr 1, 2011
7:35pm EDT
Reuters
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian security forces killed at least
three protesters in a Damascus suburb on Friday, witnesses said, as thousands
turned out in pro-democracy marches despite a reform gesture by President Bashar
al-Assad.
Activists said Syrians took to the streets after Friday prayers in the capital
Damascus, Homs to the north of the capital, Banias on the coast, Latakia port
and the southern city of Deraa, where the unprecedented protests challenging
Assad's 11 years in power began in March.
Witnesses in the Damascus suburb of Douma said the three killed were among at
least 2,000 people who chanted "Freedom. Freedom. One, one, one. The Syrian
people are one," when police opened fire to disperse them from Municipality
Square.
A photo distributed by one activist showed protesters pelting police forces with
stones in Douma, which links Damascus with the northern countryside.
An official source said via state news agency SANA "armed groups" had positioned
themselves on rooftops and opened fire on citizens and security forces gathered
in Douma, killing and wounding dozens.
SANA said a group had also opened fire on a gathering in the Bayyada district of
the western city of Homs, killing a girl, adding soldiers had also come under
fire in Deraa.
In his first public appearance since the demonstrations began, Assad declined on
Wednesday to spell out any reforms, especially the lifting of a 48-year-old
emergency law that has been used to stifle opposition and justify arbitrary
arrests.
"There is no confidence. President Assad talks about reform and does nothing,"
said Montaha al-Atrash, board member of the independent Syrian human rights
organization Sawasiah.
SYRIA ACKNOWLEDGES "GATHERINGS"
In Deraa, thousands of people gathered at Serail Square, chanting slogans
denouncing hints by Assad's to replace emergency law with anti-terrorism
legislation and describing rich relatives of the president as "thieves."
Music played from loudspeakers, including the song "Where are the millions?" by
Lebanese singer Julia Boutrous. Secret police and regular police forces kept
their distance but the army maintained heavy presence around Deraa, including
tanks. A Reuters witness saw two tanks positioned near Deraa.
Assad, who became president after his father Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, had
predicted the popular revolts seen in Tunisia and Egypt would not spread to
Syria, saying the ruling hierarchy was "very closely linked to the beliefs of
the people."
But for the past two weeks thousands of Syrians have turned out demanding
greater freedoms in the tightly controlled Arab state, posing the gravest
challenge to almost 50 years of monolithic Baath Party rule.
More than 60 people have been killed in the unrest, which could have wider
repercussions since Syria has an anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports
militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
SANA news agency acknowledged for the first time on Friday that worshippers in
Deraa and Latakia, scene of protests and deadly clashes last week, had gathered
after Friday prayers to call for accelerated reforms.
It had earlier reported calm across the country, adding there had been peaceful
calls for reform and several gatherings supporting "national unity and ...
stability."
"A number of worshippers left some mosques in the cities of Deraa and Latakia,
chanting slogans in honor of the martyr and calling for speeding up measures for
reform ... There were no clashes between worshippers and security forces in
these gatherings," it said.
A witness told Reuters security forces and Assad loyalists attacked about 200
worshippers with batons as they marched outside the Refaie mosque in the Kfar
Sousseh district of Damascus, chanting slogans in support of the Deraa
protesters.
At least six protesters were arrested, the witness told Reuters by telephone
from the mosque complex. One man was injured in a protest in the Damascus suburb
of Daraya.
Online democracy activists had called for protests across Syria on "Martyrs'
Friday," after Assad gave no clear commitment to meet demands for greater
freedoms and said Syria was the target of a "big conspiracy."
INVESTIGATING DEATHS
Government-appointed preachers denounced "acts of turmoil" which they said had
been "provoked from the outside and had targeted the nation's security."
On Thursday Assad ordered the creation of a panel that would draft
anti-terrorism legislation to replace emergency law, a move critics have
dismissed, saying they expect the new legislation will give the state much of
the same powers.
Assad also ordered an investigation into the deaths of civilians and security
forces in Deraa and in Latakia, where clashes that authorities blamed on "armed
gangs" occurred last week, killing 12 people, according to officials.
The Syrian News Agency earlier said security forces had arrested two armed
groups that opened fire and attacked citizens in a Damascus suburb.
Assad also formed a panel to "solve the problem of the 1962 census" in the
eastern region of al-Hasaka. The census resulted in 150,000 Kurds who now live
in Syria being denied nationality.
Two American citizens who had been detained in Syria have been released, the
U.S. State Department said on Friday, without giving more details.
Media operate in Syria under severe restrictions. Syria expelled Reuters'
Damascus correspondent last week. One foreign journalist was released by
authorities on Friday, three days after he had been detained, while a Syrian
Reuters photographer remains missing since Monday. Two other foreign Reuters
journalists were also expelled.
(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Suleiman al-Khalidi in
Amman; writing by Yara Bayoumy; editing by Andrew Roche)
After a string of world-shaking events America’s spies failed
to predict, most recently the turmoil sweeping the Arab world, a vast project is
taking shape to improve forecasting. It involves thousands of volunteers and the
wisdom of crowds.
It’s officially known as the Forecasting World Events Project and is sponsored
by the Intelligence Advanced Research Activity (IARPA), a little-known agency
run by a woman, Lisa Porter, who is occasionally described as America’s answer
to the fictional Agent Q who designs cutting edge gadgets for James Bond. Much
of IARPA’s work is classified, as is its budget. But the forecasting project is
not classified. Invitations to participate are now on the Internet.
The idea is to raise five large competing teams of people of diverse backgrounds
who will be asked to make predictions on fields that range from politics and
global security to business and economics, public health, social and cultural
change and science and technology. The project is expected to run for four years
and stems from the recognition that expert forecasts are very often wrong.
One of the teams is being put together by University of Pennsylvania professor
Philip Tetlock, whose ground-breaking 2005 book (Expert Political Judgment: How
Good is It? How Can We Know?) analysed 27,450 predictions from a variety of
experts and found they were no more accurate than random guesses or, as he put
it, “a dart-throwing chimpanzee”.
“To test various hypotheses,” Tetlock said in an interview, “we want a large
number on my team, 2,500 or so, which would make it almost ten times bigger than
the number I analysed in my book.” There are no firm numbers yet on how big the
other four teams will be. But Dan Gardner, the author of a just-published book
that also highlights the shortcomings of expert predictions, believes the
IARPA-sponsored project will be the biggest of its kind. It is expected to start
in mid-2011.
The title of Gardner’s book, “Future Babble. Why expert predictions are next to
worthless and you can do better,” leaves no doubts over his conclusion. The book
is an entertaining, well researched guide to decades of totally wrong
predictions from eminent figures. There was the British writer H.N. Norman, for
example, who, in the peaceful early days of 1914, predicted there would be no
more wars between the big powers of the time. World War I started a few months
later.
There was the Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, whose best-selling 1968 book The
Population Bomb predicted that hundreds of millions of people would starve to
death in famines in the 1970s. There was an entire library of books in the 1980s
that predicted Japan would overtake the United States as the world’s leading
economic power.
Not to forget the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s September 1978 prediction
that the Shah of Iran “is expected to remain actively involved in power over the
next ten years.” The Shah fled into exile three months later, forced out by
increasingly violent demonstrations against his autocratic rule.
NO CLAIRVOYANTS
In a similar vein, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on January 25
that “our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking
for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian
people.”
Seventeeen days later, the leader of that stable government, Hosni Mubarak,
stepped down in the face of mass protests.
“We are not clairvoyant,” America’s intelligence czar, James Clapper, told a
hearing of the House Intelligence Committee where criticism of the sprawling
U.S. intelligence community was aired. “Specific triggers for how and when
instability would lead to the collapse of various regimes cannot always be known
or predicted.”
True enough. Who could have predicted that the assassination of an archduke in
Sarajevo in 1914 would lead to the deaths of 16 million people in World War I?
Who could have predicted Japan’s recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor
disaster? On the other hand, there were accurate predictions that U.S. troops
invading Iraq in 2003 would not be showered with flowers, as Washington
officials had so confidently predicted.
IARPA’s Forecasting Project is not the first American attempt at peering into
the future with novel methods. The agency’s richer, bigger and older military
sibling, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), caused outrage
in 2003 with a plan to set up an online market where investors would have traded
futures in Middle East developments including coups, assassinations and
terrorist attacks.
The man who ran DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, at the time, John
Poindexter, resigned and the project was killed so we’ll never know whether that
market might have been a better indicator of the future than the usual, often
over-confident analysts.
And the IARPA teams? The aim of the program, as explained in an online
invitation to participate, is to “dramatically enhance the accuracy, precision
and timeliness” of forecasts. Gardner, the forecast sceptic, thinks they will
remind us that there are things that simply can’t be predicted.
Anxiety Roils Libyan Capital Amid Top-Level Defections
April 1, 2011
The New York Times
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and C.J. CHIVERS
TRIPOLI, Libya — Anxiety seized the Qaddafi government on
Thursday over the second defection in two days of a senior official close to
Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, stirring talk of others to follow and a crackdown to
stop them.
And, on Friday British news reports on the BBC and in The Guardian newspaper
said Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to one of Colonel Qaddafi’s sons, had
traveled to London for talks with British officials in recent days. But there
was no immediate confirmation of those reports. A Foreign Office spokesman, who
spoke in return for anonymity under departmental procedures, said: “We are not
going to provide a running commentary on our contact with Libyan officials.”
As rebels challenging pro-Qaddafi forces struggled to regroup around the oil
port of Brega, and the roar of allied warplanes was heard again over the
capital, residents reacted in shock at the defection of Foreign Minister Moussa
Koussa, a close ally of Colonel Qaddafi’s since the early days of the
revolution, who once earned the nickname “envoy of death” for his role in the
assassinations of earlier Libyan defectors.
And then came the defection to Egypt of another senior official, Ali Abdussalam
el-Treki, a former foreign minister and a former United Nations ambassador who
had worked closely with Colonel Qaddafi for decades.
Soon rumors swirled of a cascade of high-level defections. The pan-Arab news
channel Al Jazeera reported without confirmation that the intelligence chief and
the speaker of Parliament had fled to Tunisia. Other rumors, like the exit of
the oil minister, were quickly shot down. But taking no chances, Libyan
officials posted guards to prevent any other officials from leaving the country,
two former officials said.
The defections and ensuing speculation underscored the increasing tension in the
capital as allied air strikes crippled the military machine that Colonel Qaddafi
deployed almost exclusively as a bulwark against his own population. Even though
the rebels were retreating in the east, allied airstrikes showed no sign of
relenting, fuel shortages were worsening, and Qaddafi loyalists were talking
increasingly openly about the possibility of the leader’s own exit.
Western leaders hailed Mr. Koussa’s departure, in particular, as a turning
point. “Moussa Koussa’s decision shows which way the wind is blowing in
Tripoli,” said Tommy Vietor, a national security spokesman at the White House.
Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman who huddled behind closed doors until well
after midnight on Wednesday struggling to confirm Mr. Koussa’s departure, said
in a news conference on Thursday: “This is not like a happy piece of news, is
it? But people are saying, ‘So what, if someone wants to step down? That is
their decision. The fight continues.’ ”
Asked if Colonel Qaddafi and his sons were still in Libya, Mr. Ibrahim smiled.
“Rest assured, we are all still here,” he said. “We will remain here until the
end.”
Aside from Colonel Qaddafi’s sons, the most important ally remaining at his side
— rivaled in influence only by Mr. Koussa — is his brother-in-law, Abdullah
Senussi, a top security adviser. “He is the right hand and the left hand of the
regime,” said Ali Aujali, who was the Libyan ambassador to the United States
until he defected a few weeks ago.
In a speech in London on Thursday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Mr.
Koussa, who is believed to have helped orchestrate the 1988 bombing of Pan Am
Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, had fled to London “of his own free will”
with no offer of immunity from British or international justice.
“He is voluntarily talking to British officials, including members of the
British Embassy in Tripoli now based in London, and our ambassador, Richard
Northern.”
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said on
March 3 that he would investigate “alleged crimes against humanity committed in
Libya since 15 February, as peaceful demonstrators were attacked by security
forces.” He placed Mr. Koussa second after Colonel Qaddafi on a list of “some
individuals with formal or de facto authority, who commanded and had control
over the forces that allegedly committed the crimes.”
Mr. Ibrahim, the Qaddafi government spokesman, said Mr. Koussa had been granted
a leave of a few days to receive medical care in Tunisia, a common practice
among the Libyan elite. But Mr. Ibrahim said Mr. Koussa had not contacted the
Qaddafi government since the day after he crossed the border. “I don’t think his
sick leave included London,” Mr. Ibrahim said.
The panic in the capital bore no relation to the success of the Qaddafi forces
in eastern Libya battling the rebels, who in the end are likely to present a
much less immediate threat to Colonel Qaddafi than a breakdown of his military
or a more generalized uprising.
After beating a chaotic retreat to the city of Ajdabiya on Wednesday, the rebels
on Thursday morning realized that the loyalist advance had crested for the
moment, and they tried to mount a renewed push southwest down the coastal road,
hoping to recapture some of their losses.
Near the entrance to the oil port of Brega, however, they were met by
resistance, and their counterattack was halted. The day passed with the two
sides separated by an expanse of open desert, with Colonel Qaddafi’s forces
occasionally shelling clusters of rebels, who answered with rockets and
ineffective bursts of machine-gun fire.
Coalition aircraft could be heard overhead a few times during the day, but
airstrikes were neither visible nor audible from rebel-held ground.
Stalled on the shoulders of the road, the rebels said they were seeking
alternative routes overland into the city. “We are going on this side and that
side,” said Jamal Saad Omar, 45, a weathered fighter who gestured toward Brega
as artillery or rockets landed in the distance.
Some of the rebels also expressed fears of booby traps and land mines, which
Colonel Qaddafi’s forces had left behind after occupying Ajdabiya.
The loyalist forces’ tactics apparently unnerved some of the fighters, who said
that in the morning fighting the pro-Qaddafi militias did not fight from
conventional military vehicles, but from civilian cars, which made them both
harder to detect and less vulnerable to foreign air strikes.
“There were many civilian cars coming toward us,” said Fisky Iltajoury, a
31-year-old fighter. “They started to shoot us.”
By evening there had been no breakthrough. The day passed without a change in
the lines.
In a display intended perhaps to show the government’s strength, government
officials escorted foreign journalists for a late-night trip to the Qaddafi
compound. A few hundred supporters in green bandanas and scarves were cheering a
giant television screen showing the face of Shokri Ghanem, the Libyan oil
minister, who had given an interview on Thursday to dispel rumors that he, too,
had defected.
But at the hotel that houses foreign reporters, the government officials usually
found in the lobby cafe smoking cigarettes and drinking tea until late at night
were nowhere to be seen on Thursday. Usually accessible figures no longer
answered their phones.
Mr. Aujali, the former ambassador to Washington, said more officials were
seeking to defect. “I think anybody who has a chance to get out of the country
will do the same as Moussa Koussa,” he said. “They have to do it soon, or it
won’t mean very much.”
But Mr. Ibrahim, the Qaddafi spokesman, said that the government had already
proved its resilience in the face of conditions that were “extremely ripe for a
popular rebellion.”
“The skies are afire, the bombardment is everywhere, the rebels are in the east,
there are shortages of fuel,” Mr. Ibrahim said. “Where is the popular uprising?
Where are the tribes coming out to say he must go?”
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Tripoli, and C. J. Chivers from Ajdabiya,
Libya. Alan Cowell and Marlise Simons contributed reporting from Paris.
AMMAN (Reuters) - Protests broke out in three Syrian cities
against Baath Party rule after prayers on Friday, Syrian activists said, two
days after President Bashar al-Assad termed mass protests demanding freedoms a
foreign conspiracy.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in and around Damascus, where security
forces fired teargas at protesters in the suburb of Douma, and in the coastal
cities of Latakia and Banias, they added.
The presence of security forces and Assad loyalists was heavy around mosques
where the protests broke out, the activists said.
"The regime is using a new tactic. It is no longer security forces alone
confronting the protesters, but they are just as brutal," one of the activists
said.
(Reporting by khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Michael Roddy)
SANAA | Fri Apr 1, 2011
7:56am EDT
Reuters
By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari
SANAA (Reuters) - Embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told a huge
rally of supporters on Friday that he would sacrifice everything for his
country, suggesting he has no plans to step down yet.
Weeks of protests across Yemen have brought Saleh's 32-year rule to the verge of
collapse but the United States and neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia, an
important financial backer, are worried about who might succeed him in a country
where al Qaeda militants flourish.
Tens of thousands of protesters, both for and against Saleh, took to the streets
of Yemen's capital in a bid to draw the larger crowd as negotiators struggle to
revive talks to decide his fate.
"I swear to you that I will sacrifice my blood and soul and everything precious
for the sake of this great people," he told supporters who shouted "the people
want Ali Abdullah Saleh" in response.
Rallies attracted large numbers in Sanaa even before midday prayers, a time
which has been a critical period for drawing crowds in protest movements that
have swept across the region and unseated entrenched rulers in Tunisia and
Egypt.
"It seems Saleh is going down with the ship," said Theodore Karasik, a security
analyst at the Dubai-based INEGMA group. "The only way he'll let himself get
dislodged is if he loses even more supporters from his inner circle."
Saleh has lost key support from tribal, military and political aides.
"It seems like he's not ready to go," Karasik said. "He's making statements
saying he's going to do what's best for Yemen but really this is just Saleh
trying to do what's best for Saleh."
Helicopters buzzed over ahead, monitoring both protests.
"Out traitor, the Yemeni people are in revolt. We, the army and the police are
united under oppression," anti-Saleh protesters shouted outside Sanaa
University, where tens of thousands had gathered.
One cleric said during morning prayers at the rally: "I say to you, Saleh, while
you sit terrified in your palace, that the people are on to your tricks.... You
(protesters) represent the oppressed, the poor and the imprisoned."
But tensions were high as equally large crowds came out in a show of support for
Saleh in Sabyeen Square, about four km (2.5 miles) away. Hundreds of security
forces were deployed at checkpoints across the city as tanks rolled through the
streets.
Anti-Saleh protesters have named the day a "Friday of enough," while loyalists
branded it a "Friday of brotherhood."
"We send a message from the Yemeni majority to them (the opposition) and the
whole world ... of our support for the nation and for our leader, President Ali
Abdullah Saleh," former prime minister Ali Mohammed Megawar said, addressing the
pro-Saleh rally.
TALKS STALLED
A government official who helped organize the demonstration told Reuters the
ruling party expected tens of thousands of supporters to arrive in the capital.
Tens of cars and buses were driving into Sanaa filled with people waving Yemeni
flags and pictures of Saleh, witnesses said.
Some Sanaa residents said they had been paid the equivalent of $250 to join the
pro-Saleh protest. Others, from outside the city, said they had been paid
between $300 and $350.
Protests could easily spiral into violence in this turbulent state on the
southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula -- over half the population of 23 million
own a gun. Some 82 people have been killed so far, including 52 shot by snipers
on March 18.
A well-known journalist, Abdul Ghani al-Shameri, who had run several television
channels including state TV and recently resigned from the ruling party, was
taken away from his Sanaa home in a car around midnight on Thursday by people
his family described as plainclothes police. Further details were not
immediately available.
Saleh is looking to stay on as president while new parliamentary and
presidential elections are organized by the end of the year, an opposition
source told Reuters on Tuesday.
Talks over his exit have stalled and it is not yet clear how they can restart.
Saudi authorities have deflected Yemeni government efforts to involve them in
mediation.
Protesters camped outside Sanaa University since early February insist that
Saleh, who has said he will not run for re-election when his term ends in 2013,
should step down now.
Washington has long regarded Saleh as a bulwark of stability who can keep al
Qaeda from extending its foothold in Yemen, a country which many see as close to
disintegration.
Saleh has talked of civil war if he steps down without ensuring that power
passes to "safe hands." He has warned against a coup after senior generals
turned against him in the past week.
Opposition parties say they can handle the militant issue better than Saleh, who
they say has made deals with militants in the past to avoid provoking Yemen's
Islamists.
(Writing by Erika Solomon and Nick Macfie; editing by Myra MacDonald)
Bahrain steps up detentions but releases prominent blogger
DUBAI | Fri Apr 1, 2011
4:50am EDT
Reuters
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain released a prominent blogger but
detained several people, including a pro-opposition doctor, the latest in a
series of arrests since the kingdom's crackdown on street protests, opposition
sources said on Friday.
The tiny island's Sunni rulers have stepped up arrests of cyber activists and
Shi'ites, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing since the crackdown on
pro-democracy protests earlier this month.
It imposed martial law and called in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbors,
including Saudi Arabia, to quell the protest movement led mostly by the state's
Shi'ite majority.
More than 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shi'ites and most want a constitutional
monarchy.
Mattar Ibrahim Mattar, a member of Bahrain's largest Shi'ite opposition group,
Wefaq, said the party's official arrest count was 329 by Thursday, but that the
real number was likely to be over 400.
He said at least 20 people had been detained on Thursday and 31 were missing. It
was unclear if those people were in hiding or had been abducted.
There have been several reports of missing people who have turned up dead days
later, but activists say that many of their peers are also going into hiding to
avoid arrest.
Prominent blogger Mahmood al-Yousif, who for years has promoted
anti-sectarianism under the slogan "No Shi'ite, No Sunni, Just Bahraini," was
detained on Wednesday and released late on Thursday.
"I'm back home now with my family. Everything is fine," he told Reuters by
telephone. "I've been treated well enough. They investigated me but didn't find
anything."
Opposition sources said Abdul Khaleq Al Oraibi, a doctor at Salmaniya Hospital,
the kingdom's biggest, had also been detained.
Oraibi, who once considered running as a member of parliament for Wefaq, had
been publicly critical of the lack of access for medics to wounded protesters.
The severity of Bahrain's crackdown, in which public gatherings are banned and
security forces have been deployed at checkpoints, stunned Bahrain's Shi'ites
and angered the region's non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states fearful of rising Iranian influence see
Bahrain as a red line among the popular uprisings that have swept the region
since January.
(Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Nick Macfie)
PARIS | Fri Apr 1, 2011
4:27am EDT
Reuters
By Paul Taylor
PARIS (Reuters) - It is a war that Barack Obama didn't want,
David Cameron didn't need, Angela Merkel couldn't cope with and Silvio
Berlusconi dreaded.
Only Nicolas Sarkozy saw the popular revolt that began in Libya on February 15
as an opportunity for political and diplomatic redemption. Whether the French
president's energetic leadership of an international coalition to protect the
Libyan people from Muammar Gaddafi will be enough to revive his sagging domestic
fortunes in next year's election is highly uncertain.
But by pushing for military strikes that he hopes might repair France's
reputation in the Arab world, Sarkozy helped shape what type of war it would be.
The road to Western military intervention was paved with mutual suspicion, fears
of another quagmire in a Muslim country and doubts about the largely unknown
ragtag Libyan opposition with which the West has thrown in its lot.
That will make it harder to hold together an uneasy coalition of Americans,
Europeans and Arabs, the longer Gaddafi holds out. Almost two weeks into the air
campaign, Western policymakers fret about the risk of a stray bomb hitting a
hospital or an orphanage, or of the conflict sliding into a prolonged stalemate.
There is no doubt the outcome in Tripoli will have a bearing on the fate of the
popular movement for change across the Arab world. But because this war was born
in Paris it will also have consequences for Europe.
"It's high time that Europeans stopped exporting their own responsibilities to
Washington," says Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on
Foreign Relations. "If the West fails in Libya, it will be primarily a European
failure."
A FRENCH FIASCO
When the first Arab pro-democracy uprisings shook the thrones of aging autocrats
in Tunisia and Egypt in January, France had got itself on the wrong side of
history.
Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had enjoyed a winter holiday in Tunisia, a
former French colony, oblivious to the rising revolt. She and her family had
taken free flights on the private jet of a businessman close to President Zine
al-Abidine Ben Ali, and then publicly offered the government French assistance
with riot control just a few days before Ben Ali was ousted by popular protests.
Worse was to come. It turned out that French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had
spent his Christmas vacation up the Nile as the guest of Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, the next autocrat in the Arab democracy movement's firing line,
while Sarkozy and his wife Carla had soaked up the winter sunshine in Morocco,
another former French territory ruled by a barely more liberal divine-right
monarch.
Television stations were re-running embarrassing footage of the president giving
Gaddafi a red-carpet welcome in Paris in 2007, when Libya's "brother leader"
planted his tent in the grounds of the Hotel de Marigny state guest house across
the road from the Elysee presidential palace.
On February 27, a few days after Libyan rebels hoisted the pre-Gaddafi tricolor
flag defiantly in Benghazi, Sarkozy fired his foreign minister. In a speech
announcing the appointment of Alain Juppe as her successor, Sarkozy cited the
need to adapt France's foreign and security policy to the new situation created
by the Arab uprisings. "This is an historic change," he said. "We must not be
afraid of it. We must have one sole aim: to accompany, support and help the
people who have chosen freedom."
MAN IN THE WHITE SHIRT
Yet the international air campaign against Gaddafi's forces might never have
happened without the self-appointed activism of French public intellectual
Bernard-Henri Levy, a left-leaning philosopher and talk-show groupie, who
lobbied Sarkozy to take up the cause of Libya's pro-democracy rebels.
Libya was the latest of a string of international causes that the libertarian
icon with his unbuttoned white designer shirts and flowing mane of greying hair
has championed over the last two decades after Bosnian Muslims, Algerian
secularists, Afghan rebels and Georgia's side in the conflict with Russia. Levy
went to meet the Libyan rebels and telephoned Sarkozy from Benghazi in early
March.
"I'd like to bring you the Libyan Massouds," Levy says he told the president,
comparing the anti-Gaddafi opposition with former Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah
Massoud, who fought against the Islamist Taliban before being assassinated. "As
Gaddafi only clings on through violence, I think he'll collapse," the
philosopher told Reuters in an interview.
On March 10, Levy accompanied two envoys of the Libyan Transitional Council to
Sarkozy's office. To their surprise and to the consternation of France's allies,
the president recognized the council as the "legitimate representative of the
Libyan people" and told them he favored not only establishing a no-fly zone to
protect them but also carrying out "limited targeted strikes" against Gaddafi's
forces. In doing so without consultation on the eve of a European Union summit
called to discuss Libya, Sarkozy upstaged Washington, which was still debating
what to do, embarrassed London, which wanted broad support for a no-fly zone,
and infuriated Berlin, France's closest European partner. He also stunned his
own foreign minister, who learned about the decision to recognize the opposition
from a news agency dispatch, aides said, while in Brussels trying to coax the EU
into backing a no-fly zone.
"Quite a lot of members of the European Council were irritated to discover that
France had recognized the Libyan opposition council and the Elysee was talking
of targeted strikes," a senior European diplomat said. Across the Channel,
British Prime Minister David Cameron, aware of the deep unpopularity of the Iraq
war, had turned his back on Tony Blair's doctrine of liberal interventionism
when he took office in 2010. But after facing criticism over the slow evacuation
of British nationals from Libya and a trade-promotion trip to the Gulf in the
midst of the Arab uprisings, he overruled cabinet skeptics, military doubters
and critics among his own Conservative lawmakers to join Sarkozy in campaigning
for military action. However, Cameron sought to reassure parliament that he was
not entering an Iraq-style open-ended military commitment.
"This is different to Iraq. This is not going into a country, knocking over its
government and then owning and being responsible for everything that happens
subsequently," he said. In Britain, as in France, the government won bipartisan
support for intervention.
GERMANY MISSING IN ACTION
In Germany, on the other hand, the Libyan uprising was an unwelcome distraction
from domestic politics. It played directly into the campaign for regional
elections in Baden-Wuerttemberg, a south-western state which Chancellor Angela
Merkel's Christian Democrats had governed since 1953.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, leader of the Free Democrats, the liberal
junior partners in Merkel's coalition, tried to surf on pacifist public opinion
by opposing military action. Polls showed two-thirds of voters opposed German
involvement in Libya, a country where Nazi Germany's Afrika Korps had suffered
desert defeats in World War Two. Present-day Germany's armed forces were already
overstretched in Afghanistan, where some 5,000 soldiers are engaged in an
unpopular long-term mission. Westerwelle made it impossible for Merkel to
support a no-fly zone, even without participating. He publicly criticized the
Franco-British proposal for a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the
use of force to prevent Gaddafi using his air force against Libyan civilians.
Merkel said she was skeptical. The Germans prevented a March 11 EU summit from
making any call for a no-fly zone, much to the frustration of the French and
British.
Relations between France's Juppe and Westerwelle deteriorated further the
following week when Germany prevented foreign ministers from the Group of Eight
industrialized powers from calling for a no-fly zone in Libya. Westerwelle told
reporters: "Military intervention is not the solution. From our point of view,
it is very difficult and dangerous. We do not want to get sucked into a war in
North Africa. We would not like to step on a slippery slope where we all are at
the end in a war."
That argument angered allies. As the meeting broke up, a senior European
diplomat tells Reuters, Juppe turned to Westerwelle and said: "Now that you have
achieved everything you wanted, Gaddafi can go ahead and massacre his people."
When the issue came to the U.N. Security Council on March 17, 10 days before the
Baden-Wuerttemberg election, Germany abstained, along with Russia, China, India
and Brazil, and said it would take no part in military operations.
Ironically, that stance seems to have been politically counterproductive. The
center-right coalition lost the regional election anyway, and both leaders were
severely criticized by German media for having isolated Germany from its western
partners, including the United States. The main political beneficiaries were the
ecologist Greens, seen as both anti-nuclear and anti-war.
U.S. TAKES ITS TIME
In Washington, meanwhile, President Barack Obama was, as usual, taking his time
to make up his mind. Military action in Libya was the last thing the U.S.
president needed, just when he was trying to extricate American troops from two
unpopular wars in Muslim countries launched by his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Obama had sought to rebuild damaged relations with the Muslim world, seen as a
key driver of radicalization and terrorism against the United States. The
president trod a fine line in embracing pro-democracy and reform movements in
the Arab world and Iran while trying to avoid undermining vital U.S. interests
in the absolute monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other Gulf states.
Compared to those challenges, Libya was a sideshow.
The United States had no big economic or political interests in the North
African oil and gas producing state and instinctively saw it as part of Europe's
backyard. Obama had also sought to encourage allies, notably in Europe, to take
more responsibility for their own security issues. Spelling out the
administration's deep reluctance to get dragged into another potential Arab
quagmire, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a farewell speech to officer
cadets at the West Point military academy on March 4: "In my opinion, any future
Defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land
army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head
examined', as General (Douglas) MacArthur so delicately put it."
Prominent U.S. foreign policy lawmakers, including Democratic Senator John Kerry
and Republican Senator John McCain pressed the Obama administration in early
March to impose a "no- fly" zone over Libya and explore other military options,
such as bombing runways. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said after talks
with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on February 28 that a
"no-fly" zone was "an option which we are actively considering".
But the White House pushed back against pressure from lawmakers. "It would be
premature to send a bunch of weapons to a post office box in eastern Libya,"
White House spokesman Jay Carney said on March 7. "We need to not get ahead of
ourselves in terms of the options we're pursuing."
While Carney said a no-fly zone was a serious option, other U.S. civilian and
military officials cautioned that it would be difficult to enforce.
On March 10, U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper forecast in
Congress that Gaddafi's better-equipped forces would prevail in the long term,
saying Gaddafi appeared to be "hunkering down for the duration". If there was to
be intervention, it had become clear, it would have to come quickly.
ARAB SPINE
U.S. officials say the key event that helped Clinton and the U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations, Susan Rice, persuade Obama of the need for intervention was
a March 12 decision by the Arab League to ask the U.N. Security Council to
declare a no-fly zone to protect the Libyan population. The Arab League's
unprecedented resolve -- the organization has long been plagued by chronic
divisions and a lack of spine -- reflected the degree to which Gaddafi had
alienated his peers, especially Saudi Arabia. When the quixotic colonel bothered
to attend Arab summits, it was usually to insult the Saudi king and other
veteran rulers.
The Arab League decision gave a regional seal of approval that Western nations
regarded as vital for military action.
Moreover, two Arab states - Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - soon said they
would participate in enforcing a no-fly zone, and a third, Lebanon, co-sponsored
a United Nations resolution to authorize the use of force. Arab diplomats said
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister
with presidential ambitions, played the key role in squeezing an agreement out
of the closed-door meeting.
Syria, Sudan, Algeria and Yemen were all against any move to invite foreign
intervention in an Arab state. But diplomats said that by couching the
resolution as an appeal to the U.N. Security Council, Moussa maneuvered his way
around Article VI of the Arab League's statutes requiring that such decisions be
taken unanimously. It was he who announced the outcome, saying Gaddafi's
government had lost legitimacy because of its "crimes against the Libyan
people".
The African Union, in which Gaddafi played an active but idiosyncratic role,
condemned the Libyan leader's crackdown but rejected foreign military
intervention and created a panel of leaders to try to resolve the conflict
through dialogue.
