A fresh hail of government rockets crashed into Misrata yesterday after Western allies denounced a “medieval siege” of the city and vowed to keep bombing Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces until he stepped down
A local doctor told al-Jazeera at least eight people died and seven others were wounded in the second day of intense bombardment of Misrata, a lone rebel bastion in western Libya.
Residents told the television network at least 120 rockets hit the city, where hundreds of civilians are reported to have died in a six-week siege.
The suffering in Misrata is heaping pressure on Western allies to step up air attacks to stop the bombardment, but NATO is split over providing more planes for the task.
“It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government,” the leaders of Britain, France and the US said in a joint newspaper article yesterday.
Their clear intention to achieve regime change in Libya goes well beyond the terms of a UN resolution authorizing air strikes to protect civilians.
In a strongly worded article published on both sides of the Atlantic, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama said leaving Qaddafi in power would be an “unconscionable betrayal.”
The statement seemed intended to both paper over cracks in the Atlantic alliance and increase resolve to stick with the air campaign despite increasing differences.
The US has taken a back seat in the air campaign after handing command to NATO on March 31 and France has suggested it should return to the campaign.
France and Britain, the NATO hawks on Libya, have led the air campaign, but are growing impatient with lack of commitment and provision of ground strike aircraft from other members.
The leaders said in their article that Qaddafi could play no role in a genuine transition to democracy: “For that transition to succeed, Colonel Qaddafi must go, and go for good.”
Qaddafi’s daughter, Aisha, told a rally in Tripoli marking the 25th anniversary of the US bombing of her father’s compound there: “Talk about Qaddafi stepping down is an insult to all Libyans because Qaddafi is not in Libya, but in the hearts of all Libyans.”
France and Britain want to extend air strikes to the government’s logistics and decision-making centers, rather than arming rebels, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said.
The rebels have begged for more air strikes to avert what they say is a potential massacre in Misrata.
NATO planes bombed targets in Tripoli on Thursday, where state television showed footage of a defiant Qaddafi cruising through the streets in a green safari jacket and sunglasses, pumping his fists and waving from an open-top vehicle.
The attack on Misrata yesterday followed intense fire from Russian made Grad rocket launchers into a residential district on Thursday when rebels said 23 people died, mostly women and children. They said more than 200 missiles fell in the port.
At a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Berlin, several alliance members rebuffed calls from France and Britain to contribute more to the air attacks.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique