World grapples for response as battles divide Libya

Protesters chant anti-government slogans while holding a Libyan flag in a square in Benghazi yesterday, February 23, 2011

World leaders condemned Mummar Gaddafi’s bloody crackdown on a revolt that has split Libya, but took little action to halt the bloodshed from the latest upheaval reshaping the Arab world.

US President Barack Obama made his first public comments, condemning as “outrageous” and “unacceptable” attacks on protesters that have killed hundreds in 10 days and helped drive oil prices to levels that threaten global economic recovery.

Yet, there seemed little cohesion and urgency in a global response, even as Washington and Brussels spoke of possible sanctions against a man whose 41 years in power have been marked by idiosyncratic defiance of the West.

“It is imperative that the nations and peoples of the world speak with one voice,” Obama said. “The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous.”



The oil exports which Gaddafi used to help end his isolation in the past decade have given him means to resist the fate of his immediate neighbours, the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, who were brought down by popular unrest in the past few weeks.

As many as 1,000 people may have been killed in Libya, the Italian foreign minister said. Unconfirmed reports speak of troops and African mercenaries firing on demonstrators in the desert nation pumping nearly two percent of world oil output.

Gaddafi’s defiance has been backed by deeds, with the deployment of aircraft on bombing runs.

Yet eastern areas, where much of the oil is concentrated, have slipped from his control and with security forces defecting to join the protesters, it was unclear just how long Gaddafi could hang onto power.

In cities like Benghazi and Tobruk, troops and police have either withdrawn or have joined with diffuse and disparate opposition groups to start providing some order and services.

That wave may have reached as far west as Misrata, a city some 200km east of Tripoli where a statement which purported to be from lawyers and judges said “honest” military officers had helped remove agents of the “oppressive regime.”

In Tripoli, which remains largely closed to foreign media, locals said streets were calm after days of sporadic violence but fear gripped people’s households.

“I haven’t heard gun shots, unlike in the last few days,” said one resident living close to Green Square in the city centre which is a focus for gatherings.

Marwan Mohammed, a Tunisian crossing the border home after leaving Tripoli, said: “Lots of people are afraid to leave their homes in Tripoli and pro-Gaddafi gunmen are roaming around threatening any people who gather in groups.”

Oil wealth has made Libya an important investor in Western economies, as well as the sponsor of a host of projects in Africa and elsewhere, winning Gaddafi potential allies in forums like the United Nations.

Differences among world powers over how to proceed, some driven by concern not to jeopardise the safety of foreigners caught up in the trouble, appear to limit prospects for immediate international action.

The Security Council agreed a statement on Tuesday calling for an end to violence. But diplomats said a formal resolution requiring UN action was not immediately likely.

France and Germany have pushed EU states to consider sanctions and have won agreement to look into the matter. Some governments, including Italy, warn of economic problems if oil and gas supplies are disrupted.

Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969, has promised to “cleanse Libya house by house” to crush the revolt.

He has deployed troops to the west of the capital to stop the revolt that started in the east from spreading. In the east, many soldiers have withdrawn from active service.

In Benghazi, cradle of the uprising and home to tribes long hostile to Gaddafi, thousands filled the streets, lighting fireworks and waving the red, black and green flag of the king Colonel Gaddafi overthrew in 1969.

“We have been suffering for 41 years,” said 45-year-old Hamida Muftah. “Gaddafi has killed people ... We are a very rich country, but most of the people are poorer than poor.”

A medical official said some 320 had died in Benghazi alone since protests against oppression and poverty began last week.

Libya’s Quryna newspaper quoted a military source as saying a bomber crew bailed out and left their aircraft to crash rather than bomb Benghazi. Earlier in the week, two pilots flew their jets to Malta to avoid, they said, attacking their own people.

The newspaper said rebels in Benghazi started their own publication with the slogan “We don’t surrender, we either win or die” — the last words of anti-Italian independence leader Omar al-Mukhtar before his execution by the Italian authorities.

Gaddafi’s children have spoken up in his defence and accused foreign media of misreporting the week’s events in Libya.

“Libyans are the victims of the biggest joke,” his son Saif al-Islam told state TV. Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha appeared on state television, denying a report she tried to flee to Malta.

An estimated 1.5 million foreign nationals are working or travelling in Libya and a third of the population of seven million are immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Witnesses described scenes of chaos as people tried to leave. “It’s a Biblical exodus,” said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

Countries with strong business ties to Libya scrambled to evacuate thousands of citizens. A Turkish worker was shot dead at a building site near the capital, Turkish officials said.

A British oil worker said 300 people were stranded at a camp in the east of Libya, where he said local people had looted oil installations. He told the BBC: “We are living every day in fear of our lives as the local people are armed.