Libyan UN Deputy Ambassador Fears Genocide In Western Libya Has Begun

As the Security Council late today released a statement calling on the government of Libya to stop the violence against its people, the country’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations said he had hoped for a stronger message from the international community and warned against a surge in violence. 

“I have received information today, that after the statement by Col. Gaddafi today, the attack on people have started in the Western parts of Libya. ” said Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi ” I hope the information I get is not accurate, but if its right, it will be a real genocide.”

Yesterday, Dabbashi said he could no longer support the Gaddafi regime for its attacks against the Libyan people and requested the Security Council action. 

 Dabbashi’s statements seem to be at odds with those of  Libya’s top Ambassador at the UN, Mohamed Shalgham, who reiterated his support for Gaddafi this morning, but failed to meet the press after the Security Council issued its statement.

Libya’s diplomatic corps have been increasingly vocal in their response to the reports of violence in Tripoli and Benghazi. Libya’s Ambassador in Washington DC, Ali Suleiman Aujali, also called today for Gaddafi to step down, joining the country’s Ambassadors to Malaysia and India, and permanent representative to the Arab league in denouncing the regimes response to protests.

Gaddafi gave a long and at times confusing speech on Libyan state television earlier today, threatening to step up the violent crackdown on protesters and calling on Libya’s youth to take to the streets and fight those who oppose the regime. Gaddafi is well known for his long speeches. Speaking before the UN General Assembly in 2009, the Libyan strongman went over his allotted 15 minute speaking time by nearly an hour and a half. Today’s address was punctuated by long pauses and occasional outbursts, seeming more like an impromptu rant than a prepared speech. 

“The Gaddafi statement was just a code for his collaborators to start the genocide against the Libyan people” Dabbashi told reporters.

United Nations Under Secretary for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, who briefed Security Council members on the situation in Libya earlier this afternoon, told reporters he was also very concerned by Gaddafi’s speech. 

“Anyone who is inciting populations against themselves, asking some people to attack other people, particularly if some of those people are peaceful demonstrators,  is a very dangerous thing.” said Pascoe “I was quite concerned about threats and various kinds of retaliation that was in that speech.”

 Earlier in the day the Secretary General’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters the UN chief spoke to Gaddafi for over 40 minutes on Monday. Nesirky said Gaddafi’s comments to the Secretary General were similar to those he made in his televised appearance and that Ban Ki Moon had again urged the Libyan leader to put an end to the violence that has claimed the lives of more than 230 people, according to the latest incomplete figures released by Human Rights Watch.

North Koreans Torpedo Report On Ship Sinking

North Korea today rejected as a "complete fabrication" the allegations it was behind the sinking of a South Korean military ship back in March and Sin Son Ho, the DPRK's Ambassador to the United Nations who almost never talks to the media, told a rare press conference in New York today that any Security Council action taken against Pyongyang will result in a military response.

"If any action is taken against us, I lose my job and the military will have its own job" said Sin, who contends the current accusations against his government are aimed at promoting US interests in the region. "The South Korean authorities released the investigation result on May 20th 2010, coinciding with the start of the local election in South Korea and the beginning of US secretary of State's visit to Japan. It is clear that all these announcements were pre-scheduled according to the timetable of the Obama political events" said Sin, who contends the US has also used the tragedy help secure the future of its military base in Okinawa Japan.

Sin attacked the independence and scientific value of the South Korean investigation, arguing that the South had refused to provide Pyongyang's experts with access to the site or the ship's communication records. He even suggested that the South might have sunk its own ship by mistake or even grounded it on the rocks.

Asked if his government had ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in retaliation to possible Security Council action, Sin would only say: "Nuclear weapons is are our deterrent, because we are always threatened by outside forces"

On March 26th the South Korean naval ship Cheonan mysteriously sank near the North's Yellow Sea coast, resulting in the death of 46 sailors. A South Korean investigation carried out with help from international observers concluded the ship had been torpedoed by one of the North's submarines and on Monday, South Korean officials presented the report to the Security Council in the hopes the UN body would take action against Kim Jong Il's regime.

What to do in Somalia?

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

The lack of a coordinated international response might have emboldened pirates off the coast of Africa to step up their terror, according to Retired Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff. This comes on the heels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing the Obama Administration’s new approach to the situation in Somalia, which includes the U.S. seizure of financial assets.

Cosgriff believes that a coordinating authority among the nations with maritime interests in the region could help present a unified front against pirates.

“With so many different players on the field, it’s a bit like an all-star game without an authoritative coach. There are differing rules of engagement, national approaches, and limits on what they want their warships to do.” Cosgriff said it’s a challenge “to have the right ship from the right navy in the right place at the right time to do what you want to do.”

Cosgriff is former commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command. He held a talk at the Middle East Institute, at which he addressed the possible courses of action which could be taken against maritime piracy in the nearly 400,000 square mile region along the Somali coast.

