Powers mull military option as Gaddafi lashes out

BENGHAZI, Libya — Muammar Gaddafi’s forces hit back on Monday, launching bombing raids in areas held by pro-democracy forces as Western nations mulled military intervention and the EU imposed sanctions on the Libyan leader.

By (AFP)

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Published: Mon 28 Feb 2011, 10:53 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 9:31 PM

Gaddafi showed his ability to lash out from his Tripoli lair when Libyan air force planes attacked ammunition depots in two separate locations south of opposition-held second city Benghazi on Monday.

Fighter jets bombed an ammunition stores in the eastern town of Adjabiya, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of the city, a witness told AFP by telephone. Two planes also attacked a munitions dump at Rajma, just south of the city, a military reservist said.

There were no reports of casualties in the raids, which signalled Gaddafi’s ability to strike at sensitive opposition supply lines as he seeks to protect what remains of his territory in and around the capital Tripoli.

A brutal crackdown by the regime on opposition protests that began nearly two weeks ago has killed at least 1,000 people and set off a “humanitarian emergency”, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said, as almost 100,000 migrant workers fled the North African state.

Faced with the threat of massacres or a wave of refugees on their Mediterranean flank, senior Western officials, including France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon, were Monday weighing military options.

“We’re studying all options to ensure that Colonel Gaddafi understands that he has to go. I know that people have mentioned military solutions, and these solutions are being examined by the French government,” Fillon said in an interview with RTL radio.

One option on the table was using NATO air power to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to stop Gaddafi from using air strikes against his own people. However, such a step would require UN approval, experts said.

The United States said exile was “one option” that would satisfy its demands for Gaddafi to go.

“Exile is certainly one option for him to affect that change,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said when asked whether the United States would back a solution to the crisis that saw Gaddafi leave his country.

Carney also said Washington was in touch with various factions of the Libyan opposition but said it was premature to start talking about recognizing one group or the other.

Gaddafi’s regime no longer controls most of Libya’s oil and gas installations, EU energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger said.

“There is reason to believe that the majority of the oil and gas fields are no longer under Gaddafi’s control,” Oettinger said after a regular meeting of EU energy ministers.

Oettinger dismissed the idea of imposing a blockade on oil exports from Libya because the installations are now in the hands of regional groups opposed to the Gaddafi government.

“We would potentially be punishing the wrong people,” he said.

As the crisis drove oil prices up to $113.98 per barrel in Asian trading on Monday, the UN refugee agency said a “humanitarian emergency” was underway as thousands of foreigners sought to flee Libya by land, sea and air.

Fearing a bloodbath after widespread reports of atrocities, nearly 100,000 people, most of them Egyptian and Tunisian workers, have already left Libya, while China says it has evacuated nearly 29,000 of its citizens from the strife-torn country.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday he was “assessing allegations of widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population” to judge whether Libyan authorities can be tried for crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic offensive gathered team. The EU said it was mulling a possible extraordinary summit on Libya “at the end of the week” following a request from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a diplomatic source told AFP on Monday.

The 27-member bloc showed a rare cohesion earlier Monday when it slapped sanctions including an asset freeze and travel ban on the Libyan leader and 25 members of his family and inner circle.

The bloc’s Hungarian presidency said a visa ban was decided against a total of 26 people, including Gaddafi, members of his family “closely associated with the regime” and others “responsible for the violent crackdown on the civilian population” since February 16.

The EU said it was making contact with Libyan opponents of the regime, a day after Washington said it was ready to assist the pro-democracy protesters who have overrun key cities and now control vast swathes of the oil-rich North African state.

Several world leaders including US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron have called on the Libyan strongman to go.

Gaddafi’s crumbling regime now controls only some western areas around the capital and a few long-time bastions in the arid south, reporters and witnesses say.

Fighting flared Monday in Misrata, 200 km (125 miles) east of the Libyan capital, where according to residents who have overrun the city an attack by pro-government forces was thwarted and a helicopter hit by anti-aircraft fire.

“The helicopter fired three rockets at the transmission tower of Radio Misrata,” said a spokesman for the opposition, reached by telephone.

“It was hit by anti-aircraft fire in a counter-attack,” he added, without being able to confirm reports that the aircraft was brought down.

He added however that pro-Gaddafi forces had opened fire randomly on cars and buildings, causing at least one death and several injuries.