President Barack Obama said Muammar Gaddafi must leave Libya, saying the besieged ruler has lost his legitmacy to lead.
 |
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
|
Speaking briefly at the White House Thursday, Obama said that the U.S. was "outraged by the violence" in the North African country as rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi continue to battle.
Obama also said that sanctions are in place to hold Gaddaffi and all Libyan leaders accountable for their actions.
Obama said the the U.S. is examining all options in regards to what steps it may take toward Libya and will "make any decisions about Libya with our allies."
Obama added that the U.S. is sending humanitarian aid teams to the Libyan border and that the U.S. stands for freedom and democracy for the Libyan people.
Obama's comments come as Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a proposal by his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for international mediation to end an uprising in the North African country, a Chavez spokesman said Thursday.
Venezuela hopes Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could head an international mediation commission to seek peace in Libya, a government source told Reuters.
Reports Chavez's proposal was being taken seriously by Arab leaders pushed down oil prices after a days-long rally on worries violence in Libya will hit supplies.
Like Gaddafi, Chavez casts himself as an anti-imperial revolutionary and has visited him in Libya six times. Analysts are skeptical Chavez can bring any immediate end to fighting in Libya, where Gaddafi faces an increasingly organized rebel army.
Information Minister Andres Izarra said Venezuela's foreign minister spoke on Thursday with his Libyan counterpart, who confirmed that Gaddafi's government supported the idea of an international commission.
Izarra confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in Chavez's proposal to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.
But other reports say the Libyan rebels have rejected any peace plan proposed by Venezuela. Rebels who have set up a National Libyan Council in east Libya are open to talks only on Muammar Gaddafi's resignation or exile to stop bloodshed, an aide to a top rebel figure said on Thursday.
"
Oil fell on news of the plan. Brent crude fell more than $3 to $113.09 per barrel as investors eyed a possible deal brokered by Chavez. It later edged up to $114.78
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said France and Britain would support the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Libya if Gaddafi's forces continued to attack civilians. Some 6,000 Libyans have been killed since the revolt which broke out in February the Libyan Human Rights League said on Wednesday.
The uprising, the bloodiest yet against long-serving rulers in the Middle East and North Africa, has torn through the OPEC-member country and knocked out nearly 50 percent of its 1.6 million barrels per day output, the bedrock of Libya's economy.
In Libya's east, the site of a struggle for control of a strategically vital Mediterranean coastal road and oil industry facilities, witnesses said a warplane for a second day bombed the oil terminal town Brega, 800 km (500 miles) east of Tripoli.
 |
People attend the funerals of a Libyan rebel killed the previous day while defending a strategically important oil refinery town from a regime counter-attack in Brega.
|
But on the ground, events appeared to turn against Gaddafi, as rebels spearheading the unprecedented popular revolt pushed their frontline against government loyalists west of Brega, where they had repulsed an attack a day earlier.
The opposition fighters said troops loyal to Gaddafi had been driven back to Ras Lanuf, home to another major oil terminal and 600 km (375 miles) east of Tripoli.
They also said they had captured a group of mercenaries.
In an angry scene at al-Uqayla, east of Ras Lanuf, a rebel shouted inches from the face of a captured young African and alleged mercenary: "You were carrying guns, yes or no? You were with Gaddafi's brigades yes or no?" The silent youth was shoved onto his knees into the dirt.
A man held a pistol close to the boy's face before a reporter protested and told the man that the rebels were not judges.
In The Hague, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi and members of his inner circle, including some of his sons, could be investigated for alleged crimes committed since the uprising broke out in mid-February.
Arrest Warrants
He said a request for arrest warrants over Libya could be made in a few months time.
"We have identified some individuals in the de facto or former authority who have authority over the security forces who allegedly committed the crimes," Moreno-Ocampo said. "They are Muammar Gaddafi, his inner circle including some of his sons, who had this de facto authority. There are also some people with formal authority who should pay attention to crimes committed by their people."
Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told BBC Radio the news from The Hague was "close to a joke."
"No fact-finding mission has been sent to Libya. No diplomats, no ministers, no NGOs or organizations of any type were sent to Libya to check the facts ... No one can be sent to prison based on media reports," he said.
The rebels, armed with rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and tanks, called on Wednesday for U.N.-backed air strikes on Foreign mercenaries it said were fighting for Gaddafi.
Opposition activists called for a no-fly zone, echoing a demand by Libya's deputy U.N. envoy, who now opposes Gaddafi.
"Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes," shouted soldier-turned-rebel Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then U.S. President George Bush.
Italy said it was preparing for a potential mass exodus of migrants escaping turmoil in North Africa after a rise in flows of illegal immigrants from Tunisia, the initial destination for tens of thousands who have fled violence in Libya.
Save The Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres said they were struggling to get medicines and care to Libya's needy, with gunmen blocking roads and civilians too scared to seek help.
At a meeting with adoring loyalists in Tripoli on Wednesday, Gaddafi slammed "armed gangsters" he said were behind the unrest as part of a plot to colonize Libya and grab its oil, and said if foreigners intervened "another Vietnam will begin." The Libyan government has tried to persuade people in Tripoli that life continues as normal, but the crisis was affecting everyday life.
There were queues outside banks and residents said food prices had gone up, while the street value of the Libyan dinar had fallen dramatically against the dollar.
A fish market near Tripoli's Green Square was mostly empty. "The situation is affecting us," said Ismail, a fisherman. "All the Egyptian workers who run the boats have left."
