The Malaysian Insider :: World |
| Gaddafi defiant as West flexes military might Posted: 01 Mar 2011 06:45 PM PST  A British Royal Marines Commando stands in front of the HMS Cumberland frigate at Benghazi port February 27, 2011. — Reuters pic The United States warned Libya could descend into civil war unless Gaddafi quits, amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and cause a humanitarian crisis. But Gaddafi remained defiant and his son, Saif al-Islam, warned the West against launching military action and said the veteran ruler would not step down or go into exile. Italy said it was sending a humanitarian mission to Tunisia to provide food and medical aid to as many as 10,000 people who had fled violence in neighbouring Libya. Tunisian border guards fired into the air yesterday to try to control a crowd of people clamouring to cross the frontier. About 70,000 people have passed through the Ras Jdir border post in the past two weeks, and many more of the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in Libya are expected to follow. "Using force against Libya is not acceptable. There's no reason, but if they want ... we are ready, we are not afraid," Saif al-Islam told Sky television. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US lawmakers: "Libya could become a peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil war." The United States said it was moving ships and planes closer to the oil-producing North African state. The destroyer USS Barry moved through the Suez Canal on Monday and into the Mediterranean. Two amphibious assault ships, the USS Kearsarge, which can carry 2,000 Marines, and the USS Ponce, are in the Red Sea and are expected to go through the canal early on Wednesday.  Saif warned that his father has no intention to yield. — Reuters pic "We are looking at a lot of options and contingencies. No decisions have been made on any other actions," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sounded a note of caution, saying military intervention would not happen without a clear United Nations mandate. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said Britain would work with allies on preparations for a no-fly zone in Libya, said it was unacceptable that "Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people using airplanes and helicopter gunships." General James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, told a Senate hearing that imposing a no-fly zone would be a "challenging" operation. "You would have to remove air defence capability in order to establish a no-fly zone, so no illusions here," he said. "It would be a military operation." Analysts said Western leaders were in no mood to rush into the conflict after drawn-out involvements in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gaddafi, a survivor of past coup attempts, told the US ABC network and the BBC on Monday: "All my people love me," dismissing the significance of a rebellion that has ended his control over much of oil-rich eastern Libya. Rebel fighters said the balance of the conflict was swinging their way. "Our strength is growing and we are getting more weapons. We are attacking checkpoints," said Yousef Shagan, a spokesman in Zawiyah, 50km from Tripoli. A rebel army officer in the eastern city of Ajdabiyah said rebel units were becoming more organized. "All the military councils of Free Libya are meeting to form a unified military council to plan an attack on Gaddafi security units, militias and mercenaries," Captain Faris Zwei said. He said there were more than 10,000 volunteers in the city, plus defecting soldiers. The New York Times reported that the rebels' revolutionary council was debating whether to ask for Western airstrikes on some of Gaddafi's military assets under a United Nations banner. The Times said Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the council's spokesman, declined to comment on its deliberations but said: "If it is with the United Nations, it is not a foreign intervention," which the rebels have said they oppose. The Times said there was no indication the UN Security Council would approve such a request, or that Libyans seeking to oust Gaddafi would welcome it. Despite the widespread collapse of Gaddafi's writ, his forces were fighting back in some regions. A reporter on the Tunisian border saw Libyan troops reassert control at a crossing abandoned on Monday, and residents of Nalut, about 60km from the border, said they feared pro-Gaddafi forces were planning to recapture the town. Mohamed, a resident of rebel-held Misrata, told Reuters by phone: "Symbols of Gaddafi's regime have been swept away from the city. Only a (pro-Gaddafi) battalion remains at the city's air base but they appear to be willing to negotiate safe exit out of the air base. We are not sure if this is genuine or just a trick to attack the city again." Across the country, tribal leaders, officials, military officers and army units have defected to the rebels. Sanctions will squeeze his access to funds. Tripoli is a clear Gaddafi stronghold, but even in the capital, loyalties are divided. Many on the streets yesterday expressed loyalty but a man who described himself as a military pilot said: "One hundred per cent of Libyans don't like him." The UN General Assembly yesterday unanimously suspended Libya's membership of the UN Human Rights Council. A UN Security Council resolution on Saturday called for a freeze on Gaddafi's assets and a travel ban and refers his crackdown to the International Criminal Court. The United States has frozen US$30 billion (RM90 billion) in Libyan assets. Libya's National Oil Corp said output had halved because of the departure of foreign workers. Brent crude prices surged above US$116 a barrel as supply disruptions and the potential for more unrest in the Middle East and North Africa kept investors on edge. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing unnamed US sources, said British special forces were preparing to seize mustard gas and other potential chemical weapons in Libya. It quoted unnamed British sources as saying they had not yet received a specific US request for involvement, but officials said plans were being drawn up for "every eventuality." — Reuters |
| ‘Day of Rage’ shakes Yemen, Saleh sacks governors Posted: 01 Mar 2011 06:07 PM PST  Anti-government protesters shout slogans outside Sanaa University March 1, 2011. — Reuters pic In the capital Sanaa, demonstrators chanted "With blood and soul we support you, Aden," referring to the southern port city where most of the 24 people killed in the past two weeks of protests have died. Some demonstrators flashed "V" for victory signs while others wore white headbands with "Leave" written in red — a message addressed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Tens of thousands more marched through the streets of Ibb and Taiz, south of Sanaa. Already rocked by separatism and an al Qaeda insurgency, Yemen is one of the Arab nations most shaken by popular protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East. Saleh, a US ally against al Qaeda, has failed to quell two months of protests in a country of 23 million where 40 per cent live on less than US$2 (RM6) a day and a third are undernourished. On Monday he offered to form a unity government but the opposition rejected it. Yesterday, Saleh replaced the governors of five mostly southern provinces at the centre of the protests. "Victory is coming and it is near," Hassan Zaid, an opposition leader, shouted to the protesters gathered in Sanaa, where they have been camping out for two weeks. "We have one goal and one demand, and that is the quick end of the regime." Protesters are angry at widespread corruption, as university graduates struggle to get jobs without connections, and youth unemployment is high. Northern rebels and southern separatists say they are denied resources and a say in politics. As oil and water resources dry up, the 68-year-old Saleh is less able to pay off allies to keep the peace. In Hodeidah province in the north, Saleh loyalists and protesters fought with rocks and sticks. Four people were hurt. Security forces in the south have come under frequent attack in recent days. Yesterday, separatists fought the army in southern Habilayn, killing two soldiers and wounding three. The US-based group Human Rights Watch said at least eight people detained by Yemen security forces last month, including several southern separatists, had disappeared. "Snatching and hiding political opposition leaders ... is hardly compatible with the government's claim to protect rights," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement: "We have seen over and over again in the past few weeks that violent responses, in breach of international law, do not make the protesters go away and only serve to exacerbate their frustration and anger." A leading hardline Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, who two weeks ago backed the idea of Saleh staying in power until his term ends in 2013, joined protesters in the capital. "There is no legitimacy to a ruler whose people do not want him," Zindani said in Sanaa. Veteran leader Saleh lashed out at US President Barack Obama over demands that leaders show restraint in tackling unrest as protests, galvanized by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, rage across Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Oman. "Every day we hear a statement from Obama saying 'Egypt you can't do this, Tunisia don't do that'," Saleh said in a speech at Sanaa University, a rallying point for protests in the capital where tens of thousands have gathered outside campus. "What do you have to do with Egypt? Or Oman? Are you the president of the United States, or president of the world?" — Reuters |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan