{"id":430143,"date":"2011-05-25T18:30:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T18:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/"},"modified":"2011-05-25T18:30:48","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T18:30:48","slug":"obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"115\">\n<div>\n<p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Russia accuses NATO of &#8220;flagrant deviation&#8221; from the U.N. mandate<\/li>\n<li>It says NATO strikes are leading to civilian casualties<\/li>\n<li>The U.N. chief urges an immediate cease-fire<\/li>\n<li>Obama says Gadhafi must go<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Tripoli, Libya (CNN)<\/strong> &#8212; As U.S. President Barack Obama warned Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi Wednesday that there would be &#8220;no letup&#8221; in NATO airstrikes, Russia lashed out against the air campaign, calling the bombing of certain Tripoli targets a &#8220;flagrant deviation&#8221; from the United Nations mandate.<\/p>\n<p>The U.N. chief said Wednesday he had spoken with the Libyan prime minister and stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the special U.N. envoy for Libya, who has been in Benghazi meeting with the Libyan opposition, would be returning to Tripoli soon to try to secure an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The war has dragged on for many weeks, with reports of horrific fighting and civilian casualties.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged Wednesday that several &#8220;non-military facilities in Tripoli that had already been bombed, were again attacked in a massive NATO airstrike, leading to civilian casualties.&#8221; It said in a written statement that &#8220;this is yet another flagrant deviation&#8221; from the U.N. Security Council resolution 1973.<\/p>\n<p>That resolution authorized all means necessary, short of occupying forces, to enforce a no-fly zone and protect Libyan civilians from attacks by forces loyal to Gadhafi.<\/p>\n<p>A barrage of at least 18 rockets struck Tripoli Tuesday, killing 19 people and wounding another 150 in the heaviest onslaught since NATO&#8217;s aerial strikes began, a government official told CNN.<\/p>\n<p>NATO said it had struck a government vehicle storage facility adjacent to Gadhafi&#8217;s compound.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian ministry said NATO has justified its attacks with the need to protect civilians but said that it was &#8220;impossible to deny the obvious fact that airstrikes are not stopping military confrontation between the warring Libyan sides, and are only causing additional suffering of peaceful Libyans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It said the airstrikes are failing to bring closure to the Libyan conflict, triggered by protests in February and an ensuing crackdown by Gadhafi&#8217;s forces.<\/p>\n<p>Russia, which has been critical of NATO airstrikes all along, believes normalization in Libya can only come from an immediate halt in military activities, the ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>Some have viewed the Libya campaign as a litmus test for relations between the alliance and Russia. The 28 members of NATO work with Russia as equal partners in the NATO-Russia Council, a group that works on a wide array of issues including security.<\/p>\n<p>Obama, who held meetings with his British counterpart David Cameron in London Wednesday, increased pressure on Gadhafi by saying that ultimately, the embattled strongman had to go.<\/p>\n<p>The mission to protect Libyans from their leader means making sure Gadhafi &#8220;doesn&#8217;t have capacity to send in a bunch of thugs to murder innocent civilians and threaten them,&#8221; Obama said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do think we have made enormous progress in Libya. We have saved lives. Gadhafi and his regime need to understand there will not be a letup in the pressure we are applying,&#8221; Obama said.<\/p>\n<p>But both he and Cameron said it will take time to reach a solution in the North African country, ruled with an iron fist by Gadhafi for 42 years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We may have to be more patient than people would like,&#8221; Obama said of the seeming stalemate in the war.<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to break the months-long standoff, South Africa President Jacob Zuma plans to visit Tripoli next week for talks with Gadhafi, according to a statement on the South African leader&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n<p>Zuma will meet Gadhafi Monday in &#8220;his capacity as a member of the African Union high level panel for the resolution of the conflict in Libya,&#8221; the statement said. The panel also includes Uganda and Mauritania.<\/p>\n<p>It is the second trip for Zuma, who was part of an African Union delegation that visited the nation last month. That visit included talks on a cease-fire, which did not succeed.<\/p>\n<p>The Libyan government, meanwhile, lashed out at Obama and Cameron.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is illegal and illegitimate to speak about regime change under the pretext of protecting civilians,&#8221; said a government official. &#8220;It is up to the Libyan people to decide when and if Colonel Gadhafi should go &#8212; not the U.S. and the UK.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Russia&#8217;s official RIA Novosti news agency reported that Gadhafi&#8217;s government may ask Moscow to mediate the conflict.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CNN&#8217;s Nima Elbagir contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Original post:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/edition_africa\/~3\/UxeahsuED8w\/index.html\" title=\"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> STORY HIGHLIGHTS Russia accuses NATO of &#8220;flagrant deviation&#8221; from the U.N. mandate It says NATO strikes are leading to civilian casualties The U.N. chief urges an immediate cease-fire Obama says Gadhafi must go Tripoli, Libya (CNN) &#8212; As U.S<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"STORY HIGHLIGHTS Russia accuses NATO of &quot;flagrant deviation&quot; from the U.N. mandate It says NATO strikes are leading to civilian casualties The U.N. chief urges an immediate cease-fire Obama says Gadhafi must go Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- As U.S\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-25T18:30:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\"},\"wordCount\":758,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\",\"name\":\"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-25T18:30:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"STORY HIGHLIGHTS Russia accuses NATO of \"flagrant deviation\" from the U.N. mandate It says NATO strikes are leading to civilian casualties The U.N. chief urges an immediate cease-fire Obama says Gadhafi must go Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- As U.S","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object","datePublished":"2011-05-25T18:30:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/"},"wordCount":758,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/","name":"Obama ratchets up pressure on Gadhafi; Russians object - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-25T18:30:48+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/25\/obama-ratchets-up-pressure-on-gadhafi-russians-object\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}