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Washington (AFP) April 5, 2011 A senior US diplomat arrived Tuesday in rebel-held eastern Libya for talks with the opposition about its political aims and the provision of humanitarian aid, the State Department said. The envoy, Chris Stevens, "has arrived in Benghazi and he's meeting with members of the Transitional National Council (TNC)," Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters. The talks will focus on humanitarian assistance as well as the council's "democratic aspirations, commitment to universal human rights," Toner said. The meetings will help Stevens get "to know the leadership of the TNC" as well as find out "what sort of civil society, political structure they want to create," he added. Toner confirmed that Stevens arrived in Benghazi on Tuesday, but said the move did not mark a move toward recognizing the TNC, which US officials say they need to understand better. Nevertheless, US officials are stepping up contacts with the Libyan opposition. Last week in London, during an international conference on Libya, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a second meeting with Mahmud Jibril, who handles foreign affairs for the TNC. Her first meeting with Jibril took place on March 15 in Paris where she was attending a Group of Eight meeting. The Pentagon was meanwhile looking at possibly delivering medical supplies or other non-lethal assistance to Libya's opposition forces, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters on Tuesday. The Defense Department and other government agencies are currently discussing "what kinds of support we could provide in a non-lethal respect for the rebels in Libya," Morrel said. "But that's a complicated discussion. It's an ongoing discussion," he said, stressing that the talks are not aimed at reconsidering the US refusal to deploy ground troops to Libya. Morrell said President Barack Obama's administration is looking at questions such as "To what extent do you aid the rebels? Who does? Who are they? Is it lethal? Is it non-lethal?" The non-lethal aid could be "medical supplies, maybe personnel protection vehicles, things of that nature, none of which would be sort of obviously lethal in terms of its capabilities." Such assistance could also include radio equipment, he added.
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NATO: 30% of Libyan military destroyed, Misrata a priorityBrussels (AFP) April 5, 2011 Western strikes have destroyed nearly a third of Libya's military assets, and NATO is now making the defence of the besieged city of Misrata a priority, an alliance general said Tuesday. The bombing campaign that started on March 19 has prompted Moamer Kadhafi to change tactics, moving his forces in light vehicles and using human shields to protect heavy artillery from air strikes, said Brig ... read more |
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