However, all three African states on the Security Council - South Africa,
Nigeria and Gabon - voted for the resolution. France acted as if it had AU
support anyway. Sarkozy invited the organization's secretary-general, Jean Ping,
to the Elysee palace for a showcase summit of coalition countries on the day
military action began, and he attended, providing African political cover for
the operation.
OBAMA DECIDES
Having failed to win either EU or G8 backing for a no-fly zone, and with the
United States internally divided and holding back, France and Britain were in
trouble in their quest for a U.N. resolution despite the Arab League support.
Gaddafi's forces had regrouped and recaptured a swathe of the western and
central coastal plain, including some key oil terminals, and were advancing fast
on Benghazi, a city of 700,000 and the rebels' stronghold. If international
intervention did not come within days, it would be too late. Gaddafi's troops
would be in the population centers, making surgical air strikes impossible
without inflicting civilian casualties.
In the nick of time, Obama came off the fence on March 15 at a two-part meeting
of his National Security Council. Hillary Clinton participated by telephone from
Paris, Susan Rice by secure video link from New York. Both were deeply aware of
the events of the 1990s, when Bill Clinton's administration, in which Rice was
an adviser on Africa, had failed to prevent genocide in Rwanda, and only
intervened in Bosnia after the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two.
They reviewed what was at stake now. There were credible reports that Gaddafi
forces were preparing to massacre the rebels. What signal would it send to Arab
democrats if the West let him get away with that, and if Mubarak and Ben Ali,
whose armies refused to turn their guns on the people, were overthrown while
Gaddafi, who had used his airforce, tanks and artillery against civilian
protesters, survived in office?
The president overruled doubters among his military and national security
advisers and decided the United States would support an ambitious U.N.
resolution going beyond just a no-fly zone, on the strict condition that
Washington would quickly hand over leadership of the military action to its
allies. "Within days, not weeks," one participant quoted him as saying.
A senior administration official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity,
said the key concern was to avoid any impression that the United States was once
again unilaterally bombing an Arab country. Asked what had swung Washington
toward agreeing to join military action in Libya, he said: "It's more that
events were evolving and so positions had to address the change of events."
"The key elements were the Arab League statement, the Lebanese support,
co-sponsorship of the actual resolution as the Arab representative on the
Security Council, a series of conversations with Arab leaders over the course of
that week, leading up to the resolution. All of that convinced us that the Arab
countries were fully supportive of the broad resolution that would provide the
authorization necessary to protect civilians and to provide humanitarian relief,
and then the (March 19) gathering in Paris, confirmed that there was support for
the means necessary to carry out the resolution, namely the use of military
force," the official said.
When Rice told her French and British counterparts at the United Nations that
Washington now favored a far more aggressive Security Council resolution,
including air and sea strikes, they first feared a trap. Was Obama deliberately
trying to provoke a Russian veto, a French official mused privately.
"I had a phone call from Susan Rice, Tuesday 8 p.m., and a phone call from Susan
Rice at 11 p.m., and everything had changed in three hours," a senior Western
envoy told Reuters. "On Wednesday morning, at the (Security) Council, in a sort
of totally awed silence, Susan Rice said: 'We want to be allowed to strike
Libyan forces on the ground.' There was a sort of a bit surprised silence."
THE VOTE
Right up to the day of the vote, when Juppe took a plane to New York to swing
vital votes behind the resolution, Moscow's attitude was uncertain. So too were
the three African votes. British and French diplomats tried desperately to
contact the Nigerian, South African and Gabonese ambassadors but kept being told
they were in a meeting.
"There was drama right up to the last minute," another U.N. diplomat said. That
day, March 17, Clinton had just come out of a television studio in Tunis,
epicenter of the first Arab democratic revolution, when she spoke to Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a secure cellphone. Lavrov, who had strongly
opposed a no-fly zone when they met in Geneva on February 28 and remained
skeptical when they talked again in Paris on March 14, told her Moscow would not
block the resolution. The senior U.S. official denied that Washington had
offered Russia trade and diplomatic benefits in return for acquiescence, as
suggested by a senior non-American diplomat. However, Obama telephoned President
Dimitry Medvedev the following week and reaffirmed his support for Russia's bid
to join the World Trade Organization, which U.S. ally Georgia is blocking.
China too abstained, allowing the resolution to pass with 10 votes in favor,
five abstentions and none against. It authorized the use of "all necessary
measures" - code for military action -- to protect the civilian population but
expressly ruled out a foreign occupation force in any part of Libya. The United
States construes it to allow arms sales to the rebels. Most others do not.
Reuters reported exclusively on March 29 that Obama had signed a secret order
authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces. The White House and
the Central Intelligence Agency declined comment. Clinton said no decision had
been taken on whether to arm the rebels.
ARAB JITTERS, COLD TURKEY
No sooner had the first cruise missiles been fired than the Arab League's Moussa
complained that the Western powers had gone beyond the U.N. resolution and
caused civilian casualties. His outburst appeared mainly aimed at assuaging Arab
public opinion, particularly in Egypt, and he muted his criticism after
telephone calls from Paris, London and Washington.
Turkey, the leading Muslim power in NATO with big economic interests in Libya,
bitterly criticized the military action in an Islamic country. The Turks were
exasperated to see France, the most vociferous adversary of its EU membership
bid, leading the coalition. Sarkozy, who alternated on a brief maiden visit to
Ankara on February 25 between trying to sell Turkish leaders French nuclear
power plants and telling them bluntly to drop their EU ambitions, further
angered Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan by failing to invite Turkey to the Paris
conference on Libya.
Italy, the former colonial power which had Europe's biggest trade and investment
ties with Libya, had publicly opposed military action until the last minute, but
opened its air bases to coalition forces as soon as the U.N. resolution passed.
However, Rome quickly demanded that NATO, in which it had a seat at the
decision-making table, should take over command of the whole operation. Foreign
Minister Franco Frattini threatened to take back control of the vital Italian
bases unless the mission was placed under NATO.
But Turkey and France were fighting diplomatic dogfights at NATO headquarters.
Ankara wanted to use its NATO veto put the handcuffs on the coalition to stop
offensive operations. France wanted to keep political leadership away from the
U.S.-led military alliance to avoid a hostile reaction in the Arab world.
The United States signaled its determination to hand over operational command
within days, not weeks, as Obama had promised, and wanted tried-and-trusted NATO
at the wheel.
It took a week of wrangling before agreement was reached for NATO to take charge
of the entire military campaign. In return, France won agreement to create a
"contact group" including Arab and African partners, to coordinate political
efforts on Libya's future. Turkey was assuaged by being invited to a London
international conference that launched that process.
That enabled the United States to lower its profile and Obama to declare that
Washington would not act alone as the world's policeman "wherever repression
occurs". While the president promised to scale back U.S. involvement to a
"supporting role", the military statistics tell a different tale. As of March
29, the United States had fired all but 7 of the 214 cruise missiles used in the
conflict and flown 1,103 sorties compared to 669 for all other allies combined.
It also dropped 455 of the first 600 bombs, according to the Pentagon.
For all the showcasing of Arab involvement, only six military aircraft from
Qatar had arrived in theater by March 30. They joined French air patrols but did
not fly combat missions, a military source said. Sarkozy announced that the
United Arab Emirates would send 12 F16 fighters , but NATO and UAE officials
refused to say when they would arrive. Britain's Cameron spoke of unspecified
logistical contributions from Kuwait and Jordan. The main Arab contribution is
clearly political cover rather than military assets.
CASUALTY LIST
While the duration and the outcome of the war remain uncertain, some political
casualties are already visible.
Unless the conflict ends in disaster, Germany and its chancellor and foreign
minister - particularly the latter - are set to emerge as losers. "I can tell
you there are people in London and Paris who are asking themselves whether this
Germany is the kind of country we would like to have as a permanent member of
the U.N. Security Council. That's a legitimate question which wasn't posed
before," a senior European diplomat told Reuters. German officials brush aside
such talk, saying Berlin would have the backing of its western partners and
needs support from developing and emerging countries more in tune with its
abstention on the Libya resolution.
Merkel has moved quickly to try to limit the damage. She attended the Paris
conference and went along with an EU summit statement on March 25 welcoming the
U.N. resolution on which her own government had abstained a week earlier. She
also offered NATO extra help in aerial surveillance in Afghanistan to free up
Western resources for the Libya campaign.
A second conspicuous casualty has been the European Union's attempt to build a
common foreign, security and Defense policy, and the official meant to personify
that ambition, High Representative Catherine Ashton. Many in Paris, London,
Brussels and Washington have drawn the conclusion that European Defense is an
illusion, given Germany's visceral reticence about military action. Future
serious operations are more likely to be left to NATO, or to coalitions of the
willing around Britain and France. By general agreement, Ashton has so far had a
bad war. Despite having been among the first European officials to embrace the
Arab uprisings and urge the EU to engage with democracy movements in North
Africa, she angered both the British and French by airing her doubts about a
no-fly zone and the Germans by subsequently welcoming the U.N. resolution.
Unable to please everyone, she managed to please no one.
As for Sarkozy, whether he emerges as a hero or a reckless adventurer may depend
on events beyond his control in the sands of Libya. Justin Vaisse, a Frenchman
who heads the Center for the Study of the United States and Europe at the
Brookings Institution think-tank in Washington, detected an undertone of
"Francophobia and Sarkophobia" among U.S. policy elites as the war began.
"Either the war will go well, and he will look like a far-sighted, decisive
leader, or it will go badly and reinforce the image of a showboating cowboy
driving the world into war," Vaisse said. The jury is still out.
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry in Paris, Arshad Mohammed, David
Alexander and Mark Hosenball in Washington, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Lou
Charbonneau and Patrick Worsnip at the United Nations, Peter Apps in London,
Andreas Rinke and Sabine Siebold in Berlin, Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Simon
Cameron-Moore in Istanbul and Maria Golovnina in Tripoli; writing by Paul
Taylor; editing by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith)
TRIPOLI | Fri Apr 1, 2011
1:30am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Rebels cheered the defection of a Libyan
minister as a sign that Muammar Gaddafi's rule was crumbling, but U.S. officials
warned he was far from beaten and made clear they feared entanglement in another
painful war.
After former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa arrived in Britain, London
urged others around Gaddafi to follow suit. "Gaddafi must be asking himself who
will be the next to abandon him," Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
Soon afterwards Ali Abdussalam Treki declined to take up his appointment by
Gaddafi as U.N. ambassador, condemning the "spilling of blood" in Libya.
But reports of defections of more senior Gaddafi aides remained unconfirmed.
Asked about an Al Jazeera TV report that he was one of several who had fled to
Tunisia, top oil official Shokri Ghanem told Reuters by phone late on Thursday:
"This is not true, I am in my office and I will be on TV in a few minutes."
Koussa's defection however raised the spirits of rebel fighters who were put to
headlong retreat in a counter-attack by Gaddafi forces this week.
"We are beginning to see the Gaddafi regime crumble," rebel spokesman Mustafa
Gheriani said in the eastern town of Benghazi.
However, despite almost two weeks of Western air strikes, Gaddafi's troops have
used superior arms and tactics to push back rebels trying to edge westward along
the coast from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi toward the capital Tripoli.
News that U.S. President Barack Obama had authorized covert operations in Libya
raised the prospect of wider support for the rebels.
But Obama's order is likely to alarm countries already concerned that air
strikes on infrastructure and troops by the United States, Britain and France go
beyond a U.N. resolution with the stated aim only of protecting civilians.
U.S. government sources told Reuters U.S. intelligence operatives were on the
ground in Libya before Obama signed the order, to contact opponents of Gaddafi
and assess their capabilities. There has been no CIA comment.
"MISSION CREEP"
"I can't speak to any CIA activities but I will tell you that the president has
been quite clear that in terms of the United States military there will be no
boots on the ground," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.
"I am preoccupied with avoiding mission creep and avoiding having an open-ended,
very large-scale American commitment," he later told the Senate Armed Services
Committee. "We know about Afghanistan; we know about Iraq."
He said it should not be up to Washington to train or assist rebels or do
nation-building if Gaddafi were be to ousted.
The top U.S. military officer said Gaddafi's forces were not close to collapse.
"We have actually fairly seriously degraded his military capabilities," Admiral
Mike Mullen said. "That does not mean he's about to break from a military
standpoint."
Inside Gaddafi's heavily fortified compound in the capital Tripoli, crowds of
supporters have gathered every night to form a human shield to protect him
against the air strikes.
On Thursday, they danced and chanted patriotic songs late into the night as
soldiers manning anti-aircraft guns watched the sky over the capital from the
back of their pickup trucks.
"We are not afraid, not afraid, not afraid. We will always protect our leader. I
want to say to Muammar Gaddafi: I love you so much!" said Zuhra, a teenage girl
at the rally.
A Libyan government spokesman said Gaddafi and all his sons would stay on "until
the end."
Gates said Gaddafi's removal was "not part of the military mission" by coalition
forces and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Western military action
would not oust him.
The top Vatican official in the Libyan capital cited witnesses on Thursday
saying at least 40 civilians had been killed in air strikes on Tripoli.
NATO said it was investigating but had no confirmation of the report. Libya's
state news agency, citing military sources, said Western air strikes had hit a
civilian area in the capital overnight, but did not mention casualties.
Britain said it was focusing air strikes around Misrata, which has been under
siege from government forces for weeks. Rebels say snipers and tank fire have
killed dozens of people.
About 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between
supporters and opponents of Gaddafi since the uprising against his 41-year-old
rule began on February 17, the British government said.
The rag-tag forces fighting Gaddafi say they desperately need more arms and
ammunition to supplement supplies grabbed from government depots. The United
States, France and Britain have raised the possibility, but say no decision has
been taken.
NATO, which took over formal command of the air campaign on Thursday, said it
would enforce a U.N. arms embargo on all sides. "We are there to protect the
Libyan people, not to arm the people," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in
Stockholm.
In what Britain's Guardian newspaper said was a sign Gaddafi's inner circle was
looking for an exit strategy, it said Libya had sent a senior aide to son Saif
al-Islam to London for talks with British officials.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied the report,
but added: "In any contact that we do have, we make it clear that Gaddafi has to
go."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she is aware people close to
Gaddafi have been trying to make contact.
However, rebels were wary of any attempt by Koussa, who defected to Britain on
Wednesday, to negotiate immunity, saying Gaddafi and his entourage must be held
accountable.
"We want to see them brought to justice," senior rebel national council official
Abdel Hameed Ghoga told Reuters.
While British officials hope Koussa will provide military and diplomatic
intelligence, Scottish officials and campaigners want him to shed light on the
1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland, for which a Libyan citizen was
convicted.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, William Maclean, Adrian
Croft, Maria Golovnina, Edmund Blair, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine Chikhi, Hamid
Ould Ahmed, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Avril Ormsby, Aly Eldaly, Niklas Pollard and
Karolina Tagaris; Writing by Andrew Roche; editing by Alison Williams)
LONDON | Thu Mar 31, 2011
3:40pm EDT
Reuters
By Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) - Scottish authorities said on Thursday they
wanted to interview defecting Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa over the
1988 Lockerbie bombing, pleasing victims' relatives.
Koussa, also the former spy chief for Muammar Gaddafi, fled to Britain on
Wednesday, parting ways with the Libyan leader over what a friend of Koussa
called Gaddafi's attacks on civilians in his conflict with rebels.
Families representing some of the 270 people killed when Pan Am Flight 103
exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie said no deals should be done to
protect Koussa.
"This could be all the evidence that we wanted given to us on a silver platter,"
Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am 103 group in the United States,
told Reuters.
While British officials are hoping that he will provide vital military and
diplomatic intelligence, campaigners want him to shed light on the bombing which
killed 259 people, mostly Americans, on the plane and 11 on the ground.
"He was the head of the Libyan intelligence services so if Libya is responsible
for the bombing of Pan Am 103 then Mr Koussa is too," Pamela Dix, whose brother
was one of those killed, told Reuters. "He should not be a free man in this
country."
Noman Benotman, a senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank, said his
friend Koussa was "very positive to cooperate not just with the UK government,
but Europe as well."
When asked by Channel 4 News if Koussa was ready to face justice, Benotman
replied: "Of course, without a doubt, trust me on that.
"But the point is there is no official case against him -- there's a lot of
rumors and a lot of loose talk in the media here and there, but as far as I am
concerned there is no legal issue, he is not being attached to any terrorist
act."
NO IMMUNITY
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan agent, was sentenced to life in prison
in 2001 for his part in blowing up the airliner but was released by the Scottish
government in 2009 when he was judged by doctors to be terminally ill with
prostate cancer.
Koussa played a key role in the release of Megrahi, who is still alive.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Koussa would not be given immunity
from prosecution. Prime Minister David Cameron said police and prosecutors would
be free to pursue any evidence.
Cameron has repeatedly condemned Megrahi's release and criticized the policy of
Britain's former Labour government to restore diplomatic ties and business links
in return for Gaddafi ending his attempts to obtain banned weapons.
"(Former Prime Minister) Tony Blair ... chose British business interests
effectively over uncovering the truth around Lockerbie," Dix said. "So David
Cameron is going to have to deliver. I will be expecting a great deal and I will
not be expecting deals to be done."
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and Avril Ormsby in
London; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
SANAA | Thu Mar 31, 2011
2:46pm EDT
By Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemenis on Thursday commemorated dozens of
people killed in weeks of street protests demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh
resign, while efforts continued to negotiate his exit from power within the next
year.
Weeks of protests in Sanaa and elsewhere have brought Saleh's 32-year-old rule
to the verge of collapse but the United States and Saudi Arabia, an important
financial backer of its turbulent, poverty-stricken neighbor where al Qaeda
militants flourish, are worried over who might succeed their ally.
A senior Western diplomat said Saleh, whose comments have at times sounded like
he was preparing to leave office soon and at others as if he intends to see out
his term, appeared to be agonizing over his options.
"My guess is that he is very torn about all of these things and that what you
hear from him is functions of inner turmoil," he told Reuters.
On Tuesday, Saleh held talks with Mohammed al-Yadoumi, head of the Islamist
Islah party, once a partner in his government. Saleh was looking for avenues to
stay on as president while new parliamentary and presidential elections are
organised by the end of the year, an opposition source said.
The talks have stalled and it is not clear how they can restart. Saudi
authorities have deflected Yemeni government efforts to involve them in
mediation. Protesters camped outside Sanaa University since early February are
insisting that Saleh, who has said he will not run for re-election in 2013,
leave soon.
Groups calling themselves the Youth Revolution said on Wednesday they wanted
corruption trials, the return of "stolen public and private property," release
of political detainees, dissolution of the security forces and the closure of
the Information Ministry -- steps taken in Tunisia and Egypt after similar
uprisings removed entrenched leaders.
On Thursday, the protest swelled to tens of thousands who came to remember about
82 protesters killed so far, including 52 shot by snipers on March 18. "The
people want the butcher to face trial!" they chanted.
Some wore white tunics with the words "future martyr" written on them to stress
their resolve to wait Saleh out.
"The best scenario would be that there is an agreement and that the two parties
go into the parliament and begin the implementation of their agreement," the
diplomat said.
The opposition says it believes Saleh is maneuvering to avoid curbs on his
family's future political activities and secure a guarantee they will not be
prosecuted for corruption.
Security forces fired tear gas to put down a protest rally on Thursday in the
northwestern province of Hajjah, witnesses and opposition sources told Reuters.
At least two protesters were wounded by gunfire, they said.
Tribe members opposed to Saleh attacked three electricity pylons in the central
province of Maarib, triggering power outages of up to two hours in parts of the
capital and across most of the country, officials said.
BULWARK OF STABILITY
Washington has long regarded Saleh as a bulwark of stability who can keep al
Qaeda from extending its foothold in the Arabian Peninsula country, which many
see as close to disintegration.
Yemen's al Qaeda wing claimed responsibility for a foiled attempt in late 2009
to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit, and for U.S.-bound explosive packages
sent in October 2010.
On Wednesday, al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior figure in the group's
Yemen wing, welcomed revolts across the Arab world which he said would give
Islamists greater scope to speak out.
U.S. officials have said they like working with Saleh, who has allowed unpopular
U.S. air strikes in Yemen against al Qaeda. Saleh, in power since 1978, has said
the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa was involved in talks to find a solution.
Saleh has talked of civil war if he steps down without ensuring that power
passes to "safe hands." He has warned against a coup after senior generals were
among allies to turn against him in the past week.
Opposition parties say they can handle the militant issue better than Saleh, who
they say has made deals with militants in the past to avoid provoking Yemen's
Islamists.
"I think Yemenis would be capable of freeing Yemen of terror within months,"
Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmar, a key tribal figure who belongs to the Islah party, told
Reuters this week.
Al-Ahmar said Western powers were effectively prolonging Saleh's time in office
through their public comments expressing concern over who could succeed him.
"We don't need that much support. But support like what was done in Egypt would
be enough to finish things," he said, referring to U.S. comments in favor of
protesters shortly before Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February.
(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston; writing by Andrew
Hammond; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Thu, Mar 31 2011
DAMASCUS | Thu Mar 31, 2011
12:43pm EDT
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, facing
a wave of protests demanding greater freedoms, took steps on Thursday toward
addressing grievances including lifting emergency law and granting
disenfranchised Kurds rights.
Assad, who drew international criticism for failing to spell out reforms in his
first public comments on Wednesday since unrest swept Syria, also ordered an
investigation into protest deaths in the flashpoint city of Deraa and the port
of Latakia.
Inspired by popular revolts elsewhere in the Arab world, the unrest has
presented the gravest challenge to Assad's 11-year rule in Syria, which
maintains an anti-Israel alliance with Shi'ite Iran and supports militant groups
Hezbollah and Hamas.
It was doubtful that Assad's gestures would soon defuse the unprecedented
outbreak of public discontent in one of the Middle East's most tightly
controlled countries.
Online activists have called on protesters to demonstrate across the country on
what they have dubbed the "Friday of Martyrs" until their demands for
democratization are met.
In the past, Assad has set up committees to investigate contentious issues but
no announcements were made after the initial formation. Officials have
repeatedly said a draft law on allowing political parties and lifting emergency
law were on the agenda of Assad's Baath Party, but they never materialized.
Repealing emergency law, in force since Assad's Baath Party took power in a coup
nearly 50 years ago, has been a central demand of protests in which 61 people
have been killed.
Critics, diplomats and Syrian officials doubted Assad would abolish the
omnipresent law, used to snuff out any opposition, justify arbitrary arrest and
give free rein to the security apparatus, without replacing it with similar
legislation.
The state news agency SANA said on Thursday the panel would study and prepare
"legislation including protecting the nation's security and the citizen's
dignity and fighting terrorism, paving the way for lifting the emergency law."
It said the committee would complete its work by April 25, but did not
elaborate.
Syrian officials in Assad's inner circle had said last week a decision had been
taken to abolish emergency legislation.
But Assad, in a speech to parliament on Wednesday, made no reference to
rescinding the law, or set a timetable for mooted reforms including legislation
on political parties, media freedom and fighting corruption.
(Reuters) - Here is a timeline of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh's 32-year rule in Yemen:
July 1978 - Saleh takes power in then-North Yemen.
February 1979 - Saleh crushes an attempt to overthrow him.
May 1990 - Pro-Western North Yemen and socialist South Yemen merge after 300
years of separation to form a new republic dominating the strategic entrance to
the Red Sea.
-- North Yemeni leader Saleh proclaims unification in Aden after the parliaments
of both states elect him president.
July 1994 - North Yemen declares the almost three-month Yemeni civil war over
after gaining control of Aden, its southern foe's last bastion.
-- Sanaa declares that former vice-president Ali Salem al-Baidh and his
supporters who tried to secede from a four-year merger with the north have been
defeated, assuring unity.
-- Southern leaders led by Baidh, who set up a breakaway southern state on May
21, are forced to flee into exile.
October 2000 - The bombing of USS Cole in Aden harbor kills 17 sailors and blows
hole in navy vessel's hull.
November 2001 - Saleh declares support for U.S. President George W. Bush's "war
on terror."
February 2008 - Fragile truce is signed with North Yemen's Houthis, a Zaidi
Shi'ite tribe, but the four-year revolt soon resumes in the northwest region of
Saada. Saleh unilaterally declares war over in July 2008. Full-scale fighting
resumes a year later.
January 2009 - Al Qaeda's Yemeni and Saudi wings merge in a new group called al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), led by Nasser al-Wahayshi.
November 2009 - Saudi Arabia launches a military offensive against Yemeni rebels
after a cross-border incursion. The Houthi deny that infiltrators entered Saudi
territory, calling the offensive against the group "unjustified."
January 2010 - Meeting of Western and Gulf foreign ministers in London aims to
bolster Yemen's fight against al Qaeda.
February 2010 - Yemen and northern Shi'ite rebels agree to a truce aimed at
ending the war.
February 3, 2011 - A day of anti-government protests brings more than 20,000
people onto the streets in Sanaa.
March 2, 2011 - The opposition presents Saleh with a plan for smooth transition
of power, offering him a graceful exit.
-- Saleh says he will draw up a new constitution to create a parliamentary
system of government. An opposition spokesman swiftly rejects the proposal.
March 18 - Snipers kill 52 protesters among crowds that flocked to a sit-in at
Sanaa University after Friday prayers. The killings prompt Saleh to declare a
state of emergency.
March 20 - Saleh fires his government.
March 21 - Senior army commanders say they have switched support to
pro-democracy activists, including Saleh ally General Ali Mohsen, commander of
the northwest military zone.
March 22 - Opposition groups reject Saleh's offer to leave office after
organizing parliamentary elections by January 2012.
March 23 - Saleh offers to step down by the end of 2011. He also proposes to
hold a referendum on a new constitution, then a parliamentary election and
presidential vote.
March 25 - Saleh says he is ready to cede power to stop more bloodshed in Yemen,
but only to what he calls "safe hands" as thousands rally against him in "Day of
Departure" protests.
March 26 - Saleh says he is prepared to step down if allowed a dignified
departure.
March 27 - Saleh convenes his party for crisis talks.
March 29 - Saleh holds talks with Mohammed al-Yadoumi, head of the Islamist
Islah party, once a partner in his government.
-- At the talks Saleh makes a new offer, proposing he stays in office until
elections are held but transferring his powers to a caretaker government, an
opposition source says.
-- The opposition promptly rejects this offer, calling it "an attempt to prolong
the survival of regime."
March 31 - Thousands of Yemenis commemorate around 82 people who have been
killed in the protests demanding Saleh resign.
BENGHAZI, Libya | Thu Mar 31, 2011
4:20am EDT
Reuters
By Angus MacSwan
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's
forces have sown land mines in areas around the city of Ajdabiyah, adding a
dangerous new element to the war on the eastern front, human rights and mine
experts said on Thursday.
The mines include Brazilian-made anti-personnel mines and Egyptian-made
anti-tank mines.
Two minefields were discovered by monitors in the days following last Saturday's
retreat from Ajdabiyah by Gaddafi's troops and appear to be have been laid
during their 10-day occupation of the crossroads town 150 km (90 miles) south of
the rebel capital Benghazi.
His forces have since reversed the retreat with a counter-attack and were at the
gates of Ajdabiyah once again on Thursday.
The first field was sown around electricity pylons a few yards off the
Ajdabiyah-Benghazi road in an area of sand near the town's Eastern Gate, Peter
Bouckaert, a Human Rights Watch monitor in Benghazi, told Reuters.
An electrical repair truck hit a mine there on Monday and then another as men
tried to pull it out, he said. There were no casualties.
Mine clearers marked out 24 anti-tank mines and 30 to 40 anti-personnel mines,
he said, adding that many vehicles and people on foot pass by the area.
A second field with a similar number of mines was found near a clutch of
buildings about a kilometer away.
The use of landmines brings a dangerous new dimension to the conflict that has
been fought over 100s of kilometers up and down Libya's main coastal highway
linking the east and the west.
The rebel army, made up largely of untrained volunteers and a cavalcade of
supporters, is highly undisciplined and is scattered over a wide area behind the
vanguard.
Bouckaert said his team had also found stocks of mines abandoned by Gaddafi's
forces.
"We found 12 warehouses of anti-vehicle mines in Benghazi, tens of thousands of
them," he said.
They also came across 35 warehouses full of munitions in Ajdabiyah. They held no
stocks of landmines but had vast quantities of artillery shells, mortar bombs
and anti-tank missiles.
Libya has not signed the 1997 Mines Ban Treaty, which in any case does not
prohibit the use of anti-vehicle mines.
"The only mines that are banned are the anti-personnel mines so they can put as
many anti-tank mines as they like. It's part of the game," said an international
mines expert, who asked not to be identified to protect the confidentiality of
his mission.
GUATEMALA CITY | Thu Mar 31, 2011
12:32am EDT
Reuters
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - U.S. and Guatemalan agents captured
Guatemala's top drug trafficker on Wednesday as the United States pitches in to
help curb drug cartels' expanding reach in Central America.
Soldiers and police in helicopters swooped into Guatemala's second largest city,
Quetzaltenango, and arrested Juan Ortiz-Lopez in his home, where he appeared to
be only lightly guarded by two men, the Guatemalan interior ministry said.
Ortiz-Lopez, 41, is considered Guatemala's most important drug smuggler by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, an indictment by a U.S. prosecutor said.
Heavily armed agents landed at the air force base in Guatemala City with
Ortiz-Lopez, handcuffed and wearing a leather jacket, and escorted him and two
bodyguards to court.
The suspects are accused of smuggling tonnes of cocaine through Guatemala to
Mexico and the United States over the past decade, according to the U.S.
indictment.
"This is the capture of a big fish," Guatemala's Interior Minister Carlos
Menocal told a news conference.
He said Ortiz-Lopez and his associates were likely to be extradited to the
United States.
Ortiz-Lopez's capture follows the arrest in October of his henchman, Mauro
Solomon, in another joint operation as Washington tries to stop Guatemala from
being sucked deeper into Mexico's drugs wars.
Guatemala is struggling to prevent Mexican cartels from destabilizing parts of
the country, a poor but democratic U.S. trading partner and a major coffee and
sugar exporter.
Officials worry that Central America's weak governments do not have the capacity
to contain the spreading threat of cartels as their armies and police are no
match for gangs equipped with rocket launchers and semi-automatic weapons.
President Barack Obama announced $200 million in fresh funds for the drug fight
in Central America this month during a trip to neighboring El Salvador. Until
now, most U.S. aid is for Mexico, where turf wars between the gangs have killed
more than 36,000 people over the past four years.
(Reporting by Mike McDonald in Guatemala City and Kevin Gray in
Miami; writing by Robin Emmott. Editing by Christopher Wilson)
Reuters correspondent and photographer missing in Syria
LONDON | Wed Mar 30, 2011
6:35pm EDT
Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Reuters journalists are missing in
Syria.
Diplomatic sources said on Wednesday that correspondent Suleiman al-Khalidi, a
Jordanian national based in Amman, had been detained by the Syrian authorities
in Damascus on Tuesday.
Photographer Khaled al-Hariri, a Syrian based in Damascus, has not been in
contact with colleagues since Monday.
A Syrian official said authorities were working to establish what had happened
to the two men.
"Thomson Reuters is deeply concerned about the whereabouts of our colleagues
Khaled al-Hariri and Suleiman al-Khalidi," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler
said.
"We call upon the Syrian authorities to help us urgently in ensuring their safe
and timely release. Reuters remains committed to reporting from the Middle East
and we are working round the clock to protect our staff in these challenging
times."
Khalidi, who has worked for Reuters for more than 20 years in Jordan, Kuwait,
Syria and Iraq, was last seen in the old city of Damascus on Tuesday. He has not
answered his mobile telephone since shortly after 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Tuesday.
Hariri, who has also worked for Reuters for more than 20 years, was last seen
arriving at the Reuters bureau in Damascus on Monday morning. He has not been in
touch since then and has not answered his mobile telephone.
Their disappearance follows the detention in Syria of two Reuters television
journalists, producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji. They were held
incommunicado for two days before being released by Syrian authorities on
Monday.
Both Lebanese, they were expelled to Lebanon. They had been working in Syria
since the previous week.
Reuters correspondent Khaled Yacoub Oweis, a Jordanian who had been based in
Damascus, was expelled from Syria on Friday for what a Syrian Information
Ministry official described as his "unprofessional and false" coverage of
events.
Reuters said it stood by its coverage from Syria, where nearly two weeks of
protests have posed the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year
rule.
Also on Wednesday, the Libyan government expelled a Reuters correspondent from
Tripoli. Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia expelled the Reuters foreign correspondent
from Riyadh.
(Reporting by Dominic Evans, editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Libya's foreign minister defects, arrives in Britain
LONDON | Wed Mar 30, 2011
6:26pm EDT
Reuters
By William Maclean and Avril Ormsby
LONDON (Reuters) - Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, one
of Muammar Gaddafi's closest advisers and a former spy chief, flew to Britain on
Wednesday and a close friend said he defected because of attacks by Gaddafi
forces on civilians.
