UN chief defends Libya air strikes against doubters

22 March 2011
FOCUS News Agency

Tunis. UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday launched a strong defence of the air strikes on Moamer Kadhafi's forces which face growing criticism from doubters led by Russia and China, AFP reported.

Raising the spectre of past failures to halt genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia and Bosnia, Ban said that even China and Russia must comply with the Security Council resolution that approved the air attacks being carried out by France, Britain and United States.

At a press conference in Tunis, capital of the country which set off the North African turmoil, the UN secretary general said: "Colonel Kadhafi, he cannot and should not and must not fight alone" against the international community.

Ban hailed Resolution 1973, passed on Thursday, saying it "significantly advances an emerging humanitarian doctrine: the responsibility to protect.

"Out of the terrible massacres of the previous decades in which the international community had been accused of doing nothing -- those massacres included the genocide in Srebenica, Rwanda and Cambodia -- after those terrible incidents, the world said never again.

"It is imperative that on this measure the international community speak with one voice.

"Thousands of lives are still at stake," he declared, adding that countries "are moving quickly to take effective action" and stressing the support of the Arab League for the resolution.

It is "absolutely necessary to fully comply with Security Council resolutions," Ban said.

Asked specifically about Russia's complaints about the air attacks, Ban again said that once Resolution 1973 was passed all countries must follow it.

"Of course there were some countries who abstained, but once it is adopted all the countries of the United Nations have an obligation to fully cooperate so that this resolution could be implemented," Ban said.

In talks on Tuesday with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev voiced dismay over what he called the "indiscriminate use of force" by coalition aircraft in Libya.

Earlier, Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov called for an immediate ceasefire and accused coalition forces of killing civilians. Seryukov said he had told Gates of Russia's "opposition" to the way the resolution is being implemented.

China, another of the five countries on the 15-nation Security Council to abstain, has also voiced concern. "We oppose the use of force that could result in more civilian casualties and a greater humanitarian crisis," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said in Beijing on Tuesday.

Germany and India, other members of the five, have also maintained their doubts.

But Ban, who just before the press conference met the family of the Tunisian fruit seller whose death after setting fire to himself as a protest set off the turmoil across North Africa, said the region was now at a "historic" moment.

"Democracy is on the march across the Arab world. It is in the interest of the international community and the United Nations to help you on your way."