Libya crackdown condemned at UN

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Libyan Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ibrahim Dabbashi: UN action “not strong enough”

The UN Security Council has condemned the Libyan authorities for using force against protesters, calling for those responsible to be held to account.

In a statement, the council demanded an immediate end to the violence and said Libya’s rulers had to “address the legitimate demands of the population”.

Nearly 300 people have been killed so far, according to Human Rights Watch.

Earlier, Col Muammar Gaddafi urged his supporters to attack the “cockroaches” and “rats” protesting against his rule.

Anyone who took up arms against Libya would be executed, he warned.

Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi later resigned and called on the armed forces to “join and heed the people’s demands”.

‘Extremely strong’

The UN Security Council’s statement came after a day of debate on the uprising in Libya, which has seen the state lose control of much of the east of the country, foreign mercenaries allegedly attacking civilians on the streets and warplanes reportedly shooting and bombing protesters.

The council’s 15 members said the Libyan authorities should “meet its responsibility to protect its population”, act with restraint, and respect human rights and international humanitarian law.

The Libyan authorities should also hold accountable those people responsible for attacking civilians, and respect the rights of its citizens to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and press freedom, they added.

British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said the statement was “extremely strong” and indicated further measures were likely in the coming days.

Libya’s deputy permanent representative to the UN in New York, Ibrahim Dabbashi, who on Monday called on Col Gaddafi to step down, said the council’s statement was “not strong enough” but still “a good message to the regime in Libya about stopping the bloodshed”.

But his superior, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Shalqam, dissociated himself from the remarks, calling Libya’s ruler “my friend”.

The Arab League also condemned the “crimes” against protesters in Libya and said it would bar the country from League meetings.

‘Genocide has started’

But Col Gaddafi was defiant in a rambling 75-minute speech broadcast on state television, saying he vowing to crush the revolt by “rats and mercenaries”.

Standing outside the Bab al-Aziza barracks in Tripoli, which was damaged by a US air strike in 1986, he vowed: “I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr. I shall remain here defiant.”

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Colonel Gaddafi: ”I will die a martyr at the end”

He also called on his supporters to “cleanse Libya house by house” unless the protesters surrendered.

“All of you who love Muammar Gaddafi, go out on the streets, secure the streets, don’t be afraid of them… Chase them, arrest them, hand them over,” he said.

He portrayed the protesters as misguided youths who had been given drugs and money by a “small, sick group”, and blamed “bearded men” – a reference to Islamist – and Libyans living abroad for fomenting the violence.

“The hour of work is here, the hour of onslaught is here, the hour of victory is here. No retreat, forward, forward, forward. Revolution, revolution,” he shouted at the end of the speech, pumping both fists in the air.

Shortly after the speech, a BBC correspondent in Tripoli heard the sound of guns being fired, apparently into the air. She said fireworks were also set off and cars drove through the city at high speed, their horns blaring.

In the eastern city of Benghazi, people watching the address reportedly threw shoes at television screens as a sign of their anger.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Col Gaddafi’s speech was “very, very appalling” and “amounted to him declaring war on his own people”.

In New York, Mr Dabbashi said he had received information that the Libyan leader’s supporters had started attacking people in all western cities.

“The Gaddafi statement was just code for his collaborators to start the genocide against the Libyan people. It just started a few hours ago. I hope the information I get is not accurate but if it is, it will be a real genocide,” he told reporters.

Refugees

Earlier in the day, Tripoli was reported to be tense, with almost-empty streets enlivened only by lines of people queuing for bread and petrol.

In Sabratah, 80km (50 miles) west of the capital, a large number of soldiers were deployed after protesters destroyed the offices of the security services, the Quryna newspaper reported.

There were also reports that the western city of Ajdabiya was now controlled by the opposition. Ajdabiya is situated close to Libya’s main oil fields. Government forces have also been ejected from the cities of Tobruk and Benghazi.

Witnesses in the eastern town of al-Bayda told the Reuters news agency that 26 people had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.

Refugees also streamed across Libya’s eastern border with Egypt. Many said the Libyan authorities had been using tanks, warplanes and mercenaries.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne, in eastern Libya, says the region appears to be wholly under opposition control and people are deliriously happy. Many of the army and police have defected and have been accepted by the opposition.

Local people said the government there had collapsed on Thursday after the first protests. They believe the only people now supporting Col Gaddafi are foreign fighters in the country.

Our correspondent says there is little doubt that Col Gaddafi’s rule is finished, but it is not clear how long it will take or how bloody it will be.