Libya attacks rapped

led by the US, Britain and France saying it goes against a recent African Union resolution backing Muammar Gaddafi’s clampdown on armed rebels in his country.
Speaking to journalists after meeting Chinese Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan at State House in Harare yesterday, the President said the Arab League and African representa-tives in the Security Council erred in supporting a No-Fly Zone resolution on Libya.
“The Arabs feel cheated now. Our African representatives went along with the resolution,” he said.
President Mugabe said the West had “hypocritically” interpreted UN Security Council Resolution 1973 imposing a No-Fly Zone in Libya to mean bombardment of any places of their choice in that country, including Gaddafi’s residence.
“Our people could not vote for the destruction of Libya. The West is bombarding Libya, doing it callously.
“They want Gaddafi to die . . . It is a mistake we made giving the West all this room to go for our people in Africa,” the President said.
He said Africa looked forward to Libya reforming its political systems without undue outside interference.
He said the West was after Libya’s natural resources.
“It is oil, oil, oil. We supported it. I regret it very much. It is actually committing treason to ourselves,” President Muga-be said.
He thanked China, Russia and Germany for opposing the No-Fly Zone resolution.
“We thank you for your stance although you did not have the necessary numbers to prevent action against Libya, but at least you do not support this resolution,” he said.
Earlier, in his closed-door meeting with Vice PM Wang, the President said the West wanted similar military action on Zimbabwe a few years ago through the UN Security Council but China and other progressive nations had thwarted the attempts.
“They colonised us and today they are trying to teach us democracy,” he said.
President Mugabe welcomed Vice PM Wang for visiting Zimbabwe, saying it was another demonstration of the great bilateral ties between Harare and Beijing.
Vice PM Wang described President Mugabe as “a warrior”, pointing out that the West was using “democracy” as a vehicle to pursue colonial agendas.
On President Mugabe’s views on unfolding events in Libya, he said: “You hit the nail on the head.”
The No-Fly Zone resolution commits members to “take all necessary measures, to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack”.
It was jointly proposed by Britain, France and Lebanon and supported by the US.
The resolution was passed with 10 votes in favour and five abstentions in the 15-member council.
Permanent members – United States, Britain and France – and non-permanent members; Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa voted in support while five others, including permanent members; China and Russia, and non-permanent members;
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Libya attacks rapped
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Germany, Brazil, India abstained.
Internet news reports yesterday highlighted growing criticism of the bombardment.
Xinhua and AFP said the condemnation had forced US, Britain and its allies to drastically cut back their assault, though they retained air patrols.
On Sunday night Britain and the US fired 10 to 12 tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya, about a tenth of what they fired on Saturday night, although one British missile hit a building in Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound.
There were no casualties in the compound.
There were also no reports of further civilian casualties to add to the 64 killed in Saturday’s missile and bombing strikes.
Although the Libyan government has declared a cease fire, forces loyal to Gaddafi surrounded Misrata, the only big rebel stronghold in western Libya, residents said yesterday.
The strongest criticism yesterday to the Western air campaign came from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who said the UN resolution authorising military action in Libya resembled “medieval calls for crusades”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his new year’s message on Monday to slam the military intervention in Libya, but strongly backed the rebellion against Gaddafi by Libyans.
“The US and Western (allies) claim they want to defend the people by carrying out military operations or by entering Libya… You did not come to defend the people, you’ve come after Libyan oil,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a live broadcast from the Holy City of Mashhad.
China also stepped up criticism as Western forces prepared to switch from air strikes to air patrols.
Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa added: “The Arab League position on Libya was decisive, and from first the moment we froze membership of Libya … then, we asked the United Nations to implement a no-fly zone and we respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it.”
The first strikes at the weekend halted the advance of Gaddafi’s forces on Benghazi and targeted Libyan air defences to give Western warplanes control of the skies, but there have been no immediate rebel gains on the ground.
There was ground fighting yesterday
In an appearance on Libyan television on Sunday, Gaddafi promised his enemies a “long war”.
Officials in Tripoli called the Western bombardment “barbaric”.
The head of Britain’s armed forces denied Gaddafi was a target.
“Absolutely not. It’s not allowed under the U.N. resolution and it’s not something I want to discuss any further,” General David Richards told the BBC.

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