“Doing nothing, or being ineffective at what we do, strikes me as bad policy,” said the commander, who addressed five possible courses of action that could be taken to curb the lawlessness:

• Do Nothing: Companies which traffic goods off of the African Horn would pay ransoms and treat piracy as a cost of business.
• Arm the Crews: Ship crews would be expected to maintain their own security through hiring private security forces or arming their mariners.
• Flood the Zone: International naval coalitions and unofficial patchworks of navies “with significant maritime interests” would patrol the region.
• Go in on ground - Light: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground aimed at equipment and infrastructure within known pirate camps along the Somali coastline.
• Go in on ground - Heavy: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground to flush out the pirate camps, seize property, and not allow the pirates to bare the fruits of their actions.

Cosgriff emphasized the importance of a coordinated international response in whatever route was selected, because it is an “international problem in the great global commons known as the sea.” A coordinated response would provide a uniform framework in which to react to pirates when they engage in hostility, according to Cosgriff. He said that since the U.S. is a global maritime leader, it should take a leading role in the solution.

“Whatever lies ahead, we have to take care… that the cure is not worse than the disease,” he said.

Cosgriff acknowledged that piracy is a business, and doesn’t believe that it is rooted in simple poverty and desperation, although he acknowledged those as contributing factors. “The overall problem is that of organized criminal clans,” groups which he said, “try to extend seaward the rule of the gun which pertains in much of Somalia.” He continued, “in short, piracy pays.”

Somalia has faced ongoing violence and lawlessness since the government collapsed in 1991.

Somalia: A Pirate’s Paradise

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Piracy is nothing new in Somalia. Every day pirates run free off of Somalia’s nearly 2,000-mile coastline and find haven within this African country which is slightly smaller than Texas. The problem has long been of concern to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations, but it has been gaining special attention once again because of the targeting of American citizens. The hostage situation with American ship captain Richard Phillips caused a nation to hold its breath, and many were in shock when U.S. Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) escaped a mortar attack aimed at his airplane in Mogadishu on Monday while the congressman was meeting with government officials.

Maritime piracy has been a lucrative business since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991 and in the thirteen governments to exist since. It can provide quick income for the uneducated and impoverished, and has become a fact of life for companies trading around the Horn of Africa.

The United States has not had full diplomatic ties with Somalia since 1991. Somalia now has a U.S. “Ambassador-at-large” with no formal office in the U.S. from which to work. The Ambassador-at-large, Abdi Awaleh Jama, believes that the violence comes from a “poverty of leadership” in Somalia. Jama said the leaders at the regional and national level don’t serve communal interests but rather favor specific clans or family members.

“The dominant paradigm now is the clan paradigm... not the nation paradigm,” Jama said. He continued, “When there is no law and order, you take the law into your own hands.” Jama said the natural resources in Somalia have been seized by certain clans and used to hold down opposition within the rest of the country.

Jama, who does not fault the sitting Somali president for the country’s condition, said that pirates flourish off the expansive coast because the rule of law has not existed in Somali society in the past decade. When such anarchy is combined with the overflowing poverty, a situation will develop where people will seize “any opportunity they have to make money,” said Jama.

Officials within the Somali government have defended the so-called pirates as being a “coast guard” who protect the country’s resources. Jama dismisses that claim.

“These are criminals who want to make quick money, and who want to just use force, in the name of saving Somalia,” he said. “They are only there to enrich themselves, and to use that gimmick that they are defending Somali resources, which is wrong.”

Joel Carny, an expert from Refugees International, said that Somalia “really hasn’t had a central government that has functioned in so long.” He believes this has led to “warlordism” and opportunity for clan-based regional politics to develop. He called Somalia “an environment in which everyone has to fend for themselves.”

According to Carny, approximately two million Somalis have been displaced due to the violence in the past decade and three million are in need of emergency assistance.

Somalia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Elmi Ahmed Duale, acknowledged in a phone conversation that the violence was taking place and said the government cannot hide it. He hopes for a resolution.

The international community has taken this issue very seriously. The United Nations has had peacekeepers in Somalia at various times since 1991, and most recently the African Union has dedicated resources through AMISOM, their official Mission to Somalia. In February 2009, the United Nations Security Council authorized AMISOM to stay in Somalia for another six months, which places peacekeepers on the ground through August. The United Nations says the goal of this mission is to help establish order and secure human rights.

Recent Somali elections were marked by violence to the point that they had to take place in neighboring Djibouti. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected in January, and shortly thereafter, Ahmed appointed a new prime minister.

Carny is doubtful of the new government’s ability to establish order but thinks that the international community should give the new president a chance. Carney said, “Lets see if [the government] can establish a viable authority... that can at least establish security inside the capitol and then spread from there.” Carney said, however, that “anyone who’s pessimistic about Somalia is probably going to be right.”

Jama wants the United States to help Somalia build a “proper coast guard,” which would replace vigilantism that currently runs the shorelines.

Both Jama and Carny acknowledged that most of the social problems in Africa are rooted in the colonial past, but Carny believes that Africa must move on. “We’re not going to redraw the boundaries in Africa,” said Carny. He suggested that Somalia could be governed regionally through “some kind of Federalism,” as a credible solution for ethnically diverse nations prone to social conflict, civil war and genocide.

“For better or for worse, these countries have to live and work their way out of consequences. When you get good leadership at the national level... things can turn around fairly quickly,” Carny said.

Listen to the audio report here.