Arab world unrest: pitched battles in Libya continue (

By IANS,

Tripoli/Tunis: Fierce battles were fought in Libya Wednesday as people, who have risen in protest against the 41-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi, braved armed attacks to hold on to major towns. The rest of the Arab world also continued to be in turmoil as the anti-government uprisings took root.


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In Tunisia, where the first of the series of uprisings took place in December, the main Islamist group was allowed to form a new political party by the country’s interim government.

And Libya simmered again Wednesday as protesters undergoing military training in the east of the country, including the second largest city Benghazi, said they would march to the capital Tripoli as the possibility of foreign intervention loomed.

Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya since 1969, addressed a televised pro-democracy rally in Tripoli and maintained that he does not play any political role in the country and that power was in the hands of the people.

Gaddafi, who was labelled delusional by a US diplomat, said the world doesn’t understand how the country is run. The 68-year-old leader also said what was happening was unacceptable.

Alarmed over the worsening crisis, which has killed between 1,000-2,000 people in a little over two weeks, the 65th session of the UN General Assembly Tuesday adopted a resolution to suspend Libya’s rights of membership in the UN Human Rights Council, Xinhua reported. Nearly 140,000 people have fled the country, which is feared to be hurtling towards civil war.

By adopting the resolution unanimously, the 192-member General Assembly approved an unprecedented membership suspension in the Human Rights Council.

The resolution expressed “deep concern about the human rights situation” in Libya, which has been a member of the Human Rights Council since May 2010.

Though many areas have slipped out of their control, Gaddafi and his security personnel continued to be largely in control of the capital Tripoli.

Ajdabiya city, for instance, was Wednesday reportedly under the control of pro-democracy protesters despite airstrikes by Gaddafi’s security forces.

Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam predicted in an interview that the regime will regain control of the country “within two days”.

“Within two days, everything will be back in order,” DPA quoted him as saying.

RIA Novosti said that forces loyal to Gaddafi Wednesday regained control of the eastern town of Brega, a major oil terminal.

In a significant development, two US warships passed through the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean.

The White House said the ships were being deployed in preparation for possible humanitarian efforts but stressed it “was not taking any options off the table”.

“We are looking at a lot of options and contingencies. No decisions have been made on any other actions,” US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Elsewhere in the Arab world, there were hectic political developments.

In Tunisia, the main Islamist group Al-Nahda has been allowed to form a new political party by the country’s interim government, a media report said Wednesday. Al-Nahda (The Awakening) remained banned for two decades under the regime of then president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted Jan 14.

Tuesday’s decision will allow the group to participate in the upcoming elections, Al Jazeera TV reported citing the country’s official Tunis Afrique Presse news agency.

In Yemen, another country where protests have broken out, President Ali Abdullah Saleh Tuesday said: “The events from Tunisia to Oman are a storm orchestrated from Tel Aviv and and under Washington’s supervision.”

“What is taking place on Yemen’s streets is just a copycat attempt, as Yemen is not Tunisia or Egypt and the Yemeni people are different,” he said.

“Mr Obama, you’re the president of the United States; you’re not the president of the Arab world,” he said.

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