The move was "a significant blow" to Gaddafi, a British government source told
Reuters.
Koussa is one of the most senior members of Gaddafi's inner circle to defect --
a major setback for the Libyan leader who faces a revolt against his 41-year
rule in the North African oil producing desert state as well as Western air
strikes.
Koussa, who was involved in talks that led to the freeing by the British
government of the man convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, is resigning
his post and the British government said it hoped more senior figures would join
him.
"He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us he is resigning his
post," a Foreign Office spokesman said in a statement. "We are discussing this
with him and we will release further detail in due course."
He was reported to be being debriefed by British intelligence and foreign
ministry officials.
"Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi's government and his role
was to represent the regime internationally -- something that he is no longer
willing to do," the spokesman said.
"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future
for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the
aspirations of the Libyan people," the Foreign Office said.
Koussa arrived at Farnborough airport in southern England on a flight from
Tunisia, Britain's Foreign Office said.
SIGNIFICANT BLOW
Koussa is the highest profile of a number of Libyan ministers and ambassadors
who have resigned in recent weeks, some of them joining the opposition to
Gaddafi.
The British government source described the decision by Koussa, as "clearly a
significant blow to the Gaddafi regime."
Noman Benotman, a friend and senior analyst at Britain's Quilliam think tank,
said Koussa had defected.
"He wasn't happy at all. He doesn't support the government attacks on
civilians," he said. "He's seeking refuge in Britain and hopes he will be
treated well."
The Libyan government had said Koussa was traveling on a diplomatic mission and
denied he had defected after Tunisia's news agency reported he had flown to
London from Tunisia.
Tunisia's TAP news agency had reported on Monday that Koussa had crossed into
Tunisia from Libya. TAP said on Wednesday he took off from the Tunisian airport
of Djerba, bound for Britain.
Koussa was the architect of a dramatic shift in Libya's foreign policy that
brought the country back to the international community after years of
sanctions.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has kept in contact with Koussa during
the mounting crisis in Libya.
Hague told the BBC last month he had called the Libyan foreign minister the
previous day "because you still have to communicate to them directly,
personally: this situation is unacceptable."
Earlier on Wednesday, Britain said it was expelling five Libyan diplomats to
protest at the Libyan government's actions and because they could pose a threat
to national security.
(Additional reporting by Souhail Karam, Adrian Croft, Maria
Golovnina and Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Louise Ireland)
JERUSALEM | Wed Mar 30, 2011
5:41pm EDT
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
on Wednesday that a Palestinian man from Gaza held by Israel after what
relatives called an overseas abduction was a Hamas member who had given
"valuable information."
Addressing questions from around the world, including from Arab countries, on a
live YouTube forum, Netanyahu defended Israel's detention of engineer Dirar Abu
Sisi, said to have disappeared last month in Ukraine, as being legal.
"Abu Sisi is a Hamas man. He is being held in detention in Israel. It is a legal
arrest, "Netanyahu said, replying to a question from an Israeli reporter who
moderated the forum.
"He has provided valuable information, that is all I can say," Netanyahu added.
Relatives of Abu Sisi, an engineer and manager of the main power plant in
Hamas-ruled Gaza, say he was abducted while aboard a train in Ukraine, where
authorities say the disappearance is under investigation.
Israeli officials confirmed some weeks later that Abu Sisi is in custody but
have refused further comment, citing court-issued gag orders. Sources in Gaza
have said he was not known to have political affiliations to Hamas.
Smadar Ben-Natan, an Israeli lawyer for Abu Sisi, accused Israel in an interview
of trying to concoct charges against her client, linking his detention to
efforts to gather intelligence on Hamas and on an Israeli soldier held by the
group.
Abu Sisi denies having any connection to the soldier, Gilad Shalit. No mention
of the soldier was made in allegations lodged against Abu Sisi in closed-door
remand hearings, Ben-Natan told Israel's Army Radio.
COVER-UP?
The court sessions had led her to believe "they are trying to cover up the
mistake" of seizing him, she said.
"When someone came along who they thought was senior (in Hamas) and was located
outside the Gaza Strip, they got their hands on him, without this matter being
really justified, in retrospect," Ben-Natan said.
"Instead of confessing and saying, 'Sorry, turns out what we thought was a
mistake, we are sorry, go home, Sir,' they are trying to find what they can
blame him with so that it doesn't became clear this whole matter was one big
farce," she added.
German newspaper Der Spiegel on Tuesday quoted an unnamed source as saying
Israel may have suspected Abu Sisi of knowing the whereabouts of Shalit, held
since a 2006 cross-border raid.
Netanyahu would not answer any questions about whether Abu Sisi was being
questioned or had given any details about Shalit.
But he laid out some of Israel's negotiating position when asked about the
prospect of swapping Palestinian prisoners for Shalit.
Netanyahu said he was willing to release some 450 prisoners as the Islamists
want, but would not agree that 150 of those whom Israel accuses of involvement
in lethal attacks could return to the West Bank, saying they had to go to Gaza
or abroad.
"We are taking a lot of action (on the case), and only a small amount of this is
known (published)," Netanyahu added.
Abu Sisi was scheduled to appear at another remand hearing on Thursday.
Ben-Natan, an Israeli, said she expected to know then "how the state intends to
indict (him), if at all."
WASHINGTON | Wed Mar 30, 2011
4:12pm EDT
By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a
secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking
to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on
Wednesday.
Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two
or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the
matter.
Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize
secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White
House declined immediate comment.
News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other
U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms
supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government
forces.
The United States is part of a coalition, with NATO members and some Arab
states, which is conducting air strikes on Libyan government forces under a U.N.
mandate aimed at protecting civilians opposing Gaddafi.
In interviews with American TV networks on Tuesday, Obama said the objective was
for Gaddafi to "ultimately step down" from power. He spoke of applying "steady
pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means" to force
Gaddafi out.
Obama said the U.S. had not ruled out providing military hardware to rebels.
"It's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably
could. We're looking at all our options at this point," the President told ABC
News anchor Diane Sawyer.
U.S. officials monitoring events in Libya say that at present, neither Gaddafi's
forces nor the rebels, who have asked the West for heavy weapons, appear able to
make decisive gains.
While U.S. and allied airstrikes have seriously damaged Gaddafi's military
forces and disrupted his chain of command, officials say, rebel forces remain
disorganized and unable to take full advantage of western military support.
SPECIFIC OPERATIONS
People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert
action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a
range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert
objective.
In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such
a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to
anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional
"permission" allowing such activities to proceed.
Former officials say these follow-up authorizations are known in the
intelligence world as "'Mother may I' findings."
In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S.
counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally
confirm such orders have been issued.
Because U.S. and allied intelligence agencies still have many questions about
the identities and leadership of anti-Gaddafi forces, any covert U.S. activities
are likely to proceed cautiously until more information about the rebels can be
collected and analyzed, officials said.
"The whole issue on (providing rebels with) training and equipment requires
knowing who the rebels are," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA Middle East
expert who has advised the Obama White House.
Riedel said that helping the rebels to organize themselves and training them how
use weapons effectively would be more urgent then shipping them arms.
According to an article speculating on possible U.S. covert actions in Libya
published early in March on the website of the Voice of America, the U.S.
government's broadcasting service, a covert action is "any U.S. government
effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a
hidden way."
ARMS SUPPLIES
The article, by VOA intelligence correspondent Gary Thomas, said covert action
"can encompass many things, including propaganda, covert funding, electoral
manipulation, arming and training insurgents, and even encouraging a coup."
U.S. officials also have said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose leaders despise
Gaddafi, have indicated a willingness to supply Libyan rebels with weapons.
Members of Congress have expressed anxiety about U.S. government activates in
Libya. Some have recalled that weapons provided by the U.S. and Saudis to
mujahedeen fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s later
ended up in the hands of anti-American militants.
There are fears that the same thing could happen in Libya unless the U.S. is
sure who it is dealing with. The chairman of the House intelligence committee,
Rep. Mike Rogers, said on Wednesday he opposed supplying arms to the Libyan
rebels fighting Gaddafi "at this time."
"We need to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing
out guns and advanced weapons to them," Rogers said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Storey)
WASHINGTON | Wed Mar 30, 2011
4:02pm EDT
Reuters
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The influential chairman of the House
of Representatives' intelligence committee said on Wednesday he opposes
supplying arms to the rebels fighting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"As we publicly debate next steps on Libya, I do not support arming the Libyan
rebels at this time," Representative Mike Rogers said in a statement. "We need
to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing out guns
and advanced weapons to them."
The United States is taking part in a multinational coalition conducting air
strikes aimed at protecting civilian from attacks by Gaddafi's forces.
Obama says the objective of the U.S. and allied campaign is to apply steady
pressure on the Libyan leader so that he will ultimately step down from power.
Some lawmakers, like Republican Senator John McCain, have called on Washington
to arm the Libyan rebels, and Obama has not rejected the option.
"I'm not ruling it in, I'm not ruling it out," he told NBC in an interview on
Tuesday.
But Rogers, a Republican whose position means he is briefed on intelligence
matters, did rule it out -- for now. He said not enough was known about the
rebels, and the wrong decision could "come back to haunt us."
"It's safe to say what the rebels stand against, but we are a long way from an
understanding of what they stand for," Rogers said.
On Tuesday, NATO operations commander Admiral James Stavridis said intelligence
has shown "flickers" of al Qaeda or Hezbollah presence among the Libyan rebels.
Other U.S. officials denied these groups were significantly involved.
"We don't have to look very far back in history to find examples of the
unintended consequences of passing out advanced weapons to a group of fighters
we didn't know as well as we should have," Rogers said. "Even if you think you
know them, you can't guarantee that those weapons won't later fall into the
hands of bad actors."
The United States helped arm guerrillas against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan
in the 1980s, only to have some of the fighters later join the Taliban now
battling U.S. forces.
'NEXT LOGICAL STEP'
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that arming the rebels was
allowed under the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the military
intervention in Libya.
"Arming the Libyan rebels is a logical next step if the goal is Gaddafi's fall,"
said Daniel Byman, director of Georgetown University's Security Studies Program.
"However, it increases the political risks, as the Libyan rebels are not a known
group (and) it increases coalition 'ownership' of the problem, making it harder
to walk away should additional problems emerge," Byman said.
But while Britain appears to be open to the idea of arming the rebels, France is
more cautious, analysts say. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has made clear
a new U.N. resolution would be required -- a measure unlikely to get necessary
Chinese or Russian support.
That means the issues might threaten to fracture the fragile coalition now
acting in Libya.
Debate continues about what arming the rebels might entail. McCain, for one, has
said the United States should provide them with intelligence, resources, and
training.
"We need to take every responsible measure to help the Libyan opposition change
the balance of power on the ground," he said on Tuesday on the Senate floor.
A U.S. military official said the prospect of arming rebels, however notional at
this stage, was not front and center at the moment at the Pentagon.
"The thing we're focused on right now is the transition to NATO control" of the
Libya campaign, he said on condition of anonymity.
(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan; editing by Doina Chiacu and
Mohammad Zargham)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. and Mexican governments on
Wednesday announced multimillion dollar rewards for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of those responsible for the shooting of two U.S.
immigration agents.
The United States issued a statement saying it offered a reward of up to $5
million while the Mexican government offered 10 million pesos ($839,000). Both
countries set up telephone hotlines for individuals to call if they have
information.
In February, two unarmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were
driving in an armored vehicle on a highway from San Luis Potosi to Mexico City
when they were ambushed in broad daylight by suspected drug gang members.
One ICE agent, Jaime Zapata, was killed and another agent, Victor Avila, was
wounded in the leg in one of the more brazen attacks by drug cartels as they
battle with authorities who are trying to crack down on drug and weapons
trafficking.
Mexican authorities have already detained more than 30 people in connection with
the shooting, including a suspected money man for the Zetas drug cartel arrested
earlier this month.
U.S. authorities have traced one of the weapons used in the shooting back to a
Texas man who bought the gun last year. He and two others have since been
charged by prosecutors for illegally buying guns for others, though they have
not been charged for anything related to the shooting in Mexico.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by Deborah Charles)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department dismissed a speech
by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday as lacking substance, saying it
was easier to see conspiracy theories than to meet popular demand for reforms.
In the speech, Assad defied calls to lift a decades-old emergency law and said
Syria was the target of a foreign conspiracy to stir up protests in which more
than 60 people have been killed.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said it for the Syrian people to judge the
speech but he broadly dismissed it, including Assad's assertion that Syria was
subject "to a big conspiracy, whose threads extend from countries near and far."
"It's far too easy to look for conspiracy theories (than to) respond in a
meaningful way to the call for reform," Toner told reporters in his daily
briefing.
"We expect they (the Syrian people) are going to be disappointed. We feel the
speech fell short with respect to the kind of reforms that the Syrian people
demanded and what President Assad's own advisers suggested was coming," he said.
"It's clear to us that it didn't really have much substance to it and didn't
talk about specific reforms, as was ... suggested in the run up to the speech,"
he said.
Analysis: Rebel limitations pose quandary for West in Libya
BRUSSELS | Wed Mar 30, 2011
1:40pm EDT
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The swings in fortune in the Libyan
conflict that have seen dramatic rebel advances from the east followed by
equally dramatic retreats, in part reflect the country's wide-open desert
terrain.
It is not without precedent: rapid advances by British, German and Italian
forces in Libya during World War Two also resulted in over-extended supply lines
leaving them vulnerable to counter-attack.
But for the present-day Western military intervention in Libya, this is only
part of the problem.
The international coalition appears divided over the critical issue of whether
to arm rebel fighters -- a move that could mark the beginning of deeper
involvement in another conflict in the Arab world -- which some doubt will work.
"The rebels really haven't shown so far that they are a competent fighting
force," said Marko Papic of political risk consultancy Stratfor. "Their military
capacity is extremely low and this explains this back and forth going on.
"While they do have some experienced members among them, these seem mostly to
spend their time trying to stay alive from the gunfire of the less experienced
members," he said.
"So it's not clear that giving the rebels complex weapons will achieve anything
-- for a start, it's not clear they would know how to use them."
RAPID REVERSAL
Quick rebel gains at the start of their uprising in February suggested leader
Muammar Gaddafi would quickly be toppled. That thinking was spurred again when
Western powers began air strikes 11 days ago, allowing rebels to regain ground.
But subsequent reverses have exposed the rebels' military limitations and have
also shown Gaddafi and his forces to be more resilient and tactically adept than
expected, leaving the West in a quandary.
A conference of 40 governments and international bodies in London on Tuesday
agreed to press a NATO-led aerial bombardment until Gaddafi complies with a U.N.
resolution to end violence against civilians.
It also set up a contact group of 20 countries and organizations, including Arab
states, the African Union and the Arab League, to coordinate international
support for an orderly transition to democracy.
But it remains far from clear how this can be achieved.
Barak Seener, a Middle East expert at London's Royal United Services Institute,
said the rebels should be given military training and "game changing" weapons
such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems.
"It is clear that Gaddafi will not leave his position as a result of any
negotiations, or because President Obama declares that he must go," he said.
Seener also said Western policy should go beyond the existing U.N. mandate to
protect civilians, instead allowing the "targeting and decapitation of the
Gadaffi regime."
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he had agreed to provide
communications equipment, medical supplies and potentially transportation aid to
the rebels, but he has yet to decide whether to provide military hardware.
"I'm not ruling it in, I'm not ruling it out," he told NBC while on a trip to
New York.
REBELS' DEMANDS
Analysts said that while the British also appeared open to the idea of arming
the rebels, France was more cautious, with its Foreign Minster Alain Juppe
making clear a new U.N. resolution would be required -- something unlikely to
get necessary Russian or Chinese support.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, having to maintain a consensus
among 28 allies, said NATO had no mandate to arm the rebels.
Rebels returning from the frontline have no doubts.
They say they have been overwhelmed by Gaddafi's superior firepower and need
heavier weapons than their Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades,
truck-mounted machine guns and light rockets.
Rebel spokesmen say they particularly need anti-tank missiles, more ammunition
and communications equipment.
Training is clearly a pressing need, with most fighters lacking tactical
experience and oblivious to basic requirements such as reconnaissance or
protection for their flanks -- something that has caught them out in recent
days.
Some fighters say they have had a day or two of training from military
defectors, but most have not. They would have more ammunition if they did not
keep firing into the air.
While some fighters say they do have officers, they are hard to detect and do
not seem able to keep much discipline.
Decisions are often made after heated arguments or by following whoever shouts
loudest and despite the courage of some, the tendency is to flee in disarray
when the Gaddafi forces start firing in a sustained way.
In some cases supply lines have been so over-stretched or are non-existent that
advancing rebels have had to scoop petrol from abandoned filling stations using
plastic bottles attached to string as they have no other fuel supplies.
Daniel Keohane of the Institute for Security Studies said that while there were
clearly divisions among Western governments over how to proceed, he would be
surprised if Western special forces were not already trying to advise the rebels
on how to organize themselves.
However, arming them covertly was a different proposition and politically
difficult.
"This has to be seen as a Libya victory, not a coalition victory," he said. "I
find it hard to see how the coalition can agree politically to arming the
rebels, but without arms I can't see how the rebels can win."
One possible option would be for Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar or
Egypt to provide arms, Keohane said.
"That would be a politically more acceptable route -- it would be Arabs helping
Arabs. Even if it happens to be Western technology, it would be much more
politically acceptable than the Americans directly doing this," he said.
Brigadier Ben Barry of the International Institute for Strategic Studies said
the rebels were so disorganized that providing them with better weapons would
make little difference in the short term.
"What might have greater effect is deployment of teams of trainers and advisers
to assist the rebels in better co-ordinating their efforts. Capability could be
provided by Special Forces, which should ideally be from Muslim and Arab
states," he said.
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan; editing by Luke Baker and
Elizabeth Piper)
March 30, 2011
The New York Times
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
CAIRO — In his first address to the nation after bloody
protests and calls for reform, President Basher al-Assad blamed a broad
conspiracy from beyond his borders on Wednesday for Syria’s turmoil and offered
no concessions to ease his authoritarian regime’s grip on public life.
To apparently choreographed cries of support and applause, Mr. Assad appeared
only briefly before the country’s Parliament for what had been billed as a major
speech that would define his response to the biggest challenge facing the
government’s authority in decades.
The speech had been highly anticipated inside and outside Syria for signs that
Mr. Assad would lift or ease the state of emergency that has underpinned his
Baath Party’s hold on power since 1963. But he made no reference to any such
action and the speech seemed likely to dismay protesters who have been demanding
reform.
Mr. Assad’s appearance had been forecast as an attempt to calm tensions after
government forces repeatedly opened fire on demonstrators in recent days,
killing dozens of people as Syrians clamored for the same reforms that have
become the rallying cry of many across the Arab world.
Smiling and looking relaxed, Mr. Assad spoke of “the plots that are being
hatched against our country” and said they represented a “test of our unity.”
“We are for reform and we are for meeting the people’s demands,” Mr. Assad said,
referring to legislative changes under consideration for years but not carried
out because of what he called a series of regional crises. “The first priority
was to the stability of Syria, to maintain stability,” he said.
He added: “We are not in favor of chaos and destruction.”
He acknowledged that “Syrian people have demands that have not been met,” but
said that those grievances were “used as a cover to dupe the people to go to the
streets.” He added that “some of them had good intentions.”
“It is not a secret now that Syria is being subject to a conspiracy,” he said.
“The timing and shape depends on what is happening in other Arab countries. “
But he insisted that his regime would not be pressured into what he described as
premature change.
Mr. Assad was speaking the day after his cabinet resigned in what was seen as a
significant — if primarily symbolic — gesture in a nation where the leadership
rarely responds to public pressure and where decisions are made not by the
cabinet but by the president and his inner circle, including multiple security
services.
Mr. Assad initially boasted that his nation was immune to the popular unrest
that has swept the region. But events in Syria have played out much as they have
in other countries — moving from denial to a bloody crackdown to efforts at
appeasement. Now he has little room to maneuver in terms of offering concessions
without undermining his leadership and that of his allies.
“The emergency law is a cornerstone of Bathes rule, and once it goes everything
else might go with it,” said Kari Emilee Biter, a researcher at the Institute
for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. “Things could collapse for
them if they’re serious about lifting it: liberation of political prisoners,
multiple parties, no more harassing activists. People are going to use this to
air more and more grievances.”
The resignation of the cabinet came as the government worked hard to restore its
credibility after thousands marched against it around the country and the
military took up positions in cities in the north and south. Tens of thousands
of government supporters rallied in Damascus, the capital, on Tuesday, waving
flags and pictures of Mr. Assad. The government apparently bused many of them in
and pressured others to attend the rally.
Government supporters poured into the Square of the Seven Seas in Damascus, with
thousands standing under a 45-foot-long portrait of the president on the Syrian
national bank building. They chanted, “Only God, Syria and Bashar!” and “With
our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you, Bashar.”
As the crowds dispersed early in the afternoon a sense of carnival prevailed,
with smiling children and couples holding hands and eating ice cream. Cars
around the city honked their horns in support of Mr. Assad and stern young men
sat atop microbuses, clutching pictures of the president. Similar rallies were
held in major cities, with the noticeable exception of Latakia — a northwestern
coastal town where a sit-in by hundreds of protesters continued Tuesday — and
Dara’a in the south. The military’s presence has been heavily felt in both
cities after recent violence.
The protests began more than a week ago in Dara’a, after the police arrested a
group of young people for scrawling antigovernment graffiti. The ripples were
felt nationwide after government forces fired on demonstrators. Protesters set
fire to party offices in several towns, toppled a statue of the former
president, Hafez al-Assad, Mr. Assad’s father, and tore down billboards of the
current president, actions that have been unheard of in the police state.
Liam Stack contributed reporting from Cairo, an employee of The New York
Times from Damascus, Syria and Alan Cowell from Paris.
MANAGUA (Reuters) - A former Nicaraguan leftist foreign
minister who has been a sharp critic of U.S. governments will represent Libya at
the United Nations after its delegate was denied a visa, Nicaragua said on
Tuesday.
As governments and international bodies agreed to press on with a NATO-led
aerial bombardment of Libyan forces, Nicaragua said Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann,
who once called former U.S. President Ronald Reagan "the butcher of my people,"
would replace senior Libyan diplomat Ali Abdussalam Treki.
The government of leftist President Daniel Ortega, a former U.S. Cold War foe
who has forged ties with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, said it had sent a
letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to inform him of the decision.
The Nicaraguan government said in a statement that D'Escoto has flown to the
U.N. headquarters in New York to "support our Libyan brothers in their
diplomatic battle to enforce respect for its sovereignty."
Some Western media have reported that Gaddafi's children have urged the Libyan
leader to seek exile in Nicaragua. Ortega said last month he telephoned Gaddafi
several times to offer him support.
A former president of the U.N. General Assembly, D'Escoto was foreign minister
in Ortega's Sandinista administration that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-90, during
which time it fought against an insurgency by U.S.-backed Contra rebels. He was
born in Los Angeles and ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.
WASHINGTON | Wed Mar 30, 2011
10:07am EDT
By Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will set an
ambitious goal on Wednesday to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years,
focusing on energy security amid high gasoline prices that could stall the
country's economic recovery.
Obama will outline his strategy in a speech after spending days explaining
U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by popular unrest
elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon.
Discussing the speech, the Democratic president said the country must increase
its energy independence.
"What we were talking about was breaking the pattern of being shocked at high
prices and then, as prices go down, being lulled into a trance, but instead
let's actually have a plan," Obama told party activists in New York late on
Tuesday.
"Let's, yes, increase domestic oil production, but let's also invest in solar
and wind and geothermal and biofuels and let's make our buildings more efficient
and our cars more efficient. Not all of that work is done yet, but I'm not
finished yet. We've got more work to do," Obama said.
The White House says this is a deliberate turn toward energy security and will
be followed by other events to highlight his strategy.
"He'll be laying out the goal ... that in a little over a decade from now we'll
reduce the amount of oil we import from the rest of the world by about a third,"
a senior administration official told reporters in Washington.
Obama will lay out four areas to help reach his target of curbing U.S.
dependence on foreign oil -- lifting domestic energy production, encouraging the
use of more natural gas in vehicles like city buses, making cars and trucks more
efficient, and encouraging biofuels.
U.S. LOVE OF DRIVING CHEAPLY
Analysts and experts said Obama's goal was ambitious, and not surprising.
"All U.S. presidents since the early 1970s have outlined ambitious plans to
reduce their reliance on imported oil. It is not the first time and probably
won't be the last," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at the Banque Saudi
Fransi.
Truly reforming U.S. energy use would involve sweeping changes, including
possibly fuel taxes to encourage Americans to change their habits, analysts
said.
"The whole U.S. model is based on you having your car and being able to travel
from A to B cheaply," said Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity markets
strategy at BNP Paribas.
While polls show Americans have mixed feelings about getting entangled in a
third Muslim country, with the United States still engaged in Iraq and
Afghanistan, they are clearly worried by high gas prices before the summer
driving season.
The latest measures of consumer confidence have also been dented by rising
energy prices, which sap household spending and could derail the U.S. recovery
if prices stay high enough for a long time, hurting Obama's re-election
prospects.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed that 48 percent of
American voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, and 50 percent think he
does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, compared with 42 percent who approve
and 41 percent who feel he does deserve to be re-elected.
Those were his lowest ratings ever, Quinnipiac said.
Voters also oppose the U.S. involvement in Libya by 47-41 percent, according to
the survey, which was concluded on Monday, as Obama addressed the nation about
Libya. It said voters say 58-29 percent Obama has not clearly stated U.S. goals
there.
"The president certainly understands the extra burden that rising gas prices put
on millions of Americans already going through a tough time," the administration
official said.
Some analysts reckon Obama may tap America's emergency oil stockpiles if U.S.
oil prices hit $110 a barrel. Prices were hovering just under $105 a barrel in
late Tuesday trade.
Over half of the petroleum consumed by the United States is imported, with
Canada and Mexico the two largest suppliers, followed by Saudi Arabia and
Venezuela.
The Department of the Interior estimates millions of acres (hectares) of U.S.
energy leases are not being exploited by oil companies and the White House wants
that to change.
This argument also helps the administration push back against Obama's Republican
opponents, who claim he is tying the hands of the U.S. energy industry by
denying leases and restricting offshore drilling in the wake of the 2010 BP Gulf
of Mexico oil spill.
"Part of our plan is to give new and better incentives to promote rapid,
responsible development of these resources," the official said, but declined to
go into greater detail before Obama speaks speech at 11:20 a.m. (1520 GMT).
In addition, the official said Obama will set a goal to break ground "on at
least four commercial-scale cellulosic or advanced bio refineries over the next
two years."
(Additional reporting by Tim Gardner and Patricia Zengerle;
Editing by Eric Walsh and Vicki Allen)
KAMPALA | Wed Mar 30, 2011
9:36am EDT
Reuters
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda would consider an asylum
application from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as it would for anyone seeking
refuge in the east African country, a minister said on Wednesday.
Al Arabiya television reported that Uganda would welcome Gaddafi after Western
and other states suggested the Libyan leader should go into exile to end the
conflict in his country.
The television channel did not give further details.
"Those are rumors. I have just been in a cabinet meeting with all the ministers
and yes we discussed Libya but there was nothing on asylum that we discussed,"
Henry Okello Oryem, junior Minister for Foreign Affairs, told Reuters.
"However, if Gaddafi does apply for asylum in Uganda, we'll consider his
application like we do for all those who seek refuge in Uganda," he said.
Uganda is a member of the African Union ad hoc committee trying to mediate a
resolution of the Libyan conflict after the United Nations authorized air
strikes to protect Libyan civilians from forces loyal to Gaddafi.
The United States, Britain and Qatar, which joined others at a meeting on Libya
in London on Tuesday, suggested Gaddafi and his family could be allowed to go
into exile if they took up the offer quickly to end six weeks of bloodshed.
FRUSTRATIONS, GRUDGES
Gaddafi has been a driving force behind the African Union, his largesse has
extended Libya's economic reach throughout sub-Saharan Africa and he has some
close friends in power.
But analysts say many African leaders have become frustrated with Gaddafi's
erratic behavior, some still harbor grudges over past meddling in internal
conflicts and others may not want to tarnish their images further by giving him
a home.
Gaddafi's relations with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni have been chequered
at best over the years.
Museveni put out a statement on March 20 analyzing the Libyan crisis. In the
article, Museveni detailed five mistakes Gaddafi had made in his relations with
sub-Saharan Africa -- and Uganda in particular.
These included Gaddafi's support for the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin --
Museveni detailed the time a Libyan air force plane had tried to bomb his rebel
troops in 1979.
Museveni also criticized Gaddafi's stance on the African Union, saying African
leaders had been forced to oppose the Libyan leader's "illogical position" on
pushing for a United States of Africa.
The Ugandan president did, however, say Gaddafi's influence had been positive to
the extent he maintained an independent foreign policy and resisted outside
interference, for example when giving Museveni some weapons in 1981.
He also praised Gaddafi for being one of the few secular leaders in the Arab
world and reiterated that the Libyan leader should negotiate with the
opposition.
Uganda's capital Kampala is home to one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest mosques,
named after Gaddafi after the Libyan government funded its construction.
Uganda, which is also a close ally of Washington, said on Tuesday it had taken
control of Libya's majority stake in Uganda Telecom, the latest move to freeze
Libyan assets in the east African nation in compliance with U.N. sanctions.
(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed in Cairo; Editing by David
Clarke)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's military rulers on Wednesday issued
an interim constitution under which the transitional administration will run the
country until elections allow power to be returned to an elected government.
The decree, read by a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,
confirmed that the military would hold presidential powers until a new head of
state is elected.
The interim constitution's 62 articles included amended sections of the old
constitution that were approved by a referendum on March 19 and which open the
door to a competitive presidential election.
MOSCOW | Wed Mar 30, 2011
8:14am EDT
Reuters
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned the West on Wednesday against
arming rebels battling Muammar Gaddafi's forces and said Libyans must forge
their political future without any outside interference.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's remarks were the latest criticism of the
military action by a Western coalition, which Moscow says has gone beyond the
mandate of the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force.
They also indicated that as the United States and Europe press for Gaddafi's
eventual exit, Moscow does not want to stand aside and watch the West shape a
future government of a country where Russia's arms, energy and railway companies
had contracts.
With Western leaders saying they were not ruling out arming the rebels, Lavrov
emphasized Russia's opposition.
"Not long ago the French foreign minister announced that France is ready to
discuss weapons supplies to the Libyan opposition with its coalition partners,"
Lavrov told a news conference after talks with his Austrian counterpart.
"Right away, NATO Secretary-General (Anders) Fogh Rasmussen said the Libyan
operation is being conducted to protect the population, not to arm it. We fully
agree with the NATO secretary-general on this," Lavrov said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday that Britain does not
rule out supplying arms to the Libyan rebels but has not taken a decision to do
so.
Russia, a veto-wielding permanent U.N. Security Council member, backed sanctions
against Gaddafi's government and abstained in the vote on the resolution
authorizing military action to enforce no-fly zones, allowing it to pass.
However, Russia has said the resolution gave the coalition too much leeway and
has expressed concern about possible civilian deaths. Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin, one of the most outspoken critics of the Western intervention, likened it
to "medieval calls for crusades."
Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow might have supported the resolution if it
had set clearer limits on military action.
In line with the resolution, which called for a ceasefire and dialogue, he said
Russia sees "a ceasefire and the immediate start of talks" as a priority.
Turning to the future, Lavrov said "the Libyan sides must agree on what the
Libyan state should be."
"It's clear that it will be a different regime, and it's clear that it should be
a democratic regime, but Libyans themselves must decide without influence from
outside."
Russia has made similar statements about other nations swept up in a wave of
opposition to authoritarian governments across the Arab world.
Facing accusations of a rollback of democracy since Putin came to power in 2000,
Russia vocally criticizes what it calls Western meddling in the internal affairs
of sovereign states.
Libya rebels flee oil town under Gaddafi bombardment
TRIPOLI | Wed Mar 30, 2011
8:23am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan rebels pulled out of the oil town
of Ras Lanuf on Wednesday under heavy bombardment from Muammar Gaddafi's forces,
showing up their weakness without Western air strikes to tip the scales in their
favor.
The rapid reverse comes just two days after the rebels raced westwards along the
all-important coastal road in hot pursuit of the government army that had its
tanks and artillery demolished in five days of aerial bombardment in the town of
Ajdabiyah.
Gaddafi's army first ambushed the insurgent pick-up convoy outside the "brother
leader's" hometown of Sirte, then outflanked them through the desert, a maneuver
requiring the sort of discipline entirely lacking in rag-tag rebel force.
On the offensive, government tanks and artillery have unleashed a fierce
bombardment on towns and cities which has usually forced rebels to swiftly flee.
That tactic appears to have worked once again in Ras Lanuf, an oil terminal
town, 375 km (230 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.
