By IANS,
Cairo/Tripoli, March 19 (DPA) Residents of Benghazi fled eastwards Saturday to escape attacks by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, as fighter jets belonging to France and its coalition partners flew over the rebel-held city to begin enforcing a no-fly zone.
“The door of diplomacy will be opened when you stop the aggression,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, addressing Gaddafi.
Sarkozy was speaking after an emergency meeting of world leaders in Paris, who met to discuss the implementation of the no-fly zone. Jets were flying over Benghazi to defend it, he said.
“More French jets are standing by, ready to intervene against tanks which threaten civilians,” Sarkozy said.
In Brasilia, US President Barack Obama said the international community was ready to attack Libya in order to end violence against civilians.
The Libyan people need to be protected, Obama said after meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was “very much in America’s interests” to take part in the mission, but emphasised that the US had not led the calls for intervention.
“We did not lead this, we did not engage in unilateral actions in any way, but we strongly support the international community,” in the mission, she said.
The call by the Arab League to implement a no-fly zone over Libya was also very important, she said.
“It would have been very unfortunate if the international community had ignored those requests,” she said. It was in the US’ interest to “forge strategic partnerships with Arab nations as we move forward in to this time of change in the Arab world”.
News of the jets entering Libyan airspace came shortly after the opposition called on the international community to take action to save civilians in Libya.
“The international community is very late in taking action,” Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the leader of the opposition’s National Council in Benghazi, told broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Gaddafi’s forces were shelling Benghazi despite the government’s announcement Friday of an immediate ceasefire.
The opposition Libyan Youth Movement said on Twitter that it had reports of more shelling on the outskirts of Benghazi, with the number of casualties “increasing by the minute”.
Footage on Al Arabiya showed a fighter plane falling from the sky, apparently shot down near Benghazi, to cheers in the background. It was not immediately known when the footage was taken.
The government said its armed forces were under attack west of Benghazi by “al-Qaeda affiliates”, the official news agency reported.
Libya announced a ceasefire after the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over the country banning flights in Libya’s airspace and authorised “all necessary means” to implement the ban.
In a letter to world leaders read Saturday at a press conference by a government spokesman in Tripoli, Gaddafi said the resolution was void because the UN had no right “to interfere in the internal affairs of the country”.
“You have no right. You will regret if you get involved in this, our country. We can never shoot a single bullet at our people, it is al-Qaeda,” Gaddafi said in the statement.
“I have all the Libyan people supporting me and they are prepared to die for me,” said Gaddafi.