Libya’s opposition yesterday battled for military and diplomatic advantage against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s embattled regime, winning official recognition from France and hitting government forces with heavy weapons on the road to the capital.
France became the first country to recognize Libya’s opposition national council and would send an ambassador to the rebel-held city of Benghazi, officials on both sides said.
“France has recognized the national transition council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” one of the council’s envoys, Ali al-Issawi, told reporters after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“On the basis of this recognition, we are going to open a diplomatic mission, that is our own embassy in Paris, and an ambassador from France will be sent to Benghazi,” he said.
“This ambassador will be in Benghazi for a transition period before returning to Tripoli,” he said.
His statement was confirmed by a French presidential official.
Sarkozy was the first head of state to meet with the Libyan opposition. His talks came on the eve of an emergency EU summit in Brussels at which he was expected to propose major measures to resolve the Libyan crisis.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and European lawmakers met the two opposition envoys this week, but Ashton hesitated to recognize the council immediately.
France along with Britain is working at the UN on a possible resolution for a no-fly zone over Libya.
Meanwhile, the international Red Cross said dozens of civilians had been wounded or killed in recent days in grueling battles between Qaddafi’s army and the opposition movement trying to oust him.
The fighting intensified on the main front line between the Mediterranean oil port of Ras Lanouf and the city of Bin Jawwad, where the rebels appeared to be have established better supply lines bringing heavy weapons like multiple-rocket launcher trucks and small tanks to the battle.
Youssef Fittori, a major in the opposition force, said a mix of defectors from Qaddafi’s special forces and civilian rebels were fighting government forces about 19km west of Ras Lanouf on the main coastal road to Bin Jawwad.
“Today, God willing, we will take Bin Jawwad. We are moving forward,” he said.
Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger said local doctors over the past few days saw a sharp increase in casualties arriving at hospitals in Ajdabiya, in the rebel-held east, and Misrata, in government territory.
Both places saw heavy fighting and air strikes, he said.
Kellenberger said 40 patients were treated for serious injuries in Misrata and 22 dead were taken there. He said the Red Cross surgical team in Ajdabiya operated on 55 wounded over the past week and “civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence.”
He said the aid organization was cut off from access in western areas, including Tripoli, but believed those were “even more severely affected by the fighting” than eastern rebel-held territories.
Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported yesterday that it lost direct contact a week ago with its correspondent who was covering the unrest in Libya, and the paper said it feared he had been taken prisoner along with another unnamed journalist and a Libyan guide.
The newspaper, one of Brazil’s largest, said it had been receiving until Sunday what it characterized as “indirect information,” indicating Andrei Netto was alright in the region of Zawiya.
However, on Wednesday the newspaper said it received information suggesting Netto had been taken prisoner by Libyan government forces, and that a Libyan official said the information was “probably correct.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was