"Gaddafi hit us with huge rockets. He has entered Ras Lanuf," rebel fighter
Faraj Muftah told Reuters after pulling out of Ras Lanuf. "We were at the
western gate in Ras Lanuf and we were bombarded," said a second fighter, Hisham.
Scores of rebel 4x4 pick-ups raced east, away from Ras Lanuf, a Reuters
journalist saw.
AIR STRIKES
Without Western air strikes, the rebels seem unable to make advances or even
hold their positions against Gaddafi's armor.
As the rebels retreated, a Reuters correspondent heard aircraft, then a series
of loud booms near Ras Lanuf, but it was unclear if the sounds were the sonic
boom of the jets or bombs.
But a fighter returning from Ras Lanuf, Ahmed, also told Reuters: "The French
planes came and bombed Gaddafi's forces."
France was the first member of the international coalition to announce that it
had launched air strikes on Libya and rebels commonly credit most air strikes to
French aircraft.
A conference of 40 governments and international bodies agreed to press on with
a NATO-led aerial bombardment of Libyan forces until Gaddafi complied with a
U.N. resolution to end violence against civilians.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday 115 strike sorties had been flown against Gaddafi's
forces in the previous 24 hours, and 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles had been fired.
Britain said two of its Tornado fighter-bombers had attacked a government
armored vehicle and two artillery pieces outside the besieged western town of
Misrata.
Libya's official Jana official news agency said air strikes by forces of "the
crusader colonial aggression" hit residential areas in the town of Garyan, about
100 km (60 miles) south of Tripoli, on Tuesday. It said several civilian
buildings were destroyed and an unspecified number of people were wounded.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 sanctions air power to protect Libyan
civilians, not to provide close air support to rebel forces. That would also
require troops on the ground to guide in the bombs, especially in such a rapidly
changing war.
Air strikes alone may not be enough to stop the pendulum swing of Libyan desert
civil warfare turning into a stalemate.
The United States and France have raised the possibility of arming the rebels,
though both stressed no decision had yet been taken. "I'm not ruling it in, I'm
not ruling it out," U.S. President Barack Obama told NBC.
It is not clear however if the amateur army of teachers, lawyers, engineers,
students and the unemployed know even how to properly use the weapons they
already have -- mostly looted from government arms depots.
LACK OF FOOD
Aid agencies are increasingly worried about a lack of food and medicines,
especially in towns such as Misrata where a siege by Gaddafi's forces deprives
them of access.
"It is difficult to even get water in from wells outside the town because of the
positions of the forces," said Abdulrahman, a resident of Zintan in the west,
cut off by pro-Gaddafi forces.
The U.N. refugee agency said it had reports of thousands of families living in
makeshift shelters cut off from assistance.
Protection of civilians remains the most urgent goal of the air strikes, and
British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Gaddafi's supporters of "murderous
attacks" on Misrata.
A series of powerful explosions rocked Tripoli on Tuesday and state television
said several targets in the Libyan capital had come under attack in rare daytime
strikes.
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan, Alexander Dziadosz,
Edmund Blair, Maria Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine
Chikhi, Hamid Ould Ahmed, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Andrew Quinn, David
Brunnstrom, Steve Holland and Alister Bull; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by
Giles Elgood)
Washington in Fierce Debate on Arming Libyan Rebels
March 29, 2011
The New York Times
By MARK LANDLER, ELISABETH BUMILLER and STEVEN LEE MYERS
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is engaged in a fierce
debate over whether to supply weapons to the rebels in Libya, senior officials
said on Tuesday, with some fearful that providing arms would deepen American
involvement in a civil war and that some fighters may have links to Al Qaeda.
The debate has drawn in the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon,
these officials said, and has prompted an urgent call for intelligence about a
ragtag band of rebels who are waging a town-by-town battle against Col. Muammar
el-Qaddafi, from a base in eastern Libya long suspected of supplying terrorist
recruits.
“Al Qaeda in that part of the country is obviously an issue,” a senior official
said.
On a day when Libyan forces counterattacked, fears about the rebels surfaced
publicly on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when the military commander of NATO, Adm.
James G. Stavridis, told a Senate hearing that there were “flickers” in
intelligence reports about the presence of Qaeda and Hezbollah members among the
anti-Qaddafi forces. No full picture of the opposition has emerged, Admiral
Stavridis said. While eastern Libya was the center of Islamist protests in the
late 1990s, it is unclear how many groups retain ties to Al Qaeda.
The French government, which has led the international charge against Colonel
Qaddafi, has placed mounting pressure on the United States to provide greater
assistance to the rebels. The question of how best to support the opposition
dominated an international conference about Libya on Tuesday in London.
While Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration had not
yet decided whether to actually transfer arms, she reiterated that the United
States had a right to do so, despite an arms embargo on Libya, because of the
United Nations Security Council’s broad resolution authorizing military action
to protect civilians.
In a reflection of the seriousness of the administration’s debate, Mr. Obama
said Tuesday that he was keeping his options open on arming the rebels. “I’m not
ruling it out, but I’m also not ruling it in,” Mr. Obama told NBC News. “We’re
still making an assessment partly about what Qaddafi’s forces are going to be
doing. Keep in mind, we’ve been at this now for nine days.”
But some administration officials argue that supplying arms would further
entangle the United States in a drawn-out civil war because the rebels would
need to be trained to use any weapons, even relatively simple rifles and
shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons. This could mean sending trainers. One
official said the United States might simply let others supply the weapons.
The question of whether to arm the rebels underscores the difficult choices the
United States faces as it tries to move from being the leader of the military
operation to a member of a NATO-led coalition, with no clear political endgame.
It also carries echoes of previous American efforts to arm rebels, in Angola,
Nicaragua, Afghanistan and elsewhere, many of which backfired. The United States
has a deep, often unsuccessful, history of arming insurgencies.
Mr. Obama pledged on Monday that he would not commit American ground troops to
Libya and said that the job of transforming the country into a democracy was
primarily for the Libyan people and the international community. But he promised
that the United States would help the rebels in this struggle.
In London, Mrs. Clinton and other Western leaders made it clear that the
NATO-led operation would end only with the removal of Colonel Qaddafi, even if
that was not the stated goal of the United Nations resolution.
Mrs. Clinton — who met for a second time with a senior opposition leader,
Mahmoud Jibril — acknowledged that as a group, the rebels were largely a
mystery. “We don’t know as much as we would like to know and as much as we
expect we will know,” she said at a news conference.
In his testimony, Admiral Stavridis said, “We are examining very closely the
content, composition, the personalities, who are the leaders of these opposition
forces.”
The coalition members discussed other ways to help the rebels, like humanitarian
aid and money, Mrs. Clinton said. Some of the more than $30 billion in frozen
Libyan funds may be channeled to the opposition.
But a spokesman for the rebels, Mahmoud Shammam, said they would welcome arms,
contending that with weaponry they would already have defeated Colonel Qaddafi’s
forces. “We ask for political support more than arms,” Mr. Shammam said, “but if
we have both, that would be good.”
So far, the rebels have obtained arms from defecting Qaddafi loyalists, as well
as from abandoned ammunitions depots.
A European diplomat said France was adamant that the rebels be more heavily
armed and was in discussions with the Obama administration about how France
would bring this about. “We strongly believe that it should happen,” said the
diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal
deliberations.
Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Armed Services
Committee, said he had had conversations with two senior administration
officials about this issue. Mr. Levin said he was most concerned about how the
rebels would use the weapons after a cease-fire. “Would they stop fighting if
they had momentum, or would they be continuing to use those weapons?” he asked.
Gene A. Cretz, the American ambassador to Libya, said last week that he was
impressed by the democratic instincts of the opposition leaders and that he did
not believe that they were dominated by extremists. But he acknowledged that
there was no way to know if they were “100 percent kosher, so to speak.”
Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution, said some who had fought as insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan were
bound to have returned home to Libya. “The question we can’t answer is, Are they
2 percent of the opposition? Are they 20 percent? Or are they 80 percent?” he
said.
Even if the administration resolves these concerns, military officials said it
was unclear to them how an effort to arm the rebels would be carried out.
They said the arms most likely to be of use were relatively light and simple
shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons for defense against tanks, as well as rifles
like Soviet AK-47s and communications equipment. Although these weapons are not
especially sophisticated, months, if not years, of on-the-ground training would
still be necessary.
Even with training, anti-armor weapons and rifles would allow the rebels only to
consolidate their gains and hold the territory they have, said Nathan Freier, a
senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
One crucial voice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has experience in the
unintended consequences of arming rebels: As a C.I.A. official in the late
1980s, he funneled weapons to the Islamic fundamentalists who ousted the Soviets
from Kabul. Some later became the Taliban fighting the United States in
Afghanistan.
Mark Landler and Elisabeth Bumiller reported from Washington, and Steven Lee
Myers from London.
March 29, 2011
The New York Times
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON — Samantha Power took the podium at Columbia
University on Monday night sounding hoarse and looking uncomfortable. In two
hours, President Obama would address the nation on Libya and Ms. Power, the
fiery human rights crusader who now advises Mr. Obama on foreign policy, did not
want to get out in front of the boss.
“I’m not going to talk much about Libya,” she began, though when it came time
for questions she could not help herself. “Our best judgment,” she said,
defending the decision to establish a no-fly zone to prevent atrocities, was
that failure to do so would have been “extremely chilling, deadly and indeed a
stain on our collective conscience.”
That the president used almost precisely the same language was hardly a
surprise. For nearly 20 years, since her days as a young war correspondent in
Bosnia, Ms. Power has championed the idea that nations have a moral obligation
to prevent genocide. Now, from her perch on the National Security Council, she
is in a position to make that case to the commander in chief — and to watch him
translate her ideas into action.
“She is clearly the foremost voice for human rights within the White House,”
said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, “and she has
Obama’s ear.”
The Irish-born Ms. Power, 40, functions as kind of an institutional memory bank
on genocide; her 2002 book on the topic, “A Problem from Hell,” won the Pulitzer
Prize. While she was by no means alone in advocating military intervention in
Libya — Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, was a pivotal voice —
the president’s decision to pursue that course is something of a personal
triumph for her.
It is also a public relations headache. Critics say Ms. Power is pushing the
United States into another Iraq. (Ms. Power, like Mr. Obama, was a vocal
opponent of that war.) American Thinker, a conservative blog, complains that Mr.
Obama has “outsourced foreign policy” to Ms. Power.
Ms. Power, who declined an interview, is trying to maintain a low profile, still
seared, perhaps, by the memory of how she flamed out as an Obama campaign
adviser by calling Mrs. Clinton “a monster.” The women have patched it up — the
late diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, friend to Mrs. Clinton and mentor to Ms.
Power, arranged a reconciliation — and Ms. Power arrived at the White House
determined to “stay in her lane,” in the words of one friend, and avoid
headlines.
Yet for all her efforts to shun the spotlight, there has long been a whiff of
celebrity about her. Aside from her Pulitzer and two Ivy League degrees (Yale
undergraduate, Harvard Law), she has posed in an evening gown for Men’s Vogue
and once played basketball with George Clooney. The Daily Beast calls her “the
femme fatale of the humanitarian assistance world.”
When she married the constitutional law scholar Cass Sunstein — he now runs the
White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — Esquire dubbed them
“The Fun Couple of the 21st Century” and photographed them on the squash court,
in tennis whites.
She arrived in Bosnia as a freelance journalist at age 22, “a flame-haired,
freckled girl with guts,” in the words of one reporter who knew her. Diplomats
admired her intellect and passion. She was not shy about haranguing American
officials for what she saw as the United States’ failure to act.
“She would argue that the failure of the Clinton administration to engage in
airstrikes against the Serbs, and to take military action to stop the genocide
was immoral,” said Peter W. Galbraith, ambassador to Croatia at the time.
He recently turned the tables on Ms. Power, sending her an e-mail in which he
warned her not to let Libya become “Obama’s Rwanda,” a reference to former
President Bill Clinton, who has expressed deep regret over failing to intervene
to prevent atrocities there. Mr. Galbraith said Ms. Power, having learned the
lesson that “when you’re inside government, you live with constraints,” did not
reply.
Ms. Power is sensitive to any notion that she has outsize influence with the
president; the White House took pains on Tuesday to say that her speech echoed
the president’s, not the other way around.
The United States did not go to war in Libya because “there was some dramatic
meeting in the Oval Office where everybody tried to persuade the president not
to do this, and Samantha rolled in with her flowing red hair and said, ‘Mr.
President, I stand here alone in telling you that history calls upon you to
perform this act,’ ” said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch, a friend.
Mr. Obama sought her out in early 2005, when he was a new senator and had just
read her book. After a four-hour dinner, they found themselves so much in sync
that she volunteered to take a leave from her Harvard professorship to work for
him.
The book argues that genocides — in places like Armenia, Nazi Germany, Cambodia
and Rwanda — have occurred because governments averted their eyes and
individuals made conscious choices not to intervene. “The most common response,”
Ms. Power wrote, “is, ‘We didn’t know.’ This is not true.”
As a journalist, she was one of the first to chronicle the bloody ethnic
cleansing in Sudan. In 2004, on assignment for The New Yorker, she visited
refugee camps in Chad and slipped into rebel-held areas in Darfur, to interview
survivors and see villages that were burned to the ground. Some experts say her
work helped persuade President George W. Bush to apply the label genocide to the
situation.
But if Ms. Power was able to prick the collective conscience of elected
officials as an outsider, on the inside she has confronted the difficulties of
making policy in a complex environment with competing demands.
She has been successful in urging the Obama administration to embrace
Congressional legislation calling for the arrest of the leader of the Lord’s
Resistance Army, which enslaves children as guerrilla fighters. As of last year,
the White House has a full-time staff member devoted to monitoring atrocities —
a position Ms. Power pushed for. But in Darfur, violence has escalated as the
administration has shifted its attention to south Sudan.
On Libya, Ms. Power’s critics — and even some admirers — suggest she may be
helping to set a precedent that will invariably fail. “I think what she is doing
is good,” said Bill Nash, a retired Army general who commanded forces in Bosnia.
“But I suspect it is more black and white to her than the real world portrays.”
In her long-scheduled speech at Columbia on Monday night, Ms. Power did not
dwell on such questions. Rather, she gave a bland recitation of Mr. Obama’s
human rights policy. When it was over, she was mobbed by book-toting
autograph-seekers. When she spied a gaggle of reporters, she cupped her hands to
her temples and lowered her head as if to say: no questions.
March 29, 2011
The New York Times
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
There is an old saying in the Middle East that a camel is a
horse that was designed by a committee. That thought came to my mind as I
listened to President Obama trying to explain the intervention of America and
its allies in Libya — and I don’t say that as criticism. I say it with empathy.
This is really hard stuff, and it’s just the beginning.
When an entire region that has been living outside the biggest global trends of
free politics and free markets for half a century suddenly, from the bottom up,
decides to join history — and each one of these states has a different ethnic,
tribal, sectarian and political orientation and a loose coalition of Western and
Arab states with mixed motives trying to figure out how to help them — well,
folks, you’re going to end up with some very strange-looking policy animals. And
Libya is just the first of many hard choices we’re going to face in the “new”
Middle East.
How could it not be? In Libya, we have to figure out whether to help rebels we
do not know topple a terrible dictator we do not like, while at the same time we
turn a blind eye to a monarch whom we do like in Bahrain, who has violently
suppressed people we also like — Bahraini democrats — because these people we
like have in their ranks people we don’t like: pro-Iranian Shiite hard-liners.
All the while in Saudi Arabia, leaders we like are telling us we never should
have let go of the leader who was so disliked by his own people — Hosni Mubarak
— and, while we would like to tell the Saudi leaders to take a hike on this
subject, we can’t because they have so much oil and money that we like. And this
is a lot like our dilemma in Syria where a regime we don’t like — and which
probably killed the prime minister of Lebanon whom it disliked — could be
toppled by people who say what we like, but we’re not sure they all really
believe what we like because among them could be Sunni fundamentalists, who, if
they seize power, could suppress all those minorities in Syria whom they don’t
like.
The last time the Sunni fundamentalists in Syria tried to take over in 1982,
then-President Hafez al-Assad, one of those minorities, definitely did not like
it, and he had 20,000 of those Sunnis killed in one city called Hama, which they
certainly didn’t like, so there is a lot of bad blood between all of them that
could very likely come to the surface again, although some experts say this time
it’s not like that because this time, and they could be right, the Syrian people
want freedom for all. But, for now, we are being cautious. We’re not trying
nearly as hard to get rid of the Syrian dictator as we are the Libyan one
because the situation in Syria is just not as clear as we’d like and because
Syria is a real game-changer. Libya implodes. Syria explodes.
Welcome to the Middle East of 2011! You want the truth about it? You can’t
handle the truth. The truth is that it’s a dangerous, violent, hope-filled and
potentially hugely positive or explosive mess — fraught with moral and political
ambiguities. We have to build democracy in the Middle East we’ve got, not the
one we want — and this is the one we’ve got.
That’s why I am proud of my president, really worried about him, and just
praying that he’s lucky.
Unlike all of us in the armchairs, the president had to choose, and I found the
way he spelled out his core argument on Monday sincere: “Some nations may be
able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of
America is different. And, as president, I refused to wait for the images of
slaughter and mass graves before taking action.”
I am glad we have a president who sees America that way. That argument cannot
just be shrugged off, especially when confronting a dictator like Col. Muammar
el-Qaddafi. But, at the same time, I believe that it is naïve to think that we
can be humanitarians only from the air — and now we just hand the situation off
to NATO, as if it were Asean and we were not the backbone of the NATO military
alliance, and we’re done.
I don’t know Libya, but my gut tells me that any kind of decent outcome there
will require boots on the ground — either as military help for the rebels to
oust Qaddafi as we want, or as post-Qaddafi peacekeepers and referees between
tribes and factions to help with any transition to democracy. Those boots cannot
be ours. We absolutely cannot afford it — whether in terms of money, manpower,
energy or attention. But I am deeply dubious that our allies can or will handle
it without us, either. And if the fight there turns ugly, or stalemates, people
will be calling for our humanitarian help again. You bomb it, you own it.
Which is why, most of all, I hope President Obama is lucky. I hope Qaddafi’s
regime collapses like a sand castle, that the Libyan opposition turns out to be
decent and united and that they require just a bare minimum of international
help to get on their feet. Then U.S. prestige will be enhanced and this
humanitarian mission will have both saved lives and helped to lock another Arab
state into the democratic camp.
Intelligence on Libya rebels shows "flickers" of Qaeda
Tue, Mar 29 2011
WASHINGTON | Tue Mar 29, 2011
6:42pm EDT
Reuters
By Missy Ryan and Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Intelligence on the rebels battling
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi has shown "flickers" of al Qaeda or Hezbollah presence,
NATO's operations commander said, but U.S. officials said there were no
indications militant groups are playing a significant role in Libya.
"We are examining very closely the content, composition, the personalities, who
are the leaders of these opposition forces," Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's
supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, said
in testimony to a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday.
But several national security officials quickly and firmly denied that al Qaeda
or Hezbollah were significantly involved.
"If anyone thinks there are vast numbers of al-Qaeda terrorists running the
rebel movement in Libya, then Churchill never smoked a cigar in his life," one
of the officials said.
"No one's saying there isn't a relative smattering of bad guys in Libya. After
all, there always have been goons in the country," the official told Reuters.
"But let's get real here. This is, at its core, an anti-Gaddafi uprising rooted
in major opposition to a repressive regime that has brutalized its own people
for decades."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice agreed that any al Qaeda
involvement with the rebels was limited.
Asked whether she had seen any evidence to support Stavridis' assessment, Rice
told Fox News: "I would like to think I'm reading much of the same stuff and
no."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also made clear the wisps of information
on al Qaeda and Hezbollah that Stavridis had alluded to were not based on hard
intelligence.
"We do not have any specific information about specific individuals from any
organization who are part of this, but of course, we're still getting to know
those who are leading the Transitional National Council," she said in London
after a conference on Libya.
Gaddafi's troops on Tuesday reversed the westward charge of rebel forces as
world powers met in London more than a week after the United States and other
nations launched a military campaign aimed at protecting Libyan civilians.
"SMALL NUMBERS"
"Think in terms of very small numbers of Libyan rebels being affiliated with
al-Qaeda," a U.S. official familiar with internal government reporting told
Reuters. "While there are some limited connections, don't think that the rebels
are somehow being led by al Qaeda. That's just not the case."
Even as the rebels struggle against Gaddafi's better-armed, better-organized
troops, Stavridis said the Libyan leader was likely to go if the coalition
brought a range of military power to bear against him.
"If we work all the elements of power, we have a more than reasonable chance of
Gaddafi leaving, because the entire international community is arrayed against
him," he said.
Two national security officials and a former White House counterterrorism expert
said they could not confirm, and were puzzled by, Stavridis' assertion that
intelligence showed possible involvement of Hezbollah with Libyan rebels.
Juan Zarate, a former counterterrorism advisor on the National Security Council
under President George W. Bush, said he had no information to confirm Hezbollah
involvement and it would be "incongruous" with what U.S. experts generally
understand to be the makeup of Libyan rebel forces.
"I would find it unlikely at this stage that we have hard and fast evidence"
that these groups are involved in a significant way in Libya, Zarate told
Reuters.
Senators' questions at the hearing about the make-up of the Libyan opposition
reflected skepticism in Congress about the Obama administration's preparedness
for a campaign that came together quickly after weeks of speculation about
whether the United States would intervene.
It also underscores worries about who might take over in Libya if Gaddafi does
go.
"It's premature to say what is our exit strategy until we have a little more
clarity moving forward," Stavridis said.
The Libya campaign has also intensified fears in Congress about the high cost of
military activities overseas.
The war in Afghanistan, for example, costs the United States around $9 billion a
month. Stavridis said the Libya mission had cost "hundreds of millions of
dollars" so far.
(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball. Writing by Missy Ryan;
editing by Christopher Wilson)
Obama vows U.S. forces won't get bogged down in Libya
WASHINGTON | Tue Mar 29, 2011
6:30pm EDT
By Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Americans on Monday that
U.S. forces would not get bogged down trying to topple Muammar Gaddafi but
stopped short of spelling out how the military campaign in Libya would end.
In a nationally televised address, Obama -- accused by many lawmakers of failing
to explain the U.S. role in the Western air assault on Gaddafi's loyalists --
said he had no choice but to act to avoid "violence on a horrific scale" against
the Libyan people.
"We had a unique ability to stop that violence, an international mandate for
action, a broad coalition prepared to join us," he said in his fullest defense
of his strategy since air strikes began 10 days ago. "We also had the ability to
stop Gaddafi's forces in their tracks."
But Obama set strict limits on his willingness to apply U.S. military might,
making clear Washington would not act as the world's policeman "wherever
repression occurs," a sign he would avoid armed entanglement in other Middle
East hotspots.
He pledged the United States would scale back its involvement to a "supporting
role," with NATO taking over full command from American forces on Wednesday, but
offered no prediction of when -- or how -- the mission would end.
Obama vowed to work with allies to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves power but
said he would not use force to remove him -- as former President George W. Bush
did in ousting Saddam Hussein in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Obama,
elected in 2008, had strongly opposed the Iraq war.
"We went down that road in Iraq," Obama told military officers at the National
Defense University in Washington. "That is not something we can afford to repeat
in Libya."
He spoke on the eve of a 35-nation conference in London to tackle the crisis in
the North African oil-exporting country and weigh political options for ending
Gaddafi's 41-year rule.
COUNTERING CRITICISM
Obama sought to counter criticism at home that he lacked clear objectives or an
exit strategy in launching the Libya mission, but he left unanswered the
question of how long U.S. forces would be involved and how they would eventually
leave.
Obama's challenge was to define the limited purpose and scope of the U.S.
mission in Libya for Americans preoccupied with domestic economic concerns and
weary of costly wars in two other Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We will deny the regime arms, cut off its supply of cash, assist the opposition
and work with other nations to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves power," Obama
said.
But he acknowledged "it may not happen overnight" and said Gaddafi may be able
to cling to power. "Broadening our military mission to include regime change
would be a mistake," he said.
Experts say failure to dislodge Gaddafi could lead to a bloody stalemate and
require prolonged Western-led military action to protect civilians.
But Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank said coalition
forces were trying to create an opportunity where Libyan rebels, who have made
recent gains on the battlefield, "have at least a fighting chance to engage in
their own regime change."
Obama's words were not enough to mollify Republican opponents who accuse him of
failing to lead in global crises ranging from Middle East unrest to Japan's
nuclear emergency.
"Americans still have no answer to the fundamental question: what does success
in Libya look like?" said Brendan Buck, spokesman for House of Representatives
Speaker John Boehner.
Obama is struggling to balance foreign policy challenges like Libya with his
domestic priorities of jobs and the economy, considered crucial to his 2012
re-election chances.
Obama's prime-time speech came a day after NATO agreed to assume full
responsibility for military operations in Libya,
The alliance's decision gave a boost to Obama's effort to show Americans he was
making good on his commitment to limit U.S. military involvement. NATO will take
charge of air strikes that have targeted Gaddafi's military infrastructure as
well as a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.
Most polls show Americans divided over the Libya mission and believe on balance
that the Obama administration and its allies do not have a clear goal in taking
military action.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull, Steve Holland, Arshad Mohammed and Susan
Cornwell; Editing by David Storey and Todd Eastham)
Analysis: Outlines of "Obama doctrine" in sight, details
fuzzy
WASHINGTON | Tue Mar 29, 2011
4:50pm EDT
By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama may have seized
the initiative with his lofty defense of military action in Libya but he has
left more questions than answers about his emerging "Obama doctrine" and what it
means for other crises in the Middle East.
Embedded in Obama's televised response to critics of his Libya policy on Monday
night was an attempt to set forth his rationale for intervening militarily in
some conflicts but not in others.
Obama used his speech to outline part of a broader Middle East strategy that
aides have been crafting for weeks to try to counter complaints that his
administration has struggled to keep pace with turmoil sweeping the Arab world.
But he was short on specifics and failed to even mention Yemen, Syria or
Bahrain, the latest hotspots where popular revolts threatening autocratic rulers
could have major implications for U.S. policy.
"It's still a work in progress," said Stephen Grand, a Middle East expert at the
Brookings Institution in Washington. "Obama is clearly trying to work out an
approach that puts him on the right side of history."
While declaring Libya a "unique" case for limited use of U.S. military power to
avert a potential massacre by Muammar Gaddafi's loyalists, Obama sought to stake
out more of a middle ground on wider Middle East policy.
The message was that the United States supports protesters' democratic
aspirations but will take military action only in concert with allies -- to
uphold U.S. interests and deeply held values or where there was an overwhelming
humanitarian need.
But, mindful of an American public occupied with domestic economic concerns and
weary of wars in two Muslim countries, that was tempered by Obama's insistence
that the United States would not act as the world's human rights policeman.
And his refusal to allow U.S. forces to seek "regime change" in Libya further
underscored that his new doctrine carried strict limits.
DOCTRINE TESTED
Some analysts said Obama's nuanced approach could send mixed signals to an
already troubled region and his speech quickly drew criticism from the left and
the right.
Conservatives say Obama's reliance on multilateralism weakens U.S. global
leadership. He has rejected the go-it-alone approach of his predecessor, George
W. Bush, who was disdained internationally for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"The Obama doctrine is still full of chaos and questions," former Republican
vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told Fox News. "U.S. interests can't
just mean validating some kind of post-American theory of intervention where we
wait for the Arab League and the United Nations to tell us 'Thumbs up, America,
you can go now, you can act'."
Liberal lawmaker Dennis Kucinich chided Obama for justifying the decision to
join the allied air campaign at least in part on Gaddafi's threats.
"Remember, that's what George Bush did. He said Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction," Kucinich told MSNBC. "We've got to be careful about slipping into
these wars."
Obama's emerging new policy is already facing a serious test in Yemen, Syria and
Bahrain, each of which poses different challenges. What they have in common,
however, is that the United States is monitoring events closely while avoiding
any talk of a Libya-style military intervention.
Washington has relied so far on sharp prodding of Yemen's government, an ally
against al Qaeda, for sweeping political reform and has all but acquiesced to
Saudi intervention in Bahrain to help quell a Shi'ite revolt against Sunni rule.
Direct U.S. action seems even less likely in Syria, where the White House has
denounced a government crackdown but is keeping hands-off in a country that has
had a vexed relationship with Washington.
TRIPOLI | Tue Mar 29, 2011
9:42am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's better armed and
organised troops reversed the westward charge of Libyan rebels as world powers
met in London on Tuesday to plot the country's future without the "brother
leader."
Ahead of the conference, President Barack Obama told Americans in a televised
address that U.S. forces would not get bogged down trying to topple Gaddafi, but
he stopped short of spelling out how the military campaign in Libya would end.
The United States is scaling back to a "supporting role" to let NATO take full
command from U.S. forces on Wednesday, but air strikes by U.S., French and
British planes remain key to smashing Gaddafi's armor and facilitating rebel
advances.
It took five days of allied air strikes to pulverize Libyan government tanks
around the town of Ajdabiyah before Gaddafi's troops fled and the rebels rushed
in and began their 300-km (200-mile), two-day dash across the desert to within
80 km (50 miles) of the Gaddafi loyalist stronghold of Sirte.
But the rebel pick-up truck cavalcade was first ambushed, then outflanked by
Gaddafi's troops. The advance stopped and government forces retook the small
town of Nawfaliyah, 120 km (75 miles) east of Sirte.
"The Gaddafi guys hit us with Grads (rockets) and they came round our flanks,"
Ashraf Mohammed, a 28-year-old rebel wearing a bandolier of bullets, told a
Reuters reporter at the front.
REBELS ON THE RUN
The sporadic thud of heavy weapons could be heard as dozens of civilian cars
sped eastwards away from the fight.
One man stopped his car to berate the rebels.
"Get yourselves up there and stop posing for pictures," he shouted, but met
little response.
Later, a hail of machinegun and rocket fire hit rebel positions. As the
onslaught began, rebels leapt behind sand dunes to fire back but gave up after a
few minutes, jumped into their pick-up trucks and sped off back down the road to
the town of Bin Jawad. Shells landed near the road as they retreated.
Without air strikes it appears the rebels are not able to hold ground or make
advances. The battle around Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace, will show if the rebels
have reached their limit.
Reports that some Nawfaliyah residents had fought alongside government troops
are an ominous sign for world powers hoping for a swift end to Gaddafi's 41-year
rule.
Obama said he had no choice but to act to avoid "violence on a horrific scale"
against the Libyan people.
Gaddafi accused Western powers of massacres of Libyan civilians in alliance with
rebels he said were al Qaeda members.
"Stop your brutal and unjust attack on our country ... Hundreds of Libyans are
being killed because of this bombardment. Massacres are being mercilessly
committed against the Libyan people," he said in a letter to world leaders
carried by Libya's official news agency.
"We are a people united behind the leadership of the revolution, facing the
terrorism of al Qaeda on the one hand and on the other hand terrorism by NATO,
which now directly supports al Qaeda," he said.
The rebels deny any al Qaeda links and on Tuesday promised free and fair
elections if Gaddafi is forced from power.
More than 40 governments and international organisations met in London on
Tuesday to set up a steering group, including Arab states, to provide political
guidance for the response to the war and coordinate long-term support to Libya.
Both Britain and Italy suggested Gaddafi might be allowed to go into exile to
bring a quick end to the six-week civil war, but the U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations Susan Rice said there was no evidence the Libyan leader was
prepared to leave.
NO REGIME CHANGE MISSION
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met the opposition Libyan National Council
envoy Mahmoud Jebril before the London talks. A senior U.S. official said the
two could discuss releasing $33 billion in frozen Libyan assets to the
opposition.
Such meetings also help Washington better understand the rebel leadership, its
military forces and the problems they face, the official said, though Obama
pledged once again that U.S. ground forces would not be deployed to help them
out.
"We will deny the regime arms, cut off its supply of cash, assist the opposition
and work with other nations to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves power," Obama
said, but the United States would not use force to topple him, as it had in the
2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
"To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq," Obama said.
The United States though has not ruled out arming the rebels, ambassador Rice
said.
"Over the long term, as the president said, there are other things that are at
our disposal that perhaps will assist in speeding Gaddafi's exit," she told CBS
television.
In western Libya, rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi both claimed control over
parts of Misrata and fighting appeared to persist in the fiercely contested
city, Libya's third largest.
Gaddafi's forces launched another attempt to seize control of Misrata on
Tuesday, said a rebel spokesman in the city which has been under siege for more
than a month.
Government troops "tried an hour ago to get into the town through the eastern
gate. The youths are trying to push them back. Fighting is still taking place
now. Random bombardment is continuing," the spokesman, called Sami, told Reuters
by telephone from the city. "Eight civilians were killed and several others
wounded last night."
Another rebel spokesman, in Benghazi, said 124 civilians had been killed in the
past nine days of fighting in Misrata, based on numbers obtained from hospitals
in the city.
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan, Alexander Dziadosz,
Edmund Blair, Maria Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine
Chikhi, Hamid Ould Ahmed, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Andrew Quinn and David
Brunnstrom; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Mother "offered cash" if Libya woman changes story
LONDON | Tue Mar 29, 2011
12:01am EDT
Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - The mother of a Libyan woman who said she
had been raped by pro-government militiamen said she had been asked to convince
her daughter to retract the allegations in return for her freedom and cash or a
new home.
Eman al-Obaidi burst into a hotel full of foreign journalists in Tripoli on
Saturday and told them, weeping, how she had been held for two days and raped by
15 militiamen loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
After being intimidated by security men and hotel staff, who also beat
journalists trying to interview her in the restaurant of the hotel, she was
bundled into a car and driven away.
Her allegations have not been independently verified. The government said on
Sunday Obaidi had been released and she was with her family.
Her mother, Aisha Ahmad, told journalists she had been contacted by the
authorities about her daughter and how she could be freed.
"Last night at 3, they called from Gaddafi's compound and asked me to convince
my daughter Eman to change what she said, and we will set her free immediately
and you can take anything you and your children would ask for," she said,
according to Britain's Sky News, which broadcast her interview with an English
translation late on Monday.
"Money, new home, just ask your daughter to change what she has said. I told my
daughter, keep silent," she said, holding a picture of Obaidi to the camera.
It was not immediately clear when the interview was filmed.
Ahmad said Obaidi had been "mistreated by those criminals and cheaters, Gaddafi
and his followers".
"Eman was kidnapped in front of the camera," she said.
"She was trying to appear to the world, she wanted to tell them what was
happening in Misrata, in Benghazi and the east. She wanted to reveal that."
Wadad Omar, who said she was her cousin, said on Sunday that Obaidi was first
arrested after taking part in a protest in the early days of the uprising in the
western city of Zawiyah. The revolt erupted in mid-February.
Residents in Benghazi, bastion of the insurgency against Gaddafi, staged a
demonstration in support of Obaidi on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Writing by Alison
Williams; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
TRIPOLI/LONDON | Tue Mar 29, 2011
4:01am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina and Adrian Croft
TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - World powers meet on Thursday to
try to lay the groundwork for a Libya without Muammar Gaddafi after President
Barack Obama said U.S. forces would not get bogged down trying to topple the
Libyan leader.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who
led the drive for a muscular intervention in the conflict, called on Monday for
Gaddafi to go and for his followers to abandon him before it was "too late".
"We call on all Libyans who believe that Gaddafi is leading Libya into a
disaster to take the initiative now to organize a transition process," they said
in a statement.
Emboldened by Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's troops, rebels took the
town of Nawfaliyah and pushed west toward Sirte, Gaddafi's home town and an
important military base, in the sixth week of an uprising against his 41-year
rule.
Rebels fired mortars and heavy machineguns in sporadic clashes with loyalist
forces in the oil-producing state.
Further west, rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi both claimed control over parts
of Misrata and fighting appeared to persist in the fiercely contested third
largest city.
Arab and Libyan media said late on Monday that coalition forces had bombed west
and south of the capital Tripoli.
Libyan state television said a leather factory was struck when "colonial and
crusader aggressors" bombed Surman, some 70 km (45 miles) west of Tripoli.
"SPLINTER"
The London meeting is expected to set up a high-level steering group, including
Arab states, to provide political guidance for the international response to the
crisis and coordinate long-term support to Libyans.
Britain has invited Mahmoud Jebril, a member of the rebel Libyan National
Council, to London although he is not formally invited to the conference, a
diplomatic source said.
Some 40 governments and international organizations will discuss stepping up
humanitarian aid, and call for a political process to enable Libyans to choose
their own future.
In a nationally televised speech, Obama said NATO would take over full command
of military operations from the United States on Wednesday.
Obama vowed to work with allies to hasten Gaddafi's exit from power but said he
would not use force to topple him -- as his predecessor President George W. Bush
did in ousting Saddam Hussein in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
"To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq," Obama told an audience of
military officers in Washington. "But regime change there took eight years,
thousands of American and Iraqi lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. That is
not something we can afford to repeat in Libya."
Broadening the Libya military mission to include regime change would be a
mistake, Obama said, and "if we tried to overthrow Gaddafi by force, our
coalition would splinter," making it likely U.S. ground troops would have to be
deployed.
He did not specify how long U.S. forces would be involved or how they would
eventually exit the conflict.
Obama's challenge was to define the limited purpose and scope of the U.S.
mission in Libya for Americans preoccupied with domestic economic concerns and
weary of costly wars in two other Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Going beyond the specifics of the U.N. resolution that mandated intervention
could also risk losing international and Arab support.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the U.N. Security
Council authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's
forces.
QATAR RECOGNITION
As the diplomatic activity increased ahead of the London conference, Italy
proposed a deal including a ceasefire, exile for Gaddafi and dialogue between
rebels and tribal leaders.
The rebel leadership has ruled out compromise with Gaddafi's followers.
"We have had a vision from the very beginning and the main ingredient of this
vision is the downfall of the Gaddafi regime," spokesman Hafiz Ghoga told
reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
Qatar became the first Arab country on Monday to recognize the rebels as the
people's legitimate representative, in a move that may presage similar moves
from other Gulf states. Libyan state television called the move "blatant
interference."
Since the start of the Western-led bombing, the volunteer force of rebels has
pressed half-way along the coast from its stronghold of Benghazi toward Tripoli
and regained control of major oil terminals in the OPEC state.
The United States has given a green light to sales of crude oil from rebel-held
territory, giving a potential boost to the rebels who would not be subject to
U.S. sanctions.
But U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said their battlefield gains in recent days
were tenuous.
While the U.S. military is not communicating officially with opposition forces,
Gortney said, the United States was seeking to piece together a more complete
picture of who they are and where they are positioned.
"We would like a much better understanding of the opposition," he said. "We're
trying to fill in those knowledge gaps."
He said the United States had no confirmed report of any civilian casualty
caused by coalition forces.
As the rebels pressed on in the east, Gaddafi's troops were patrolling an area
near the center of Misrata after shelling the previously rebel-controlled
western city for days. The government said it had "liberated" Misrata and
declared a ceasefire there.
Gaddafi soldiers manned checkpoints and took up positions on rooftops. Some
housefronts were smashed, smoke rose from several areas and gunfire rang out
across the city.
Several civilians approached a group of journalists, some of them woman and
children waving green flags. "Misrata is ours, there are still some bad guys in
other parts, but Gaddafi is winning, the city is ours," resident Abduq Karim
said.
Soldiers were manning checkpoints and green Libyan flags flapped in the wind.
Militiamen fired AK-47 rifles defiantly into the air. "If they come to Sirte, we
will defend our city," said Osama bin Nafaa, 32, a policeman.
(Additional reporting by Angus MacSwan, Alexander Dziadosz,
Edmund Blair, Maria Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine
Chikhi, Mariam Karouny, Joseph Nasr, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Steve Gutterman,
Matt Spetalnick and Alister Bull; Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Sanjeev
Miglani)
LONDON — Three Middle Eastern countries have been conspicuous
for their stability in the storm. They are Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. An odd
mix, you might say, but they have in common that they are places where people
vote.
Democracy is a messy all-or-nothing business. That’s why I love it. You can no
more be a little bit democratic than a little bit pregnant.
Yes, citizens go to the polls in Turkey, Lebanon and Israel and no dictator gets
99.3 percent of the vote. They are lands of opportunity where money is being
made and where facile generalizations, for all their popularity, miss the point.
Turkey has not turned Islamist, Lebanon is not in the hands of Hezbollah, and
Israel is still an open society.
All three countries, of course, are also wracked by division and imperfection;
but then two great merits of democracy are that it finesses division and does
not aspire to perfection.
Speaking of Hezbollah, remember all that alarm a couple of months back when a
Hezbollah-backed businessman, Najib Mikati, emerged as prime minister? After
that, Lebanon introduced the Libyan no-fly-zone resolution at the United Nations
— a rare, if little noted, example of the United States and a
Hezbollah-supported government in sync.
Talk to Hezbollah: That’s obvious. It’s no terrorizing monolith. Mikati is
struggling with the give-and-take of Lebanese politics. Life goes on in the
freewheeling way that has long drawn repressed, frustrated Arabs to Beirut.
Hezbollah is a political party with a militia. That’s a big problem. Israel’s
ultra-Orthodox Shas party has an outsized influence over Israel because of
coalition politics. That’s a problem. The Muslim Brotherhood will loom large in
a free Egypt because it has an organizational head start. That may be a problem.
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party is a brilliant political machine
with a ruthless bent. That’s a problem, too.
These are problems of different sizes. But give me all these problems so long as
they present themselves within open (or opening) systems. They are far
preferable to the cowed conformity common to the terrorized societies of the now
doomed Arab Jurassic Park, where despots do their worst.
It’s over: Enough of the nameless graves that whisper of horror, enough of the
20th-century police states in the 21st-century. Yes, it’s over for Ben Ali and
for Mubarak. It’s over for Qaddafi, yes it is. How far it’s over for the other
Arab despots and autocrats, whether of the oxymoronic “republics” or the royals,
will depend on how far they can get out in front of their citizens’ demand to be
heard.
You see, you can’t do Hama any more. You can’t do the Iraqi marshes. Perhaps you
can kill dozens, but not tens of thousands. These despots relied on the
limitlessness of their terror. It had to be as absolute as their contempt for
the law.
But now people know. They communicate through the clampdowns. They are
Facebook-nimble. The despots gaze into their gilded mirrors and, to their
horror, see not themselves but the people who will be silenced no longer. They
wonder then if their own myriad agents can be trusted. They are caught in their
own web. They flail; they have gone too far to turn back but cannot go forward.
Bashar al-Assad, the embattled Syrian president, was about to say something
Sunday, before deciding not to. He was trained in west London as an eye doctor.
He’d better stop thinking Hama — where his father murdered at least 10,000 — and
start thinking Hammersmith.
Questions swirl. Who are the Libyan rebels? Who are the angry of Latakia? The
Arab transitions will be long and bumpy — like those that brought representative
government to Latin America and Central Europe and wide swathes of Asia — but
now that fear has been overcome, they are irreversible.
Here’s who the protesters are: people like Asmaa Mahfouz, 26, the Egyptian woman
who on Jan. 18 made a video urging citizens to go to Tahrir Square on Jan. 25 —
the demonstration that would start the revolution. She said then: “We’ll go down
and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights. I won’t even talk about any
political rights. We just want our human rights and nothing else.” And she said
people “don’t have to come to Tahrir Square, just go down anywhere and say it,
that we are free human beings.” And: “This is enough!”
People are being born throughout the Middle East. They are discovering their
capacity to change things, their inner “Basta!” That’s how the Arab spring began
on Dec. 17 in the little town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia — with a fruit peddler’s
“enough” to humiliation. In my end is my beginning.
Three months later the genie is not only out of the bottle, it’s shattered the
bottle. I said of Libya in an earlier column: Be ruthless or stay out. So now
the West is in, be ruthless. Arm the resurgent rebels. Incapacitate Qaddafi. Do
everything short of putting troops on the ground. Qaddafi, as President Obama
has said, “must leave.” So that Libya can be an Arab country that is imperfect
but open.
WASHINGTON — Even as President Obama on Monday described a
narrower role for the United States in a NATO-led operation in Libya, the
American military has been carrying out an expansive and increasingly potent air
campaign to compel the Libyan Army to turn against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
When the mission was launched, it was largely seen as having a limited,
humanitarian agenda: to keep Colonel Qaddafi from attacking his own people. But
the White House, the Pentagon and their European allies have given it the most
expansive possible interpretation, amounting to an all-out assault on Libya’s
military.
A growing armada of coalition warplanes, armed with more precise information
about the location and abilities of Libyan Army units than was known a week ago,
have effectively provided the air cover the ragtag opposition has needed to
stave off certain defeat in its de facto eastern capital, Benghazi.
Allied aircraft are not only dropping 500-pound bombs on Libyan troops, they are
also using psychological operations to try to break their will to fight,
broadcasting messages in Arabic and English, telling Libyan soldiers and sailors
to abandon their posts and go back to their homes and families, and to defy
Colonel Qaddafi’s orders.
The Obama administration has been reluctant to call the operation an actual war,
and it has sought to emphasize the involvement of a dozen other countries,
particularly Italy, Britain and France. In his speech on Monday night, Mr.
Obama, as he has in the past, portrayed the mission as a limited one, and
described the United States’ role as “supporting.”
But interviews in recent days offer a fuller picture of American involvement,
and show that it is far deeper than discussed in public and more instrumental to
the fight than was previously known.
From the air, the United States is supplying much more firepower than any other
country. The allies have fired nearly 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles since the
campaign started on March 19, all but 7 from the United States. The United
States has flown about 370 attack missions, and its allied partners have flown a
similar number, but the Americans have dropped 455 precision-guided munitions
compared with 147 from other coalition members.
Besides taking part in the airstrikes, the American military is taking the lead
role in gathering intelligence, intercepting Libyan radio transmissions, for
instance, and using the information to orchestrate attacks against the Libyan
forces on the ground. And over the weekend the Air Force quietly sent three of
its most fearsome weapons to the operation.
The strategy for White House officials nervous that the Libya operation could
drag on for weeks or months, even under a NATO banner, is to hit Libyan forces
hard enough to force them to oust Colonel Qaddafi, a result that Mr. Obama has
openly encouraged.
“Certainly, the implied though not stated goal here is that the Libyan Army will
decide they’re fighting for a losing cause,” said Gen. John P. Jumper, a retired
Air Force chief of staff. “You’re probably dealing with a force that may not be
totally motivated to continue this for the long haul.”
Ten days into the assault, the officials said that Libya’s formidable integrated
air defense has been largely obliterated, and that the operation was shifting to
a new phase devised to put even more pressure on the country’s armored columns
and ground troops.
For the Americans, six tank-killing A-10 Warthogs that fire laser-guided
Maverick missiles or 30-millimeter cannons arrived on the scene this weekend.
The United States also deployed two B-1B bombers, as well as two AC-130
gunships, lumbering aircraft that orbit over targets at roughly 15,000 feet,
bristling with 40-millimeter and 105-millimeter cannons. The gunships’ weapons
are so precise that they could operate against Libyan forces in cities, which so
far have been off limits for fear of civilian casualties.
On Sunday, allied warships and submarines fired six Tomahawk cruise missiles at
the headquarters of the Libyan 32nd Brigade, based in Tripoli and commanded by
one of the Libyan leader’s sons, Khamis Qaddafi. Colonel Qaddafi has used the
brigade in the past for internal repression.
“This is one of Qaddafi’s most loyal units and are also one of the most active
in terms of attacking innocent people,” Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, the
director of the military’s joint staff, told reporters on Monday.
Despite this increased pressure on Libya’s elite forces, Admiral Gortney
insisted that the military was not going beyond the mandate of the United
Nations resolution.
“I would definitely not say mission creep,” he said.
Over all, commanders say they are trying to create havoc among the Libyan
forces, cutting off their logistic pipeline, severing their communications back
to headquarters in Tripoli, and stoking fear within the ranks with
round-the-clock attacks.
“You want to create confusion at the front, go in after command and control at
the rear and supply lines in between and ammunition facilities anywhere that we
can find them,” Admiral Gortney said Monday, describing the overall effect the
campaign is trying to achieve.
On Sunday, an EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft broadcast messages in English and
Arabic, to warn Libyan armed forces. “Libyan sailors, leave your ship
immediately,” the message warned. “Leave your equipment and return to your
family or your home. The Qaddafi regime forces are violating a United Nations
resolution ordering the end of hostilities in your country.”
Air commanders provided an example of the role of American
intelligence-gathering. Air Force eavesdropping planes intercept communications
from Libyan troops and relay that information to a Global Hawk drone flying high
overhead. The Global Hawk zooms in on the location of armored forces and
determines rough coordinates. In some cases, the drones are the first to detect
moving targets. The Global Hawk sends the coordinates to analysts at a ground
station, who pass the data on to the command center for targeting. The command
center beams the coordinates to an E-3 Sentry Awacs command-and-control plane,
which in turn directs F-16 and Harrier jets and other warplanes to their
targets.
“Our message to the regime troops is simple: Stop fighting, stop killing your
own people, stop obeying the orders of Colonel Qaddafi,” Admiral Gortney said
last week. “To the degree that you defy these demands, we will continue to hit
you and make it more difficult for you to keep going.”
President Obama made the right, albeit belated, decision to
join with allies and try to stop Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from slaughtering
thousands of Libyans. But he has been far too slow to explain that decision, or
his long-term strategy, to Congress and the American people.
On Monday night, the president spoke to the nation and made a strong case for
why America needed to intervene in this fight — and why that did not always mean
it should intervene in others.
Mr. Obama said that the United States had a moral responsibility to stop
“violence on a horrific scale,” as well as a unique international mandate and a
broad coalition to act with. He said that failure to intervene could also have
threatened the peaceful transitions in Egypt and Tunisia, as thousands of Libyan
refugees poured across their borders, while other dictators would conclude that
“violence is the best strategy to cling to power.”
Mr. Obama could report encouraging early progress on the military and diplomatic
fronts. Washington and its allies have crippled or destroyed Colonel Qaddafi’s
anti-aircraft defenses, peeled his troops back from the city of Benghazi —
saving potentially thousands of lives — and allowed rebel forces to retake the
offensive.
Just as encouragingly, this military effort that was galvanized internationally
— the United Nations Security Council authorized “all necessary measures” to
protect civilians in Libya — will soon be run internationally. Last weekend, the
United States handed over responsibility for enforcing the no-flight zone to
NATO. And the alliance is now preparing to take command of the entire mission,
with the support of (still too few) Arab nations.
To his credit, Mr. Obama did not sugarcoat the difficulties ahead. While he
suggested that his goal, ultimately, is to see Colonel Qaddafi gone, he also
said that the air war was unlikely to accomplish that by itself.
Most important, he vowed that there would be no American ground troops in this
fight. “If we tried to overthrow Qaddafi by force,” he said, “our coalition
would splinter.” He said “regime change” in Iraq took eight years and cost
thousands of American and Iraqi lives. “That is not something we can afford to
repeat in Libya.”
Instead, he said the United States and its allies would work to increase the
diplomatic and military pressure on Colonel Qaddafi and his cronies. A meeting
on Tuesday with allies and members of the Libyan opposition is supposed to
develop that strategy along with ways to help the rebels build alternate, and we
hope humane and competent, governing structures. That needs to start quickly.
To hold their ground and protect endangered civilians, let alone advance, the
rebels will likely need air support for quite some time. Mr. Obama was right not
to promise a swift end to the air campaign. At the same time, he should not
overestimate the patience of the American people or the weariness of the
overstretched military.
And as Washington reduces its military role, others, inside and outside NATO,
will need to increase theirs. Within NATO, unenthusiastic partners like Germany
and Turkey need to at least stay out of the way even if they continue to stand
aside from the fighting.
The president made the right choice to act, but this is a war of choice, not
necessity. Presidents should not commit the military to battle without
consulting Congress and explaining their reasons to the American people.
Fortunately, initial coalition military operations have gone well.
Unfortunately, it is the nature of war that they will not always go well. Mr.
Obama needs to work with Congress and keep the public fully informed. On Monday,
he made an overdue start on that.
WASHINGTON — President Obama defended the American-led
military assault in Libya on Monday, saying it was in the national interest of
the United States to stop a potential massacre that would have “stained the
conscience of the world.”
In his first major address since ordering American airstrikes on the forces and
artillery of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi nine days ago, Mr. Obama emphasized that
the United States's role in the assault would be limited, but said that America
had the responsibility and the international backing to stop what he
characterized as a looming genocide in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
“I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking
action,” Mr. Obama said.
At the same time, he said, directing American troops to forcibly remove Colonel
Qaddafi from power would be a step too far, and would “splinter” the
international coalition that has moved against the Libyan government.
“To be blunt, we went down that road in Iraq,” Mr. Obama said, adding that
“regime change there took eight years, thousands of American and Iraqi lives,
and nearly a trillion dollars. That is not something we can afford to repeat in
Libya.”
Speaking in the early evening from the National Defense University in
Washington, Mr. Obama said he had made good on his promise to limit American
military involvement against Colonel Qaddafi’s forces — he did not use the word
“war” to describe the action — and he laid out a more general philosophy for the
use of force.
But while Mr. Obama described a narrower role for the United States in a
NATO-led operation in Libya, the American military has been carrying out an
expansive and increasingly potent air campaign to compel the Libyan Army to turn
against Colonel Qaddafi.
The president said he was willing to act unilaterally to defend the nation and
its core interests. But in other cases, he said, when the safety of Americans is
not directly threatened but where action can be justified — in the case of
genocide, humanitarian relief, regional security or economic interests — the
United States should not act alone. His statements amounted both to a rationale
for multilateralism and another critique of what he has all along characterized
as the excessively unilateral tendencies of the administration of George W.
Bush.
“In such cases, we should not be afraid to act — but the burden of action should
not be America’s alone,” Mr. Obama said. “Because contrary to the claims of
some, American leadership is not simply a matter of going it alone and bearing
all of the burden ourselves. Real leadership creates the conditions and
coalitions for others to step up as well; to work with allies and partners so
that they bear their share of the burden and pay their share of the costs; and
to see that the principles of justice and human dignity are upheld by all.”
Mr. Obama never mentioned many of the other nations going through upheaval
across the Arab world, including Yemen, Syria and Bahrain, but left little doubt
that his decision to send the United States military into action in Libya was
the product of a confluence of particular circumstances and opportunities.
He did not say how the intervention in Libya would end, but said the United
States and its allies would seek to drive Colonel Qaddafi from power by means
other than military force if necessary.
Speaking for 28 minutes, Mr. Obama addressed a number of audiences. To the
American public, he tried to offer reassurance that the United States was not
getting involved in another open-ended commitment in a place that few Americans
had spent much time thinking about. To the democracy protesters across the
Middle East, he vowed that the United States would stand by them, even as he
said that “progress will be uneven, and change will come differently in
different countries,” a partial acknowledgment that complex relations between
the United States and different Arab countries may make for different American
responses in different countries.
“The United States will not be able to dictate the pace and scope of this
change,” Mr. Obama said. But, he added, “I believe that this movement of change
cannot be turned back, and that we must stand alongside those who believe in the
same core principles that have guided us through many storms: our opposition to
violence directed against one’s own citizens; our support for a set of universal
rights, including the freedom for people to express themselves and choose their
leaders; our support for governments that are ultimately responsive to the
aspirations of the people.”
The president’s remarks were timed to coincide with the formal handover of
control over the Libya campaign to NATO, scheduled for Wednesday. But in the
wake of criticism from Congressional representatives from both sides of the
aisle that Mr. Obama overstepped his authority in ordering the strikes without
first getting Congressional approval — and the return of lawmakers to Washington
after their spring recess — Mr. Obama had another audience: Congress.
Mr. Obama said that he authorized the military action only “after consulting the
bipartisan leadership of Congress,” which White House officials have maintained
is sufficient for what they have described as a limited military campaign.
Whether his comments will do much to calm the criticism on Capitol Hill remains
unclear. Some liberals remain unsettled by the fact of another war in a Muslim
country, initiated by a Democratic president who first came to national
prominence as an opponent of the Iraq war, even as others backed the use of
force to avert a potential massacre.
Some Republicans continued to criticize Mr. Obama for moving too slowly, while
another strain of conservative thought argued that the intervention was
overreach, a military action without a compelling national interest.
“Since the allied military campaign began in Libya, President Obama’s seeming
uncertainty about the parameters and details of our engagement has only inspired
a similar uncertainty among the American people,” Representative Tom Price,
Republican of Georgia, said in a statement after the speech. “The president’s
speech this evening offered very little to diminish those concerns.”
From the start, Mr. Obama has been caught between criticism that he did not do
enough and that he had done too much. He continued to try to explain some
seeming contradictions on Monday evening, including that while the United States
wants Colonel Qaddafi out, it would not make his departure a goal of the
military action.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, he said, will attend a meeting in
London on Tuesday where the international community will try to come up with a
separate plan to pressure Colonel Qaddafi to leave.
“I know that some Americans continue to have questions about our efforts in
Libya,” Mr. Obama acknowledged. “Qaddafi has not yet stepped down from power,
and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous.”
But, he said, “if we try to overthrow Qaddafi by force, our coalition would
splinter. We would likely have to put U.S. troops on the ground, or risk killing
many civilians from the air. The dangers to our men and women in uniform would
be far greater. So would the costs and our share of the responsibility for what
comes next.”
Aaron David Miller, a State Department Middle East peace negotiator during the
Clinton administration, said Mr. Obama described a doctrine that, in essence,
can be boiled to this: “If we can, if there’s a moral case, if we have allies,
and if we can transition out and not get stuck, we’ll move to help. The Obama
doctrine is the ‘hedge your bets and make sure you have a way out’ doctrine. He
learned from Afghanistan and Iraq.”
White House officials said the American strikes in Libya did not set a precedent
for military action in other Middle East trouble spots. “Obviously there are
certain aspirations that are being voiced by each of these movements, but
there’s no question that each of them is unique,” Deputy National Security
Adviser Denis McDonough said on Monday. “We don’t get very hung up on this
question of precedent.”
But the question of precedent is one that Mr. Obama is clearly still grappling
with. “My fellow Americans, I know that at a time of upheaval overseas — when
the news is filled with conflict and change — it can be tempting to turn away
from the world,” he said.
But, his conclusion was ambiguous at best: “Let us look to the future with
confidence and hope not only for our own country, but for all those yearning for
freedom around the world.”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama set out his
strategy for Libya in a televised address on Monday, seeking to refute criticism
that he was slow to explain the scope of the mission and his exit plan.
Here is reaction from analysts to Obama's speech.
KENNETH POLLACK, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT, SABAN CENTER AT THE
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
"It was mostly intended for a domestic audience. That was always the target. I
think it answered the bell for the domestic audience. I think internationally
there was only ever so much it was going to do. I think it probably did convince
people overseas that the president has a good grasp on why he decided to commit
the United States to Libya, what he's seeking to do there, how he's planning to
do it."
"I think that he did convince them 'Look you know, I'm not planning to make a
bigger American investment in Libya but by the same token I'm also not intending
to just simply leave Gaddafi in power forever.' And I think that those are
ultimately the major issues."
MICHAEL WOOLFOLK, SENIOR CURRENCY STRATEGIST, BNY MELLON
"Certainly President Obama's words were positive but market players are
skeptical as to whether or not Obama himself really has any significant impact
on market behavior or market sentiment."
STEPHEN FLANAGAN, NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT, CENTER FOR
STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
"He showed that in fact there was fairly deliberate and decisive action, that
this took place over a matter of a few weeks as opposed to a year in the case of
Bosnia."
"He made clear that this wasn't open-ended ... In the back of the speech the
makings of an Obama doctrine on the use of force where he was saying that we
will both defend our values and our interests..."
"I thought it was a very clear statement of how he views and prioritizes the
defending of our core interests, our other interests and values when they are
threatened."
"It is reminiscent a bit of a speech that President Clinton gave in the
aftermath of the Kosovo crisis when people were saying 'Well why Kosovo and not
elsewhere and is this an open-ended commitment?'"
WILLIAM LARKIN, FIXED INCOME PORTFOLIO MANAGER, CABOT MONEY
MANAGEMENT
"I think that people are going to look at the facts that come out of the Middle
East. I think that my takeaway is that it was very clear to me that this was:
'Lesson learned by the American people.' Don't do it alone, the initial passing
it over to NATO to do the heavy lifting, they're hopefully going to take care of
this situation. It's progress. He's being very transparent about his tactics.
All those are positives. The market is going to like that."
STEVEN COOK, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
"He did what he set out to do, which is to explain why we're doing it. I thought
he raised all the right points -- why Libya but not other places, which is the
thing that's been dogging him most recently."
"It may not satisfy everybody but I think it was pretty effective -- the fact
that Gaddafi was going to steamroll over Benghazi ... He raised the humanitarian
issue very effectively."
"All in all it was good. The part that was a little bit shaky from my
perspective was when he divorced the military objectives from the political
objectives."
"Publicly they're not going to say that they're involved in regime change. But
in essence what he said by leveling the playing field and allowing Libyans to
take matters into their own hands, they're creating an opportunity where Libyans
have at least a fighting chance to engage in their own regime change."
SHARON STARK, CHIEF FIXED INCOME STRATEGIST, STERNE AGEE
"Investors decided to flock to the safety of bonds when this all started and I
think now that the president has said the immediate crisis is over you won't see
that massive exodus out of equities into bonds. However, the situation is still
fragile enough that it wouldn't take much for investors to do that again."
(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Joanne Allen and Eric Walsh;
Editing by John O'Callaghan)
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 28, 2011
7:55pm EDT
Reuters
By Matt Spetalnick and Alister Bull
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Americans
on Monday the United States would work with its allies to hasten the day when
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, but would not use force to topple
him.
In a nationally televised address, Obama -- accused by many lawmakers of failing
to explain the U.S. role in the Western air campaign against Gaddafi's loyalists
-- made the case for his decision to intervene militarily in the Libya conflict.
But he also underscored the limits of U.S. military action as he sought to
counter criticism that he lacked clear objectives and a credible exit strategy
in the conflict.
"I can report that we have stopped Gaddafi's deadly advance," Obama told
military officers at the National Defense University in Washington, 10 days
after ordering U.S. participation in Western-led air strikes.
"We will deny the regime arms, cut off its supply of cash, assist the
opposition, and work with other nations to hasten the day when Gaddafi leaves
power," Obama said.
But he added that "it may not happen overnight" and acknowledged that Gaddafi
may be able to cling to power. "Broadening our military mission to include
regime change would be a mistake," he said.
Obama spoke on the eve of a 35-nation conference in London to tackle the crisis
in the North African oil-exporting country and weigh political options for
ending Gaddafi's 41-year rule.
Obama's challenge was to define the limited purpose and scope of the U.S.
mission in Libya for Americans preoccupied with domestic economic concerns and
weary of costly wars in two other Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his words may not be enough to mollify Republican opponents who say he has
failed to lead in recent global crises ranging from Middle East unrest to
Japan's nuclear emergency.
Obama's prime-time speech came a day after NATO agreed to assume full
responsibility for military operations in Libya, ending uncertainty about who
would take over the lead from U.S. forces. He said the handover would take place
on Wednesday.
The alliance's decision gave a boost to Obama's effort to show Americans he was
making good on his commitment to limit the U.S. military's involvement in Libya.
NATO will take charge of air strikes that have targeted Gaddafi's military
infrastructure as well as a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.
The White House also hopes Obama can score political points at home from gains
on the battlefield by Libyan rebels emboldened by the Western air assault on
Gaddafi's loyalists.
Obama, European leaders agree Gaddafi should leave
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 28, 2011
7:14pm EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and his British,
French and German counterparts agreed on Monday that Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to rule and should leave power, the White House
said.
Obama also said in a videoconference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that
the United States will provide supporting capabilities to the coalition effort
in Libya, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, editing by Will Dunham)
JERUSALEM | Mon Mar 28, 2011
6:07pm EDT
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel passed a law on Monday that eases
the process of revoking citizenship in a step denounced as a move to threaten
primarily its Arab minority.
The amendment to a so-called "Citizenship Law" was the latest in a list of
parliamentary measures taken this past month that civil rights activists
denounce as undemocratic but Israeli rightists see as essential to the Jewish
state's defense.
The measure, which passed by a vote of 37 to 11 after a stormy debate, empowers
Israeli judges to deny citizenship privileges to anyone convicted of espionage
or committing violence with nationalist motives.
An official explanatory text said that the law was intended to "expand the
possibility of denying citizenship and empowers the court that convicts someone
of crimes of acts of terror," espionage or treason to be stripped of
citizenship.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose ultra-nationalist party
sponsored the measure, proclaimed victory after the vote, saying he had
fulfilled a pledge to voters to crack down on any "citizen who sides with the
enemy."
Israel's Association for Civil Rights issued a statement in protest saying that
"in a democracy you don't deny citizenship" and that the measure sends a
"humiliating and discriminatory message that citizenship for Israeli Arabs is
not automatic."
Israel has seldom revoked citizenship privileges in the past, and the measure's
passage now seemed symbolic of how increasingly Israeli rightists see the
nation's Arabs as well as leftist critics as a threat to their embattled
country's future.
Israeli Arabs, who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, are descendants
of Palestinians who remained in what is now Israel when hundreds of thousands
were driven away or fled in a 1948 war over Israel's establishment.
Unlike Palestinians living in territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, Israeli
Arabs are fully enfranchised though many complain of discrimination. A small
number of them have been charged with crimes linked to Palestinian militancy.
"DEMOGRAPHIC WAR"
Arab lawmakers, who number about a dozen in Israel's 120-member Knesset, gave
angry speeches against the measure.
