Libya Declares Cease-Fire
SAM DAGHER, MARGARET COKER AINSLEY THOMSON
Moussa Koussa, Libya's foreign minister, told reporters in Tripoli that his country will abide by the U.N. resolution and will implement an immediate cease-fire and end to all military operations across the country.
Libya's foreign minister Friday said the country will abide by the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for military action in Libya, and will implement an immediate cease-fire and end all military operations across the country.
"My country will try to deal with this resolution," Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa told reporters in Tripoli as he read from a prepared statement.
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Libyan rebels celebrated in Benghazi Thursday after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
"According to article 25 of the [U.N.] charter and considering that Libya is a member of the U.N., then it is bound to accept the Security Council resolution and has decided an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of all military operations."
The Council Thursday authorized military force against Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi's security forces and opened the way for European and U.S. airstrikes within days.
Earlier Friday, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain has begun to deploy aircraft to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya, and Qatar announced it would join the mission, becoming the first Arab nation to participate.
The U.K., which along with France pushed aggressively for U.N. action, said it will deploy Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets as well as refueling and surveillance aircraft, and told Parliament there was a "clear and unequivocal legal basis for the deployment of U.K. forces and military assets."
Nathan Hodge joins Kelly Evans and Evan Newmark for a discussion on the likely next step for the U.S. and Europe in Libya now that the United Nations has authorized military action.
Qatar, the wealthy Gulf nation that is home to the Al Jazeera Arab news network and has been seen as an robust champion of international intervention to stop bloodshed in Libya, didn't specify what role it would take in the military operations, in a statement published by the official Qatar News Agency early Friday.
"Qatar decided to take part in the international efforts aimed at stopping the bloodshed and protecting civilians in Libya," the statement said.
Diplomats involved in the drafting of the U.N. Security Council resolution have said that they expected Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and perhaps Saudi Arabia and Jordan to all take part in enforcing the no-fly zone.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is holding a meeting Friday to decide its role in the Libyan operation. NATO involvement in military action is possible, a European diplomat said, but since NATO is a consensus organization, the abstention by Germany at Thursday's U.N. vote and possible objection from Turkey could be obstacles.
In Libya, Col. Gadhafi's security forces bombarded Misrata, Libya's third- largest city and the last rebel-held western city, the Associated Press reported. A doctor told AP at least six people were killed when tanks moved into Misrata and opened fire. The tanks later pulled back to the outskirts of the city, the doctor told AP.
In a response to the U.N. action, Libya closed its airspace to all traffic, according to a statement from Europe's air traffic control agency reported by AP. "The latest information from Malta indicates that Tripoli [air control center] does not accept traffic," the statement said. AP said the agency's map of air traffic over Europe and the Mediterranean showed that Libyan air space was off limits.
After the U.N. vote Thursday, the rebel administration in Benghazi celebrated with displays of fireworks over the harbor. In the eastern port city of Tobruq, tracer bullet volleys lit up the sky as boats in the harbor blew their horns.
In Tobruq, hopes were high for a quick turnaround of the war, in which rebel forces sustained a series of painful setbacks in recent days. "This was an excellent decision—it marks the end for Gadhafi," said Ahmad Muftah Mohammad, a 25-year-old revolutionary volunteer in Tobruq.
"I give Gadhafi a maximum of two days," said a fellow rebel, 17-year-old Ashraf Farhat Jawad.
Col. Gadhafi, shortly before the vote, said his troops would soon launch an all-out assault against rebels and members of the opposition in Benghazi even if the whole world opposed him.
European and American officials had argued on the Security Council floor before the vote that an international campaign to stop Col. Gadhafi's forces was required immediately to stave off a potential massacre of opposition forces and civilians.
Ten members of the Security Council voted for the imposition of a no-fly zone and other security measures, with no members opposing the resolution. Russia, China, Germany, India and Brazil abstained.
Read the Security Council Resolution
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The resolution authorized other nations to board ships and planes to enforce an existing arms embargo on Libya, and approved "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians from Col. Gadhafi's security forces.
U.N. members, aware of the sensitivity such a military campaign could have in a Muslim country, stressed that there would be no foreign military occupation of Libya—an outcome that is barred by the resolution.
