United States Africa Command

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25 March 2011

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TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

US General Ham thrust into Libya command spotlight (AFP)

(Libya) Days after becoming head of US Africa Command, General Carter Ham found
himself unexpectedly directing a military campaign in Libya. But this four-star general
is used to tough challenges.

Libya rebels coordinating with West on air assault (LA Times)

(Libya) Leaders of the opposition national council, in Benghazi and in Europe, are
helping allied commanders identify targets for strikes. Allied officials walk a fine line as
the U.N. mandate bars them from actively helping the rebels in their goal to oust
Moammar Kadafi.

US Army General: 'Nato should lead Libya operation' (BBC) Online Video
(Libya) Head of US Africa Command, General Carter Ham has told a media briefing at
the Sigonella air base in Sicily that he hoped Nato would soon lead operations in Libya.
At present, a coalition led by the US, France and the UK is implementing a UN
resolution enforcing a no-fly zone in the country.

U.S. General Leading Libya Effort 'Follows Trouble' (NPR) Article and Audio Story
(Libya) Gen. Carter Ham, the American officer in charge of the Libyan military
operation, heads U.S. Africa Command, a job he started just 10 days before attacks
against Libya began. But Ham is used to tough assignments.

Obama, Libya, and Congress (Wall Street Journal)

(Libya) President Barack Obama is going on a week into military action in Libya. If he
doesn't start explaining how and why, he's going to be fighting a rearguard action in
Congress.

White House battles critics on action in Libya (USA Today)

(Libya) The White House pushed back hard Thursday against criticism of President
Obama's Libya policy, arranging a classified briefing for Congress next week and
promising that Obama soon will address the American people again about the scope
and purpose of U.S. military actions against Moammar Gadhafi's forces.
NATO to take over Libya no-fly zone (UPI)
(Libya) NATO member nations Thursday adopted a plan for the alliance to assume
command of the no-fly zone over Libya and perhaps assume more authority in a few
days.

Coalition launches new attacks on Libya, U.S. aims hands off control (Xinhua)
(Libya) The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that new attacks were conducted
against Libyan air defense and other military targets, while the United States is looking
to transfer control of the mission to the coalition.

Airstrikes continue over Libya as more forces mobilize (Xinhua)

(Libya) Multinational forces enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya vowed Thursday to
keep up their airstrikes against Libyan government forces, with more means and more
countries involved.

UN Chief: Libya Not Complying with Cease-fire (VOA)

(Libya) U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says there is no evidence to support
Libyan assertions that it is complying with a cease-fire. In a briefing to the U.N. Security
Council Thursday, the U.N. chief said he continues to have serious concerns about the
protection of civilians, abuses of human rights and violations of international
humanitarian law.

Allies Are Split on Goal and Exit Strategy of Libya Mission (NYT)
(Libya) Having largely succeeded in stopping a rout of Libya’s rebels, the inchoate
coalition attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces remains divided over the
ultimate goal — and exit strategy — of what officials acknowledged Thursday would be
a military campaign that could last for weeks.

Many Libyans appear to back Gaddafi (Washington Post)

(Libya) To all outward appearances, this is a city deeply enamored of Libyan leader
Moammar Gaddafi. His portrait hangs from lampposts, adorns shopping centers and
sprouts from the gleaming new office blocks rising from the seafront. Sayings from his
Green Book, required reading for all schoolchildren, are posted in government
buildings, including public restrooms.

AU invites Libyan combattants to discuss ceasefire (AFP)

(Libya) The African Union has invited the two sides in the conflict on Libya to its
headquarters in Addis Ababa to discuss a ceasefire, AU Commission chief Jean Ping
said in Paris Thursday.

Libya's rebel leaders struggle to get a grip (LA Times)

(Libya) They work 18-hour days inside two dingy courthouse buildings streaked with
graffiti that ridicules Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. When they enter, they wipe their
shoes on a portrait of him.
Ivory Coast rage grows over Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to cede power (LA Times)
(Ivory Coast) A dangerous postelection power struggle has evolved into a series of
escalating atrocities by the military and by rival militias, some loyal to President
Laurent Gbagbo and some opposed. Uncertainty reigns, and a peaceful resolution
seems all but impossible.

UN Official: Ivory Coast Death Toll Up to 462 (VOA)

(Ivory Coast) A U.N. official in Ivory Coast says forces loyal to incumbent president
Laurent Gbagbo are "indiscriminately" shelling areas seen as backing Gbagbo's rival,
Alassane Ouattara.