"This is another law intended to wage demographic war against us," Hanna Sweid,
of the Democratic Movement for Change, said, referring to those Israeli
ultra-nationalists who have voiced fears of Jews being outnumbered by Arabs in
the future.
Punctuating the debate was an argument between right-wing lawmaker Anastasia
Michaeli and Arab legislator Afa Aghbaria who called her a "shiksa," a Yiddish
word for a non-Jewish woman -- challenging her Jewish credentials which entitled
her to automatic Israeli citizenship.
Michaeli, a Russian immigrant, is a convert to Judaism.
Israel's parliament has passed and debated a list of measures denounced as
undemocratic and anti-Arab this month by civic rights campaigners.
A law passed a week ago would penalize those engaging in public denunciations of
Israel's founding as a "nakba," the Arabic word for catastrophe.
Yet another permits small communities to exclude anyone seen as unsuitable from
their midst, including Arabs who constitute a majority in some of the regions
where the law applies.
A proposal to investigate funding for left-wing groups was shelved, though,
after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped in, answering critics who called
it a blow to free speech.
Also last week, ultra-nationalist lawmaker Danny Danon held a hearing to upbraid
the Jewish-American "J-Street," saying the group, which critises Jewish
settlement-building in occupied land, should be shunned as "pro-Palestinian, not
pro-Israeli."
David Gilo, a J-Street leader, rejected the charge. "We are Zionists and care
about Israel," Gilo told the Knesset panel.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain's leading Shi'ite opposition party
Wefaq said on Monday 250 people have been detained and 44 others went missing
since a security crackdown crushed weeks of protests, more than double last
week's figures.
Earlier this month, Bahrain's Sunni rulers, the al-Khalifa family, imposed
martial law and called in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled Gulf neighbors,
including top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, to quell weeks of unrest during
pro-democracy protests led by mostly Shi'ite demonstrators.
Separately, military prosecutors banned media from reporting about suspects and
cases linked to the martial law, state news agency BNA reported on Monday.
The severity of the crackdown, which banned all public gatherings and spread
masked security forces across the city to man checkpoints, stunned Bahrain's
majority Shi'ites and angered the region's non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.
Wefaq said many Bahrainis, mostly Shi'ites, were being arrested at checkpoints
or in house raids. In other cases, family members report that relatives simply
do not return home, Wefaq member Mattar Ibrahim Mattar told Reuters by
telephone.
"We have around 250 confirmed arrested and 44 who are missing, though that
number fluctuates when people reappear after hiding from police," said Mattar, a
parliamentarian before Wefaq resigned over the use of force against protesters.
"Just today and yesterday, we got calls from 35 families saying they lost
contact with their relatives when they passed through a checkpoint," Mattar
said. "We don't know what's happened to them, authorities won't say. In these
conditions, we actually have to hope they were arrested."
Bahraini officials were not immediately available to comment on Wefaq's
estimated number of those missing or arrested.
More than 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shi'ites and most are calling for a
constitutional monarchy, but demands by hardliners for the overthrow of the
monarchy have alarmed minority Sunnis, who fear unrest serves Iran, just across
Gulf waters.
Wefaq says most of those who were detained or went missing were not activists,
though many political leaders were arrested in the days immediately following
the March 16 crackdown.
A few of those who went missing turned up dead last week.
(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Louise Ireland)
U.S.: Libyan rebel oil sales must avoid Gaddafi firms
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 28, 2011
12:54pm EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Crude oil sales by Libyan rebels would
not be subject to U.S. sanctions if they are completed outside of the National
Oil Corp or any other entity connected to Muammar Gaddafi's regime, a Treasury
Department official said on Monday.
The rebels, who regained control of a number of oil fields and terminals in
eastern Libya over the weekend, would have to establish payment systems that do
not utilize Libya's central bank or involve any other government entity, the
official told Reuters.
"The rebels are not part of the government of Libya. They are not subject to the
sanctions," the official said.
The Treasury on February 25 banned U.S. transactions with Libya's state oil
producer, the central bank and other state entities in an effort to cut off
revenues to Gaddafi's regime.
It later put another 14 NOC subsidiaries on its blacklist, which also seeks to
freeze any Gaddafi regime assets under U.S. jurisdiction.
With the backing of Western air strikes, Libyan rebels trying to overthrow
Gaddafi have retaken the main oil terminal cities in eastern Libya, including Es
Sider, Ras Lanuf, Brega, Zueitina and Tobruk. They were advancing toward
Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on Monday.
Essentially, the rebels would have to establish separate, clear control of oil
fields and terminal facilities and demonstrate that no revenues are flowing to
the Gaddafi regime, the Treasury official said.
The official declined to comment on a Libyan plan announced on Sunday that would
have Gulf oil producer Qatar market crude produced from eastern Libyan fields
that are no longer under Gaddafi's control.
Ali Tarhouni, who is in charge of economic, financial and oil matters for the
rebels, said output from the east Libya oil fields under rebel control was
running at about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels per day. Prior to the political
unrest, Libya was producing about 1.6 million barrels per day, or almost 2
percent of world output.
The official emphasized that the Treasury has not altered any of the sanctions
on Gaddafi's regime, which involve freezes on some $32 billion in assets. But
the sanctions do not apply to Libyan entities that are outside of the government
and outside of Gaddafi's control.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Leslie Adler)
White House urges Syria respect rights of demonstrators
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 28, 2011
11:56am EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects the Syrian
government to respect the rights of Syrians to demonstrate peacefully, Denis
McDonough, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said on
Monday.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Editing by Sandra Maler)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Reuters journalists were released by
Syrian authorities on Monday, two days after they were detained in Damascus.
Television producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji returned to their
home base in Lebanon and said they were well.
"Reuters is concerned that its journalists were detained and held incommunicado
for so long. We are delighted by their release and look forward to welcoming
Ayat and Ezzat back," Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said.
"We would like to thank everyone who helped us resolve the issue."
Basma and Baltaji, both Beirut-based Lebanese nationals, traveled to neighboring
Syria on Thursday. Mass protests there over the last two weeks have posed the
biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
A Syrian official said the journalists were detained and questioned because they
did not have a permit to work in Syria and had filmed "in an area where filming
is not permitted."
They had last contacted colleagues on Saturday evening and their whereabouts had
been unclear until shortly before they were released on Monday.
Basma, who has also reported from Tunisia, Egypt and Iraq, has been with Reuters
since February 2007. Baltaji has worked for the company since April 2008.
On Friday Syrian authorities withdrew the accreditation of a Reuters foreign
correspondent based in Damascus, saying he filed "unprofessional and false"
coverage of events in Syria.
Egypt confirms to hold national election in September
CAIRO | Mon Mar 28, 2011
10:23am EDT
By Marwa Awad
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will hold a parliamentary election in
September, its military rulers said on Monday, setting a date that analysts said
would suit well-organised Islamists and remnants of former leader Hosni
Mubarak's party.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said emergency laws that have
helped crush political life for decades would be lifted before elections, but
did not say when, and approved a law easing restrictions on political party
formation.
"It is a challenge for the new forces that came up as a result of the
revolution," said Mustapha al-Sayyid, a political scientist, referring to the
timetable for elections. "This period is relatively short for these parties."
Many secular reform groups have been calling on the military, which has governed
since Mubarak was deposed on February 11, to extend the transitional period to
allow political life to recover from decades of oppression.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group formally banned under Mubarak, has
emerged as the country's best organised political force. Other fledgling groups
are trying to organize.
"Parliamentary elections will be in September," said Mamdouh Shaheen, a member
of the ruling military council. A date for a presidential election, which will
follow the legislative polls, had yet to be set, he added in a news conference.
The elections are major milestones on the path set by the military in a
transition that will end with the army relinquishing power to a civilian,
elected government.
"The time is short but we will work with all our capacities to take part," said
Abou Elela Mady, leader of the recently licensed Wasat Party (Center Party). "It
doesn't give us a full opportunity but it's a good start."
The Brotherhood has voiced support for quick elections. But it has sought to
reassure Egyptians worried about its relative strength by saying it will not
seek the presidency or a parliamentary majority.
PARTIES "NEED YEARS, NOT MONTHS"
The Islamist group and other reformists are discussing the idea of entering the
legislative election in an alliance to produce a "revolutionary majority" that
will take the lead in drafting a new constitution once the parliament is
elected.
The military suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament after Mubarak
stepped down. Shaheen said the army would issue a constitutional decree that
will provide a legal basis for its rule in the coming days.
The military council said the state of emergency which has been in force since
the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 would also be lifted before
any elections were held.
"We have said before that parliamentary or presidential polls will not be held
while emergency law is still in force," Shaheen said.
The military council also approved a law that will ease restrictions on the
formation of political parties.
Under the new law, Shaheen said new parties would need the approval of 5,000
members from at least 10 of Egypt's 29 provinces, increasing the number of
signatures from 1,000 outlined in a draft law approved by cabinet last week.
The Brotherhood is one of the groups expected to now begin steps toward forming
a political party.
A plethora of new parties are expected to apply for an official license from a
committee formerly headed by a leading figure in Mubarak's party. Under the new
law, it will be headed by a judge.
"The September date is not too soon," said Amr Hashem of the Al Ahram Center for
Political and Strategic Studies.
"The argument that parties will need more time to prepare is wanting. Parties
will need years, not months, so any delay we are talking about now is not going
to make that much of a difference," he said.
(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed and Tom Perry; Writing by Tom
Perry; Editing by Louise Ireland)
RABAT (Reuters) - Libya's Foreign Ministry declared a
ceasefire in Misrata on Monday, the Libyan news agency said, referring to the
western town where rebels earlier said government forces gained control of part
of the city.
"The Foreign Ministry ... announces that anti-terrorism units have stopped
firing at the armed terrorist groups that have been terrorizing," the Jana
agency quoted the ministry as saying.
"The city of Misrata now enjoys security and tranquility and public services
have started to recover their ability to provide customary services to all
citizens."
"The Foreign Ministry thus emphasizes Libya's commitment to the ceasefire: it
stands."
(Reporting by Souhail Karam, writing by Adam Tanner)
BIN JAWAD, Libya | Mon Mar 28, 2011
10:13am EDT
By Angus MacSwan
BIN JAWAD, Libya (Reuters) - Rebels advanced toward the
birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, streaming west along the
main coastal road in pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns.
Russia criticized the Western-led air strikes that have turned the tide of
Libya's conflict, saying these amounted to taking sides in a civil war and
breached the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution.
On the eve of 35-nation talks in London, Italy proposed a political deal to end
the Libya crisis, including a quick ceasefire, exile for Gaddafi and dialogue
between rebels and tribal leaders.
Emboldened by the Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, the rebels
have quickly reversed earlier losses and regained control of all the main oil
terminals in the east of the OPEC member country.
"We want to go to Sirte today. I don't know if it will happen," said 25-year-old
rebel fighter Marjai Agouri as he waited with 100 others outside Bin Jawad with
three multiple rocket launchers, six anti-aircraft guns and around a dozen
pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on them.
But the rapid advance is stretching rebel supply lines.
"We have a serious problem with petrol," said a volunteer fighter waiting to
fill his vehicle in the oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Al Jazeera said the rebels had seized the town of Nawfaliyah from forces loyal
to Gaddafi, extending their advance westwards toward his hometown of Sirte,
about 120 km (75 miles) away.
However a Reuters correspondent who was about 15 km (10 miles) west of Bin Jawad
on the road to Nawfaliyah heard a sustained bombardment on the road ahead.
"This is the frontline. The army has stopped over there, we are stopping here,"
Mohammed al-Turki, 21, a fighter at a rebel checkpoint, told Reuters, pointing
to the road ahead where the sounds of blasts were coming from.
Western-led air strikes began on March 19, two days after the U.N. Security
Council authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's
forces. But since the outset, the mission has faced questions about its scope
and aims, including the extent to which it will actively back the rebel side and
whether it might target Gaddafi himself.
Russia, which abstained in the U.N. vote, said Western attacks on Gaddafi's
forces amounted to taking sides with the rebels.
"We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an
internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution,"
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference.
Russian oil company Tatneft is expected to book $100 million of losses on
capital expenditure in Libya as a result of the conflict, a company source told
Reuters.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the BBC: "We are there to protect
civilians -- no more, no less." France, which dropped the first bombs of the
campaign nine days ago, said the coalition was strictly complying with U.N.
terms.
Qatar became the first Arab country to recognize the rebels -- now in the sixth
week of their uprising against Gaddafi's 41-year rule -- as the sole legitimate
representative of the Libyan people. [nLDE72R0XH]
Contradicting a rebel claim to have captured Sirte, Reuters correspondent
Michael Georgy reported from the city that the situation was normal. He had seen
some police and military, but no signs of any fighting.
Soldiers were manning checkpoints and green Libyan flags flapped in the wind.
Militiamen fired AK-47 rifles defiantly into the air. "If they come to Sirte, we
will defend our city," said Osama bin Nafaa, 32, a policeman.
As Gaddafi's hometown and an important military base, Sirte -- about half-way
along the coast from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to Tripoli -- has great
symbolic and strategic value. If it fell, the rebels would gain a psychological
boost and the road toward the capital would lie open.
As the rebels pressed forward in the east, they reported attacks by Gaddafi's
forces in the west.
Gaddafi loyalists now control part of Misrata, the country's third largest city,
a rebel spokesman said. The government in Tripoli said it had "liberated"
Misrata from rebels.
A rebel spokesman in another western town, Zintan, said forces loyal to Gaddafi
bombarded the town with rockets early on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
The Defense Ministry in London said British Tornado aircraft attacked and
destroyed Libyan government ammunition bunkers in the Sabha area of Libya's
southern desert in the early hours of Monday.
Libya's state news agency Jana said the raids caused several casualties.
CHANGE OF COMMAND
On Sunday, NATO agreed to take full command of military operations in Libya
after a week of heated negotiations. The United States, which led the initial
phase, had sought to scale back its role in another Muslim country after the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An alliance spokeswoman said on Monday the transition would take a couple of
days.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Western air strikes had "eliminated"
Gaddafi's ability to move his heavy weapons. He also raised the possibility that
Gaddafi's government could splinter and said an international conference in
London on Tuesday would discuss political strategies to help bring an end to his
rule.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters he had discussed Rome's
proposals for a political deal on Libya with Germany, France and Sweden and
expected to do so with Turkey later on Monday, ahead of Tuesday's 35-nation
talks.
He said an African country could offer Gaddafi asylum, and ruled out that the
Libyan leader would remain in power.
"Gaddafi must understand that it would be an act of courage to say: 'I
understand that I have to go'," Frattini added. "We hope that the African Union
can find a valid proposal."
Libya accused NATO of "terrorizing" and killing its people as part of a global
plot to humiliate and weaken it.
The government says Western-led air attacks have killed more than 100 civilians,
a charge denied by the coalition which says it is protecting civilians from
Gaddafi's forces and targeting only military sites to enforce a no-fly zone.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Edmund Blair, Maria
Golovnina, Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Tom Pfeiffer, Lamine Chikhi,
Mariam Karouny, Joseph Nasr, Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Steve Gutterman; Writing
by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Giles Elgood)
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian forces opened fire to disperse
hundreds of protesters in Deraa calling for an end to emergency laws on Monday,
but demonstrators regrouped despite a heavy troop deployment, a witness said.
At least 61 people have been killed in 10 days of anti-government protests in
the southern city, posing the most serious challenge to President Bashar
al-Assad's rule.
Assad has yet to respond to the demonstrations, which have spread to the port
city of Latakia and Hama, but Vice President Farouq al-Shara said Assad would
announce important decisions in the next 48 hours.
The demonstrators in Deraa had converged on a main square chanting: "We want
dignity and freedom" and "No to emergency laws", the witness said. He said
security forces fired in the air for several minutes, but protesters returned
when they stopped.
Security forces had in recent days reduced their presence in the poor, mostly
Sunni city, but residents said on Monday they had returned in strength.
"(Security forces) are pointing their machine guns at any gatherings of people
in the area near the mosque," said a trader, referring to the Omari Mosque which
has been a focal point of demonstrations in the city.
Abu Tamam, a Deraa resident whose house overlooks the mosque, said soldiers and
central security forces had a presence "almost every meter". Another resident
from the Jawabra tribe said snipers had repositioned on many key buildings.
"No one dares to move," he said, speaking before Monday's demonstration began.
Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in Syria,
where the Baath Party has been in power for nearly 50 years but now faces the
wave of Arab revolutionary sentiment which has toppled leaders in Egypt and
Tunisia.
"IMPORTANT DECISIONS"
Vice President Shara said Assad would announce important decisions that will
"please the Syrian people" in the next two days, according to Lebanese
Hezbollah's al-Manar television. Syria has close links to Shi'ite Hezbollah and
Shi'ite Iran.
Assad, 45, sent in troops to the key port city of Latakia on Saturday, signaling
the government's growing alarm about the ability of security forces to keep
order there.
The government has said 12 people were killed in clashes between "armed
elements" -- whom they blame for the violence -- citizens and security forces.
Rights activists have said at least six people had been killed in two days of
clashes.
State television showed on Sunday deserted streets in Latakia, littered with
rubble and broken glass and two burned-out, gutted buses. Latakia is inhabited
by a potentially volatile mix of Sunni Muslims, Christians and the minority
Alawites who constitute Assad's core support.
Assad has pledged to look into granting greater political and media freedoms but
this has failed to dampen the protest movement now in its 11th day.
In an attempt to placate protesters, authorities have freed 260 mostly Islamist
prisoners. They also released political activist Diana Jawabra and 15 others
arrested for taking part in a silent protest.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Editing by Jon Hemming)
WASHINGTON | Mon Mar 28, 2011
8:23am EDT
By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama faces the
challenge on Monday of convincing Americans he has clear military aims and a
U.S. exit strategy in the Libya conflict as he seeks to counter growing
congressional criticism.
In a high-stakes televised address, Obama -- accused by many lawmakers of
failing to explain the U.S. role in the Western air campaign against Libya's
Muammar Gaddafi -- will try to define the mission's purpose and scope.
His task was made easier when NATO agreed on Sunday to assume full
responsibility for military operations in Libya, ending uncertainty about who
would lead the allied effort.
Obama is expected to hail the alliance's decision as proof he is making good on
his pledge that the United States -- with its forces entangled in Iraq and
Afghanistan -- will play only a limited role in a war in a third Muslim country.
Rebel gains on the battlefield in Libya could also give him a boost.
But Obama still must reassure an American public preoccupied with domestic
economic concerns that intervention in Libya serves U.S. national interests and
also overcome doubts that he has a clear idea of an end game.
"I know how concerned people are, and obviously the president will speak to the
country Monday night to answer a lot of those concerns," U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
Coalition allies will also be listening closely. Obama's speech, scheduled for
7:30 p.m. EDT comes just one day before a high-level conference in London billed
as a discussion of political strategies to end Gaddafi's 41-year authoritarian
rule of his oil-exporting North African nation.
CRITICISM
Obama's address to the American people marks his boldest move to seize back
control of the Libya debate in Washington.
Republicans have been the most outspoken in their complaints that he has failed
to communicate thoroughly the mission's goals, and some have chided him for not
seeking congressional approval. While most fellow Democrats are still backing
him, some see a lack of a coherent exit plan.
"This policy has been characterized by confusion, indecision and delay,"
Republican Senator John McCain told Fox News on Sunday. "It's no wonder that
Americans are confused as to exactly what our policy is because on one hand they
say it's humanitarian, on the other hand they say Gaddafi must go."
White House officials defend Obama's cautious approach as necessary to forge a
coalition, including Arab support, and deny any failure to articulate U.S.
objectives.
Obama has said the purpose of the U.N.-approved military action was to protect
civilians, not to oust Gaddafi. However, he has made no secret of his desire to
see Gaddafi go.
What remains unclear, however, is what happens if Gaddafi stays in power despite
a no-fly zone and air strikes.
Obama has yet to address that scenario -- aside from reiterating that U.S.
ground forces would not be used -- and it was not known how far he would go in
his speech at the military's National Defense University in Washington.
Though allied bombing of Gaddafi's forces has helped Libya's rebel army reverse
the military losses of their five-week-old insurgency, analysts see the risk of
a bloody stalemate that could prolong Western military support.
Despite that, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates told NBC's "Meet the Press" the
United States would begin reducing its role in the Libya no-fly zone in the next
week or so.
In an admission that could provide further ammunition for Obama's critics, Gates
said Libya was not in itself a vital U.S. interest but defended the intervention
on humanitarian grounds and because of the threat of a Libyan refugee crisis
further destabilizing neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.
Recent polls show more Americans backing Obama's use of air power in Libya than
those opposing it. But experts say unless the United States finds a quick exit,
Obama could see Libya emerge as an issue in his 2012 re-election campaign.
Obama is struggling to balance his handling of world crises with his domestic
priorities of jobs and the economy, considered crucial to his re-election
chances.
(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Eric Walsh)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and
his family are not allowed to leave the country, the military council to which
he handed power on February 11 said on Monday.
The military denied reports that Mubarak had left to Saudi Arabia, adding: "He
and his family are subject to forced residency in Egypt."
March 27, 2011
The New York Times
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
CAIRO — The Syrian government tried to ease a grave political
crisis on Sunday by blaming armed gangs for killing 12 people in the
northwestern port city of Latakia in previous days and promising to soon lift a
draconian emergency law that allows the government to detain people without
charges.
Despite an announcement that the president, Bashar al-Assad, would address the
nation on Sunday night, he stayed out of sight, as he has during more than a
week of unrest that is threatening his own 11-year presidency and more than 40
years of his family’s iron-fisted rule. At least 61 people have died during
crackdowns on protesters in several cities.
The capital, Damascus, was quiet throughout the day, offering a veneer of calm
at a time of great uncertainty. Speculation over high-level conflicts swirled as
Syrians retreated to their homes, fearful of more protests and more bloodshed.
There were rumors of cracks within the insular and opaque leadership of the
nation, while the government sent out competing messages of compromise and
crackdowns.
There was also confusion over what, if anything, the government was planning
regarding the emergency law. A government official told reporters in Damascus
that it would soon be repealed. But the official did not explain what it would
mean to remove the emergency law, in place since 1963, given that so many other
laws restrict freedoms and grant immunity to the secret police.
“What will change is nothing,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights
activist and legal expert now teaching at George Washington University.
What was certain was that the crisis was far from resolved by sunset on Sunday.
The coastal town of Latakia was sealed off by security services and the military
one day after witnesses and human rights groups reported that government forces
opened fire on demonstrators. That flare-up of violence came after days of
protests in the south, starting in the city of Dara’a, where government forces
also opened fire, killing dozens. The protests began after the police arrested
and held a group of young people who scrawled antigovernment graffiti.
Details of the unrest, as well as exact numbers of the dead, are uncertain
because the government has blocked foreign reporters from entering or working in
Syria.
But human rights groups reported that the death toll nationwide was 61 even
before the killing began on Saturday.
“Yesterday was a terrifying situation in Latakia,” said Mr. Ziadeh, who said he
had stayed in close touch with events in Syria. “More than 21 have been killed.”
The Assad family has wielded power through a complex alliance of intersecting
interests between the Assads’ minority Alawite sect and other religious
minorities, including Christians, and an elite Sunni business class.
The rush of revolts may be especially unnerving to the leadership because they
have occurred in two strongholds of the leadership. Dara’a is a majority Sunni
tribal region that has long been a base of support for the elite; it is the home
of key leaders in the military and the government, including the vice president,
Farouk al-Sharaa.
Latakia is one of the few places in the country that has an Alawite majority. If
the unrest spreads to major cities, where there are Sunni majorities, analysts
said, the entire system could become unhinged, as happened in Tunisia and Egypt,
where the presidents were forced from power.
“It’s over; it’s just a question of time,” said a Western diplomat in Damascus,
speaking on the condition of anonymity in accordance with diplomatic protocol.
“It could be a slow burn, or Qaddafi-esque insanity over the next few days. It’s
very tense here, very tense. You can feel it in the air.”
The crisis is the second, and most serious, to test President Assad, 45. Mr.
Assad’s brother Basil had been the heir apparent to their father, Hafez, but he
died in a car accident. At first, Bashar al-Assad, a British-educated eye doctor
then only 34, was seen as a potential agent of change after his father’s
heavy-handed rule, which relied on brute force and co-option.
But many promises of change have stalled, especially political change. The Baath
Party under Mr. Assad preserved its monopoly on power, and the state still
functions with at least five intelligence services, a military court and a state
security court, and Article 16, which, according to Mr. Ziadeh, says, “Employees
of intelligence services should not be held accountable for their crimes
committed during their job.”
Still, the solidarity of the government itself is in question.
“There are people in the regime who want to open fire on the protesters, who
want to beat them, who want to do anything they can to suppress them,” said
Michel Kilo, a prominent intellectual and dissident. “But there are other people
in power who say no. There are people in power who say that the protesters’
demands are legitimate.”
Ammar Qurabi, the chairman of Syria’s National Association for Human Rights,
said that, in his view, elite opinion in Syria was divided along three axes:
“Security opinion, government opinion and Baath Party opinion.”
Speaking in Cairo, he cited the example of Al Watan newspaper, owned by Rami
Makhlouf, a cousin of President Assad. Mr. Qurabi heard that last week the
editor, Rabah Abdorabo, was called in to the Ministry of Media and told to stop
printing that day’s issue of the paper. Half an hour after he left, he was
called in to the secret police, who ordered him to keep printing.
The official Syrian Arab news agency, SANA, reported that at least 10 people
were killed in Latakia by “armed gangs.” Government supporters were dispatched
to provide the government’s account, which denied that government forces opened
fire. In phone conversations with people in Syria, many said they were too
frightened to talk, and others rescinded earlier condemnations of the
government’s use of violence.
“They were an armed gang that came to steal things and cause destruction,” said
Mohammed Habash, a moderate Islamist cleric and a member of Parliament,
repeating the government line after having earlier deplored the use of violence.
“The people dead were a part of that gang. It has no connection to political
activism in Syria.”
Mr. Ziadeh said that government had threatened people, and offered himself as an
example. Though he lives in the United States now, his family is in Syria, and
he said Saturday night he received an e-mail “saying I am a traitor and I have
to be careful about my mother. It was terrifying.”
In Damascus, the government’s chief spokeswoman, Bouthiana Shaaban, told
reporters that the president would soon move to lift the emergency law, though
she did not say when. But experts on Syria said that while lifting the law was a
primary demand of the demonstrators, that alone would not provide room for
freedom of speech, assembly and political activity.
“Syria has many laws on the books that would allow police to arrest people who
cause trouble for the regime or who assemble without permits,” said Joshua M.
Landis, an expert on Syria and director of the Middle East Studies Center at the
University of Oklahoma.
Liam Stack contributed reporting from Cairo. A reporter in Damascus also
contributed.
Gates and Clinton Unite to Defend Libya Intervention,
and
Say It May Last Awhile
March 27, 2011
The New York Times
By MARK LANDLER and THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged
Sunday that the unrest in Libya did not pose an immediate threat to the United
States. Even so, he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Obama
administration was justified in taking military action to avert a massacre there
that could have altered the course of the popular revolts roiling the Arab
world.
The comments by President Obama’s two top national security officials, made on
multiple political talk shows on Sunday, offered a striking illustration of the
complex calculus that Mr. Obama faced in committing the military to impose a
no-fly zone over Libya — one of the greatest gambles of his presidency.
It was a rare joint appearance by Mr. Gates and Mrs. Clinton, improbable allies
who started out with sharply different views of what to do about Libya but have
converged in the belief that the brutality of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi demanded a
military response.
Both officials acknowledged that the operation could drag on for months or even
into next year.
Practically completing each other’s sentences, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates
projected the kind of unified message prized by the Obama White House. But that
unity came only after a fraught internal debate, in which they and other senior
officials had to weigh humanitarian values against national interests.
Their joint appearance laid the groundwork for a speech to the nation by Mr.
Obama on Monday night, as the administration tries to answer critics in Congress
and elsewhere who say that the president has failed to explain the scope,
command structure and objective of the mission.
And the open-ended nature of the campaign drew fresh criticism from Republicans,
including Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Gates and Mrs. Clinton said the allied airstrikes had scored early
successes, sealing off the skies over Libya and averting a rout of the rebels by
Colonel Qaddafi’s forces in the eastern city of Benghazi. Rebels are pushing
Qaddafi forces back toward the capital, Tripoli, they said.
On the key question of whether Libya constituted the kind of vital national
interest that would normally justify military intervention, Mr. Gates offered a
blunt denial — one that hinted at the debate among Mr. Obama’s advisers about
whether to push for a no-fly zone.
“No, I don’t think it’s a vital interest for the United States, but we clearly
have interests there, and it’s a part of a region which is a vital interest for
the United States,” Mr. Gates said on “This Week” on ABC.
When Mr. Gates repeated that answer on the NBC program “Meet the Press,” Mrs.
Clinton jumped in to clarify that the United States was obliged to act after
allies like Britain and France, for whom Libya is a vital national interest, had
requested that the international community respond.
“Let’s be fair here,” she said. “They didn’t attack us, but what they were doing
and Qaddafi’s history and the potential for the disruption and instability was
very much in our interests, as Bob said, and seen by our European friends and
our Arab friends as very vital to their interests.”
For all that, Mrs. Clinton emphasized that the administration did not view the
Libya intervention as a precedent. Speaking on the CBS program “Face the
Nation,” she ruled out military action in Syria, where security forces killed
dozens of protesters on Friday. She noted that lawmakers who visited Syria
described President Bashar al-Assad as a reformer, in contrast to Colonel
Qaddafi.
“There’s a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing
and bombing your own cities,” she said, “and police actions that frankly have
exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see.”
Indeed, the administration has watched violent crackdowns in Bahrain, Yemen and
other Arab countries without intervening. Only after Colonel Qaddafi launched a
ferocious counterstrike against rebel forces did Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates
stake out their different positions.
Mrs. Clinton, hearing the growing chorus of calls for a no-fly zone,
particularly in the Arab world, argued for a stronger international response.
Mr. Gates, worried about the overstretched military getting entangled in another
war, warned Congress about the risks and costs of a no-fly zone.
Mr. Gates said his remarks were not intended to derail the push for a no-fly
zone, as many in Washington believed at the time, but to debunk arguments that
it would be a surgical operation.
“I said, ‘Let’s call a spade a spade,’ ” Mr. Gates told reporters last week. “It
was that a no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya. I think that was a pretty
accurate statement. What I’ve tried to do is really just make clear what is
involved in this, and that it is a complex undertaking.”
Officials close to Mrs. Clinton said she, too, made a point of telling Arab
officials like Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, that a
no-fly zone would require destroying Libya’s air defenses. She developed her
views about no-fly zones from the 1990s, when Bill Clinton, who was then the
president, worked with European countries to impose one over Kosovo.
The relationship between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates was cemented during the
debate over Afghanistan, when they both argued for about 30,000 additional
troops — the position that Mr. Obama would later adopt.
It has proved remarkably resilient, officials close to both of them say,
weathering strains over the leak of confidential State Department cables from a
Pentagon computer system and harsh public criticism of the military’s conduct
from a former State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley.
Mr. Gates, officials said, was outraged when Mr. Crowley said that the military
had mistreated Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is charged with giving cables to the
antisecrecy group WikiLeaks. Mrs. Clinton quickly forced Mr. Crowley out,
defusing any potential friction.
She and Mr. Gates will share the burden of selling the Libya policy at home and
abroad, though with differences. When Mr. Gates was asked on ABC about NATO
taking over command from the United States, he said, “Hillary’s been more
engaged with that diplomacy than I have.”
Mrs. Clinton planned to travel to London on Tuesday to work out other details
with Britain, France and other coalition members. Mr. Gates is just back from a
trip to Russia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan, during which he encountered criticism
by Russian leaders that the operation was killing civilians in Libya.
Mr. Gates said that the United States had no proof of civilian deaths from the
airstrikes, and he made a startling charge. “We do have a lot of intelligence
reporting about Qaddafi taking the bodies of people he’s killed and putting them
at the site where we’ve attacked,” he said.
Libyans Call Woman Who Claimed Gang Rape a Prostitute
March 27, 2011
The New York Times
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan authorities on Sunday attacked the
character and credibility of a Libyan woman who burst into a hotel full of
foreign journalists to say that she had been abducted and raped by militia
members working for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, calling her “a known prostitute and
a thief.”
The woman, Eman al-Obeidy, has become well known in Libya and around the world
since the episode at the hotel on Saturday.
She told journalists that she had been raped by 15 men and displayed large
bruises on her face and legs, as well as deep scratches. But as she tried to
talk, security officials and people who had previously appeared to be hotel
workers raced to silence her, at one point even attempting to place a coat over
her head.
Her pursuers scuffled with journalists attempting to interview, photograph and
protect her. Security officials ultimately dragged her screaming from the hotel
and drove her away. But her accusations were heard and the scuffle seen on
television networks and Web sites worldwide.
