Global General

Int'l community questions military intervention in Libya

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-27 19:34

Demonstrators hold placards to protest against the US military intervention in Libya outside the White House in Washington DC, March 26, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Doubts, queries and criticisms from the international community are emerging as the West-led military action against Libya continues.

The military intervention has upset the world and triggered angry reaction in many parts of the world.

Military Action Allegedly Exceeds UN Mandate

On March 17, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1973 to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. The resolution authorized the use of force to protect Libyan civilians. However, going far beyond the creation of a no-fly zone, Western forces struck the Libyan forces on the ground.

Ted Carpenter, an expert with the Washington-based Cato Research Institute, has said the real goal of the initial US-led military mission is to unseat Libya's long-serving leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Carpenter believed that the current military action by the United States and its NATO allies have already gone beyond the Security Council resolution and what the Arab League had expected.

"If the coalition comes out openly about overthrowing Gaddafi, then the coalition is well beyond these mandates," Carpenter said on Tuesday.

The Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday adopted a statement, calling on Western countries to stop their military action in Libya to help bring "an immediate cease-fire and stop deaths and suffering among civilians."

The military action has revealed the desire of several states to use the UN mandate as a pretext for achieving objectives "other than the declared protection of civilian population" in Libya, said the Duma statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that Resolution 1973 had a clear framework, and that any action that goes beyond the framework "is illegal."

Li Baodong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, on Thursday called upon all parties concerned "to cease fire immediately in order to avoid escalating the conflict and worsening the already tense situation in the region."

"The relevant Security Council resolution is aimed at humanitarian protection, rather than creating more civilian casualties and a bigger humanitarian catastrophe," Li said when speaking at the consultations of the UN Security Council on Libya.

African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Jean Ping reiterated in France on Thursday that the AU opposed foreign military intervention in Libya. He added that Western forces did not conduct sufficient consultations with the AU before launching the military attacks on Libya.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Monday warned the West against abusing the UN resolution on Libya, calling for an immediate cease-fire in Libya and no violation of Libya's sovereignty.