Pope calls for peace in Libya

POPE Benedict XVI has urged the international community to “revive” their search for a peace plan for Libya, saying force was not the answer.

He appealed to international organisations to help bring the bloodshed to an end.

“I exhort the international organisations and those who bear political and military responsibility to revive with conviction and determination the search for a peace plan for the country, through negotiations and constructive dialogue,” the pontiff said in a weekly address to pilgrims at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome.

“Force of arms has not resolved the situation,” said the Pope.

Libyan rebels fighting forces loyal to Muammer Gaddafi surged down from the mountains south of Tripoli on Saturday, claiming the capture of a strategic town on the path to the capital and pushing toward the Mediterranean.