And the experience she described was consistent with longstanding reports of
human rights abuses in Libya under the Qaddafi government.
Ms. Obeidy’s mother, Aisha Ahmed, a resident of the rebel-held town of Tobrok,
told The Washington Post that Ms. Obeidy was a 26-year-old law student in
Tripoli. “I am very happy, very proud,” her mother said, calling Ms. Obeidy a
hero.
Ms. Obeidy’s parents reportedly said government officials had called them early
Sunday to offer her money and a new house if she recanted. Relatives reached
through a rebel activist late Sunday declined to talk.
A cousin, Wadad Omar, told Reuters that Ms. Obeidy worked in the tourism
industry, and said that three other women, all lawyers, were abducted with her
at a checkpoint outside Tripoli and were missing. As she was dragged from the
hotel Ms. Obeidy screamed that others with her were in captivity.
Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, has cycled through a series of
contradictory characterizations of Ms. Obeidy and her case. He initially
suggested that she appeared drunk and may have fabricated her story, or “her
fantasies.”
Later on Saturday, he said that police detectives had found her sane, sober and
in good health. He called her complaints credible and said detectives were
investigating them. And he said she would be offered a chance to meet again with
journalists.
On Sunday, however, Mr. Ibrahim told reporters that detectives had learned she
was a prostitute, with “a whole file of prostitution cases and petty theft.”
“The girl is not what she pretended to be,” he said. “This is her line of work.
She has known these boys for years.”
“I can’t see anything political about her situation,” he added, “The men have
been questioned, but since she is refusing the medical examination they can’t
prove the rape case.” Asked at a press conference about his earlier statements,
Mr. Ibrahim declined to repeat them, saying he now wanted to protect her
privacy, “without talking about people’s previous crimes, their lifestyles.”
He said that she had been released to relatives in Tripoli, but that could not
be confirmed.
In Benghazi, the center of the rebellion challenging Colonel Qaddafi’s four
decades in power, residents held a rally supporting Ms. Obeidy. “Eman, you are
not alone,” one sign read.
In Tripoli, several residents said they had heard about the episode from
satellite news channels. Some said they did not believe that in Libya’s
traditional culture a woman would speak so openly of a sexual crime. But others
said they believed her. They pointed to her brutal treatment as an example of
Colonel Qaddafi’s tight grip on the capital.
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya accused NATO on Sunday of
"terrorizing" and killing its people as part of a global plot to humiliate and
weaken the North African country.
The government says Western-led air attacks have killed more than 100 civilians,
a charge denied by the coalition which says it is protecting civilians from
Gadaffi's forces and targeting only military sites to enforce a no-fly zone.
"The terror people live in, the fear, the tension is everywhere. And these are
civilians who are being terrorized every day," said Mussa Ibrahim, a Libyan
government spokesman.
"We believe the unnecessary continuation of the air strikes is a plan to put the
Libyan government in a weak negotiating position. NATO is prepared to kill
people, destroy army training camps and army checkpoints and other locations."
Earlier on Sunday, NATO officials said the alliance had agreed to take command
of military operations in Libya.
Ibrahim acknowledged that rebel forces in the east were advancing westwards but
declined to give any details on the retreat of government troops.
"The rebels are making their advances," he said.
"(Western nations) are starving the Libyan population, (they want) to put Libya
on its knees, to beg for mercy.
"It's a very simple plan. We can see it happening in front of our eyes. They are
not trying to protect civilians."
Ibrahim said three Libyan civilian sailors were killed in a coalition air strike
on a fishing harbor in the city of Sirte on Saturday.
BRUSSELS | Sun Mar 27, 2011
5:44pm EDT
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO agreed on Sunday to take full
responsibility for coalition military operations in Libya, ending a week of
heated negotiations over the command structure.
The decision, which could take up to 72 hours to implement, puts the 28-member
military alliance in charge of operations to target Muammar Gaddafi's military
infrastructure and protect civilians, as well as implementing a no-fly zone and
an arms embargo.
"NATO allies have decided to take on the whole military operation in Libya under
the United Nations Security Council resolution," said Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen.
"Our goal is to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat from
the Gaddafi regime. NATO will implement all aspects of the U.N. resolution.
Nothing more, nothing less."
The operations will be led by Canadian General Charles Bouchard, NATO said.
The decision had been delayed by disagreements between NATO members France and
Turkey over political control of the mission, resulting in days of divisive
discussion.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy had wanted to restrict NATO's responsibility
to the military "machinery" needed to coordinate the air campaign, while
political control remained in the hands of the members of the coalition.
Turkey instead wanted to be able to use its NATO veto to limit allied operations
against Libya's infrastructure and avoid casualties among Muslim civilians.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday Turkey's fears had
been addressed and the command of military operations would be transferred
completely to NATO. But it still took three more days of talks to reach an
agreement.
NATO taking charge will encourage participation from more countries in the
alliance which had been reluctant to join in the operation, a senior U.S.
administration official said. NATO will also seek the participation of
neighboring Arab countries.
"You will be able to rely on a great number of allies who up to this point,
while wanting to participate in the operation were unwilling to do so until it
came under NATO," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
U.S. NOW PART OF MUCH LARGER EFFORT
"So what we will see now is more countries participating, and that will allow
the United States to be part of a much larger effort, rather than having to take
the lead. That's why we wanted to hand it off in a matter of days, and we've now
done that," the official said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on U.S. television the United States
would begin reducing the military forces it had committed to the Libya mission
"beginning this week or within the next week or so."
NATO has said its no-fly zone in Libya, which it agreed to enforce on Thursday,
would be "impartial," banning flights both by Gaddafi's forces and his
opponents. The arms embargo would be enforced in a similar way, applying to both
sides.
With anti-Gaddafi rebel forces apparently back on the advance, analysts said the
Western-led military operation could get complicated if the rebels started to
approach Tripoli.
Daniel Keohane of the European Institute for Security Studies said fighting
there could result in large numbers of casualties, including an increased risk
of civilian casualties from any air strikes.
"If rebel forces were seen to be seeking revenge on Gaddafi supporters, it could
cause huge political problems for the alliance," he said, "because the U.N.
mandate to protect civilians should apply across the board."
Keohane said the risk of causing civilian casualties in towns like Tripoli could
lead to disputes in the NATO council as to what is a legitimate target. "It will
be very difficult to determine who is who and when protecting civilians becomes
taking sides," he said. "That will be the key question."
Asked whether rebel forces could become NATO targets if their operations
threatened civilians, the senior U.S. administration official responded: "Right
now all the threatening and the striking of civilians is being done by Gaddafi
forces, and that's the focus. But our mission is clear, it's about protecting
civilians."
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Davutoglu are both expected to attend
a conference in London on Tuesday along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton at which further aspects of the political leadership of the operation to
end Gaddafi's 41-year rule will be discussed.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington, Editing
by Ralph Boulton and Todd Eastham)
TRIPOLI | Sun Mar 27, 2011
4:55pm EDT
By Maria Golovnina
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Outside the impenetrable walls of Muammar
Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, fuel shortages and endless queues are compounding
an atmosphere of gloom in a city already worn out by weeks of conflict.
Rebel forces are advancing fast toward Gaddafi's biggest stronghold, and
ordinary people in the capital -- regardless of their political views -- are
fearful of what is to come.
Tripoli lives to the sound of explosions and anti-aircraft gunfire as Western
air strikes continue, and the new reality has emboldened some to express their
frustrations more openly.
"The situation is getting worse and worse. I am a simple person. I don't know
why," said Radwan, a man in his 40s, as he lined up to buy fuel at a petrol
station in central Tripoli.
"Everything is hard. There is a problem with food, even with bread. You can't
buy bread easily. I buy flour and I make my own bread. I am worried. There is a
serious problem."
At one Tripoli filling station, hundreds of honking cars formed a queue of more
than one kilometer long on Sunday. Exhausted motorists waited for hours to fill
up their tanks.
A makeshift sign at another gas station said: "There is no petrol today. God
knows when."
Most people waited patiently, the engines of their cars switched off. Some sat
in the shade of large trees, smoking. One car ran out of petrol in the middle of
a coastal motorway, and a group of passersby helped the driver push it along.
The picture was similar in other parts of Tripoli and nearby towns. Supply
networks for basic goods have been disrupted by weeks of fighting. A refugee
exodus out of Libya also means that bakeries do not have the manpower to make
enough bread.
Libya is an OPEC oil exporter and has its own refineries, but the sector has
been severely disrupted by the conflict. A lot of its oil refining
infrastructure has been damaged, and production of oil and oil products has
dropped sharply.
State TV has been assuring people that fuel reserves are sufficient, but an
energy official admitted to Reuters last week Libya needed to import more
supplies to deal with the shortages.
Seeking to topple Gaddafi and buoyed by Western air strikes, rebel forces have
been pushing fast toward western Libya in past days, retaking land abandoned by
the retreating army.
ANGRY
Perched on the Mediterranean coast and home to up to two million people, Tripoli
is Libya's most heavily fortified city, where dissent is not tolerated by
Gaddafi's feared militiamen.
Yet, some of its inhabitants were visibly angry when approached by journalists
on Sunday.
"Television says Britain and France want to take away our oil, but I am standing
here, I can't buy any petrol for my car," said one man lining up to buy petrol.
"Where is the oil? What oil are they talking about?"
Another man, Sufiyah, rubbing his bloodshot eyes after a sleepless night of
waiting in a petrol station queue, added: "I've been waiting since 4 a.m. There
is no petrol. I am so tired. And yes, I am angry. A lot of people are."
The turmoil has also disrupted food supplies in the desert nation which depends
on imports to cover domestic food demand.
Standing in line for rationed bread in one neighborhood, Fatima, a woman in her
20s, said it was particularly difficult to buy cooking oil, sugar and other
refined products.
"Before it was normal but now there are shortages. It started with the crisis a
month ago, and it's getting worse," said Fatima. She said that in her view
prices for key food items like rice and flour had gone up by at least a third.
She said she was only allowed to buy one bagful of bread for her family per
visit. Shops in Tripoli appear to be well stocked but many are closed.
The price of bread itself has changed little, people said, with shortages caused
mainly by the exodus of migrant workers.
"Before there was a lot of bread, now there isn't. We have no workers now, so
it's difficult to make enough bread," said Adil Mohamed Ali, a young man working
at the bakery.
Ali Salim, a young taxi driver, said he did not know what to expect but blamed
foreign countries for all the trouble.
"I have waited for four hours already. I have to do this every day. I am a taxi
driver," he said. "No one knows what's next. Tomorrow it can all change. It's
all because of the foreign countries who are interfering."
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Reuters television journalists have
been missing in Syria since Saturday night, when they were due to return to
Lebanon.
Beirut-based producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji had been expected
to cross into Lebanon by road at approximately 1830 GMT (2:30 p.m. ET) on
Saturday, where they had arranged for a taxi to pick them up from the border.
The last known contact was at 1722 GMT (1:22 p.m. ET), when Baltaji sent a phone
message to a colleague in Beirut in which he said: "We will leave now."
Basma and Baltaji, both Lebanese nationals, travelled to Syria on Thursday
afternoon. Mass protests that erupted 10 days ago have posed the biggest
challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
The two journalists have been unreachable by telephone since Saturday night.
Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said: "Reuters is deeply concerned about
our two Reuters television colleagues who went missing in Syria on Saturday. We
have reached out to the relevant authorities in Syria and have asked for their
help in securing our colleagues' safe return home."
A Syrian official told Reuters on Sunday that authorities were working on
resolving the issue.
A senior Reuters editor plans to travel to Damascus to discuss the matter
formally with Syrian officials.
Basma, who has gone on reporting assignments in Tunisia, Egypt and Iraq, has
been with Reuters since February 2007. Baltaji has worked for the company since
April 2008.
On Friday, Syrian authorities withdrew the accreditation of Reuters text
correspondent Khaled Yacoub Oweis, saying he had filed "unprofessional and
false" coverage of events in Syria.
Reuters said it stood by its coverage from Syria, where more than a week of
protests have spread from the south to other parts of the country.
Reuters, part of New York-based Thomson Reuters, the leading information
provider, employs some 3,000 journalists worldwide.
Reporting in English, Arabic and more than a dozen other languages, Reuters has
had bureaux across the Middle East for well over a century.
BEERSHEBA, Israel | Sun Mar 27, 2011
10:15am EDT
Reuters
By Dan Williams
BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) - Israel deployed a
long-anticipated rocket shield outside the Gaza Strip on Sunday but cautioned
Israelis under fire from the Hamas-run territory that they would not be
completely protected.
The positioning of Iron Dome just north of Beersheba, a southern city twice hit
by rockets during this month's flare-up of cross-border violence, was described
by the military as an "acceleration" of the system's scheduled field
evaluations.
Firing radar-guided missiles from a truck-sized launcher, Iron Dome is designed
to track and blow up incoming threats in mid-air. Its development was stepped up
after the 2006 Lebanon war and defense officials say it has aced several live
trials.
But some experts have carped at what they see as needless delays and government
protectionism in choosing Iron Dome -- produced by a state arms firm and partly
underwritten by U.S. defense grants -- over ready alternatives available abroad.
"I do not want to create an illusion that the Iron Dome system, which we are
deploying for the first time today, will provide a full or comprehensive
response," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in Jerusalem.
"The real response to the missile threat is in the combination of offensive and
deterrent measures with defensive measures, and with a firm stance by the
government and public."
Netanyahu spoke shortly after Israel killed two members of Islamic Jihad, a
Palestinian guerrilla group behind much of the recent rocket fire, in a Gaza air
strike.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza and whose forces also took part
in the fighting, said on Saturday shooting from the coastal enclave would cease
if Israel held fire too.
GRIM OUTLOOK
Brigadier-General Doron Gavish, Israel's air defense chief, said whatever lull
ensued was irrelevant to Iron Dome planning.
"We will carry out our evaluations regardless," he told reporters in the arid
hillocks against the backdrop of Beersheba's bustling white apartment blocks.
"Regrettably, the way things look now, we will be required to provide our
services for a long time hence."
He would not comment on the protective radius provided by the Beersheba battery.
But its positioning suggested it could cover Sderot, an Israeli town on the Gaza
border that has borne the brunt of almost a decade of mortar bomb and rocket
attacks.
A second Iron Dome battery is due to be set up near the port of Ashkelon this
week, Israeli media said. According to Gavish, each unit can be dismantled and
ferried out "within hours," allowing for mobile responses over a large swathe of
territory.
Industrial sources put the base price of each Iron Dome battery at about $50
million, with each interception costing $25,000.
That raised the prospect of the outgunned Palestinians taxing Israeli budgets
with salvoes of the mostly inaccurate and homemade rockets that are sometimes
worth just a few hundred dollars each. But rockets that hit Beersheba were
factory-grade.
Gavish said the "missile versus missile" calculus was misplaced and "the real
test is what damage is caused by a rocket that goes unintercepted."
Iron Dome's operators say it is designed to intercept only rockets that are
about to hit residential areas, and ignore those on a harmless trajectory.
Rebels push west as air strikes hit Gaddafi forces
UQAYLA, Libya | Sun Mar 27, 2011
10:00am EDT
Reuters
By Angus MacSwan
UQAYLA, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels pushed west on Sunday
to recapture more territory abandoned by Muammar Gaddafi's retreating forces,
weakened by Western air strikes.
Emboldened by their capture of the strategic town of Ajdabiyah with the help of
foreign warplanes on Saturday, the rebels advanced unchallenged to Ras Lanuf, a
rebel fighter told Reuters on the road toward the oil terminal town.
The speed of the rebel advance suggests a rapid retreat by Gaddafi's forces
after they lost Ajdabiyah, which had been an important gateway for the
better-armed government troops to the rebel-held east.
In Brega, an oil town west of Ajdabiyah, rebel fighters were distributing water
from trucks to residents or picking over debris of ammunition boxes and tank
parts abandoned by the Gaddafi forces. There were long queues at fuel stations.
A man who said he worked for the state-owned Sirte Oil Company but refused to
give his name said Gaddafi troops had passed through without stopping and there
had been no fighting.
The rebels' advance is a rapid reversal of two weeks of losses and indicates
that Western air strikes are shifting the battlefield dynamics in their favor.
As the front line moved toward the heartland of Gaddafi's support, government
forces pounded Misrata in the west with tank, mortar and artillery fire on
Saturday. Witnesses said the shelling halted after coalition aircraft appeared
overhead.
A Misrata resident told Reuters by phone the humanitarian situation in the city
was very bad, but that rebels had said they would fight until the city was freed
from Gaddafi.
"It is quiet right now, apart from occasional exchanges of fire... In comparison
with yesterday it is calm. Yesterday we had western coalition bombing of
Gaddafi's positions, particularly near the air base about 10 km (six miles) from
the city," a resident called Sami said.
"Misrata has been under siege for 38 days. Not much food, water is a rarity and
people are obliged to use wells to get water. We have problems with medicines."
A rebel in Misrata told Reuters Gaddafi was putting all his weight into
attacking Misrata so he could control the whole of the west of the country after
losing all the east.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in the capital Tripoli
that Gaddafi was directing his forces but appeared to suggest the leader might
be moving around the country so as to keep his whereabouts a mystery.
"He is leading the battle. He is leading the nation forward from anywhere in the
country," said Ibrahim.
"He has many offices, many places around Libya. I assure you he is leading the
nation at this very moment and he is in continuous communication with everyone
around the country."
Asked if Gaddafi was constantly on the move, Ibrahim said: "It's a time of war.
In a time of war you act differently."
"NOWHERE TO HIDE"
Capturing Ajdabiyah was a big morale boost for rebels a week after air strikes
began to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone.
"This is a victory from God," said Ali Mohamed, a 53-year-old teacher in the
rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"Insha'allah, we will be victorious. After two days, we will be in Tripoli," he
said.
Fouzi Dihoum, a catering company employee, said the rebels could push forward
because the area between Ajdabiya and Sirt was desert in which Gaddafi forces
were easy targets for planes.
"There is nowhere to hide. It's an open area," he said.
Libyan state television was on Sunday broadcasting pop songs and images of palm
trees, wheatfields and vast construction projects completed in Gaddafi's four
decades in power.
Gaddafi himself has not been shown on television since he made a speech on
Wednesday and his sons Saif al-Islam and Khamis -- who earlier in the conflict
spoke regularly to foreign media -- have been out of sight even longer.
Internet social networks and some Arabic-language media have reported that
Khamis, commander of the elite 32nd brigade, was killed by a disaffected air
force pilot who, according to the reports, flew his plane into the Gaddafi
compound in Tripoli.
There has been no confirmation and Libyan officials say such reports are part of
a deliberate campaign of misinformation.
Last week Libyan officials said nearly 100 civilians had been killed in
coalition strikes, but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the
assertion.
NATO ambassadors meet on Sunday to discuss plans for broadening the alliance
mandate to take full command of military operations, including attacks on ground
targets.
U.S. President Barack Obama, criticized by U.S. politicians across the spectrum
for failing to communicate the goals of the air campaign, told Americans that
the military mission in Libya was clear, focused and limited.
He said it had already saved countless civilian lives.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Maria Golovnina,
Michael Georgy, Ibon Villelabeitia, Lamine Chikhi, Mariam Karouny and Patricia
Zengerle; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer and Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Andrew
Roche)
Yemen ruling party, Saleh to meet for crisis talks
SANAA | Sun Mar 27, 2011
9:56am EDT
Reuters
By Cynthia Johnston
SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's ruling
party will meet for crisis talks on Sunday after Saleh said he was ready to hand
over power on condition he be allowed to leave with dignity.
Saleh, who is under pressure from tens of thousands of Yemenis gathered in the
streets demanding his departure after 32 years in power, is expected to attend
and update senior party members on his talks with the opposition.
Late on Saturday, Saleh said he was prepared to step down within hours. But a
deal did not appear imminent since the opposition had hardened their demands.
"I could leave power ... even in a few hours, on condition of maintaining
respect and prestige," Saleh said in a televised interview. "I have to take the
country to safe shores ... I'm holding on to power in order to hand it over
peaceably."
Yet Saleh also appeared to warn against any sudden transition by saying Yemen
could slide into a civil war and fragment along regional and tribal lines .
"Yemen is a time bomb and if we and our friendly countries don't have a return
to dialogue, there will be a destructive civil war," he said.
Saleh has been an ally of the United States and Saudi Arabia by keeping at bay a
Yemen-based resurgent wing of Al Qaeda in a country that is close to collapse,
with rebels in the north, secessionists in the south and grinding poverty
everywhere.
More than 80 people have been killed since protests started in January, inspired
by popular revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, to demand the departure of Saleh, a
serial political survivor of civil war as well as separatist, rebel and militant
attacks.
On Sunday, Al Arabiya television said six soldiers were killed in an ambush by
Al Qaeda militants in the south of the country.
Opposition parties have been talking with Saleh about a transition but have so
far rebuffed any of his concessions.
"We still have a very big gap," said Yassin Noman, the rotating head of Yemen's
opposition coalition. "I think he is maneuvering."
Western countries are concerned that Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) could take advantage of any power vacuum arising from a rocky
transition if Saleh steps down.
AQAP claimed responsibility for the foiled attempt in late 2009 to blow up a
jetliner bound for Detroit and for U.S.-bound cargo bombs sent in October 2010.
TURNING TIDES
The concessions offered by Saleh have included a promise to step down in 2013
when his term ends, and most recently his proposal to transfer power after the
drafting of a new constitution and parliamentary and presidential elections by
the end of the year.
The tide appeared to turn against Saleh after March 18 when plainclothes snipers
loyal to the president fired into an anti-government crowd, killing 52 people.
The violence led to defections including military commanders such as General Ali
Mohsen, ambassadors, lawmakers, provincial governors and tribal leaders, some
from his own tribe.
Saleh said the defections were mainly by Islamists and that some had returned to
his side. He said Mohsen had been acting emotionally because of Friday's
bloodshed but that security forces were not behind the deaths.
A source close to Mohsen, who has thrown his weight behind protesters, said he
and Saleh had weighed a deal in which both would leave the country, taking their
sons and relatives with them to pave the way for a civilian transitional
government.
"I'm not looking for a home in Jeddah or Paris," Saleh said on Saturday, vowing
to stay in Yemen.
Yemen, a country of 23 million with an acute water shortage and dwindling oil
reserves, is widely viewed a the next country in the region to see a change in
leadership.
A revolt in Bahrain has been quieted by an army show of force on the streets
after a state of emergency was declared. Syria has erupted with protests in
recent days.
(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Writing by Reed Stevenson;
Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Clinton rules out U.S. involvement in Syria for now
WASHINGTON | Sun Mar 27, 2011
9:26am EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
on Sunday the United States would not now get involved in Syria in the same way
as it has in Libya, telling CBS's "Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer" program
in an interview broadcast on Sunday that each case is unique.
Speaking on the same program in an interview that was also taped on Saturday,
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States had seen signs that
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces were retreating to the west because of
U.S. air strikes on his armor, logistics and supply chain.
France's floating frontline against Libya's Gaddafi
ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER CHARLES DE GAULLE, March 27 | Sun Mar
27, 2011
8:57am EDT
Reuters
By Elizabeth Pineau
ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER CHARLES DE GAULLE, March 27 (Reuters)
- Dressed in a khaki uniform and protective helmet, a French pilot emerges from
the Rafale fighter jet that just landed on the deck of the Charles de Gaulle
carrier, back from another mission over Libya.
A dozen mechanics scramble to assess the plane: the fuel specialists wear red,
the maintenance crew green and the on-deck traffic controllers wear yellow,
barking orders that have earned them the French nickname "yellow dogs."
A Hawkeye radar plane is next to land, soon to be replaced by another on the
night flight.
"It never stops," says a lieutenant.
The Charles de Gaulle is a week into its mission to enforce a no-fly zone over
Libya and protect civilians from forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The coalition air strikes seem to have helped the rebels turn the tide against
his forces, but Gaddafi says they have killed civilians.
French forces said on Saturday that they had destroyed seven Libyan aircraft --
five planes and two helicopters -- in the western town of Misrata, where
pro-Gaddafi units have mounted an assault to try to oust rebels.
FROM AFGHANISTAN TO LIBYA
The nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle is France's only operational aircraft
carrier. Its 2,000 sailors have had little rest since a previous mission
supporting the decade-old campaign in Afghanistan ended in February.
A map of Libya has replaced the contours of Afghanistan on the walls and
monitors of the carrier's radar room.
"At least we're being put to good use," said Jordan, a quartermaster. It is
business as usual for most sailors, he added, even if officers "up there" might
be feeling the stress.
For now, officers are satisfied with the mission's progress, though they are
wary of Gaddafi's ability to surprise.
"This isn't a mission that is particularly problematic, aside from the fact that
we have no room for error," said the carrier's commander Jean-Philippe Rolland.
As for the pilots, the mission has become almost like home.
"Getting into the cockpit is like getting into bed at night," said a Super
Etendard fighter pilot.
"It's a place we know very well."
Even at night, the Charles de Gaulle is abuzz with activity.
"It's an airfield, an airport, an airbase, a city of 2,000 people, two nuclear
reactors, all in a tin can," a sailor said.
Although officers have the luxury of using the carrier's lifts, sailors are
forced to run up and down between decks.
In a world without windows, morale is kept up in recreation areas, where
telephones, the Internet and television offer contact with the outside world.
"In four months on the Indian Ocean, I only had four people sent home for
psychological reasons," the chief medic said.
(Writing by Lionel Laurent; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft killed two Palestinian militants in the
Gaza Strip on Sunday as tensions remained high despite signals on both sides of
the border of a readiness to return to a de facto ceasefire.
Islamic Jihad, a militant group that has been launching rockets into Israel over
the past week, said the two men killed in the air strike belonged to the
movement. There was no immediate Israeli military comment.
Israeli raids in Gaza killed five militants and four civilians last week, a
declared response to cross-border rocket attacks.
More than 70 projectiles have struck Israel since the border heated up, causing
no serious casualties but disrupting the pace of life in the south of the
country.
Gaza militants say their rocket and mortar attacks are in response to Israeli
air raids in the territory, which is controlled by Hamas Islamists.
In public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said Israel has "no desire to escalate the situation," noting the frontier had
been relatively quiet since the end of the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war.
But he said: "We will not hesitate to use the might of the Israel Defense Forces
against those who attack our citizens."
On Saturday, Gaza militant groups indicated they would halt rocket fire if
Israel stopped its attacks.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Rudwan said militant leaders were "committed as long as
the occupation (Israel) was committed" to abide by an earlier de facto truce.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Elizabeth
Fullerton)
Pope calls for suspension of use of arms in Libya crisis
VATICAN CITY | Sun Mar 27, 2011
6:18am EDT
Reuters
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday called for the "suspension
of the use of arms" in the Libya crisis, an appeal that appeared to include the
use of outside force.
Speaking at his Sunday blessing, he said he was addressing his appeal to
"international bodies," and "those who hold military and political
responsibility."
Unrest in Syria and Jordan Poses New Test for U.S. Policy
March 26, 2011
The New York Times
By MARK LANDLER
WASHINGTON — Even as the Obama administration defends the
NATO-led air war in Libya, the latest violent clashes in Syria and Jordan are
raising new alarm among senior officials who view those countries, in the
heartland of the Arab world, as far more vital to American interests.
Deepening chaos in Syria, in particular, could dash any remaining hopes for a
Middle East peace agreement, several analysts said. It could also alter the
American rivalry with Iran for influence in the region and pose challenges to
the United States’ greatest ally in the region, Israel.
In interviews, administration officials said the uprising appeared to be
widespread, involving different religious groups in southern and coastal regions
of Syria, including Sunni Muslims usually loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The new American ambassador in Damascus, Robert Ford, has been quietly reaching
out to Mr. Assad to urge him to stop firing on his people.
As American officials confront the upheaval in Syria, a country with which the
United States has icy relations, they say they are pulled between fears that its
problems could destabilize neighbors like Lebanon and Israel, and the hope that
it could weaken one of Iran’s key allies.
The Syrian unrest continued on Saturday, with government troops reported to have
killed more protesters.
With 61 people confirmed killed by security forces, the country’s status as an
island of stability amid the Middle East storm seemed irretrievably lost.
For two years, the United States has tried to coax Damascus into negotiating a
peace deal with Israel and to moving away from Iran — a fruitless effort that
has left President Obama open to criticism on Capitol Hill that he is bolstering
one of the most repressive regimes in the Arab world.
Officials fear the unrest there and in Jordan could leave Israel further
isolated. The Israeli government was already rattled by the overthrow of Egypt’s
leader, Hosni Mubarak, worrying that a new government might not be as committed
to Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
While Israel has largely managed to avoid being drawn into the region’s turmoil,
last week’s bombing of a bus in Jerusalem, which killed one person and wounded
30, and a rain of rocket attacks from Gaza, have fanned fears that the militant
group Hamas is trying to exploit the uncertainty.
The unrest in Jordan, which has its own peace treaty with Israel, is also
extremely worrying, a senior administration official said. The United States
does not believe Jordan is close to a tipping point, this official said. But the
clashes, which left one person dead and more than a hundred wounded, pose the
gravest challenge yet to King Abdullah II, a close American ally.
Syria, however, is the more urgent crisis — one that could pose a thorny dilemma
for the administration if Mr. Assad carries out a crackdown like that of his
father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad, who ordered a bombardment in 1982 that
killed at least 10,000 people in the northern city of Hama. Having intervened in
Libya to prevent a wholesale slaughter in Benghazi, some analysts asked, how
could the administration not do the same in Syria?
Though no one is yet talking about a no-fly zone over Syria, Obama
administration officials acknowledge the parallels to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
Some analysts predicted the administration will be cautious in pressing Mr.
Assad, not because of any allegiance to him but out of a fear of what could
follow him — a Sunni-led government potentially more radical and Islamist than
his Alawite minority government.
Still, after the violence, administration officials said Mr. Assad’s future was
unclear. “Whatever credibility the government had, they shot it today —
literally,” a senior official said about Syria, speaking on the condition that
he not be named.
In the process, he said, Mr. Assad had also probably disqualified himself as a
peace partner for Israel. Such a prospect had seemed a long shot in any event —
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shown no inclination to talk to Mr. Assad
— but the administration kept working at it, sending its special envoy, George
J. Mitchell, on several visits to Damascus.
Mr. Assad has said that he wants to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel. But
with his population up in arms, analysts said, he might actually have an
incentive to pick a fight with its neighbor, if only to deflect attention from
the festering problems at home.
“You can’t have a comprehensive peace without Syria,” the administration
official said. “It’s definitely in our interest to pursue an agreement, but you
can’t do it with a government that has no credibility with its population.”
Indeed, the crackdown calls into question the entire American engagement with
Syria. Last June, the State Department organized a delegation from Microsoft,
Dell and Cisco Systems to visit Mr. Assad with the message that he could attract
more investment if he stopped censoring Facebook and Twitter. While the
administration renewed economic sanctions against Syria, it approved export
licenses for some civilian aircraft parts.
The Bush administration, by contrast, largely shunned Damascus, recalling its
ambassador in February 2005 after the assassination of a former Lebanese prime
minister, Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in the
assassination, a charge it denies.
When Mr. Obama named Mr. Ford as his envoy last year, Republicans in the Senate
held up the appointment for months, arguing that the United States should not
reward Syria with closer ties. The administration said it would have more
influence by restoring an ambassador.
But officials also concede that Mr. Assad has been an endless source of
frustration — deepening ties with Iran and the Islamic militant group Hezbollah;
undermining the government of Saad Hariri in Lebanon; pursuing a nuclear
program; and failing to deliver on promises of reform.
Some analysts said that the United States was so eager to use Syria to break the
deadlock on Middle East peace negotiations that it had failed to push Mr. Assad
harder on political reforms.
“He’s given us nothing, even though we’ve engaged him on the peace process,”
said Andrew J. Tabler, who lived in Syria for a decade and is now at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “I’m not saying we should give up on
peace talks with Israel, but we cannot base our strategy on that.”
The United States does not have the leverage with Syria it had with Egypt. But
Mr. Tabler said the administration could stiffen sanctions to press Mr. Assad to
make reforms.
Other analysts, however, point to a positive effect of the unrest: it could
deprive Iran of a reliable ally in extending its influence over Lebanon,
Hezbollah and the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
That is not a small thing, they said, given that Iran is likely to benefit from
the fall of Mr. Mubarak in Egypt, the upheaval in Bahrain, and the resulting
chill between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
“There’s much more upside than downside for the U.S.,” said Martin S. Indyk, the
vice president for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “We have an
interest in counterbalancing the advantages Iran has gained in the rest of the
region. That makes it an unusual confluence of our values and interests.”
DERAA, Syria | Sat Mar 26, 2011
10:40pm EDT
Reuters
DERAA, Syria (Reuters) - Syrian security forces have killed six people in two
days of anti-government protests in the key port city of Latakia, reformist
activists living abroad told Reuters on Saturday.
