Canada is boosting its support for Libya’s interim government, asking the United Nations for permission to release Gadhafi-regime assets to the new administration and vowing to stick with the international military mission until it is completed.With Moammar Gadhafi’s loyalist forces now concentrated in a handful of strongholds and the erratic dictator exhorting them to a long battle by declaring, “let Libya burn,” the question now is just how long, and how aggressively, Canada’s fighter-bombers, backed by support planes and a warship, will fight the remnants of his regime.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper ruled out sending ground troops, but vowed the Canadian mission will continue as long as the international intervention goes on – while he faces calls to speed up plans to aid the country’s reconstruction.
On a stop in Italy to praise Canadian troops on Thursday morning, Mr. Harper asserted that history will record Canada’s role in ridding the nation of Colonel Gadhafi. Hours later, meeting world leaders in Paris to plot the next steps, he joined other western and Arab leaders in promising a swift release of funds and continued military backing.
Mr. Harper said his government is immediately lifting all unilateral sanctions against Libya – effectively unlocking small sums for the transitional government – and is asking the United Nations to allow Ottawa to free up the larger sums frozen under international sanctions. The government said in March that $2.1-billion had been frozen, but did not respond to a request on Thursday for updated figures.
“One of the things we discussed today is the need for the UN to act because the vast majority of funds are there, and it’s time for the entire international community to support the National Transitional Council, which is obviously the legitimate government of Libya,” Mr. Harper said in Paris after meeting leaders from the Libya contact group, a 16-member committee of NATO powers and others involved in the crisis.
Britain, after receiving UN approval, said it is already releasing £1-billion (about $1.6-billion), the United States said it is releasing $700-million, and France said it is releasing €1.5-billion (about $2.1-billion).
The sums will likely be key to stabilizing of the interim government and financing basic services to Libyans while a chaotic civil war goes on in parts of the country. Libya has sizable oil wealth, so it is not likely to need massive financial aid over the long term.
Libyan-Canadian organizations and representatives of the NTC have for months called for Ottawa to speed the release of the frozen Libyan assets. In Ottawa, both interim Liberal leader Bob Rae and the representatives of the Canadian Libyan Council said the Canadian government was a step behind bigger powers – Britain, France, and the United States.
“They’ve always done the right thing vis-à-vis Libya, but they’re more cautious than the other allies,” said Sal Elgheriani, the council’s president.
And while the Canadian military involvement is so far slated to end on Sept. 27, Mr. Harper indicated that the Canadian Forces will stay until NATO ends the mission. The alliance has yet to signal when it will withdraw.
“We’ll be a part of the military mission until it reaches its conclusion. And as you know, while considerable progress has been made, particularly in the past couple of weeks, we’re not at that point,” he said.
That may mean that Mr. Harper’s Conservatives go ahead without the support of the opposition NDP, which has said it will not back another extension. Mr. Harper, noting the NTC has said it does not want foreign troops on the ground in Libya, again ruled out sending ground troops.
On his visit to troops at a NATO base in Trapani, Italy, Mr. Harper made a point of underlining the Canadian military’s role – six fighter jets that have flown about 8 per cent of the allied bombing missions, surveillance and refuelling aircraft, and a frigate to patrol Libya’s coast.
“History will record this: That it was the good work of Canada’s armed services – your work – working with our allies, that enabled the Libyan people to remove Gadhafi from power,” he said.
Now, however, the Canadian government faces a call to move quickly to help rebuild Libya post-Gadhafi. Mr. Harper said the government hasn’t yet decided what it will do, but promised a “substantial contribution.”
The Libyan-Canadian community, with its large contingent of as many as 600 doctors, has paid to send many physicians to Libya since the anti-Gadhafi rebellion began in February. It is now calling for Canada to lead a kind of medical mission: To allow some patients with complicated medical cases into Canada for treatment, to provide specialized care such as prosthetic limbs in a country with more than 1,500 new amputees, and help the long-term rebuilding of a weak and chaotic health-care system.
“We would like Canada and the Libyan-Canadian community to play a leading role,” said Fathi Abuzgaya, president of the Libyan Canadian Medical Association.
DEVELOPMENTS IN LIBYA
Libyans could try Gadhafi at home
Paris – The leaders of Britain and France say ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi could face trial in Libya and wouldn’t necessarily have to be transferred to an international court.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after meetings with Libya’s newly dominant rebels Thursday: “It is up to the Libyans to decide how to judge him, once they have found him.” British Prime Minister David Cameron, at Mr. Sarkozy’s side at an international conference on Libya’s future, agreed.
The decision is likely to anger human rights activists, who have urged the rebels to turn Colonel Gadhafi over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for trial and not mete out justice themselves. AP
Gadhafi warns of long insurgency
Tripoli – In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Col. Gadhafi warned Thursday that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle.
In a late-night audio address carried on a Syrian TV station, Col. Gadhafi warned that his supporters will fight on, calling for a long battle of insurgency.
“We will fight them everywhere,” he said. “We will burn the ground under their feet,” he said Thursday in his second audio address of the day. “We won’t surrender again; we are not women, we will keep fighting.” Col. Gadhafi's whereabouts are not known. AP
Libya fighters look for desert showdown
East of Bani Walid, Libya – No one is firmly in control of the vast swathe of land stretching between Bani Walid, home to Libya’s biggest and most important tribe, the Warfalla, and Col. Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast.
“Right now we are waiting. Everyone is ready to fight. Sirte will be liberated first, then Bani Walid,” said Ibrahim Obaid, a rebel fighter.
The National Transitional Council fighters said they had 168 units – or about 16,000 men – deployed in the area around their regional stronghold of Misrata, but conceded that any fight for Bani Walid or Sirte would be tough.
“It’s not about the numbers. Bani Walid is surrounded by hills, and Gadhafi’s men have tanks and Grads [rocket launchers] deployed on hilltops. Sirte will be equally difficult,” said Ismail Sabhi, an NTC unit commander. Reuters
Clinton urges jail for Lockerbie bomber
Paris – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Libyan opposition leaders Thursday that they must deal with the case of the only person convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and that the United States will be watching closely how they handle it. The bomber “should be behind bars,” Ms. Clinton said.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s release from prison and the current status of the former Libyan intelligence officer are of deep concern to the Obama administration, Ms. Clinton told senior members of Libya’s National Transitional Council.
The ailing Mr. al-Megrahi was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds, eight years into a life sentence in Scotland, after doctors predicted he would die of prostate cancer within three months. AP
Origin
Source: Globe&Mail
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