Libya suspended from UN council
The UN General Assembly voted by consensus on the council’s recommendation to suspend Libya’s rights of council membership for committing “gross and systematic violations of human rights”. The assembly also expressed “deep concern” about the human rights situation in Libya.
The vote does not permanently remove Libya from the council, but prevents it from participation until the General Assembly determines whether to restore the country to full status. The resolution was sponsored by Arab and African states.
Venezuelan ambassador Jorge Valero expressed reservations about the vote.
“A decision such as this one could only take place after a genuine investigation,” he said.
As the US warned that Libya could descend into civil war if Gaddafi refuses to quit, the veteran Libyan leader remained defiant, sending forces to a western border area amid fears that the most violent Arab revolt may grow bloodier and spark a humanitarian crisis.
His most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, warned the West against launching any military action to topple his father, and said the veteran ruler would not go into exile or step down.
“Using force against Libya is not acceptable, there’s no reason, but if they want we are ready,” he told Sky. In Moscow, a Kremlin source suggested Gaddafi should step down, calling him a “living political corpse who has no place in the modern civilised world,” Interfax news agency reported.
In testimony to lawmakers in Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Libya could become a democracy or face a drawn-out civil war.
“In the years ahead, Libya could become a peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil war,” she said. US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told US television networks that Washington would keep pressure on Gaddafi until he steps down, while working to stabilise oil prices and avert a possible humanitarian crisis.
“We are going to keep the pressure on Gaddafi until he steps down and allows the people of Libya to express themselves freely and determine their own future,” Rice told ABC.
But Rice stopped short of saying the Obama administration was ready to impose a no-fly zone over Libya that would prevent Gaddafi from using aircraft against rebels fighting against him.
On Monday, the US said it was moving ships and planes closer to the country and British Prime Minister David Cameron said his government would work to prepare a “no-fly” zone to protect the Libyan people.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sounded a note of caution about Western military thinking on Libya, saying foreign military intervention in the oil-producing country would not happen without a clear UN mandate.
But Cameron, speaking in London, said the West was weighing its military options because it was not “acceptable to have a situation where Colonel Gaddafi can be murdering his own people using airplanes and helicopter gunships.”
Numerous tribal leaders, officials, military officers and army units have defected to the rebels, taking with them swathes of the country of six million including the energy-producing east.
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