France Seeks UN Steps to End Ivory Coast Unrest Amid Attacks on Civilians
(Bloomberg)
(Ivory Coast) France is seeking increased United Nations pressure on Ivory Coast’s
incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to give up his fight for the presidency, and stronger
military force to halt his attacks on civilians, diplomats said.

UN News Service Africa Briefs

Full Articles on UN Website
 Death toll from post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire rising, UN reports
 Speedy, decisive international action to protect civilians in Libya is vital – Ban
 UN officials urge sustained support for Sierra Leone’s post-conflict recovery
 Head of UN rural development agency set to offer help on visit to drought-hit
Kenya
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST:

WHEN/WHERE: Thursday, April 7, 2011; 9:30am; Dirksen Senate Office Building

Room SD-106
WHAT: Armed Services: Testimony on AFRICOM
WHO:  Full Committee; General Carter F. Ham to testify
Info: http://armed-services.senate.gov/e_witnesslist.cfm?id=5073
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL ARTICLE TEXT

US General Ham thrust into Libya command spotlight (AFP)

By Gregor Waschinski
March 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — Days after becoming head of US Africa Command, General Carter
Ham found himself unexpectedly directing a military campaign in Libya. But this four-
star general is used to tough challenges.
And in the disciplined, regulated world of the US military, he is seen by many as a very
unusual kind of general, known for breaking down many barriers.

Ham might have believed he would be in for a quiet life behind a desk at Africa
Command, the US military's regional center based near Stuttgart, Germany, which
keeps a watchful eye over 53 African nations.

In theory, it's more of a diplomatic job than a military task.

But 10 days after Ham took over at the helm at AFRICOM on March 9, the command
center was plunged into a leading role in the Libya campaign with US air strikes
launched on Saturday alongside British and French allies.

Ham, 59, is an oddity among US generals, having started his Army career as a private.
He was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division in the early 1970s, and later
went to college and became a second lieutenant.

He was launched on the path towards becoming an officer, and is now one of the
Army's few four-star generals.

"He's highly respected by soldiers, because of his personality," General Bob Scales told
National Public Radio.

"He's probably one of the most un-general-like generals we have at the four-star level in
the Army today."

Ham is known for being a bit of a regular Joe, the kind of guy one would go to the bar
with for a beer.

But he is also one of the highest profile officers to openly acknowledge suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- helping many other lower ranks to come to
terms with this once-taboo psychological illness.

It was in Iraq in 2004, when Ham was on his first combat command leading troops in
the northern city of Mosul during a volatile, bloody phase of the war against insurgents,
that tragedy struck.

Just days before he was to wrap up a year-long tour, a suicide bomber blew himself up
in the mess tent, killing more than 20 people.

Ham arrived on the scene just 20 minutes later to be confronted by scenes of terrible
carnage and suffering.

"The 21st of December, 2004, worst day of my life. Ever," he told CNN later.
When he returned to Fort Lewis, Washington state in 2005, all was not well. Ham said
he had trouble sleeping, loud noises would startle him.

"I was withdrawn; I wanted to still be there," he said. "I felt like what I was doing was
not important because I had soldiers who were killed. It's not a matter of letting go; I
don't want to let go."

So he sought out help and counseling for PTSD, and then went public about his battle.

"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham told USA Today in
2008. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at
loud sounds.

"It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More
than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."

In an army where seeking help for the mental scars of battle is seen as a weakness,
Ham's move to talk openly about his feelings was a radical breakthrough.

And it has not hindered the career of this officer. He was put in charge of investigating
the 2009 Fort Hood shootings, in which he found the Army had failed to monitor the
alleged shooter Major Nidal Hassan.

He was also tasked last year with reviewing the impact of gays and lesbians serving
openly in the US military.

AFRICOM was created in 2007 and is headquartered in the German city of Stuttgart,
which is also where the US military's European command is based, after some
speculation that AFRICOM could be based in Africa itself.

The military operations in Libya marks AFRICOM's first major mission, which is due to
last until the international coalition can hand over command perhaps to NATO.

And for Ham, it will surely mark a defining moment in his military career that could
see him rise even further in the ranks.
-------------------------
Libya rebels coordinating with West on air assault (LA Times)
By David Zucchino and Paul Richter
March 24, 2011

Reporting from Benghazi, Libya, and Washington— Leaders of the opposition national
council in rebel-controlled eastern Libya say they are making regular, secure contacts
with allied military representatives in Europe to help commanders identify targets for
the U.S.-led air assault.

The contacts, conducted through the council's civilian representatives in France and
elsewhere in Europe, are made by secure satellite telephone connections, according to
spokesmen for the rebel leadership in its eastern base of Benghazi.

