14Apr11

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BRICS leaders condemn distortion of UN Security Council resolutions on Libya

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The leaders of the BRICS nations - Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa - believe that any arbitrary interpretations of the UN Security Council's resolutions on Libya are inadmissible, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

"We presume that the UN Security Council's resolutions must be implemented...in accordance with their spirit and to their letter, but not in accordance with arbitrary interpretations which have been made by several states," the Russian president said after Thursday's summit of BRICS member states in China.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which began two days later. The command of the operation was shifted from a U.S.-led international coalition to NATO in late March.

Despite dozens of sorties carried out by NATO aircraft against Gaddafi's forces, the government troops maintain their combat capability and continue to pound poorly-equipped rebels with heavy artillery and rocket fire.

Medvedev emphasized that the resolution on Libya was aimed to prevent further escalation of the conflict. "But what we finally get is a military operation which is being held not on the ground, but in the air, and in which a range of countries is involved."

The Russian president said that nothing had been mentioned about possible NATO participation in the UN Security Council resolution.

"The resolutions should be implemented in accordance with their content, in accordance with their spirit and letter, the BRICS countries unanimously believe in this."

[Source: RIA Novosti, Moscow, 14Apr11]

Libya War

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