By Liz Sly, Karen DeYoung and Sudarsan Raghavan
In what appeared to be a desperate attempt to avert military action, Gaddafi sent two letters to international leaders, according to deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim, who read the letters to journalists. One was a warm, conciliatory note to Obama, and the other was a sharply worded, menacing message to the United Nations, France and Britain.
To Obama, he wrote: “If Libya and the US enter into a war you will always remain my son, and I have love for you.” Libya is battling al-Qaeda, he said, seeking Obama’s advice. “How would you behave so that I can follow your example?” he asked.
In the other letter, addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the leaders of France and Britain, he warned that the entire region would be destabilized if they pursued strikes against Libya. “You will regret it if you take a step to intervene in our internal affairs,” he wrote.
Government spokesman Ibrahim Musa said rebels, not government forces, were the ones breaking the cease-fire by attacking military forces, the Associated Press reported. “Our armed forces continue to retreat and hide, but the rebels keep shelling us and provoking us,” he said.
The conditions set by Obama were more specific than those contained in a resolution approved a day earlier by the U.N. Security Council, suggesting that the United States and its allies are in no mood to countenance delays by a Libyan regime whose forces have recaptured large swaths of territory from rebels in recent days.
U.S. ships in the Mediterranean were preparing to bombard Libya’s air defenses and runways to clear the way for European and Arab forces to establish a no-fly zone throughout the country, according to U.S. and European officials. Fighter aircraft from France, Britain and the United Arab Emirates converged on bases in and around Italy to begin operations over Libya under the command and control of the United States at its naval base in Naples.
The military preparations came on a day of bloodshed across the Arab world, as governments appear increasingly willing to use arms to suppress the dissent that has mushroomed since the success of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt earlier in the year. In Yemen, 47 people died when security forces opened fire on protesters in the capital, Sanaa, and at least five people were reportedly killed during a government crackdown on unrest in Syria, a strategically vital country that has been ruled with an iron fist by the Assad family for the past four decades.
In an address at the White House, Obama spelled out conditions that Gaddafi would have to fulfill if his country is to avoid military intervention under the provisions of a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted Thursday that authorizes the use of force to stop the violence.
“These terms are not negotiable,” Obama said. “If Gaddafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced through military action.”
Obama said that in addition to halting their advance on Benghazi, the last remaining rebel stronghold in the east of the country, Libyan troops would have to pull back from the towns of Ajdabiya, Misurata and Zawiyah. He also demanded that Libya establish water, electricity and gas supplies to all areas.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Paris on Saturday for an emergency meeting on Libya with the leaders of France, Germany, England, Italy and senior officials from other Western as well as Arab countries. The session was aimed at projecting unity and resolve, rather than making detailed military decisions, U.S. officials said. Preceding the meeting was a private consultation between Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A doctor at the hospital in Misurata said 16 civilians and 25 rebels had been killed in a government assault Friday, at least a dozen of them after the cease-fire supposedly went into effect. In Benghazi, a rebel spokesman said two people had been killed in Ajdabiya in attacks after the cease-fire was announced.
“Until this moment, they have not stopped attacking us. There will be no negotiations,” Khaled al-Sayeh told reporters Friday night. “The attacks are still happening at this moment.”
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