DUSHANBE, February 24, 2011, Asia-Plus — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on February 23 condemned Libyan President Muammar Al-Gaddafi’s actions against protestors as possible crimes against humanity, calling for the punishment of those who “brutally shed” the blood of innocents, the UN News Center reports.
“I have strongly condemned, again and again, what he has done. It is totally unacceptable,” Mr. Ban told reporters after rushing back early from a trip to Los Angeles to confer with his senior advisers on the Libyan crisis at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
“I am sure that the international community is considering a broad range of options,” he said, referring to his own extensive appeal he made to the Libyan leader in a long telephone call on Monday to end violence immediately. “He has not heeded to that… the Government of Libya must meet its responsibility to protect its people…
“At this critical juncture, it is imperative that the international community maintain its unity and act together to ensure a prompt and peaceful transition.”
Summarizing his position on the violence, which according to some media reports has claimed over 1,000 lives, Mr. Ban underscored what the UN special advisers on the prevention of genocide and the responsibility to protect said yesterday.
“The reported nature and scale of the attacks on civilians are egregious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. I condemn them, loudly and without qualification,” he said. “Those responsible for brutally shedding the blood of innocents must be punished.”
Mr. Ban applauded the decision of the Arab League to suspend Libya – “the first time the League has taken such an action on the domestic situation of one of its members” – and the UN Security Council’s statement condemning the use of force, demanding an immediate end to the violence, and calling on the Government to address the legitimate demands of the population, through national dialogue in full respect for human rights.
He told reporters the he and his top advisers are closely watching developments in Bahrain, Yemen and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East where protests have erupted against entrenched leaders.
Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Ban spoke by phone with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and he announced that tomorrow he will send UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe and senior economic, development and human rights officials to Egypt, where popular demonstrations ousted President Hosni Mubarak earlier this month.
Over the weekend, he will dispatch a senior official of the Department of Political Affairs, Jamal Benomar, to Tunisia, where the current wave of popular demonstrations first crested, forcing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country.
UN Secretary-General welcomed the decision of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to convene a special session on Libya on Friday, including the possible establishment of an international inquiry into the events there, and he voiced concern for people fleeing the country, noting that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed to neighbors in Europe and North Africa not to return them.
