Category: Libya

A senior Turkish official says Ankara has set up a range of surgical programs to treat hundreds of people wounded in the turmoil in Libya.

In an interview with Hurriyet newspaper on Saturday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said a ship will set sail to the North African country to aid some 450 people injured in Libya’s violence and bring them to Turkey.

“Turkey is the only country to maintain contact with both sides… We will bring the wounded. There is a deal on that,” he said.

Cicek added that the operation has been given blessing from the regime of embattled 68-year-old Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The remarks come as Turkey has ruled out part in US-led airstrikes against Libya and laid emphasis on the need for humanitarian aid efforts.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says some 351,600 people have fled Libya for fear of violence and around 1,500 to 2,000 are making their way to Egypt each day.

According to US military officials, more than 350 aircraft are participating in the US-led campaign of military airstrikes against Libya.

Apart from the United States, twelve countries are taking part in Operation Odyssey Dawn, which began on March 19 after the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya to “protect civilians” from Gaddafi’s attacks.

The rising civilian death toll in Libya has set off a frenzy of speculations about the real motive behind the war in the oil-rich country, with many analysts saying that under the guise of protecting civilians, as enshrined in the UN Security Council resolution 1973, Washington and its Western allies are basically after the North African country’s vast oil reserves.

MP/AGB

via PressTV – Turkey will treat wounded Libyans.

Foreign minister says command of military operations in Libya will be transferred from US to NATO within a day or two.

”]Command of military operations in Libya will be transferred from the US to NATO within a day or two, Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, has announced.

Turkey had helped to implement a naval blockade of Libya, but had earlier expressed concern about the alliance taking over operational command of the UN-backed no-fly zone from the US.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Davutoglu said: “Compromise has been reached in principle in a very short time. “The operation will be handed over to NATO completely.”

Davutoglu said this would happen as soon as possible, within one or two days.

He said agreement had been reached in a teleconference with his counterparts from the US, France and Britain.

NATO will take command of the international coalition’s military operations in Libya on Monday or Tuesday, a

diplomat told the AFP news agency on Thursday.

“NATO countries are in agreement to launch final planning enabling it to take over the command from the coalition Monday or Tuesday,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.

The US had been keen to hand over operational control to the military alliance as soon as possible.

Davutoglu’s announcement followed a fouth days of talks over the issue at a NATO summit in Brussels.

All 28 members of NATO needed to back any agreement and Turkey had previously rejected backing any plan unless it was given assurances that the operation would be limited to protecting civilians, enforcing an arms embargo and a no-fly zone, and providing humanitarian aid.

US admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s overall commander, was in Turkey on Thursday to convince leaders there to back the agreement on the alliance’s role.

Critical voices

The need to forge a consensus on Libya that involved Turkey and retained Arab support had becomes more critical each day, after NATO talks began on Monday.

Along with Turkey, Germany had also proved to be an obstacle to any agreement, abstaining from the UN Security Council vote that initially approved the no-fly zone, and reportedly refusing to help enforce the international arms embargo on Libya on Wednesday.

China, India and Russia, which all abstained from the Security Council vote, have repeatedly criticised the military action, and remaining in the lead role had exposed the US to their disapproval.

China’s foreign ministry reiterated its call for a ceasefire on Thursday, warning that the conflict could escalate and “worsen the situation region-wide”.

“We believe that the objective of enforcing the UN Security Council resolution is to protect humanitarian [objectives] and not to create an even bigger humanitarian disaster,” spokesman Jiang Yu said.

The three nations, as well as South Africa and Brazil, are expected to raise their concerns at a Security Council meeting on Thursday, where Ban will deliver a briefing on the operation.

Jacob Zuma, the South African president, said his country “rejected any foreign intervention, whatever its form”.

Thought some observers thought South Africa would abstain at the Security Council last week, it voted in favour of resolution 1973.

In an interview on Thursday, Ban rejected concerns that the operation would stall or reach a quagmire.

“I think this is different than other situations,” he said. “I believe that the international coalition will have a successful operation.”

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies

via Turkey backs NATO command of Libya operations – Africa – Al Jazeera English.

NATO ministers have ended a third day of talks over the crisis in Libya without agreement on whether the alliance will assume command of military operations aimed at protecting civilians from forces loyal to leader Muammar Qaddafi.

Coalition operations are in their fifth day of UN-backed air strikes in the North African state, where opposition forces are battling government troops in an effort to oust Qaddafi after four decades of rule.

Allied warplanes bombed air defenses near Tripoli and a loyalist compound outside the besieged rebel city of Misrata, forcing government troops to withdraw tanks from there.

The commander of British aircraft operating over Libya, Air Vice-Marshal Greg Bagwell, said today that Qaddafi’s air force “no longer exists as a fighting force,” and that the allies could now operate “with near impunity” in Libyan airspace.

In Brussels, spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said NATO allies would continue to debate the alliance’s possible role in the enforcement of the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya.

Canadian Brigadier General Pierre Saint Amand (left) and NATO spokewoman Oana Lungescu brief the media in Brussels on March 23.

“What you are seeing now is all 28 allies discussing [the operation in Libya] in a constructive spirit,” she said. “They’ve already moved to take the first step in implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and I think that it is important that NATO is united and NATO is taking action.”

The resolution adopted a week ago allows for “all necessary measures” to protect the Libyan people from Qaddafi’s security forces.

Turkish Opposition

NATO diplomats who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity after the meeting said the main obstacle to agreement was Turkish opposition.

Turkey said it objected to NATO taking responsibility for offensive operations that could cause civilian casualties, as well as to the alliance enforcing the UN-mandated no-fly zone while coalition aircraft simultaneously bomb Libyan forces.

