US backs Libya UN expulsion bid

The US government is set to throw its weight behind a European effort to expel Libya from the UN’s top human rights body and name a special investigator to look into alleged atrocities committed by Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton will help coordinate the larger international strategy to stop the violence in Libya when she attends a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the administration backs a European proposal for the 47-nation council to recommend Libya’s expulsion.

Officials also said the US would support efforts to establish a UN-led probe into “gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities”.

Council members were debating the resolution in Geneva today, ahead of an emergency session tomorrow. Kicking out Libya would require two-thirds approval of all the 192 countries in the United Nations.

“We support expelling Libya from the Human Rights Council,” Mr Crowley told reporters at the State Department.

“The Libyan government has violated the rights of its people. Taking this step continues the increased isolation that the Libyan government is facing.”

Hundreds are believed to have been killed in Libya in recent days and Gaddafi’s regime appears to have lost control of large parts of the country.

The administration also warned of a Libyan crackdown on foreign journalists to stifle news of the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters.

In meetings with US diplomats, Libyan officials said they would consider unregistered journalists as al-Qaeda collaborators subject to immediate arrest, according to the State Department.

The department told news organisations: “Be advised: entering Libya to report on the events unfolding there is additionally hazardous with the government labelling unauthorised media as terrorist collaborators and claiming they will be arrested if caught.”

The Libyan officials told the US diplomats that some journalists from CNN, BBC Arabic and Al Arabiya television would be allowed into the country to cover the situation. But the officials said journalists working independently and not in government-approved teams will be prosecuted on immigration charges, according to the department.

The warning comes as the Libyan government appears to have lost control of much of the eastern part of the nation, where some reporters are crossing the border from Egypt.

The violence continued today as army units and militiamen loyal to Gaddafi struck back against rebellious Libyans in cities close to the capital, attacking a mosque where some were protesting against the government. Medical officials said 15 people were killed in the clashes.

Meanwhile, in a rambling phone call to state TV, Gaddafi accused al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden of being behind the uprising.

As the world tried to pressure Gaddafi’s government to stop the violence, the US was forced to maintain a cautious tone because dozens of Americans remained stuck in the country.

Mr Crowley said 167 Americans – 40 nonessential personnel and their family members, and 127 private US citizens – are waiting to be evacuated by ferry from Libya, but it remained docked in the capital of Tripoli because of high seas. There are also 118 foreigners on board and the boat is not expected to leave until Friday.

Mr Crowley said the US has not pursued any conversations with Gaddafi himself.

But he said US officials were discussing the situation with Libyan government counterparts at various levels and messages from the Libyan leaders were being passed. He declined to elaborate on their contents.