UN chief Ban Ki-moon said late yesterday that Libya had to stop its offensive against rebels before there could be discussions on international military strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.
Mr Ban said he could only hope that the Libyan leader would keep his word after making a new ceasefire offer yesterday.
Speaking at the start of a 24-hour visit to Cairo, the UN secretary general said a halt to the Libyan army’s offensive against rebel-held towns would be only the start to a resolution of the crisis.
“That is the beginning to have discussions,” he said after the Libyan military announced a new ceasefire in response to an African Union call.
“I sincerely hope and urge the Libyan authorities to keep their word,” Mr Ban told a news conference with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi after talks on the Libyan crisis and a UN offer to help Egypt build a new political system after its revolution.
Mr Ban said Libyan leaders had telephoned him at least twice in recent days saying they were going to observe a ceasefire. “They have been continuing to attack the civilian population. This (offer) has to be verified and tested.”
Muammar Gaddafi’s regime declared one ceasefire on Friday after UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorised any military strikes and a no-fly zone to stop his forces harming civilians in the fight against the rebels. His troops continued an assault on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, prompting US, British and French forces to intervene with air strikes allowed under the “all necessary measures” provision in the resolution.
Strong blasts rocked the Libyan capital last night, including one in the area where leader Muammar Gaddafi has his residence, as a column of smoke rose skywards and anti-aircraft fire rang out.
Gunfire had also been heard some two hours later from the same area around Col Gaddafi’s residence in the Bab el-Aziziya barracks in the south of Tripoli, and tracer fire was seen in the sky.
Meanwhile the Arab League yesterday criticised Western military strikes on Libya, despite Britain and France indicating that Arab involvement was imminent, and even though it had itself urged a no-fly zone.
“What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians,” Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told reporters.
“From the start we requested only that a no-fly zone be set up to protect Libyan civilians and avert any other developments or additional measures,” he added.
The United States, however, had no evidence of civilian casualties in airstrikes by coalition forces over Libya, Admiral William Gortney said at a Pentagon press briefing.
The comments came after Tripoli’s official media said the airstrikes were targeting civilian objectives and that there were “civilian casualties as a result of this aggression”. Admiral Gortney insisted, however: “There is no indication of any civilian casualties”.
On March 12, the 22-member Arab League urged the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone on Libya and said ColGaddafi’s regime had “lost legitimacy” as it sought to snuff out a rebellion designed to oust him from power.
Turkey also called for a review of Nato plans for Libya, stressing that civilians must be protected as the alliance mulled whether to join an international coalition enforcing a no-fly zone.
As Nato discussed options in a possible role in a UN-mandated no-fly zone, Turkey’s ambassador argued that things had changed after US, French and British forced launched strikes against ColGaddafi’s regime, diplomats said.
The Turkish envoy argued that the intervention launched on Saturday with numerous air strikes on Libyan targets “has changed the parameters for Nato as well, which should be reflected in its planning”, the diplomat said.
Earlier yesterday western and Arab warplanes were expected to converge on Italy’s air bases to join the international campaign to cripple the ability of Col Gaddafi’s forces to attack Libyan civilians.
France, which Saturday spearheaded the UN-mandated Operation “Odyssey Dawn” with air strikes on Libya, yesterday also sent its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to join the campaign.
Aircraft from the United Arab Emirates were due to arrive at the Decimomannu air force base on the Italian island of Sardinia, which is already hosting four Spanish F-18 fighter jets that arrived on Saturday.
In the West’s biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, mounted exactly eight years earlier, US warships and a British submarine fired more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on Saturday.
This prompted Col Gaddafi to warn yesterday of a long war in the Mediterranean “battlefield” as Tripoli reported dozens of deaths.
Italy is providing seven air bases as key staging points for strikes by Western-led coalition forces to destroy Libya’s air defences and impose a no-fly zone.
Three AWACS radar planes are stationed at the Trapani base in western Sicily along with Italian ECR Tornado jets specialising in destroying anti-missile and radar defences.