AFRICA | 21.02.2011

Libyan protests continue as EU scrambles for response

 

A wave of revolutions has swept the Arab world for two months

As the violence in Libya threatens to escalate further, the EU appears divided over how to deal with the growing crisis. Libya's regime has warned of a civil war - and vowed to fight the protests "to the last bullet."

 

Unfazed by the ruling regime's warning to stifle by any means the threat of a civil war, violent protests against Libya's longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi were continuing in Tripoli  on Monday with reports that demonstrators had stormed state broadcasting facilities and set a number of government buildings on fire.

Bursts of gunfire were heard overnight for the first time in the capital since violence broke out six days ago in Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, where a hospital reported some 50 fatalities and 200 people injured on Sunday.

Human Rights Watch said the death toll had risen to 233 since the protests erupted late last week.

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, were scrambling to respond to the events unfolding in Libya. Several ministers voiced concern for their citizens there and said evacuation plans were being drawn up. "We are extremely concerned, we are coordinating the possible evacuation ofr EU citizens coming from Libya, especially from Benghazi," said Spain's Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez.

The German Foreign Office has in the meantime issued a travel warning for eastern Libya and advised its estimated 500 citizens to leave the country.

Italy, which has the closest business links with Libya among EU countries, appeared to be sending out contradictory messages with Foreign Minister Franco Frattini saying the EU should not "interfere" in Libya. "We should not give the wrong impression of wanting to interfere, of wanting to export our democracy. We have to help, we have to support the peaceful reconciliation," he said.

However, he suggested that Italy would not stand by and watch if reports of a self-proclaimed Islamic Emirate in Benghazi turned out to be true. "Would you imagine having an Islamic Emirate on the borders of Europe? This would be a really serious threat," Frattini said.

'Civil War' will be crushed

Gadhafi's leadership said it would win the 'War of Tripoli' by fighting to the 'last bullet.'In an address on state television on Sunday, Saif Gadhafi, son of Libya's 42-year ruler, appeared to be making concessions to protesters while also threatening to crush them.

Gadhafi pledged a new constitution and new liberal laws for Libya, and apologized for the deaths of dozens of protesters at the hands of law enforcement officials.

"There were some planning errors. Errors from the police ... and the army that was not equipped and prepared to confront angry people and...to defend its premises, weapons and ammunition," he said.

"Each party has its own version of the story...But the unfortunate bottom line is that sons of Libya have died. This is the tragedy."

In the regime's first public reaction to mass protests that began a week ago, Gadhafi warned the regime would "take up arms … we will fight to the last bullet," he said.

"We will destroy seditious elements … If everybody is armed, it is civil war. We will kill each other."

"And we will win," Gadhafi added.

Author: Rob Mudge  (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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