"There is communication between the Provisional National Council and U.N. assembled
forces, and we work on letting them know what areas need to be bombarded,"
spokesman Ahmed Khalifa said in an interview Wednesday.

The contacts, which began over the weekend, are evidence of cooperation between the
Libyan opposition and the international military alliance that is waging air and missile
strikes on Moammar Kadafi's command and control centers as well as other military
targets.

They also highlight the diplomatic delicacy of the mission and the awkwardness of a
military operation designed by governments with sometimes conflicting goals. The
Obama administration and the Pentagon say the United Nations Security Council
resolution authorizing military action in Libya does not include airstrikes specifically to
aid rebel forces.

The White House declined to comment on whether allied commanders had established
regular contact with the rebels to help identify military targets. A Pentagon spokesman,
Marine Col. Dave Lapan, said there was "no formal or informal contact" between the
rebels and American forces.

But Navy Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber, chief of staff of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn,
said that though there was no official collaboration, information was being passed from
the coalition to the rebels. "We have told … the opposition forces how to maneuver, and
we have also told Moammar Kadafi's forces what they were expected to do in
accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution," he told reporters.

In addition, current and former American officials say that CIA operatives and
equipment were sent into rebel-held areas to monitor the opposition forces' activity
even before the air bombardment began. It's not clear whether those operatives are still
in Libya, and if so, what their current role is.

Many, if not most, of the coalition governments want to help the rebels grind down
Kadafi's forces. But since the U.N. authorized only a limited mission intended to
prevent Kadafi from killing civilians, officials are unable to acknowledge that they
intend to help the rebels.
Jeffrey White, a longtime Defense Intelligence Agency official, said U.S. officials "are
trying to maintain this fig-leaf cover that we're not assisting their combat forces against
the Libyans. But we're clearly creating conditions in which they can operate better."

"This is a very fine line," said White, now with the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy. "If they're passing information for targeting purposes, that's not necessarily
formal coordination, but certainly cooperation for the same end." He added that
gathering information was "clearly the right thing to do."

Leaders of the political opposition also have been using satellite phones "and other
secure means" to help identify civilian areas under assault by Kadafi's forces, said
Mustafa Gheriani, another rebel council spokesman.

"We tell them of urgent situations in areas where we need help to protect civilians being
attacked by the regime's forces," Gheriani said. "The lines of communication are open."

President Obama has demanded that Kadafi withdraw troops that are attacking three
Libyan cities where civilians have come under sustained bombardment. On
Wednesday, alliance warplanes reportedly attacked government forces besieging
Misurata, 125 miles east of Tripoli, forcing a retreat.

Gheriani said there was no direct military-to-military contact. He said rebel military
officials pass on information to the council's political representatives in France, which
has recognized the council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, and to
council officials elsewhere in Europe.

"We have clearly established contacts, both political and military, but it all goes through
our political leadership," Gheriani said.

Two council spokesmen said there was no coordination with alliance military
representatives on rebel movements on the ground and no attempts by alliance officials
to rein in the undisciplined and essentially leaderless rebel fighters.

Gheriani said the council was still trying to bring its fighters under a unified central
command. "It's not an easy task to manage revolutionaries, and we're still trying to
organize them," he said. "These are volunteers willing to die for their cause, and they
can be difficult to control."

Council spokesmen have said the rebels are receiving light weapons, ammunition,
supplies and communications equipment from other nations but have declined to name
the donors.

U.S. officials have acknowledged that they have been weighing whether to provide
weapons, ammunition and other equipment to the rebels, a move they say could
quickly make a difference in the war. A European official said that whether the coalition
begins funneling arms to the rebels "really depends on how far Kadafi goes in his
attacks."

Reports from the region suggest that the Saudis and Egyptians have been providing
arms. Though U.S. officials could not confirm that, they say it is plausible.
-------------------------
US Army General: 'Nato should lead Libya operation' (BBC) Online Video
March 24, 2011
Head of US Africa Command, General Carter Ham has told a media briefing at the
Sigonella air base in Sicily that he hoped Nato would soon lead operations in Libya.
At present, a coalition led by the US, France and the UK is implementing a UN
resolution enforcing a no-fly zone in the country.
-----------------------------
U.S. General Leading Libya Effort 'Follows Trouble' (NPR) Article and Audio Story
By Tom Bowman
March 23, 2011
Gen. Carter Ham, the American officer in charge of the Libyan military operation, heads
U.S. Africa Command, a job he started just 10 days before attacks against Libya began.
But Ham is used to tough assignments.

