Carnage in Libya - Change has a heavy price

THE NATO air attack on Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s headquarters yesterday is an indication of how desperate things have become in that divided country.

Though Gaddafi seems to have escaped, there should be no doubt about the carnage his forces are wreaking. Over the weekend Gaddafi loyalists shelled the city of Misrata and left at least 32 dead and dozens wounded.

The revolt is not the only one meeting stiff resistance in the region and all across North Africa change is coming, if it comes at all, at a very heavy price.

Last week’s Dáil decision to commit 400 Irish troops to UN peacekeeping duties in Lebanon gives a new relevance to these developments for us. As instability in the region grows, and changes of government might add to that instability rather than ease it, our troops will find themselves in an ever more dangerous situation.