[HOME ] [ABOUT] [PHOTOS] [VIDEO] [BLOG] [HOUSTON] [TEXAS] [U.S. NEWS] [WORLD NEWS] [SPORTS] [POP CULTURE] [CONTACT]
Pro-democracy Libyan fighters recognized by Germany as legitimate
by Joseph Ernest June 13, 2011
Newscast Media BERLIN, Germany --The Libyan pro-democracy rebels got another boost on Monday when Germany gave official recognition of them, amid the continuing fighting that is happening across the country. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Germany had recognised the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council as the "sole legitimate representative" of the Libyan people.
Mikhail Margelov, the special envoy of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said in Moscow meanwhile he would visit Tripoli next week to hold talks on the Libya conflict.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said after meeting rebel leaders in their capital Benghazi that Germany recognises their National Transitional Council as the "sole legitimate representative" of the Libyan people.
"We want a free Libya, in peace and democracy without Kadhafi," he added.
Germany becomes the 13th nation to recognise the NTC as "sole legitimate representative," after Australia, Britain, France, Gambia, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Qatar, Senegal, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Berlin abstained from a UN Security Council resolution vote on March 17 backing intervention in Libya and chose not to join the NATO-led air war in support of the rebels.
But German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said last week his country would be ready to consider sending peacekeeping troops to Libya if and when strongman Kadhafi falls from power.
Kadhafi, however, remains adamant he will not step down, according to the head of the World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who said that during a game of chess in Tripoli on Sunday the strongman insisted he had no position of power to relinquish.
"I am neither premier nor president nor king. I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position which I should give up," Ilyumzhinov quoted Kadhafi as telling him during a two-hour meeting and the chess game.
"Kadhafi stated that he is not going to leave Libya, stressing that it is his motherland and a land where his children and grandchildren died."
The chessboard encounter came as fighting between Kadhafi's forces and rebels raged across Libya, with casualties reported in the western town of Zintan and the strategic oil hub of Brega in the east.
Battles were also being fought in the Berber mountains southwest of Tripoli, in nearby Yafran, and at Dafnia near Misrata, Libya's third city, rebel sources told AFP.
Intense rocket fire and shelling rocked an area half-way between Ajdabiya and Brega early on Sunday but "all is calm this morning," Mussa al-Mograbi said on Monday, contacted by telephone.
NATO said it was taking "necessary action" to protect civilians.
"NATO is monitoring the situation closely and is taking necessary action to protect civilians," a statement by the western alliance said.
"Along the north-west coast of Libya between Tripoli and the Tunisian border Libyans long tired of Kadhafi rule are challenging his legitimacy openly, and in doing so, are under threat of attack," it said. Add Comments>>
|
|
Join the Newscast Media social networks
for current events and multimedia content.
Copyright© Newscast Media. All Rights Reserved. Terms and Privacy Policy