Major powers to discuss Libya at UN Rights Council
Monday, 28 February 2011
Forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi took control of several western Libyan towns as the strongman played down rebel gains after world leaders called on him to quit and the United States said it was reaching out to Libyan opposition groups.
Protest leaders established a transitional "national council" in several eastern and western cities seized from the Gaddafi regime and called on the army to help them take the capital Tripoli.
The United States said it was prepared to offer "any kind of assistance" to Libyans seeking to overthrow Gaddafi as his opponents piece together a transitional body comprising representatives from the liberated cities.
The unrest in the oil-rich north African state has set off a "humanitarian emergency", the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, as almost 100,000 migrant workers fled Libya in a mass exodus of foreigners.
First we have to see the end of his regime and with no further bloodshed...We want him to leave 
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed the calls of world leaders, including President Barack Obama, for him to quit.
"We are just at the beginning of what will follow Gaddafi," she said.
"First we have to see the end of his regime and with no further bloodshed," she said, noting Washington is eager for his ouster "as soon as possible."
"We want him to leave."
Clinton's remarks came a day after US President Barack Obama called on embattled Gaddafi to "leave now," as his country teetered on civil war, saying the Libyan leader had lost his right to rule after attacking his own people to put down a popular uprising.
Major powers to focus on Libya
Speaking ahead of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on Monday, Clinton said she would meet many of her counterparts from Europe and beyond to craft responses on both the humanitarian and political fronts as Libyans try to "organize themselves post-Gaddafi."
Clinton, Russia's Sergei Lavrov, as well as counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and Italy were due to speak at a United Nations Human Rights Council session in the Swiss city or meet on the sidelines.
Ministers from several countries that have experienced uprisings or protests, including Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia were also due to address the 47 member body after the four-week session opened at 10.00 am (0900 GMT), the United Nations said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is also due to speak at the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on Monday.
The Obama administration has been criticized by rights groups and others for moving too slowly on Libya, the latest country hit by spreading turmoil and anti-government protests across the Middle East and North Africa. But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.
Washington announced a series of sanctions against Libya on Friday after a chartered ferry and a plane carrying Americans and other evacuees left Libya.
Washington is considering steps including sanctions and a "no-fly" zone to try to stop Gaddafi's suppression of anti-government protests, which diplomats estimate has killed about 2,000 people in two weeks of violence.
The U.N. Security Council imposed a travel and assets ban on Gaddafi's regime and ordered an investigation into possible crimes against humanity after at least 1,000 people were killed in a crackdown by Gaddafi's security apparatus.
Gaddafi on Sunday dismissed the U.N. sanctions as invalid and claimed calm had returned to Libya as the territories held by the opposition were "surrounded."
Freezing Gaddafi family assets
London said it had frozen Gaddafi family assets in Britain, amid newspaper reports that these amount to around 20 billion pounds ($32.2 billion, 23.4 billion euros) in liquid assets, mostly in London.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday told Libyan leader Gaddafi that it was "time to go", saying there was no role for the long-serving ruler in the troubled country's future.
Speaking after Britain's successful mission to rescue 150 nationals from the Libyan desert, the British leader said: "All of this sends a clear message to this regime: it is time for Colonel Gaddafi to go and to go now.
"There is no future for Libya that includes him," Cameron added.
Former British leader Tony Blair, who helped bring Gaddafi back into the international fold, told Monday's Times newspaper that he rang the Libyan leader twice on Friday and said he believed the colonel was in "denial."
"What is happening shocks everyone," he told the paper. "We want to see it brought to an end."
Australia is investigating claims that Gaddafi's family has stashed millions of dollars in assets down under, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday. Canberra has launched a forensic probe to track down any assets the crumbling regime may have secretly built up in Australia.
Transitional "national council"
The creation of a national council has been announced in all freed cities of Libya. The people of Libya will liberate their cities," Ghoqa said. "We are counting on the army to liberate Tripoli A community organizer, Abdel Hafiz Ghoqa, told reporters in Benghazi on Sunday that a transitional "national council" had been set up in cities seized from the regime.
"The creation of a national council has been announced in all freed cities of Libya," he said.
The council is the "face of Libya in the transitional period," he said, adding that consultations were under way on the new body's composition and duties.
"The people of Libya will liberate their cities," Ghoqa said. "We are counting on the army to liberate Tripoli."
On Saturday, former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who quit Gaddafi's regime on Monday, announced a transitional government would be formed to lead the country for a three-month period before an election.
In neighboring Egypt, visiting U.S. senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman urged Washington to recognize a transitional government in Libya and provide it with weapons and humanitarian assistance to oust the Libyan strongman.
In his telephone statement to Serbian television, the Libyan leader insisted the situation in his North African country was calm.
"There are no incidents at the moment and Libya is completely quiet. There is nothing unusual. There is no unrest," he claimed, adding that only a small number of people had been killed on both sides.
Of the territory held by the opposition, Gaddafi said: "There is a small group (of opponents) that is surrounded, but we will sort that out."
But his crumbling regime now controls only some western areas around the capital and a few long-time bastions in the arid south, reporters and witnesses say.
"Down with the regime"
Regime opponents appeared to control the city of Az-Zawiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Tripoli, where thousands took to the streets to denounce the teetering leader in front of journalists on a guided visit.
The journalists were welcomed by thousands of demonstrators, shouting "Down with the regime, we want freedom." Some were armed and fired into the air.
No Libyan security services were visible, but Az-Zawiyah saw clashes between regime supporters and opponents last Thursday, in which a human rights group said more than 35 people were killed.
In Tripoli, residents said banks were open but bread and petrol remained tightly rationed as the rebel grip on large swathes of the vast desert nation played havoc with the distribution of goods.
Tanks and jeeps driven by regime partisans were patrolling almost deserted neighborhoods around the capital, residents said.
Meanwhile a ferry loaded with some 1,800 Asian workers docked in the Mediterranean island of Malta. As the closest European Union member state located just 350 kilometers (218 miles) north of Libya, it has become a key hub in the desperate scramble to get foreigners out.
Malta's Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said his island nation had received some 8,000 people since the Libyan crisis began and he feared there could be an even greater exodus.
"There could be an escalation," Gonzi said at a news conference late on Sunday. "We have brought back from Libya more than 8,000 people representing 89 nationalities."
"If the situation continues to escalate, we'll need help from Europe and share the burden with our European partners," he said, adding that in his view the end was in sight.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Europe could face an "uncontrollable" wave of refugees fleeing North Africa if unrest continues, and called on EU leaders to hold a crisis summit to develop a common response.
(Compiled by Abeer Tayel)
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