President Bashar al-Assad, facing his deepest crisis in 11 years in power after
security forces fired on protesters on Friday in the southern town of Deraa,
freed 260 prisoners in an apparent bid to placate a swelling protest movement.
But the reports from Latakia, a security hub in the northwest, suggested unrest
was still spreading.
There were reports of more than 20 deaths in protests on Friday, mainly in the
south, and medical officials say dozens have now been killed over the past week
around Deraa alone.
Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in this
most tightly controlled of Arab countries.
Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, told the official news agency that
Syria was "the target of a project to sow sectarian strife to compromise Syria
and (its) unique coexistence model."
Syrian rights activist Ammar Qurabi told Reuters in Cairo: "There have been at
least two killed (in Latakia) today after security forces opened fire on
protesters trying to torch the Baath party building."
"I have been in touch with people in Syria since last night, using three cell
phones and constantly sitting online. Events are moving at an extremely fast
pace."
Exiled dissident Maamoun al-Homsi told Reuters by telephone from Canada: "I have
the name of four martyrs who have fallen in Latakia yesterday."
The state news agency quoted a government source as saying security forces had
not fired at protesters but that an armed group had taken over rooftops and
fired on citizens and security forces, killing five people since Friday.
In Damascus and other cities, thousands of Assad's supporters marched or and
drove around, waving flags, to proclaim their allegiance to the Baath party.
GRAFFITI
The unrest in Syria came to a head after police detained more than a dozen
schoolchildren for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across
the Arab world.
President Assad made a public pledge on Thursday to look into granting greater
freedom and lifting emergency laws dating back to 1963, but failed to dampen the
protests.
On Saturday a human rights lawyer said 260 prisoners, mostly Islamists, had been
freed after serving at least three-quarters of their sentences.
Amnesty International put the death toll in and around Deraa in the past week at
55 at least. In Sanamein, near Deraa, 20 protesters were shot dead on Friday, a
resident told Al Jazeera.
One unidentified doctor told CNN television that snipers had been shooting
people in Deraa from atop government buildings.
"We had 30 people got shot in the head and the neck and we had hundreds of
people got wounded," he said.
"We put two wounded in an ambulance sending them to the hospital. We had
security forces stop the ambulances, get the wounded outside the ambulance and
shoot them, and said: 'Now you can take them to the hospital'."
Some of the dead protesters were buried on Saturday in Deraa and nearby
villages, residents said.
Several thousand mourners prayed over the body of 13-year-old Seeta al-Akrad in
Deraa's Omari mosque, scene of an attack by security forces earlier in the week.
Police were not in evidence when they marched to a cemetery chanting: "The
people want the downfall of the regime," a refrain heard in uprisings from
Tunisia to Egypt and Yemen.
Emboldened by the lack of security presence, the mourners also chanted: "Strike,
strike, until the regime falls!"
Abu Jassem, a Deraa resident, said: "We were under a lot of pressure from the
oppressive authority, but now when you pass by (the security forces), nobody
utters a word. They don't dare talk to the people. The people have no fear any
more."
ALAWITES
In nearby Tafas, mourners in the funeral procession of Kamal Baradan, killed on
Friday in Deraa, set fire to Baath party offices and the police station,
residents said.
There were also protests on Friday in Damascus and in Hama, a northern city
where in 1982 the forces of president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, killed
thousands of people and razed much of the old quarter to put down an armed
uprising by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Syria's establishment is dominated by members of the minority Alawite sect, an
offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, a fact that causes resentment among the Sunni Muslims
who make up some three-quarters of the population. Latakia is mostly Sunni
Muslim but has significant numbers of Alawites.
Edward Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said sectarian friction made
many in the establishment wary of giving ground to demands for political
freedoms and economic reforms.
"They are a basically reviled minority, the Alawites, and if they lose power, if
they succumb to popular revolution, they will be hanging from the lamp posts,"
he said.
"They have absolutely no incentive to back off."
EXISTENTIAL STRUGGLE
Asked if there could be a crackdown on the scale of Hama, Faysal Itani, deputy
head of Middle East and North Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis, said
this was a "real risk."
"For a minority regime this is an existential struggle," he said. "If the unrest
continues at this pace, the Syrian army is not going to be able to maintain
cohesion."
Many believed a tipping point had been reached.
"The Syrian regime is attempting to make promises such as a potential lifting of
the state of emergency, which has been in place since 1963, a record in the Arab
world," Bitar said.
"But if this happens it will be the end of a whole system, prisoners will have
to be released, the press will be free ... when this kind of regime considers
relaxing its grip, it also knows that everything could collapse."
Central Bank Governor Adeeb Mayaleh said the central bank was ready to supply
the market with foreign currency liquidity, hinting at rising demand for U.S.
dollars.
Syria has a close alliance with Iran and links to the Palestinian Islamist
militant group Hamas and the Lebanese Shi'ite political and military group
Hezbollah.Its allies in the region have yet to comment on the unrest.
"Syria is Iran's main ally in the Arab world. A fall of the regime would have
consequences for Hezbollah and Hamas ... I'm not sure that the region's big
powers would allow such a big shock," said Karim Emile Bitar, research fellow at
the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris.
Syrian border police were stopping a number of Syrians entering from Lebanon, a
Lebanese security source said.
(Reporting by a Reuters correspondent in Deraa, Yara Bayoumy in
Beirut, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Lionel Laurent in Paris, William Maclean
in London; Dina Zayed in Cairo; Writing by Peter Millership and Kevin Liffey;
editing by Ralph Boulton)
Libya may be placing corpses at bombed sites: Gates
WASHINGTON | Sat Mar 26, 2011
7:25pm EDT
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence reports suggest that
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces have placed the bodies of people they
have killed at the sites of coalition air strikes so they can blame the West for
the deaths, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a television interview on
Saturday.
"We do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gaddafi taking the bodies of
the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked,"
Gates said according to interview excerpts released by CBS News' "Face the
Nation with Bob Schieffer" program, which will air on Sunday.
A U.S.-led coalition began air strikes against Libya a week ago to establish a
no-fly zone over the oil-exporting North African country and to try to prevent
Gaddafi from using his air force to attack people rebelling against his rule.
Last week Libyan officials said nearly 100 civilians had been killed in the
coalition strikes, but Western military officials at the time denied any
civilians had been killed.
"The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian
casualties that we have been responsible for," Gates said in the television
interview.
Asked if Gaddafi's days were numbered, Gates replied: "I wouldn't be hanging any
new pictures if I were him."
U.S. officials have said the goal of the military action is to protect
civilians, not to topple Gaddafi, though they have made no secret of their
desire for him to leave power.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appearing on the same program, said there
were signs that Gaddafi's aides were becoming increasingly nervous.
"The people around him, based on all of the intelligence and all of the outreach
that we ourselves are getting from some of those very same people, demonstrate
an enormous amount of anxiety," she said according to the interview excerpts.
Egypt's prime minister vows to stamp out corruption
CAIRO | Sat Mar 26, 2011
4:40pm EDT
By Dina Zayed
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf vowed
Saturday to press a fight against corruption, responding to public pressure to
speed up investigations into alleged graft by allies of ousted President Hosni
Mubarak.
He also defended a draft law banning strikes, denying criticism from human
rights groups that it curtails freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Prosecutors have been investigating graft allegations against former officials
and businessmen after an uprising toppled Mubarak last month, but many Egyptians
protest that several of the former leader's allies have yet to be arrested.
"The government has not and will not cover up corruption regardless of its
nature or identity. We will stamp it out no matter where it is. That is a vow
from the government to the people of this nation," Sharaf said in a televised
statement.
"There is no place for those who were the enemies of the January 25 revolution
in this new era," he said.
The cabinet was formed by Egypt's interim military rulers to try to meet
protesters' demands for the removal of officials linked to Mubarak.
Sharaf said the cabinet had been successful in its first three weeks. It had
overseen the first free and fair vote, redeployed police forces, dissolved
Egypt's state security apparatus and started trading in the stock exchange, he
said.
But human rights groups have criticized it for approving a draft law, valid as
long as Egypt's state of emergency is in force, that bans strikes for damaging
the economy. It extends to those who organize strikes.
Human Rights Watch said it was a betrayal of Egypt's revolution and curtailed
the people's right to demonstrate.
"It is quite shocking, really, that a transitional government meant to replace a
government ousted for its failure to respect free speech and assembly is now
itself putting new restrictions on free speech and assembly," the group said.
Sharaf denied the law would mean a restriction of freedoms: "You are the ones
who move us forward, so how can some of you think that we may deny you of a
legitimate right that is guaranteed by the law."
The cabinet has to tread a fine line as it works to meet the expectations of
workers while restarting an economy that nearly ground to a halt during weeks of
protests, analysts say.
Sharaf, whose government faces a growing budget deficit, has said continued
protests and strikes were a "continued distraction" from the real task of
rebuilding the country.
"We are trying to protect the revolution. Let us put our hands together," Sharaf
said. "We cannot achieve protecting the revolution without cooperation and
pushing the wheel of production forward."
Sat, Mar 26 2011
WASHINGTON | Sat Mar 26, 2011
2:55pm EDT
By Patricia Zengerle and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sought to
reassure Americans about U.S. military involvement in Libya on Saturday, saying
the mission is limited and the United States will not intervene everywhere there
is a crisis.
Obama, accused by many U.S. lawmakers of failing to explain U.S. objectives in
Libya, used his weekly radio and Web address to speak about his Libyan policy
and plans a Monday night address to the American people to explain it further.
So far, polls show Americans back the president for using U.S. air power and
cruise missiles to attack Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's air defenses and other
targets aimed at supporting Libyan rebels and protecting civilians from
government forces.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll in recent days said 60 percent of Americans back him on
Libya, although only 17 percent saw him as a strong and decisive leader. A
Gallup poll put American support for his Libyan move at 47 percent, with 37
percent disapproving.
"We're succeeding in our mission," Obama said. "Because we acted quickly, a
humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians
-- innocent men, women and children -- have been saved."
Easing some pressure on Obama, NATO is expected to take over command and control
of the week-old allied military operation this weekend from the United States.
"Our military has provided unique capabilities at the beginning, but this is now
a broad, international effort," he said, noting that Arab partners like Qatar
and the United Arab Emirates have committed aircraft.
Obama was cautious on the potential for U.S. intervention elsewhere, as
Americans now see news reports of unrest convulsing Syria and Yemen.
"As commander in chief, I face no greater decision than sending our military men
and women into harm's way. And the United States should not -- and cannot --
intervene every time there's a crisis somewhere in the world," he said.
TROUBLESOME OUTCOMES
Analyst Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor, said
Obama was late in explaining what is at stake in Libya to Americans weary of
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The long and short of it is he's getting around now to what he should've done
before military action began," he said.
Sabato said Obama, who plans to seek re-election in 2012, faces potentially
troublesome outcomes in Libya.
"We've been lucky there have been no American or allied casualties. But that
could change. The cost could mount, and this could turn into a stalemate," he
said.
Ipsos pollster Julia Clark the cost of the war could become an issue if it
rises.
"Americans still prioritize the economy as the biggest issue right now," she
said. "Foreign aid is among the least popular expenditures for taxpayer
dollars."
Obama said the role of U.S. forces has been clear and focused and limited in
what he described as a "broad, international effort." He stressed again that no
U.S. ground forces would go into Libya.
Members of Congress -- from both the left and right -- have criticized Obama for
failing to communicate thoroughly the goals of the military operation. Some have
assailed him for failing to seek congressional approval for the action, others
for embarking on another military mission in a Muslim country when the United
States is already embroiled in the Iraq and Afghan wars.
Obama reiterated that Gaddafi must stop attacking civilians, pull back his
forces and allow humanitarian assistance to reach those who need it. He said
Gaddafi has lost the confidence of the Libyan people and the legitimacy to rule,
but did not call directly for Gaddafi's removal, which Washington has said
repeatedly is not the purpose of the military mission.
DUBAI
(Reuters) - The top Yemeni general backing pro-democracy protesters is, like
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a crafty survivor who has wielded power for
his own benefit, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.
General Ali Mohsen, a powerful figure close to Saleh, threw his support behind
the democracy movement earlier this week and sent in troops to protect
protesters in the capital of Sanaa, where they have gathered in the tens of
thousands to pressure Saleh into giving up his grip on power after 32 years.
Yet as far back as 2005, Thomas Krajeski, then the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa,
painted a picture in diplomatic cables of a brutal military commander likely to
back a more radical Islamic political agenda and draw little public support.
"Ali Mohsen's name is mentioned in hushed tones among most Yemenis, and he
rarely appears in public," Krajeski wrote in a cable obtained by Reuters. "Ali
Mohsen... is generally perceived to be the second most powerful man in Yemen.
Those that know him say he is charming and gregarious."
Noting Mohsen's role in ruling Yemen with an "iron fist," the cable said he
controls at least half of Yemen's military. Despite its detail and strong
opinions, other parts of the cable contained key inaccuracies, such as Mohsen's
estimated age as well as the region he commands.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have long relied on Saleh to try and stop al
Qaeda from using Yemen as a base to plot attacks on both countries. The
impoverished Arabian Peninsula country is deeply divided, and was already on the
brink of becoming a failed state before protests erupted in January, inspired by
uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
After Mohsen's defection on March 21, Saleh reacted by warning against a "coup"
that would lead to civil war and beefed up his personal security for fear of an
assassination attempt.
Days later, Mohsen told Reuters that he had no desire to take power or hold
office, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in "tranquility, peace
and relaxation far from the problems of politics and the demands of the job."
The diplomatic cable also indicates that Mohsen would be viewed by the public as
an unpalatable successor to Saleh.
"Ali Mohsen would likely face domestic as well as international opposition if he
sought the presidency... Yemenis generally view him as cynical and
self-interested."
One reason, according to the U.S. ambassador at the time, was because of his
side business in smuggling.
"A major beneficiary of diesel smuggling in recent years, he also appears to
have amassed a fortune in the smuggling of arms, food staples, and consumer
products," his cable said.
Although the opposition welcomed Mohsen's support earlier this week, they are
also wary of his loyalties, which fall along the country's tribal and
ideological fault lines.
Northern Shi'ite rebels see Mohsen as a ruthless military leader who led the
military campaign against them in a bloody civil war. Leftists and southerners
worry that their goals for democracy will be overtaken in a military power
struggle, while the Islamist opposition is thought to view Mohsen more
favorably.
More than likely, Krajeski wrote in the cable, Mohsen would try and orchestrate
a transition where he could anoint Saleh's successor: "If he holds true to form,
Mohsen would likely prefer to play kingmaker, choosing another loyal military
officer to hold the presidency."
Egypt must scrap law banning strikes: rights group
CAIRO | Sat Mar 26, 2011
11:33am EDT
Reuters
By Dina Zayed
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian draft law that imposes prison
sentences for some strike action violates international laws on freedom of
assembly and must be scrapped, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
Last week, Egypt's military-backed government approved the draft law, which is
valid for as long as Egypt's state of emergency is in force, saying the strikes
were damaging the economy. It extends to those who organize strikes.
"This virtually blanket ban on strikes and demonstrations is a betrayal of the
demands of Tahrir protesters for a free Egypt," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle
East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"Any genuine transition toward democracy must be based on respect for the basic
rights of the people, including their right to demonstrate," she said in a
statement which demanded the immediate reversal of the decision to ban strikes.
Some workers have pressed protests to demand better wages and working conditions
after a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak from power. Some strikes have
disrupted the economy and hit Egypt's vital tourist industry, economic analysts
say.
Egypt's government, facing a growing budget deficit, has said the law was not
meant to outlaw peaceful demonstrations, but was meant to stop any
"counter-revolution" from hijacking Egypt's revolution.
The rights group said the law had "overbroad and vague provisions" that did not
meet "narrowly permitted grounds for limits on public assembly under
international law."
Rights groups are concerned the provisions would give security forces sweeping
powers of arrest. They have criticized the arrests of hundreds of peaceful
protesters on charges of disrupting public order.
They say the military has detained and in some cases tortured protesters, later
bringing them to trial before military courts.
Egypt's interim military rulers have promised to lift decades-old emergency laws
but have not given a timeframe.
"It's quite shocking, really, that a transitional government meant to replace a
government ousted for its failure to respect free speech and assembly is now
itself putting new restrictions on free speech and assembly," the group said.
Libyan rebels rout Gaddafi forces in strategic town
AJDABIYAH, Libya | Sat Mar 26, 2011
9:47am EDT
Reuters
By Angus Macswan
AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebels backed by allied
air strikes recaptured the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday,
pushing out Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Rebel fighters danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air by buildings
riddled with bulletholes after an all-night battle that suggested the tide is
turning against Gaddafi's forces in the east.
A Reuters correspondent saw half a dozen wrecked tanks near the eastern entrance
to the town and the ground strewn with empty shell casings. There were also
signs of heavy fighting at the western gate, the last part of the town taken
from government troops.
"Everything was destroyed last night by our forces," said rebel fighter Sarhag
Agouri. Witnesses and rebel fighters said the whole town was in rebel hands by
late morning.
Capturing Ajdabiyah is a big morale boost for the rebels after two weeks spent
on the back foot.
Gaddafi's better-armed forces halted an early rebel advance near the major oil
export terminal of Ras Lanuf and pushed them back to their stronghold of
Benghazi until Western powers struck Gaddafi's positions from the sea and air.
Air strikes on Ajdabiyah on Friday afternoon seem to have been decisive.
The African Union said it was planning to facilitate talks to help end the war,
but NATO said its operation could last three months, and France said the
conflict would not end soon.
In Washington, a U.S. military spokeswoman said the coalition fired 16 Tomahawk
cruise missiles and flew 153 air sorties in the past 24 hours attacking
Gaddafi's artillery, mechanized forces and command and control infrastructure.
Western governments hope the raids, launched a week ago with the aim of
protecting civilians, will shift the balance of power in favor of the Arab
world's most violent popular revolt.
In Tripoli, explosions were heard early on Saturday, signaling possible new
strikes by warplanes or missiles.
GADDAFI OFFERS PROMOTIONS
Libyan state television was broadcasting occasional, brief news reports of
Western air strikes. Mostly it showed footage -- some of it grainy images years
old -- of cheering crowds waving green flags and carrying portraits of Gaddafi.
Neither Gaddafi nor his sons have been shown on state television since the
Libyan leader made a speech from his Tripoli compound on Wednesday.
State TV said the "brother leader" had promoted all members of his armed forces
and police "for their heroic and courageous fight against the crusader,
colonialist assault."
The United States said Gaddafi's ability to command and sustain his forces was
diminishing.
Officials and rebels said aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies
to the western city of Misrata but were concerned because of government snipers
in the city center.
Gaddafi's forces shelled an area on the outskirts of the city, killing six
people including three children, a rebel said.
Misrata has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and
Gaddafi's forces since an uprising began on February 16.
At African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, AU commission chairman Jean Ping
said on Friday the organization was planning to facilitate peace talks in a
process that should end with democratic elections.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had opposed any form of foreign
intervention in the Libya crisis, since the U.N. Security Council imposed a
no-fly zone last week and air strikes began on Libyan military targets.
But in Brussels, a NATO official said planning for NATO's operation assumed a
mission lasting 90 days, although this could be extended or shortened as
required.
France said the mission could go on for weeks.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Benghazi, Tim Castle in London,
Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy in Tripoli; writing by Tom Pfeiffer and Myra
MacDonald; editing by Andrew Roche)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip
landed in Israel on Saturday after a brief lull in violence along a frontier
where tension has risen this week.
An Israeli general responded with a warning that Israel would not allow its
citizens to remain under repeated fire and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers should
"come to their senses" to prevent an escalation of hostilities.
Witnesses and a military spokeswoman said one rocket damaged an Israeli home
before dawn while the other fell harmlessly in an open area. There were no
casualties.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility issued by any of the militant
groups in Gaza, a small, coastal Palestinian territory sealed off by Israel.
Israel launched a series of air strikes in Gaza this week in response to rocket
fire, killing five militants and four civilians, and Prime Minister Benjamin has
threatened a lengthy "exchange of blows" if the violence goes on.
Major General Tal Russo, the Israeli commander on the Gaza front, said as he
visited troops on Saturday there were signs Hamas was losing its grip over other
militant factions in Gaza. "There is anarchy," he said.
Asked whether he thought the situation could escalate into another war, Russo
replied: "We are prepared for any possibility, the goal is we won't in the end
permit a situation where it is impossible for civilians to live here."
Russo added: "The other side is showing a shortness of memory and I hope they
come to their senses."
A 22-day Gaza war launched in late 2008 killed about 1,400 people in Gaza as
well as 13 Israelis. Hamas had largely withheld rocket fire at Israel since then
until this past week, though other militant groups continued shootings
sporadically.
The Israeli military said on Friday it would soon deploy an "Iron Dome"
interceptor missile shield to try and prevent further rocket hitting Israeli
towns in its south, where some schools have been shut due to the days of rocket
fire.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Libyan woman brutally silenced after accusing Gaddafi
forces of rape
Journalists try to intervene as Benghazi woman fleeing sexual
assault is taken away by government officials
Saturday 26 March 2011
Guardian.co.uk
Ian Black in Tripoli
16.34 GMT
This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 16.34 GMT on Saturday 26 March
2011.
A version appeared on p14 of the Main section section of the Observer on Sunday
27 March 2011.
It was last modified at 17.14 GMT on Saturday 26 March 2011.
It was just another breakfast time at Tripoli's smart Rixos Al
Nasr hotel, sleepy foreign journalists helping themselves to cereals, rolls and
terrible coffee in the restaurant, looking out over a neat garden unusual in the
dour capital city.
But the Groundhog Day conversations – more overnight coalition air strikes
against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, rebel advances in the east, how to escape the
minders – were suddenly interrupted when a distraught woman burst in to describe
how she had been repeatedly raped by government militiamen.
Iman al-Obeidi was quickly manhandled and arrested by security officials – an
extraordinary spectacle for the journalists staying in the luxurious
hotel-cum-media centre, hemmed in by severe restrictions on their movements and
fed barely credible information.
The scene – filmed by several of those present – unfolded when Obeidi entered
the Ocaliptus dining room and lifted up her abaya (dress) to show a slash and
bruises on her right leg. "Look what Gaddafi's men have done to me," she
screamed. "Look what they did, they violated my honour."
Distraught and weeping, she was surrounded by reporters and cameramen. Libyan
minders pushed and lashed out at the journalists, one of them drawing a gun,
another smashing a CNN camera. Two waitresses grabbed knives and threatened
Obeidi, calling her "a traitor to Gaddafi".
Obeidi said she had been arrested at a checkpoint in the capital because she is
from Benghazi, stronghold of the anti-Gaddafi rebellion in the east. "They swore
at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whisky. I was tied up. They
peed on me." She said she had been raped by 15 men and held for two days.
Charles Clover of the Financial Times, who tried to protect her, was pushed,
thrown to the floor and kicked, and Channel 4 correspondent Jonathan Miller was
punched.
Obeidi was frogmarched, struggling, into the lobby and driven away, shouting:
"They say they are taking me to hospital but they are taking me to jail."
Minders again tried to stop journalists taking pictures. It was impossible to
verify her account. Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said he had been told
Obeidi, apparently in her 30s, was drunk and suffered from "mental problems".
The incident made a powerful impression on journalists who have heard of, and
occasionally seen, brutality but are subject to stringent controls to prevent
them reporting independently and have a frustrating sense of being manipulated
for crude propaganda purposes by the authorities.
"There was a desperate sense of our failure to prevent the thugs taking her
away," C4's Miller said afterwards. "There was nothing more that we could have
done as we were overtly threatened by considerable physical force."
An American TV cameraman said: "I think she probably was raped, otherwise I
can't see her having the courage to put herself at such risk to let us know what
the regime is doing. We see the fear in people all the time. But this is the
most blatant example of the vicious way the regime treats the Libyan people."
It is clear from snatched conversations and anecdotal evidence that hundreds of
Libyans have been detained in Tripoli, Zawiya and elsewhere since the uprising
began five weeks ago, with many families still unaware of their whereabouts.
Libya's media strategy is to highlight the violent nature of the rebellion,
insisting it is inspired by al-Qaida, and to emphasise that coalition air
attacks – mandated by the UN to protect civilians – are causing civilian
casualties. But foreign media have not been allowed to visit hospitals and have
been escorted to only two sites hit in the last week.
The first was a naval base in central Tripoli, where there were no casualties.
The second was a farm on the outskirts of nearby Tajura, damaged by fragments of
what one expert said was a US-made Harm anti-radar missile, and where one person
was slightly injured.
Visible military targets – such as a mobile radar station on the adjacent
coastal road – appear to have been surgically destroyed.
Journalists have also been taken to see two mass funerals of purported victims
of the attacks, where large crowds chant pro-Gaddafi slogans and slogans
attacking what Libyans call the "colonialist-crusader aggression".
John Simpson, the BBC's foreign affairs editor, was warned by Libyan officials
after questioning in a broadcast whether coffins seen at a funeral on Thursday
contained the bodies of civilian victims. It is thought 18 air cadets were
killed in an air strike on a Tajura military installation, the number
corresponding to charred bodies shown to photographers in a hospital mortuary.
But no distinction has been made between civilian and military casualties. The
government said on Thursday that "nearly 100" civilians had been killed. No
names of the dead or injured have been published. The US and Britain say there
are no confirmed civilian casualties.
"I am on a short leash because they really objected to my questioning whether
the coffins we saw contained civilians," Simpson said. "All I said was that it
was impossible to verify, but they took that as a great insult."
Other journalists have received anonymous threats. "I have read your stories and
the penalty for carelessness is death," one American correspondent was warned by
email.
The Rixos is in a secluded compound 20 minutes from the centre of Tripoli.
Journalists who have managed to leave it or another hotel without minders are
detained by police or turned back at roadblocks. Taxi drivers face arrest if
caught picking up journalists.
Libyan officials insist journalists comply with the rules for their own safety
but are evidently frustrated that their message is not getting across. "This is
an extremely tense time," said Ibrahim. "Our soldiers are being killed. People
in Libya are very angry, very bitter. They know the news from Ajdabiya. They
know the coalition forces are not protecting civilians. They know the rebels
came from Benghazi to Ajdabiya and that we are withdrawing. No one is
investigating this."
March 26, 2011
The New York Times
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
TRIPOLI, Libya — A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing
the foreign press in Tripoli on Saturday morning in an attempt to tell
journalists that she had been raped and beaten by members of Col. Muammar
el-Qaddafi’s militia. After struggling for nearly an hour to resist removal by
Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces, she was dragged away from the hotel
screaming.
“They say that we are all Libyans and we are one people,” said the woman, who
gave her name as Eman al-Obeidy, barging in during breakfast at the hotel dining
room. “But look at what the Qaddafi men did to me.” She displayed a broad bruise
on her face, a large scar on her upper thigh, several narrow and deep scratch
marks lower on her leg, and marks that seemed to come from binding around her
hands and feet.
She said she had been raped by 15 men. “I was tied up, and they defecated and
urinated on me,” she said. “They violated my honor.”
She pleaded for friends she said were still in custody. “They are still there,
they are still there,” she said. “As soon as I leave here, they are going to
take me to jail.”
For the members of the foreign news media here at the invitation of the
government of Colonel Qaddafi — and largely confined to the Rixos Hotel except
for official outings — the episode was a vivid reminder of the brutality of the
Libyan government and the presence of its security forces even among the hotel
staff. People in hotel uniforms, who just hours before had been serving coffee
and clearing plates, grabbed table knives and rushed to physically restrain the
woman and to hold back the journalists.
Ms. Obeidy said she was a native of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi who had
been stopped by Qaddafi militia on the outskirts of Tripoli. After being held
for about two days, she said, she had managed to escape. Wearing a black robe, a
veil and slippers, she ran into the hotel here, asking specifically to speak to
the Reuters and The New York Times. “There is no media coverage outside,” she
yelled at one point.
“They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whiskey. I was tied
up,” she told Michael Georgy of Reuters, the only journalist who was able to
speak with her briefly. “I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up
immediately after this.” She added: “Look at my face. Look at my back.” Her
other comments were captured by television cameras.
A wild scuffle began as journalists tried to interview, photograph and protect
her. Several journalists were punched, kicked and knocked on the floor by the
security forces working in tandem with people who until then had appeared to be
members of the hotel staff. A television camera belonging to CNN was destroyed
in the struggle, and security forces seized a device that a Financial Times
reporter had used to record her testimony. A plainclothes security officer
pulled out a revolver.
Two members of the hotel staff grabbed table knives to threaten both Ms. Obeidy
and the journalists.
“Turn them around, turn them around,” a waiter shouted, trying to block the
foreign news media from having access to Ms. Obeidy. A woman who worked at the
hotel coffee bar shouted: “Why are you doing this? You are a traitor!” Then she
briefly forced a dark coat over Ms. Obeidy’s head.
There was a prolonged standoff behind the hotel as the security officials
apparently restrained themselves because of the presence of so many journalists,
but Ms. Obeidy was ultimately forced into a white car and taken away.
“Leave me alone,” she shouted as one man tried to cover her mouth with his hand.
“They are taking me to jail,” she yelled, trying to resist the security guards,
according to Reuters. “They are taking me to jail.”
Questioned about her treatment, Khalid Kaim, the deputy foreign minister,
promised that she would be treated in accordance with the law. Musa Ibrahim, a
government spokesman, said she appeared to be drunk and mentally ill. “Her
safety of course is guaranteed,” he said, adding that the authorities were
investigating the case, including the possibility that her reports of abuse were
“fantasies.”
Charles Clover of The Financial Times, who had put himself in the way of the
security forces trying to apprehend her, was put into a van and driven to the
border shortly afterward. He said that the night before he had been told to
leave because of what Libyan government officials said were inaccuracies in his
reports.
This article has been revised to reflect the following
correction:
Correction: March 26, 2011
An earlier version of this article misstated the surname of a Financial Times
reporter. He is Charles Clover, not Glover.
TRIPOLI | Sat Mar 26, 2011
9:01am EDT
Reuters
By Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A weeping Libyan woman made a desperate
plea for help on Saturday, slipping into a Tripoli hotel full of foreign
journalists to show bruises and scars she said had been inflicted on her by
Muammar Gaddafi's militiamen.
"Look at what Gaddafi's militias did to me," Eman al-Obaidi screamed with tears
in her eyes, pulling up her coat to show blood on her upper leg in the
restaurant of the hotel.
After being intimidated by security men and hotel staff, who also beat
journalists trying to interview her, she was eventually bundled into a car and
driven away.
Her face heavily bruised, she said she had been arrested at a checkpoint in
Tripoli because she was from the city of Benghazi, bastion of the insurgency
against Gaddafi's rule.
"They swore at me and they filmed me. I was alone. There was whiskey. I was tied
up," she said, weeping and stretching out her arms to show scars. "They peed on
me. They violated my honor."
Obaidi, who appeared to be in her 30s and was wearing a loose black coat and
slippers, said she had been raped by 15 men and held for two days.
Her story could not be independently verified. It was unclear whether she had
escaped or had been released.
"Investigators phoned me and said she was drunk, that she could be suffering
mentally," Libya's government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters, citing a
preliminary report.
"We are checking who she is, who her father is, who her brothers and sisters
are, whether she was really abused or whether it's fantasies."
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim, speaking alongside Ibrahim, said he would
look into the incident. "I am sure whe will be treated according to the law," he
said.
"LOOK AT MY FACE"
"I am not scared of anything. I will be locked up immediately after this,"
Obaidi shouted. "Look at my face. Look at my back. All of my body is bruised."
As she spoke, sobbing and shaking, hotel staff and plainclothes security men
tried to push and intimidate her. She ran from one table to another in the hotel
restaurant.
In the ensuing scuffle, one hotel staff member grabbed a table knife and yelled:
"You traitor. How dare you say that?"
A man in civilian clothes took out a gun.
A foreign journalist who was trying to get away from the scene with a camera on
which he had recorded footage of the scuffle was thrown to the ground and
kicked.
One Western television crew had their camera broken.
Obaidi was eventually forced into a garden outside the hotel. Journalists trying
to get to her were pushed away.
"Leave me alone," she shouted at security men, as one man tried to cover her
mouth with his hand.
She was then dragged to a parking lot and bundled into a white car. Security men
said they were taking her to hospital.
"They are taking me to jail," she yelled, struggling with the security guards.
"They are taking me to jail."
Tripoli is Gaddafi's biggest stronghold, full of loyal militiamen who crack down
on any form of dissent as Gaddafi's troops battle rebel forces in other parts of
the country.
International human rights groups say Gaddafi loyalists have been enforcing
their rule by arresting thousands of people. Libyan officials say they only
arrest people linked to armed gangs or al Qaeda militants.
But as Western powers press on with air raids which they say are designed to
protect civilians against Gaddafi's forces, people in the capital have become
more outspoken in their criticism of the state.
(Writing by Maria Golovnina; editing by Andrew Roche)
