Libya’s new leaders pledged “moderate” Islamic rule even as their fighters were accused by Amnesty International yesterday of possibly committing war crimes.
The defiant ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, meanwhile, vowed from hiding to battle on until victory as his forces launched surprise fightbacks on three fronts.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil received a hero’s welcome when he made a public speech in Tripoli’s main square late on Monday.
Thousands celebrated last month’s fall of the Qaddafi regime in Martyrs’ Square, two days after Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), arrived in Tripoli from Benghazi in the east.
Moderate Islam would be the main source of legislation in post-Qaddafi Libya, he told the crowd.
“We will not accept any extremist ideology, on the right or the left. We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and we will stay on this road,” he said.
In a new report released yesterday, Amnesty International accused Qaddafi’s regime of crimes against humanity, but also said NTC fighters may have committed war crimes.
While the London-based rights group’s report consisted mainly of damning examples of violations by Qaddafi’s regime, it said the NTC appeared unwilling to hold its fighters accountable for human rights violations.
Amnesty that said in the first days of the uprising against Qaddafi’s rule groups of protesters killed a number of captured soldiers and suspected mercenaries.
“Some were beaten to death, at least three were hanged, and others were shot dead after they had been captured or had surrendered, said the report, The Battle for Libya — Killings, Disappearances and Torture.
“The NTC is facing a difficult task of reigning in opposition fighters and vigilante groups responsible for serious human rights abuses, including possible war crimes, but has shown unwillingness to hold them accountable,” it said.
However, Amnesty said that the war crimes allegedly committed by the now governing opposition were of a “smaller scale” than those carried out by Qaddafi’s regime, which it says may be responsible for crimes against humanity.
Qaddafi in a statement read out on Syria-based Arrai Oruba television vowed to defeat those behind the “coup” that ousted him.
“It is not possible to give Libya to the colonialists again,” the one-time strongman said.
“All that remains for us is the struggle until victory and the -defeat of the coup,” said the former leader, who has gone underground since Tripoli fell to rebel fighters late last month.
On the battlefield, Qaddafi’s remaining forces launched ferocious counterattacks on Monday on the oil refinery town of Ras Lanuf in the east, on the road toward Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte and at Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli.
Striking deep behind enemy lines, Qaddafi fighters killed at least 12 NTC soldiers at Ras Lanuf, an NTC military spokesman said.
The oil infrastructure along the Mediterranean coast between Sidra and Brega was a key battleground of the seven-month uprising against Qaddafi, as the mainly rebel-held east and mainly government-held west fought it out.
However, since Tripoli’s fall, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometers west toward Sirte, which remains in Qaddafi’s hand, moving to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which its post-war reconstruction plans depend.
Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday condemned a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as “blatant interference.” The EU Parliament resolution, voted by an overwhelming majority the day before, called for the release of lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a popular critic of Saied, who was freed from prison on Thursday, but remained under judicial supervision. “The European Parliament [resolution] is a blatant interference in our affairs,” Saied said. “They can learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms.” Saied’s condemnation also came two days after he summoned the EU’s ambassador for “failing to respect diplomatic rules.” He also
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
RSS