EQUIPO NIZKOR |
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01Jun11
Libya says NATO raids killed 718 civilians, Wounded 4.067
Libya has accused NATO of killing 718 civilians and wounding 4,067 in 10 weeks of air strikes, as African efforts for a truce stalled and Italy said Muammar Gaddafi's regime is "finished."
The toll of dead and injured was given at a news conference on Tuesday in Tripoli by government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, who also warned the departure of Gaddafi would be a "worst case scenario" for Libya.
"Since March 19, and up to May 26, there have been 718 martyrs among civilians and 4,067 wounded - 433 of them seriously," Ibrahim said, citing health ministry figures....
He said these figures do not include Libyan military casualties, a toll the defence ministry refuses to divulge.
"If Gaddafi goes, the security valve will disappear," Ibrahim said....
"Gaddafi's departure would be the worst case scenario for Libya," he told reporters, and warned of "civil war."
Ibrahim also denied that South African President Jacob Zuma, who met Gaddafi in Tripoli on Monday, had discussed an "exit strategy" with him.
Zuma "never discussed any exit strategies as they have been described in the media," the spokesman said.
Earlier, a statement from the South African presidency in Pretoria said Gaddafi would not leave Libya despite...intensified NATO strikes on his regime.
"Colonel Gaddafi called for an end to the bombings to enable a Libyan dialogue. He emphasised that he was not prepared to leave his country, despite the difficulties," Zuma's office said in a statement.
NATO pounded Tripoli earlier on Tuesday, only hours after Zuma left Libya's capital having failed to close the gap between Gaddafi and rebels fighting to oust him since February.
Zuma said raids by NATO...were undermining African mediation efforts.
South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane called for an immediate ceasefire after Zuma said Gaddafi was "ready" to implement an African Union peace plan already rejected by NATO and the rebels.
Italy, the former colonial ruler of Libya and strategic economic partner with Gaddafi's regime, has joined international calls led by Britain, France and the United States for the Libyan leader to go.
In Washington, State Department spokesman said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit the United Arab Emirates on June 9 for a meeting of the Libya contact group.
[Source: By Imed Lamloum , Agence France-Presse, Tripoli, 01Jun11]
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