LIBYA: U.N. officials, diplomats take action against Kadafi regime

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Key Western nations urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to demand an immediate end to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi’s bloody crackdown on civilian protesters.

The Security Council met behind closed doors Tuesday morning to discuss possible council action, Reuters reported, most likely a press statement agreed to by all 15 members, as key Libyan diplomats disowned Kadafi’s regime

Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig told Reuters as he headed into the meeting that his country wants ‘a swift and clear message of the council.’

Several Western diplomats said at a minimum they want a council statement Tuesday condemning the violence against Libyan civilians, demanding an immediate end to the crackdown, and calling on all parties to act with restraint and respect human rights and international law, Reuters reported. They also want the council to demand full protection for foreign nationals and access for humanitarian assistance and human rights monitors, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meetings were private.

Brazil, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, called the meeting after receiving a letter from Libya’s deputy U.N. ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, who signed it as ‘charge d’affaires,’ meaning he was running Libya’s U.N. mission, according to Reuters. Diplomats said there was some question of whether he was, in fact, in charge, but Germany, a non-permanent council member, said it would call for consultations if there was a question, Reuters reported.

Almost all Libyan diplomats at the United Nations backed Dabbashi’s pleas to Kadafi to end his 40-year rule and to the international community to intervene.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Beverly Hills that he hopes ‘the Security Council will take this matter on an urgent basis,’ according to Reuters.

Ban told Reuters he had spoken to Kadafi earlier Monday for 40 minutes and ‘forcefully urged him to stop violence against demonstrators and again strongly underlined the importance of respecting the human rights of those demonstrators.’ Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, has called for the ‘immediate cessation of grave human rights violations committed by Libyan authorities,’ according to Al Jazeera satellite network.

She cited reports of the use of machine guns, snipers and military planes against civilian protesters, and called for an independent, international investigation into the killings that have wracked the country for days.

‘The callousness with which Libyan authorities and their hired guns are reportedly shooting live rounds of ammunition at peaceful protesters is unconscionable,’ she said.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske