Protests Rage Across Libya As Divisions Emerge Within Armed Forces

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(RFE/RL) — Antigovernment protests have spread across Libya — from the border with Egypt in the east to the border with Tunisia in the west — amid further indications that the structure of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime is on the verge of collapse.

Despite an impassioned and defiant plea from Qaddafi on February 22 for his supporters to “cleanse” Libya of protesters “house by house,” large swaths of the country reportedly are no longer under government control.

Qaddafi’s regime admits that at least 300 people have been killed so far in efforts to control the street protests. But Italy’s Foreign Ministry estimates that about 1,000 deaths so far in the Libyan protests is a”credible” figure.

Libya
Libya

Foreign media are banned from covering parts of Libya where Qaddafi’s regime still holds sway. That has made it is difficult to confirm what is happening in the western part of the country.

Some reports suggest pro-Qaddafi forces — bolstered by the presence of foreign mercenaries — only control parts of the capital, Tripoli.

But Ibrahim Dabbashi, the Libyan deputy ambassador to the United Nations who broke with Qaddaffi’s regime earlier this week, says Qaddafi has managed to rally some loyalists in the army and has deployed troops against protesters in oil-rich western Libya.

Dabbashi warned on February 22 in New York that Qaddafi’s speech that day revealed a desperate leader who was calling for acts of genocide from his supporters by equating the protesters with “rats” and “cockroaches” that must be exterminated.

“Certainly the people have no arms and I think now the genocide started now in Libya,” Dabbashi said, “and I think the Qaddafi statement was just a code for his collaborators to start the genocide against the Libyan people.”

The online “Quryna” newspaper reports that the Libyan army deployed a “large number” of soldiers in Sabratah, about 80 kilometers west of the capital, on February 23 after protesters there destroyed most of the security services offices.

Meanwhile, the ability of international correspondents to report from eastern Libya underscores protesters’ claims that they now control almost the entire eastern half of Libya’s coastline.

Correspondents moving into eastern Libya in the last 24 hours report seeing no sign of police or army forces loyal to Qaddafi’s regime. But there are signs of a split within Libya’s military forces in the east just a day after Qaddafi’s interior minister, Abdel Fattah Younis, announced his resignation and urged the country’s armed forces to join the revolt.

Speaking from Benghazi, where the protests began on February 17, Younis said antigovernment demonstrators have the backing of army troops who have defected.

Demonstrators were celebrating in the eastern city of Tobruk overnight after three days of confrontations with security forces appeared to be subsiding as a result of the split in army. Live images of sizable anti-Qaddafi crowds are now being beamed abroad by international media.

A Reuters correspondent in Tobruk interviewed military officers who were still their wearing uniforms but no longer declaring allegiance to Qaddafi. Those troops also said the eastern part of Libya is no longer in the hands of Qaddafi’s regime.

Brazil’s Maria Viotti, the current president of the UN Security Council, strongly condemned Qaddafi’s use of military troops and aircraft against protesters in the east earlier in the week.

“The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the situation in Libya,” Viotti said. “They condemned the violence and use of force against civilians, deplored the repression against peaceful demonstrators, and expressed deep regret at the death of hundreds of civilians. They called for an immediate end to the violence and for steps to address the legitimate demands of the population, including through national dialogue.”

But the Security Council’s closed-door meeting about Libya on February 22 did not endorse any direct action against Qaddafi’s regime — despite calls from some diplomats for sanctions or the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Qaddafi’s air force from being used against protesters in the future.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on February 22 also condemned the use of Libyan military forces against protesters in recent days.

“The United States continues to watch the situation in Libya with alarm,” Clinton said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have been lost and their loved ones, and we join the international community in strongly condemning the violence, as we’ve received reports of hundreds killed and many more injured.”

Backers continue to desert Qaddafi. The latest sign of crumbling support involves a senior Libyan official and aide to the Libyan ruler’s son, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, who announced his resignation. He joins a slew of diplomats and government officials who have resigned in recent days to distance themselves from Qaddafi’s violent crackdowns.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says that he fears “an exodus of biblical proportions” from Libya — a wave of up to 300,000 refugees sweeping into Italy — if Qaddafi’s regime collapses.

Tens of thousands of foreign workers, meanwhile, remain stranded in Libyan airports — forcing the United States and other countries to seek evacuation of its citizens by sea.

Turkey evacuated some 3,000 of its 25,000 citizens in Libya on February 23 by using two ships that sailed from the port of Benghazi. The United States called for its citizens to leave aboard a government-chartered ferry at the As-Shahab port in Tripoli.

Britain said it is redeploying a warship, the “HMS Cumberland,” off the Libyan coast for a possible seaborne evacuation of British citizens stuck in the country.

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RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.

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