NATO Planes Destroy Guard Towers at Qaddafi's Tripoli Compound
May 29 (Bloomberg) -- NATO planes leveled guard towers atop the walls of Muammar Qaddafi's compound in central Tripoli, the U.K. said, increasing pressure for the Libyan leader to quit a day after Russia offered to negotiate his exit.
NATO aircraft "used precision guided weapons to bring down guard towers along the walls" of the Bab Al Aziziyah complex, according to an e-mailed statement from Major General John Lorimer.
Russia said May 27 it's seeking to negotiate Qaddafi's departure, for the first time supporting the goals of the military campaign led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Qaddafi has forfeited his right to govern and Russia is using its contacts with the Libyan regime to persuade him to step down, President Dmitry Medvedev said in Deauville, France, after a Group of Eight summit.
In Benghazi, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya's Interim Transitional National Council, welcomed the Russian offer. "Free Libya is looking forward to building and strengthening its relations with the Russian Federation," he said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Jalil's statement said Qaddafi's troops continue to attack cities with artillery, tanks and rocket launchers, and "impose arbitrary measures that include random arrests, torture and raids of homes." Qaddafi's troops fired at protesters in four areas of Tripoli, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.
Amnesty Offered
Libya's rebels offered amnesty to soldiers willing to abandon Qaddafi, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Those who committed crimes before the start of the rebellion on Feb. 17 will be guaranteed "a fair trial," while people who committed crimes since then will be forgiven if they leave the regime now, the Journal reported, citing Jalil.
In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, leader of the Hashid confederation of tribes, agreed to end fighting that killed at least 124 people, the Washington Post reported, citing a mediator in the conflict.
The clashes began May 23 after Saleh refused to sign a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered accord that provides for him to step down within 30 days of accepting the agreement.
Yemeni Opposition
Yemen's opposition yesterday called for Saleh to step down immediately, backing away from the Gulf agreement on a 30-day transitional period.
"The accord as it stands is no longer acceptable to us unless it provides for his immediate departure," Mohammed al- Mutawakkil, a member of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties' higher council, said in a telephone interview in the capital Sana'a.
Three French nationals have been reported missing in Yemen, Hasan Muksim, deputy security director of Seyoun city, in the southeastern province of Hadramaut, said yesterday.
The man and two women "have been missing since this afternoon," Muksim said in an e-mailed statement. "We have been searching the region."
In Syria, five soldiers were shot by army colleagues because they refused to follow orders to fire on civilians protesting the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, Al Jazeera television reported, citing Abdullah Abu Zaid, an activist who filmed the injured soldiers in Daraa.
Syrian Soldiers Shot
"We have provided them with first aid and saved their lives," Zaid said in a telephone interview with Al Jazeera. The network showed footage of the bleeding soldiers.
Syrian demonstrators called on the army to join the protests after Friday prayers May 27. Syria's crackdown has killed at least 1,100 people, according to Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights.
The government has blamed the unrest on Islamic militants and "terrorist elements" seeking to destabilize the country. Assad initially promised reforms in response to the protests, which followed popular uprisings that ousted rulers in Tunisia and Egypt, though those pledges haven't been repeated in recent weeks as security forces stepped up their crackdown.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Harrison in London at mharrison5@bloomberg.net Eric Martin in Washington at emartin21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://m.bloomberg.com/iphone/Mohamed E. Shaheen from iphone
No comments:
Post a Comment