They say everything comes in threes. Here's Ham's trifecta: A couple of years ago, the
Pentagon turned to him to investigate the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. Ham's finding:
Army officers failed in their oversight of the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Hassan.

When that investigation was over, Ham took on challenge No. 2: Assess the impact of
gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Ham's conclusion: It'll work.

Now, he has Libya.

"I don't think trouble follows him — I think he follows trouble," said retired Lt. Gen.
John Sattler, who served with Ham in Iraq and later at the Pentagon.

Sattler says he isn't surprised that officials hand Ham these assignments.

"I think when tough things come up ... the folks who know him put him in there to go
ahead [and] bring him to some positive conclusion," he said.

A Regular Joe

Ham is a rarity among four-star officers because he started out as a private. He was a
paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division in the early 1970s before going to college
and then becoming a second lieutenant.
Ask people about him, and you get the standard answers: regular Joe; the kind of guy
you can have a beer with.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales says it's true.

"He's highly respected by soldiers simply because of his personality," Scales said. "He's
probably one of the most un-general-like generals we have at the four-star level in the
Army today."

Ham got his first combat command in 2004. He spent a year in Northern Iraq. During
that tour, just before Christmas, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive inside a mess
tent, killing 22, including 18 Americans.

Ham arrived on the scene minutes after the blast. A couple of days later, he described
what happened.

"What we think is likely, but certainly not certain, is that an individual in an Iraqi
military uniform, possibly with a vest-worn explosive device, was inside the facility and
detonated, causing this tragedy," Ham said at the time.

'I Don't Want To Let Go'

Ham called it the worst day of his life. A few months later, he returned home from Iraq.
But he couldn't forget that day. He couldn't sleep. Loud noises startled him. He had
mood swings. He talked about his experience on CNN a few years later.

"I was withdrawn; I wanted to still be there," he said. "I felt like what I was doing was
not important because I had soldiers who were killed. It's not a matter of letting go; I
don't want to let go."

This was unusual. Soldiers didn't admit to problems. Ham was among just a few senior
officers who sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder. By going public, he showed
the way for countless soldiers.

"They now have the courage to follow his example because he took the time to lay that
example out there," Sattler said.

These days, Ham oversees the Libyan campaign from his headquarters in Stuttgart,
Germany. He has to translate political goals into practical military action. It's
complicated. Ham says U.S. and coalition pilots have to protect civilians but not become
the air force for Libyan rebels.

"These are situations that brief much better at a headquarters than they do in a cockpit
of an aircraft," he said.
The U.S. hopes to hand off responsibility for the Libyan campaign soon. That doesn't
mean Ham's tough jobs will end. He'll keep running Africa Command, which means
everything from pirates to humanitarian missions and, eventually, the aftereffects of the
war in Libya.
------------------------
Obama, Libya, and Congress (Wall Street Journal)
By Kimberley A. Strassel
March 25, 2011
President Barack Obama is going on a week into military action in Libya. If he doesn't
start explaining how and why, he's going to be fighting a rearguard action in Congress.

Commanders in chief are rightly accorded broad power to unilaterally order American
military force. The smart ones understand they need to garner public and congressional
support. Congress's backing is particularly crucial, given that body's own authority to
play havoc with a military undertaking. In today's partisan political environment,
presidential wooing is even more important.

Mr. Obama, so recently a U.S. senator, knows better than most how that dynamic can
play ugly (see Obama vs. Bush on Iraq and Afghanistan). It is therefore remarkable that
this White House has made such a hash of its handling of Congress, vis-a-vis Libya.
Consider it one consequence of waging war by international committee. More on that
later.

The speed and size of the congressional revolt is notable. In less than a week, the Peace
Caucus has predictably got up and running, with Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich whipping
up Mr. Obama's professional left. The Who-Do-You-Think-You-Are Caucus is
bellowing that the president did not get an official vote from Congress for military
action. The Cost Caucus—a new potent force in the form of dozens of freshmen
Republican elected to cut budgets—is already complaining about the price of military
action in Libya.

Some of this is predictable griping. The Obama team's bigger mistake has been its
mishandling of everyone else—the bulk of Republicans, who are at least open to
supporting action, as well the majority of Democrats, who feel obliged to support Mr.
Obama whether on principle or for political reasons.