Speaking in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “It would be impossible for us to share responsibility in an operation that some authorities have described as a ‘crusade’” — an apparent reference to the use of that term by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Qaddafi himself.

A NATO source who spoke to the Associated Press said Turkey, a Muslim NATO member with major commercial interests in Libya, wanted Western coalition countries to finish their air strikes before NATO assumes command.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on March 22 that he could not predict when the no-fly zone operation would end, but said the United States wanted to hand over lead command of the operation as early as March 26.

President Barack Obama reinforced that message on March 22 during a stopover in El Salvador on the last leg of his Latin American trip. He said he had “absolutely no doubt” that control could be shifted from the United States to other coalition members within days.

Obama said the United States would remain in a “support role” and provide uniquely U.S. assets, such as radar jamming and intelligence capabilities.

Obama: “We have unique capabilities.”

“We have unique capabilities,” Obama said. “We came in up front fairly heavily, fairly substantially, and at considerable risk to our military personnel and when this transition takes place it is not going to be our planes maintaining the no fly zone.”

Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed on on March 22 that NATO should play an important role in enforcing the Libyan no-fly zone.

But NATO’s lack of agreement over whether it will assume lead command of the mission adds an element of uncertainty to the White House’s plans to step back from operations.

Progress Seen

Nevertheless, in a joint press appearance today at the State Department with Morocco’s visiting Foreign Minister Taeib Fassi, Clinton said the United States “will continue to support this mission as [it] transfer[s] command and control to NATO.”

Clinton also said the United States had been satisfied with the amount of participation by Arab counties and expected “more announcements” of help in the coming days.

And she said the coalition had “made significant progress” in the first five days of the operation, but added that as long as “Qaddafi is “[directing] his forces to attack his own people’ the need for military intervention will continue.

“It will be up to Qaddafi and his ‘insiders’ to determine what their next steps are but we would certainly encourage that they would make the right decision,” Clinton said, “and not only institute a real, comprehensive cease-fire, but withdraw from the cities and the military actions and prepare for a transition that does not include Colonel Qaddafi.”

Earlier today, NATO warships have begun patrolling off Libya’s coast to enforce a UN-mandated arms embargo.

Canadian Brigadier General Pierre St. Amand of NATO’s military staff told a media briefing today that NATO had received offers for up to 16 vessels to patrol the Mediterranean.

He said Turkey alone had offered five ships and one submarine to join the operation, dubbed Unified Protector, which he said was now “under way.”

Other members offering vessels included Britain, Canada, Greece, Italy, Romania, Spain, and the United States.

Alliance spokeswoman Lungescu said naval operation Unified Protector was important to stop the “flow of arms and mercenaries” into Libya that intelligence reports say is continuing.

Under Attack From ‘Fascists’

As discussions were going on who should take the leading role in the Libya mission, Qaddafi remained defiant.

Addressing a crowd of supporters at his compound in Tripoli on March 22, the Libyan leader said his people were under attack from “fascists” and called on other Muslim countries to “take part in the battle against the crusaders.”

“It’s a new crusade, a crusade against Islam! Long live Islam everywhere! All Islamic armies, take part in the battle!” Qaddafi said.

Muammar Qaddafi addresses supporters at his former Bab al-Aziziya residence in Tripoli.

“Demonstrations are taking place everywhere, in Asia, in Africa, in America, in Europe! Their people are against them! Their people are against them!”

Western warplanes have flown more than 300 sorties over Libya and more than 160 cruise missiles have been fired in the UN-mandated mission.

The strikes have managed to ground Qaddafi’s aircraft and to push back his forces from the brink of rebel stronghold Benghazi, but disorganized and poorly equipped rebels have been unable to dislodge Qaddafi’s forces from the key junction of Ajdabiyah in the east.

As air strikes entered their fifth day, correspondents reported explosions rocked the capital early today.

Reports say warplanes silenced Qaddafi’s artillery and tanks around the last big rebel holdout of Misrata in the west, where residents say the siege is becoming increasingly desperate, with water cut off for days and food running out, and many of the wounded left untreated.

Clashes also were reported today near the rebel-held Zintan near the border with Tunisia, and in the town of Yafran, southwest of Tripoli.

compiled from agency reports

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has warned the coalition forces taking action in Libya against pursuing any hidden agenda.

Without naming any states, he said it was “obvious” that some coalition members perceived the conflict as an opportunity for themselves.

He also urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to resign.

Scepticism about the coalition’s aims has also been voiced at a session of the Russian parliament.

Turkey, Nato’s only predominantly Muslim member and a key player in the Middle East, offered on Wednesday to send five ships and a submarine to join a naval operation to enforce an arms embargo off Libya.

However, the country has publicly questioned the wisdom of coalition air strikes.

“We saw in the past such [military] operations increasing the loss of lives,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, pledging that his country would “never point guns at the Libyan people”.

On Wednesday, Mr Gul told reporters: “The issue is essentially about people’s freedom and ending oppression… but unfortunately it is obvious that some countries are driven by opportunism.

“Some who until yesterday were closest to the dictators and sought to take advantage of them… display an excessive behaviour today and raise suspicions of secret intentions.”

The military operation has involved France, the US, the UK, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Canada.

In Moscow, the head of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachev, told journalists that neither the actions of Mr Gaddafi against his own people nor the coalition force’s military operation were acceptable to Russia.

“The actions of a so-called anti-Libyan coalition to ‘restore order’ in this country, which are beyond the scope of the actions sanctioned by the corresponding UN Security Council’s resolution [on Libya], are not acceptable either,” he added.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Duma that Russia had opposed possible military intervention in Libya from the outset.

Russia did not veto the UN Security Council resolution because it was governed by the principle that the civilian population must be protected, he explained.

via BBC News – Turkey warns against coalition ‘hidden agenda’ on Libya.