Now,  speaking at  the  conference,  Ban intoned  "from the very  beginning of  the ...  revolutions,  from Tunisia  through Egypt  and beyond, I  called on  leaders to  listen to  their people.  Some did, and  benefited.  Others  did not, and  today they are  reaping the  whirlwind."

   So  who is it,  that  listened to  Ban Ki-moon  and to their  people and  benefited?  Could it  be Ali Saleh,  who spoke with  Ban (and use  him a  pass-through  for the  claim he could  and would come  to the US for  medical  treatment) and  held out for  an impunity  deal?

   Before  his speech  in a dinner  toast e-mailed  out by Ban's  spokesman's  office, Ban  said  "Countries are  moving closer  to answering  the calls of  people  who have  peacefully  gathered in  the streets of  Tunis, Cairo,  Benghazi  and Tripoli,  Sana’a, Der’a,  Hama and  Homs."

   What  about Bahrain?  What about the  United Arab  Emirates,  where Ban  heads next?
 

   Before  leaving on the  trip, Inner  City Press  twice asked  Nesirky to disclose if  any party  outside of the  UN would be  paying for  Ban's travel,  as  recently for  example Qatar  did for Ban's  travel from  Nairobi.
 

  Inner City  Press: one  follow up on  this, and it  goes back to  something from  December where  I am  wondering, is  it possible to  say if in  this, even  just this  first leg that  has now been  confirmed, UAE  and Lebanon,  whether any of  the travel  would in fact  be covered or  paid for —  the planes  paid for by  any country or  other party?

  Spokesperson Nesirky:  If that is the  case, I will  let you know.

    Nesirky  has yet to  make this  basic  disclosure.

Other UN  sources  have long  complained  that the  UNESWA trips  in the region  feature,  draped in UN  blue, a  businessman  who is related  to the UN's  business  only by  marriage. This  is Ban's UN.

Footnote: In  his speech,  Ban also said  "One-man rule  and the  perpetuation  of family  dynasties,  monopolies of  wealth and  power, the  silencing of  the media, the  deprivation of  fundamental  freedoms... To  all of this,  the people  say: Enough."  As other have  nearly  immediately  noted,  about about  closer to home  for Ban -- how  about Kim Jong  UN? Watch  this site.

Whether  Qatar  providing such  assistance may  present a  conflict of  interest, or  at  least should  be fully  disclosed by  the PGA, is a  topic for  another  day. More  immediately,  Inner City  Press moments  later asked  Ban  Ki-moon's  spokesman  Martin Nesirky  to disclose  material  support Ban  receives from  particular  member states.
 

(c) UN Photo
  Ban and PGA on  the road  together,  Qatar plane  not shown
 

  Nesirky  described  a number of  legs of travel  not paid for  by Qatar --  his office has  previously  told Inner  City Press Ban  traveled to  Libya on a  "charter"  flight -- and  acknowledged  the Nairobi to  Doha flight by  Qatar.

   Inner  City Press  asked if the  UN Secretariat  will disclose,  at least going  forward in  2012, material  support to Ban  Ki-moon and  his travel  from  particular  member states.  Nesirky said  he would look  into it. Watch  this site.

UNITED NATIONS,  April 2 -- In  what must be  seen as a  failure for UN  Secretary  General Ban  Ki-moon and  those who  support him,  Ban's plan  to beginning  implementing  "change  management"  without  General  Assembly  approval was  resoundingly  voted down on  Monday  night.
 

  After  deadlines  passed votes  were called.  The United  States  proposed a  pro-Ban  amendment to a  resolution  introduced by  Algeria for  the Group of  77.  The US  amendment  lost, with  only 47 for,  five  abstaining and  88  against.

  Then  US Ambassador  Joe Torsella  provided to  divide  Algeria's  resolution in  two. After  much  confusion,  this too was  voted down,  with 48 in  favor, four  abstaining and  now 91  against.

  Finally,  Algeria's  resolution  which requires  Ban to come to  the GA was  adopted with  93  for, 47  against and  give  abstaining.  Afterward,  Torsella said  that  Ban should not  have to come  to the General  Assembly about  his dictat  that others  fly economy  class.

But  Ban for  example flies  in Qatar's  fancy jet,  disclosed only  after Inner  City  Press repeatedly  had to ask. It  remains  unclear if Ban  will disclose  when he  accepts such  gifts,  which may  present a  conflict of  interest,  from  particular  member states.

  This  is the  problem with  Ban's reforms  -- Ban is not  reforming,  witness the  $433 million  Capital Master  Plan cost  overrun under  this watch,  and he is not  transparent.  He proposed  mobility for  others, but  kept his  friends  like Kim  Won-soo close  at hand by  moving them  laterally  while staying  in New York.

nother  long time  Executive  Office of the  S-G staffer  previously  covered, Inner  City  Press is  reliably  informed,  didn't even  want to leave  his office on  the North  Lawn's third  floor on April  2, for the  short  "mobility"  move to the  so-called  Luggage  Building. Some  reformer. We  will have  more on this  -- watch this  site.
 

The  session ended,  as before,  with Eritrea's  Fifth  Committee  representatives  praising the  chairman but  not the  working  methods, which  he this time  called  "camping in  Occupy Wall  Street style  in Conference  Room 5."
 

Analysis:  Some   wonder, how  can Ban and UN  preach  democracy  while trying  to bypass  member states  on their often  hypocritical  or only  partially  implemented  "reform"  proposals? The  debate  demonstrated  once again the  extent to  which Ban is a  man, or  puppet, of the  West.

Thank you, Dr. Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, for your very kind introduction.

Excellencies, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen.

It's a great honour and pleasure for me to participate in this very important gathering and addressing this very esteemed group of experts and supporters of Responsibility to Protect. As Dr. Gregorian said, I just started my second term as Secretary-General and I know that when I was elected as Secretary-General for the second time, [I know that] all of you must have supported me, and I thank you very much.

In 2011, history took a turn for the better. The Responsibility to Protect came of age; the principle was tested as never before.

The results were uneven but, at the end of the day, tens of thousands of lives were saved.

We learned lessons about our own limitations, as well. Consider the recent violence in South Sudan. We saw it coming weeks before.

Yet we were not able to stop it - unfortunately. Nor was the government, which like others has primary responsibility for protecting its citizens.

The reason was painfully simple: we were denied the use of necessary resources ... in particular helicopters that would have given us mobility to bring all the UN Peacekeepers where there are no roads except by air mobility.

At the critical moment, I was reduced to begging for replacements from neighboring countries and missions. With limited resources, we tried our best.

All these issues are enormously complex. That is why I have asked my Special Adviser, Ed Luck, to lead a system-wide assessment of how the UN can best employ the tools given to us under the Charter - and specifically Chapters VI, VII and VIII.

I know you will want to discuss all these matters in depth, especially the aspects that are dominating the news. Before we do so, however, let me speak to an issue that I believe has not received sufficient attention. That is the importance of prevention.

Today, I ask you to join me in making 2012 the Year of Prevention.

This is going to be one of my five generational opportunities of the United Nations for the coming five years.

The 2005 World Summit called for assisting States “under stress before crises and conflicts break out.”

We will undertake development and peacebuilding in ways that reduce tensions among groups and strengthen institutional barriers to sectarian violence.

Too often, we have seen how one round of violence ignites the next.

For societies under stress, early warning may come too late to prevent the outbreak of mass violence. Such situations call for a dynamic assessment of how such stresses are developing over time, and how the international community can help.

It means little, however, to get the assessment right if it is not followed by targeted, measured and determined action.

Because outbreaks of mass violence are rarely spontaneous, we generally have the time and opportunity to remind government and opposition leaders that they could be held accountable by the International Criminal Court or other tribunals.

One of my greatest satisfactions as Secretary-General has been to help advance the powers of these courts - and to see how effective a deterrent the ICC, in particular, has become.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If we are going to be serious about prevention, then we need to develop more innovative ways to use the under-utilized tools of Chapter VI.

Truth can be a powerful weapon against those who try to hide or rationalize their criminality. It is the first step toward accountability.

I welcome, therefore, the Human Rights Council's growing use of commissions of inquiry, as in Syria and Libya. The Security Council can make more use of its own missions and its power to investigate under Article 34 if the Charter to look into situations before they escalate.

Fact-finding by the United Nations and regional and sub-regional arrangements should focus more intently on preventing atrocity crimes. In some cases, these efforts could be usefully supplemented by the deployment of unarmed observers from global and regional organizations, civil society and national police units.

The Arab League observer mission in Syria has encountered serious difficulties. The United Nations is helping with training and capacity-building, but clearly the situation calls for more than a small, circumscribed presense.

Used in measured and targeted ways, peacekeepers can help prevent atrocities as well as armed conflict. The African Union did so in Burundi, as did our own blue helmets in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

When national leaders want to protect their populations, there are ample consent-based tools under Chapters VI and VIII to assist them.

In Rwanda, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan, local groups were able to reach across sectarian lines to defuse tensions in some communities despite rising violence around them. Civil society could be critical to avoiding an escalation of violence in Syria and South Sudan. We need to give such groups our support and encouragement.

Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me close by returning to some current challenges.

I have listened carefully to those who have raised concerns about how some Security Council mandates were carried out last year.

And I agree: at times, the execution of our collective responsibilities was not always perfect. In Côte d'Iviore and Libya, some innocent lives were lost in the name of R2P. That is why the use of force is never our first choice. Many more lives were saved, however.

We all agree on the need for responsibility while protecting. In that spirit, I very much welcome the Brazilian initiative to open a dialogue on these matters.

Yet let us also remember: historically, our chief failing as an international community has been the reluctance to act in the face of serious threats. The result, too often, has been a loss of lives and credibility that haunt us ever after.

Let us not let the pendulum swing back to the past. Let us not make the best the enemy of the good.

A final point: we have been discussing, today, how to prepare ourselves for the next test of our common humanity.

We need not look far. That test is here - in Syria.

Since the uprising began, I have spoken out, forcefully and directly. I did so again just days ago in Lebanon at a conference on reform and democracy in the Arab world.

Stop the violence, I told President Assad. The path of repression is a dead-end.

Listen to your people, I said repeatedly. Listen to your people's genuine aspirations. I've told him publicly and privately in conversations. Change now, act bold and make decisive reforms before it is too late, before more innocents die.

Even as I make these calls, however, I am mindful of the complexities.

At a time when unity is required, the Security Council is deeply divided. Efforts by regional friends and organizations such as the Arab League are very welcome, but so far they have not borne fruit.

I am also acutely aware of the need to preserve my own diplomatic space for the crucial moment when the UN's good offices may be needed.

Such is the nature of the Responsibility to Protect. It can be a minefield of nuance, political calculation and competing national interests. The result too often is hesitation or inaction. This we cannot afford.

Together, let us work, with optimism and determination, to make the Responsibility to Protect a living reality for the peoples of the world.

I thank you very much for your support.

Activists in Homs said tank reinforcements sent in the past two days raised the possibility of a major push to storm large Sunni residential areas, where hundreds of thousands live.

Outgunned rebels loosely grouped under the Free Syrian Army have been preparing to counter the onslaught.

A spokesman for the rebel army said it was difficult to predict when a major attack would come but claimed Assad did not have sufficient loyalist forces to control the city.

"Assad's forces are relying on shelling because they do not have the numbers. We are talking about large residential areas with a big population they would have to subdue," Major Maher al-Naimi said from Turkey.

Naimi said the Free Syrian Army will defend the city "to the last drop of its blood". He declined to give details of the military balance but said that the fighting core of Assad's force was a small proportion of his forces in Homs.

"Military defections have taken their toll. This is why we see large numbers of 'shabbiha' (militiamen) and security police among his forces in Homs," Naimi said.

In Homs, activist Mohammad Hassan said a brief respite in the shelling had allowed him to leave his basement and survey the extent of the damage.

"There isn't one street without two buildings or more that are badly damaged from the shelling," he said by satellite phone.

"We are hearing from 'al-thouwar' (rebels) that a big attack could occur as early as Saturday," he added.

He said artillery barrages had been directed at Bab Amro, Inshaat, Khalidya and other districts of the city where rebels have been lying low while mounting hit-and-run guerrilla attacks on the rear of Assad's troops.

"Four tanks or armored vehicles were destroyed today on the edge of Bab Amro and some bread and medical supplies were delivered there for the first time in days by activists who crossed from Brazil Street," Hassan said.

Walid Abdallah, another activist in the city, said Alawite militiamen were playing a crucial support role for the attacking troops.

"Districts such as al-Waer on the edge of the city have mostly been spared the shelling but it is now unsafe because the 'shabbiha' have begun raiding daily," he said.

"Homs has become the capital of the uprising. I am afraid the regime will continue shelling it to bits and turn it into another Hama," he said, referring to the many thousands killed in the bombardment and subsequent overrunning of the city of Hama in 1982, under the rule of Assad's late father, President Hafez al-Assad.

"The Free Syrian Army has been preparing for an onslaught with booby traps and what have you," Abdallah said.

HOSPITALS OVERFLOWING

Witnesses said makeshift hospitals in Homs were overflowing in besieged opposition areas with the dead and wounded from nearly a week of government bombardments and sniper fire.

Medical supplies and food were running out and, in the streets, some of the wounded had bled to death as it was too dangerous for rescuers to bring them to safety.

The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group in Homs, put the death toll on Thursday alone as high as 110 by nightfall, though it remains impossible to verify such accounts.

"This number includes three families whose bodies were dug up from under the rubble of their homes, bodies brought to field hospitals and people who died there from their wounds today," the group said in a statement sent to Reuters.

A Syrian doctor, struggling to treat the wounded at a field clinic in a mosque, delivered an emotional plea via YouTube video. Standing next to a bloody body on a table, the man, named only as Mohammed, said to the camera, and to the outside world:

"We appeal to the international community to help us transport the wounded. We wait for them here to die in mosques. I appeal to the United Nations and to international humanitarian organizations to stop the rockets from being fired on us."

U.S. PONDERS AID

Concern was growing in foreign capitals over the plight of civilians.

The United States said it was considering ways to get food and medicine to them - a move that would deepen international involvement in a conflict which has wide geopolitical dimensions and has caused divisions between world powers.

"I fear that the appalling brutality we are witnessing in Homs, with heavy weapons firing into civilian neighborhoods, is a grim harbinger of things to come," U.N. chief Ban said after briefing the Security Council in New York on Wednesday.

Neighboring Turkey, which once saw Assad as an ally but now wants him out, has said it can no longer stand by and watch. It wants to host an international meeting to agree ways to end the killing and provide aid.

Foreign ministers of the Arab League, which Ban said was planning to revive an observer mission it suspended last month, are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday.

A senior League official said they would discuss a proposal to send a joint U.N.-Arab mission to Syria.

In Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich reiterated that Kremlin view that though the bloodshed was regrettable, a solution was a matter for Syria.

"There is an internal conflict, the word revolution is not being used - it is a not a revolutionary situation, believe me," he said.

Russia and China, which let the United Nations support the air campaign that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, provoked strong condemnation from the United States, European powers and Arab governments when they vetoed a resolution in the Security Council last week that called on Assad to step down.

In spite of today's vote, the international community and the Syrian people must redouble our efforts to seek a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system. This has now become even more urgent.

 The United Nations stands ready to step up its efforts to work closely with the League of Arab States and others in the international community to find a peaceful and durable solution which will bring the violence and the killing in Syria to a halt.

SANAA, YEMEN - In a defiant speech on state television Tuesday, Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi rejected demands that he relinquish power, even as leaders of a popular revolt seized control in some areas and top officials resigned to protest attacks on civilians. 

 "I will not leave the country, and I will die as a martyr," Gaddafi, 68, said in the lengthy but disjointed address. 

 The Libyan leader, whose government has been weakened in recent days even as it has brutally cracked down on mass protests, also said "damn those who try to stir unrest." He blamed the six-day-old popular revolt on "mercenaries" and foreign influences. 

 With the United Nations convening an emergency meeting on Libya and the Arab League planning to weigh in as well, Gaddafi's vicious crackdown against demonstrators appeared to be fast eroding whatever support had existed for his government.

In Washington, Libya's ambassador to the United States announced he had decided to "resign from serving the current dictatorship." He called on the United States to "raise its voice very strongly" to help oust Gaddafi, who assumed power in a 1969 military coup. 

 "This regime is shaking, and this is the time to get rid of him," Ambassador Ali Suleiman Aujali said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "The people are being kill[ed] in a brutal way. The people, they are armless, and the regime, they have all kind of weapons."

Aujali said anti-government activists have taken control in the eastern part of Libya, an oil-rich North African nation where dissent and free expression have long been prohibited. The western part of the country, including the capital, Tripoli, remain in Gaddafi's hands, he said. 

 "We need the world to stand up by us," Aujali told GMA host George Stephanopolous. "We have to support the Libyan people. The world must take an action." 

 At the border with Egypt Tuesday, "people's committees" were acting in the place of security personnel. Thousands of Egyptians and Libyans fled the country.

Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, accused Gaddafi of killing his own people and urged the international community to act against the regime. "Either he has to get out or the Libyan people will kick him out," Dabbashi said in an interview with the television network al-Jazeera. "It is the end of the game." 

 In Triopli, residents reported that a heavy overnight rain had calmed the situation down. But the capital remained chaotic and volatile, with residents saying a new round of mass demonstrations was planned.

In the Tajoura, an enclave on the eastern end of the capital, there were reports of dead bodies and injured people left on the streets because air strikes had blocked access to the area, the resident said. 

 It is impossible to verify the scope or precise details of the events unfolding in Libya. Foreign journalists have been denied visas, and Internet access, phone service and other forms of communications have been largely cut. 

 But in interviews with Libyan residents, exiles and diplomats, as well as in videos posted online, a picture unfolded of a nation in the throes of the bloodiest revolution to emerge so far from the populist upheavals sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa.

In a statement, Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Gaddafi government's "use of deadly force against its own people should mean the end of the regime itself. It's beyond despicable, and I hope we are witnessing its last hours in power." 

 While Gaddafi himself "is irredeemable," Kerry said, "his senior military commanders need to know that their acquiescence in atrocities could open them to future international war crimes charges." He called on foreign oil companies to stop operating in Libya until the violence against civilian ends and said the Obama administration should consider reimposing U.S. sanctions that were lifted during the George W. Bush administration.

In the Egyptian town of Masra Matrouh, two hours from the border, thousands of Egyptians and some Libyans and Westerners who had fled the unrest gathered Tuesday, searching for transportation to points elsewhere in Egypt. 

 A gaggle of men sat with packed bags, blankets and a television set at the OiLibya gas station. On the roads, vans packed with medical aid rushed west to the border in hopes of entering Libya, where hundreds are believed to have been killed and injuring in the military crackdown. 

 Vans heading east into Egypt from Libya were piled with suitcases and people fleeing the unrest.

CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman reported that he had crossed the border from Egypt into eastern Libya and found the opposition apparently in control of the region. 

 There were "no officials, no passport control, no customs" on the Libyan side, Wedeman wrote on his blog. Local security forces appeared to have defected to the opposition, he wrote, though there were still Gaddafi loyalists operating in eastern Libya as well. 

 On Monday, two Libyan fighter jets landed in Malta, after their pilots reportedly chose to defect rather than carry out orders to bomb Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, the cradle of the six-day-old uprising.

Tribal and religious leaders condemned Gaddafi for the attacks against civilians; some urged all Muslims to rise against him. Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi told al-Jazeera that he urged any Libyan soldier who has the opportunity to kill Gaddafi - and issued a religious decree to that effect. 

 "I am issuing a fatwa now to kill Gaddafi," the cleric said. "To any army soldier, to any man who can pull the trigger and kill this man to do so."

Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Al Jeleil resigned Monday, according to the country's Quryna newspaper. The country's ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, accused the Gaddafi government of deploying foreign mercenaries against the protesters. In total, at least seven senior Libyan diplomats stepped down Monday, including Libya's representative to the Arab League. 

 The defectors included Mohamed Abdul, 36, a cultural affairs official at the Libyan consulate in London, who walked off the job to join an anti-Gaddafi rally. He was greeted with rousing cheers, and four demonstrators hoisted him onto their shoulders, parading him around in glee. 

 "We can't work for this regime anymore," Abdul said. "The shocking video of people being killed on the streets is too much. 

 "The next step is to get our bosses and the ambassador out," he said, adding that nearly 12 other officials from the consulate had also defected.

Earlier, there were street celebrations in Benghazi, where anti-government demonstrators had reportedly taken control of the city from Libyan security forces. Even there, buildings smoldered, plumes of black smoke rising to the sky. Sirens from ambulances melded with the sound of gun battles throughout the day. 

 As the conflict escalated, the United States ordered all nonessential diplomats and embassy family members to leave the country. Western oil companies also removed nonessential workers.

Gaddafi has governed Libya largely through a constellation of revolutionary committees. In Libya, tribal and clan identities are considered more significant than the national identity, and Gaddafi has skillfully played the tribes against one another to keep control. 

 The military and security forces are also shaped along tribal lines, unlike the tightly knit militaries of Egypt and Tunisia. In addition, Gaddafi has relied heavily on foreign fighters to fill out the ranks of his security forces.

Agreed at a summit of world leaders in 2005 and sometimes known as ‘R2P’, the principle of the responsibility to protect holds States responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and related crimes against humanity and requires the international community to step in if this obligation is not met.

  The Secretary-General said that lessons were also learned about the UN’s own limitations, as in the case of the recent violence in South Sudan.

  “We saw it coming weeks before,” he stated. “Yet we were not able to stop it. Nor was the government, which like others has primary responsibility for protecting its citizens.

  “The reason was painfully simple: we were denied the use of necessary resources – in particular helicopters that would have given us mobility and reach in a vast region without roads. At the critical moment, I was reduced to begging for replacements from neighbouring countries and missions.

“So, a key challenge in putting the Responsibility to Protect into practice is this: how do we do our job... how do we deliver on Security Council mandates... when the very members of the Council do not give us the support we need?”

  Mr. Ban also stressed the importance of prevention – proactive, decisive and early action to stop violence before it begins – and called for making 2012 the Year of Prevention.

  He pledged that during his second term as Secretary-General, which began earlier this month, that the UN will redouble its efforts at training, education and capacity-building on human rights, humanitarian law and democratic values and practices. It will also undertake development and peacebuilding in ways that reduce tensions among groups and strengthen institutional barriers to sectarian violence.

Mr. Ban noted that the “next test of our common humanity” is Syria, where more than 5,000 people have lost their lives since a popular uprising began in March last year. The Secretary-General has repeatedly called on President Bashar Al-Assad to stop killing his own people.

  “Even as I make these calls, however, I am mindful of the complexities,” said Mr. Ban. “At a time when unity is required, the Security Council is divided. Efforts by regional friends and organizations such as the Arab League are very welcome, but so far they have not borne fruit.

  “I am also acutely aware of the need to preserve my own diplomatic space for the crucial moment when the UN’s good offices may be needed.

  “Such is the nature of the Responsibility to Protect. It can be a minefield of nuance, political calculation and competing national interests. The result too often is hesitation or inaction. This we can not afford.”

  He said that, in a short period of time, the world has embraced the Responsibility to Protect – not because it is easy, but because it is right.

  “We therefore have a moral responsibility to push ahead,” he stated. “Together, let us work... with optimism and determination... to make the Responsibility to Protect a living reality for the peoples of the world.”

It was an unusual move by the cautious head of the United Nations, who will complete his first five-year term at the end of the month and begin his second term in January. Ban has rarely taken public positions that pit him with some permanent members of the 15-nation Security Council against others.

"Security Council resolution 1973, I believe, was strictly enforced within the limit, within the mandate," Ban told reporters in New York. "This military operation done by the NATO forces was strictly within (resolution) 1973."

"I believe this is what we have seen, and there should be no misunderstanding on that," he said.

Resolution 1973, adopted in March 2011, authorized U.N. member states to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians threatened by the government's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators inspired by "Arab Spring" uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa -- the so-called BRICS nations -- have repeatedly accused NATO of using the mandate to protect civilians as a cover to pursue regime change by aiding rebel forces who ousted and eventually killed Libya's long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The United States, Britain, France and other NATO members have defended NATO, which says it adhered strictly to its Security Council mandate during its 8-month military operation, in which Britain and France launched repeated air strikes against Gaddafi's forces.

The United States was initially at the forefront of NATO's Libya operation alongside France and Britain, but later took a lower-profile role focusing on activities such as real-time intelligence gathering and surveillance.

BAN URGES ACTION ON SYRIA

Ban said none of the Arab leaders ousted during the Arab Spring uprisings were removed with outside help.

"These changes of regime were done by the people, not by the intervention of any foreign forces, including the United Nations," Ban said.

In addition to Gaddafi, the long-serving presidents of Tunisia and Egypt were forced out, paving the way for elections that Western nations hope will install democratic governments. Yemen's president was also forced to cede power to his deputy.

Ban said he was pleased that the concept of taking action to protect civilians -- often referred to as the "responsibility to protect" or R2P -- appeared to be gaining momentum.

But he reiterated that some kind of concerted international action was needed on Syria, where the United Nations says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in a government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters this year.

"This cannot go on," he said. "In the name of humanity, it is time for the international community to act."

Last month, Russia and China vetoed a European-drafted Security Council resolution that would have condemned the Syrian clampdown and threatened President Bashar al-Assad's government with possible sanctions.

"We took every precaution to minimize the risk to civilians with solid intelligence, a very strict target selection and precision-guided munitions. And we repeatedly warned civilians to stay away from military installations and equipment.”

 

 She added “Our mission for Libya saved countless lives and we have regularly informed the United Nations on its conduct in full compliance with UNSCR 1973.”

"Security Council resolution 1973, I believe, was strictly enforced within the limit, within the mandate," Ban told reporters in New York. "This military operation done by the NATO forces was strictly within (resolution) 1973."

"We hope that NATO is going to revisit this entire problem, is going to investigate this matter," Churkin told reporters.

"Unfortunately NATO adopted a pure propaganda stand claiming zero civilian casualties in Libya which was completely implausible first of all and secondly not true," said the envoy.

"To avoid any misunderstanding this issue has to be faced squarely and seriously and needs to be investigated," he added.

NATO leaders have said that while they regret any civilian deaths, they have no figures for the number of casualties for the campaign, which started after the UN Security Council passed resolutions in February and March allowing sanctions against Kadhafi.

Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa abstained in the vote allowing military action to protect civilians and have since frequently complained that NATO overstepped the resolutions to deliberately bring down Kadhafi.

The NATO allies have insisted they remained within the UN resolutions and were backed last week by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Churkin said that it was "cruel and cynical" for the victims of the Libya strikes to be told that nothing had happened.

Last week, Ban said that NATO had acted "strictly" within UN resolution 1973 passed in March on military operations. He said he had stressed to NATO that there should be no civilian casualties and added: "I believe that this is what we have seen and there should be no misunderstanding on that."

Churkin replied that the UN leadership "should not throw its weight around when issues of such importance are being debated within the Security Council. Only the Security Council can be the judge of whether its resolutions have been faithfully implemented."

The Russian envoy said he would raise the case on Thursday when Libya is discussed by the Security Council and in further meetings.

Russia and China have partly blamed the Libya campaign for their refusal to allow Security Council action against Syria.

Libya's new interim government, which has been in control of the oil-producing OPEC member since former leader Gaddafi was forced to flee Tripoli in August, estimates that more than 40,000 Libyans were killed during the country's civil war, Libyan U.N. envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi told Reuters.

"Gaddafi was responsible for these deaths," Dabbashi told Reuters on Thursday.

Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch (HRW), a rights advocacy group, is in Libya and has been investigating several dozen civilian casualties allegedly caused by NATO.

During the war, Gaddafi's forces were eager to show journalists, HRW and other rights groups what it claimed were sites of civilian massacres caused by NATO airstrikes.

Many of the corpses displayed for reporters were clearly military personnel, not civilians. Nor were the civilians necessarily victims of NATO attacks.

Abrahams has been investigating the matter to determine as precisely as possible how many civilians were killed by the NATO airstrikes, which began in March and ceased in October.

"By our count, up to 50 civilians died in the (NATO) campaign, perhaps more," Abrahams told Reuters.

"We're not alleging unlawful attacks, let alone war crimes," he said. "We believe the onus is on NATO to investigate these cases thoroughly so they can identify and correct the mistakes."

He urged NATO to consider compensation "as appropriate."

LIYBA SEES NO NEED FOR NATO INVESTIGATION

Western diplomats from NATO members say the alliance never targeted civilians, which would constitute a war crime, though they fear critics of the NATO's handling of the war will seize on estimates of civilian deaths to accuse NATO of war crimes.

The alliance has been highly criticized for civilian casualties in Afghanistan, though the estimated death tolls are far higher than what HRW alleges NATO caused in Libya.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is investigating allegations that NATO, Gaddafi's forces and the rebels all committed war crimes.

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance had no figures for the number of civilian casualties its bombing campaign may have caused but took "every possible precaution to minimize the possibility of civilian casualties." She added that it was impossible to entirely remove the risk to civilians.

She said the alliance "deeply regrets any loss of civilian life and if there is credible evidence it is for the Libyan authorities to take the lead in dealing with any such claim."

But Libya's government has not asked NATO to investigate.

"There is no need for a NATO investigation," Dabbashi said. "Usually it is acceptable that there will be some civilian casualties because of some errors."

He added that all Libyan casualties were regrettable and that Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebel forces in October, deserved most of the blame for civilian deaths.

"Gaddafi placed his forces inside civilian areas, like schools," Dabbashi said. He added that the government was conducting its own inquiry into the war.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday dismissed the idea that NATO had acted beyond its mandate: "Security Council resolution 1973, I believe, was strictly enforced within the limit, within the mandate."

Lungescu acknowledged that there was an incident in June when a bomb malfunctioned and apparently killed some civilians.

"On the case where they admit a mistake, I've been there," HRW's Abrahams said. "It's the al-Gharari family - five members including a little girl. I have photos and death certificates. NATO knows this."

Abrahams said that he and a representative of another rights group, CIVIC, personally presented NATO with their reports of civilian casualties in Libya caused by NATO on August 15.

A press officer at NATO said the alliance was unaware of any reports from rights groups but was ready to receive them.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Christian Lowe in Algiers; editing by Cynthia Osterman)

  

The report, which will be presented to the UN Security Council on Monday, warns of "disturbing reports" that war crimes had been committed by both sides during the civil war.

But Ban Ki Moon warned that torture and abuse is still widespread under Libya's new government, who have not transferred detainees from militia control to the state.

He said that "while political prisoners held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, an estimated 7,000 detainees are currently held in prisons and makeshift detention centres, most of which are under the control of revolutionary brigades."

Many of these prisoners, the secretary general said, are being held without charge and have been mistreated in the absence of a functioning police and judiciary.

He said that black Africans have been targeted because of their skin colour, that women are being held by male guards, and that children are being detained alongside adults.

Sub-Saharan Africans accounted for "a large number" of the detainees, Ban said, while members of Libya's Tawerga community had faced reprisals, including revenge killings, for their role in attacks by Gaddafi forces on the city of Misrata.

The plight of black Africans in Libya

Channel 4 News spoke to Margaret, a Ghanaian national living with other west African nationals in squalid conditions on the outskirts of Tripoli.

Margaret, a housekeeper who has lived in Libya for more than 10 years, said that some of her friends had met terrible fates in the weeks since Tripoli fell to NTC rebels.

Some, she said, had been wrongly accused and detained by the rebels of being hired guns of Gaddafi. Others, passport-less and scared of suffering similar treatment, had tried and, tragically, failed to leave Libya by the only way they knew how: on the treacherous Medditeranean waters towards Malta or Italy.

"Three of my good friends, two from Ghana and one from Niger, were beaten up and taken away by the rebels when they were trying to look for work about one month ago," she said.

"They said to them: ‘You are with Gaddafi, we know you were with Gaddafi. You are animals.

"They took them to Janzour (a Tripoli suburb which has a detention facility) and we heard that they were treated very badly. They were whipping them and kicking them.

"They were not with Gaddafi, they were [construction workers].

"They have not left our village for many months because it is too dangerous. We said to the people, you must let them go, but they told us ‘no’.

"When we checked last week, they were not in Janzour anymore. We don’t know where they are now, if they have been moved somewhere else, or whatever."

Margaret said that "at least" ten other friends of hers, all Ghanaians, had all attempted to negotiate the choppy Mediterranean Sea on ramshackle boast and dinghys in the direction of either Malta or Italy.

"One or two had got there," she said. "The rest of them did not."

Every year an estimated 1,000 economic migrants die whilst crossing the Mediterranean.

And the Italian government has repeatedly warned that the conflict and aftermath in Libya could create massive levels of migration towards Italy.

"Nobody would give them their passports back so they could go home to Ghana. They did not want to be taken to jail or shot, and they needed to find work," Margaret said.

"Some Good Samaritans have helped us with food, but only just enough to live on.

"So they tried to go to Italy, but the boat drowned," she said.

Sirte

In Sirte, Gaddafi's birthplace where he made his last stand, there were "disturbing reports that killings amounting to war crimes were committed by both sides". Libya's new authorities have announced an inquiry into Gaddafi's death.

While Gaddafi employed some fighters from neighbouring countries as mercenaries, other Africans worked in civilian jobs in the oil-rich North African country. Human rights groups have charged that some rebels made no distinction between the two.

The report also stresses that it is a matter of great praise that the country has been liberated after 42 years of totalitarian rule. The victorious opposition - which formed a new interim government this week - fully intends to follow a democratic path and introduce a functioning legal system, he says. The report is due to be circulated among members of the UN Security Council, and discussed next week.

However, Ban Ki-moon also presents a grim scenario of the growing power of the armed militias that control of the streets of many towns, including those of the capital, Tripoli, and the settling of internecine feuds through gun battles resulting in deaths and injuries.

Meanwhile the lawlessness has resulted in the vast majority of the police force not being able to return to work. In the few places where they have been back on duty under experienced officers, such as Tripoli, their role has been restricted largely to directing traffic.

Libya is the only Arab uprising to have attracted direct Western military support, despite the closer links forged with the West in recent years by the Gaddafi regime. The resistance in London, Washington and elsewhere to Nato-led intervention in other Arab countries has centred largely on a lack of coherent opposition. Political backers of the air strikes in Libya had cited the National Transitional Council (NTC) as a credible alternative to the Gaddafi regime.

The scope of escalating strife, inside the country as well as the wider region, is highlighted by the caches of weapons abandoned by the regime and subsequently looted. These include shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, known as Manpads, capable of bringing down commercial airliners. 

The Report of the Secretary-General on United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) states that: “Libya had accumulated the largest known stockpile of Manpads, of any non-Manpad-producing country. Although thousands were destroyed during the seven-month Nato operations, there are increasing concerns over the looting and likely proliferation of these portable defence systems, as well as munitions and mines, highlighting the potential risk to local and regional stability.”

But the continuing human rights abuses, says the Secretary-General’s report, are the most pressing concern. The report says that “while political prisoners held by the Gaddafi regime have been released, an estimated 7,000 detainees are currently held in prisons and makeshift detention centres, most of which are under the control of revolutionary brigades, with no access to due process in the absence of a functioning police and judiciary.”

Of particular worry was the fate of women being held for alleged links with the regime, often due to family connections, sometimes with their children locked up alongside them.

“There have also been reports of women held in detention in the absence of female guards and under male supervision, and of children detained alongside adults,” says the report.

The UN findings chart the vicious abuse carried out by the regime until the final days of the civil war. In a personal note in the document, Ban Ki-Moon said: “I was deeply shocked by my visit to an agricultural warehouse in the Khallital-Ferjan neighbourhood of Tripoli where elements of the Gaddafi regime had detained civilians in inhuman conditions, had subjected some to torture and had massacred as many as they could and burned their bodies.

“The international community must support the efforts to establish the fate of missing persons and to bring to justice perpetrators with the greatest responsibility for such crimes.”

On Wednesday, Germany, France, Britain, Denmark and the EU joined Turkey in denouncing the veto, with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe sounding outraged.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regrets that the council couldn't reach agreement and hopes it will be able to overcome its divisions "and find a collective way to address the situation," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

"The secretary-general believes that the violence in Syria is unacceptable," Nesirky said. "He believes we have a moral obligation to prevent further bloodshed and help the people of Syria out of this dangerous crisis."

Juppe denounced Assad as a "dictator who is massacring his people" and vowed support for Syrians trying to overthrow the head of the former French colony. Juppe's strongly worded English-language statement was highly unusual.

The EU and the U.S. have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Assad and his regime, including a ban on the import of Syrian oil. Most of Syria's oil exports had gone to Europe. Now Damascus is forced to look for buyers in the east.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a speech in South Africa on Wednesday to say that Turkey and other nations would press ahead with sanctions.

"Turkey and either some or all of the European Union nations, and who knows which others, will take steps," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying. "It won't stop our sanctions."

Germany sharply criticized the veto by Russia and China, with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle saying it was a "really sad day for international law and for human rights, too."

Westerwelle said Western nations would maintain pressure on Assad and that European countries are preparing an eighth package of sanctions against Syria.

At the U.N. on Tuesday, the European sponsors of the resolution tried to avoid a veto by watering down the language on sanctions three times, to the point where the word "sanctions" was taken out entirely. But that failed.

"We have absolutely no understanding for the fact the U.N. Security Council was unable to agree in New York, even on a very much weakened statement," Westerwelle said in Berlin.

"We will — not just in Europe, but also with our partners — not only keep up the pressure on the Assad regime, but increase it further if the killing and violence against peaceful demonstrators continues," he said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told a rally of his governing Conservative Party in that Beijing and Moscow were wrong to oppose the proposed resolution.

"The decision of Russia and China to veto this resolution and to side with a brutal regime rather than the people of Syria is deeply mistaken," Hague said in England.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said through her spokesman that the bloc would now work to increase international pressure on Assad's regime.

Denmark's new foreign minister, Villy Soevndahl, said: "The Assad regime's assault on civilians and brutal violation of basic human rights is utterly unacceptable." He said the international community must find a way to speak in a single voice to maintain pressure on Assad and his government.

Turkey already has imposed an arms embargo on Syria, and Erdogan is expected to announce new sanctions on the neighbor country later this week when he visits camps near the border where some 7,500 Syrians have sought refuge from Assad's brutal crackdown.

"Out of necessity our package of sanctions will come into effect," Erdogan said. He did not provide details, but Turkish leaders have said that the measures would punish Syria's leadership, not its people.

Turkey is an important trade partner for Syria, and Erdogan had cultivated a close friendship with Assad. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the crackdown on the opposition protests.

The military has announced eight days of exercises in Hatay province, which borders Syria, starting Wednesday, to test the armed forces' mobilization capability and communication among various state organizations. The military has described the drills as routine, but analysts said they were intended to increase pressure on Syria.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Monday to stop fighting immediately and make way for "a smooth transition" that ensures a free and democratic future for the country.

The U.N. chief told reporters it is important that the conflict ends with no further loss of life and without retribution. He did not specifically call for Gadhafi to step down.

Ban welcomed assurances from rebel leader Mustafa Abdel-Jalil that "extreme care" will be taken to protect civilians and public institutions, and maintain law and order.

Ban announced that he will hold a meeting on Libya later this week with heads of major organizations, including the Arab League, African Union, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and European Union.

He said the U.N. stands ready to extend "all possible assistance" to the Libyan people once the fighting ends.

"This is a hopeful moment but also there are risks ahead," Ban warned. "Now is the time for all Libyans to focus on national unity, reconciliation and inclusiveness."

For several months, Ban's special adviser on post-conflict assistance, Ian Martin, has been working on plans at U.N. headquarters.

The secretary-general said Martin and special envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib, who had been trying to get the Libyan government and rebels to agree on a cease-fire and political transition, will travel to Doha, Qatar, to meet with the leadership of the opposition National Transitional Council which Jalil heads.

"Certainly Libya will be open to accept assistance of the United Nations and assistance also from the international community as a whole," Libya's deputy U.N. ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi, one of the first Libyan diplomats to disown Gadhafi's regime and support the rebels, said in an AP interview.

Speaking at Libya's U.N. Mission, with the rebels' red, green and black flag behind him, Dabbashi called the upcoming meetings important and said the National Transitional Council will determine what kind of assistance is needed.

The Security Council has imposed sanctions on Libya and authorized military action to protect civilians caught in conflict.

Dabbashi said as soon as the interim government is established in Tripoli it will ask for the arms embargo to be lifted and the "unfreezing" of Libya's assets.

"Without unfreezing the government cannot function normally," he said. "We expect these actions to be taken as soon as possible."

"The secretary general is deeply concerned by reports of the unacceptably large number of civilian casualties as a result of the conflict in Libya," said a statement.

Ban "calls on all parties to exercise extreme caution in their actions, in order to minimise any further loss of civilian life."

But Libya's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim told reporters early on Saturday Ban's statement was "unacceptable" for not singling out NATO for "being responsible for civilian deaths in Libya."

"The only party that must be blamed for the loss of civilian lives is NATO," he said.

Kaaim on Saturday also denied that the rebels had entered the eastern oil hub of Brega almost six months after rising up against Kadhafi's forces, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.

They vowed on Friday that in "a few days" they plan to retake Brega on the Gulf of Sirte.

Rebels, backed by NATO helicopters, have tried for the past three weeks to seize the vital port 240 kilometres (140 miles) southwest of their eastern stronghold of Benghazi.

By late Thursday, after a day of fighting, the rebels said they had taken control of one of three residential zones in Brega.

"Every day, we are gaining ground," said Fawzi Bukatif, a civil engineer and a top commander of the insurrection.

In Benghazi on Friday, the rebels buried five "martyrs," including the commander of a brigade of volunteer civilians, killed the day before on the front line at Brega, an AFP journalist said.

"Today we are in mourning. Tomorrow we take revenge," said a lieutenant at the funeral before heading back to the front.

Meanwhile, rebels from Misrata pushed against Kadhafi's troops in Tuarga in an effort to end the barrage of missiles hitting the western town almost daily.

Rebels controlled much of Tuarga on Friday, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

They searched the town door-to-door for remnants of Kadhafi's forces, after clearing residential areas in the north and centre.

In a symbolic show of victory, fighters tore down green flags hoisted by Kadhafi supporters who just hours earlier had occupied the area.

The two sides exchanged artillery fire that doctors said left at least three rebels dead and as many as 30 wounded.

NATO was authorised in March by UN Security Council resolution 1973 to defend Libya's civilian population from attacks by Kadhafi's regime.

The alliance's top Libya commander, Canada's Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, told AFP the air strikes had affected Kadhafi's military capabilities.

"The Kadhafi regime's forces continue to be weakened, both in strength and their will to fight," he said from his Italian headquarters.

"They are no longer able to launch a credible offensive."

Bouchard reported "activity" on three fronts -- in Brega, Misrata and the Nafusa mountains -- adding that Kadhafi's forces are "shooting blindly on civilians."

"On the three fronts, we're seeing changes as anti-Kadhafi forces march forward to stop the attacks on the population," he said.

Tripoli last week accused NATO of killing 85 people, including women and children, with air strikes on the village of Majer, south of the disputed city of Zliten -- charges Bouchard denied.

"I can assure you that the target was a legitimate one that contained mercenaries, a command centre and 4x4 vehicles modified with automatic weapons, rocket launchers or mortars," Bouchard said.

"I cannot believe that 85 civilians were present when we struck in the wee hours of the morning, and given our intelligence" on the target.

"I can assure you that there (were not) 85 civilians present, but I cannot assure you that there were none at all."