"Our resolution is aimed to protect Libyan civilians," said Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N., Nawaf Salam, a central player in the drafting of the resolution. "It will not result in the occupation of even an inch of Libyan territory."
The assertive U.S. posture marked a turnaround from the early days of the month-old Libyan crisis, when President Barack Obama's administration, and particularly his defense advisers, seemed reluctant to embrace military action.
A family fleeing fighting near Benghazi waits at the Libyan border Thursday after clearing customs to enter Egypt.
The president appeared to be facing two unpleasant possibilities: adding a third military commitment to the wars already under way in Afghanistan and Iraq, or watching Col. Gadhafi defeat—perhaps brutally—a rebellion sparked by regional pro-democracy uprisings.
U.S. officials said military action was preferable out of fear that, should Col. Gadhafi remain in power, he would slaughter those who had turned against him and perhaps return to supporting international terrorism.
"If Gadhafi stays, he will do terrible things to Libya and her neighbors," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit Thursday to Tunisia, Libya's neighbor to the west. "It's in his nature—there are some creatures who are like that."
European and U.S. officials said military operations could begin quickly, as fear increased that Col. Gadhafi could move aggressively to retake Benghazi.
After the U.N. vote, President Obama spoke by telephone to Mr. Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The White House said the leaders agreed to coordinate closely on next steps.
France has been the most aggressive in seeking to contest Col. Gadhafi and Paris's military forces are expected to play a central, and early role in enforcing the no-fly zone and taking other actions, European and American officials said.
U.S. forces are also expected to take an important part in the operation, but the White House is wary of being seen as the driving force behind any military actions.
U.S. officials said they believed Col. Gadhafi's air defenses and ground forces would be easy targets for air strikes, creating a buffer zone to protect Benghazi.
"They're no match," one U.S. official said of the Libyan army.
The Pentagon, ahead of the U.N. vote, was already fine-tuning military options for "serious" strikes against ground and air targets should the White House order them, said U.S. defense officials.
The U.S. has enough planes and other military assets in place to begin strikes almost immediately, a defense official said.
Options included using cruise missiles to take out fixed Libyan military sites and air-defense systems, according to these officials. Manned and unmanned aircraft could also be used against Col. Gadhafi's tanks, personnel carriers and infantry positions, with sorties being flown out of U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization bases in the southern Mediterranean.
"There is significant, serious planning going on right now," a U.S. official said. The options would be "more aggressive than a show of force."
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi tells reporters the uprising against his father will be over in two days. Video courtesy of Reuters.
U.S. officials have said there are no plans to insert U.S. ground forces into Libya. U.S. military officials say it would be counterproductive to send Western ground forces, even in small numbers, into Benghazi because it would fuel perceptions that the U.S. and its allies were invading an Arab state.
Bahrain police clear Shi'ite protest camp in Manama, using teargas; fleeing protesters throw petrol bombs. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Official reaction in Libya to the U.N. resolution was confused—showing possible rifts within the regime. State media broadcast an announcement attributed to a Libyan military official saying any airstrikes against the country's forces would be met with attacks against maritime and air traffic in the Mediterranean. In a media briefing later, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim dismissed the threat, and downplayed threats by Col. Gadhafi to attack Benghazi.
Mr. Kaim said Libya had informed the U.N. special envoy to Tripoli Abdel-Ilah Khatib on Wednesday that it was ready to implement a cease-fire "immediately" but needed "to talk to someone to agree on the technicalities of this decision."
The U.N. vote passed narrowly, as nine votes are required with no vetoes by any of the permanent members of the Security Council.
Russia, a vocal critic of the Libya action, abstained, and said it worried about a widening war.
"The passions of some Security Council members for military force prevailed," said Moscow's ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin. "The use of force will fall on the shoulders of those who take action."
Some Russians accused the U.S. of a double-standard, pressing for Col. Gadhafi's removal while supporting Bahrain's royal family, despite its crackdown on protesters. "Why can the King of Bahrain spill the blood of his subjects and the leader of Libya can't?" said Yevgeny Satanovsky, director of the independent Institute for Middle East Studies in Moscow.
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