Most of this crowd was already alarmed by two months of haphazard White House
policy on Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain. It last week watched the administration move
from being a skeptic of intervention to a proponent of military strikes in Libya—in a
matter of hours. The president offered these members no explanation for the flip. He
also failed to partake in the traditional courtesy of consulting congressional leaders, or
flattering their egos with a request for their advice on the coming action.
Instead, a few hours before the bombs flew, the White House perfunctorily informed
lawmakers of what it had already decided to do. Mr. Obama then decamped to Latin
America, leaving the legislative branch in a vacuum. Who is in charge? Who are our
partners? What are we attacking? What is the goal? How long? Can Gadhafi stay? If not,
who next? The White House has offered no answers to these questions, though Press
Secretary Jay Carney did use a recent briefing to complain that Congress shouldn't be
complaining, since it was Congress that pushed the administration to act. Now there's a
way to make congressional friends.

For now, many in Congress remain open to supporting this effort. But the perception of
disarray—the sight of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggesting the Libya campaign
has been done "on the fly"—is putting enormous political pressure on Republicans to be
seen to be exercising oversight. It's asking a lot of House Speaker John Boehner to
provide the president cover for a mission the president seems unwilling to articulate.

Mr. Boehner all but made that point with a tough letter this week, which the White
House would be wise to use as a guide to the questions that need answering. The
president has had something of a pass during this week of congressional recess, but the
members are back on Monday—all the better to form ranks. There is already talk of
hearings, investigations, a big fight over the Pentagon's budget. Republican leaders will
have to work to keep some of this in check, and they are going to need a reason to work.

The president faces just as big a risk from his Democrats. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi
stepped up to defend the president this week—somebody had to. Lest the White House
has forgotten, its party took a "shellacking" last year, and dozens of prominent and
vulnerable Democrats are looking out for No. 1. It might not take much to send them
bolting from their own president—which will further dissuade Republicans from
sticking.

This is what comes from waging war through the United Nations. The White House
was determined not to move on Libya unless it could hide behind a U.N. resolution.
The best that multinational body could muster was a vague and confused resolution
backing efforts to stop Gadhafi from slaughtering civilians. That resolution, Mr.
Obama's rationale for action, is now his constraint. To answer Congress's questions
would require thinking and resolving beyond the U.N. remit. He's unwilling to do so.

The president seems instead to be hoping he can quickly hand this off to some other
leader of the free world, and move on. But a failure in Libya will only bring more
congressional questions. Better to define an actual U.S. strategy—one that can succeed
—while Congress is still willing to listen.
---------------------------
White House battles critics on action in Libya (USA Today)
By Mimi Hall
March 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — The White House pushed back hard Thursday against criticism of
President Obama's Libya policy, arranging a classified briefing for Congress next week
and promising that Obama soon will address the American people again about the
scope and purpose of U.S. military actions against Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

On Obama's first full day back at the White House after a five-day trip to Latin
America, his aides deflected criticism from House leaders and some potential
presidential candidates that Obama has failed to adequately explain his rationale for
launching military strikes to protect Libyan rebels.

AIR WAR: NATO to assume bigger role in Libya

PHOTOS: Rebellion in Libya
In a blistering letter this week, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, complained of a
"lack of clarity" about the mission and said Obama has left "fundamental questions"
unanswered.

White House press secretary Jay Carney responded Thursday, "The questions that are
outlined by members of Congress have by and large been answered by the president
himself" and his senior aides. He added that the questions are "legitimate" and the
White House will continue to provide answers.

That didn't stop the critics.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican considering running for president in

2012, questioned Obama's leadership in a radio interview Thursday. "What are we
doing in Libya?" Barbour asked on The Gallo Show in Jackson, Miss. "I mean we have to
be careful, in my mind, about getting into nation-building exercises."

The Republican National Committee posted video on its website of comedians such as
Jon Stewart and Jay Leno mocking Obama for going on ESPN last week to make his
college basketball tournament picks as the Libyan crisis grew.

Carney said some of the commentary outside Congress "has been perhaps driven by
politics."

He did not offer details about Obama's plans for another public address on Libya but
said it "absolutely is important for the president to speak to the American public to
inform them of what he's doing. He's done that on multiple occasions thus far and will
continue to do that."

The White Hours alson on Thursday:

•Circulated an op-ed by Rwandan President Paul Kagame about the 1994 genocide in
his country. "No country knows better than my own the costs of the international
community failing to intervene to prevent a state killing its own people," he wrote in
The New Times of Rwanda. "In the course of 100 days in 1994, a million Rwandans
were killed by government-backed 'genocidaires' and the world did nothing to stop
them."

•Cited a dozen sessions in the lead-up to last week's decision to begin enforcing a no-
fly zone in Libya during which Obama and his senior aides consulted with members of
Congress.

Carney noted that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert
Gates and others have testified before Congress and briefed lawmakers repeatedly since
Feb. 28.

•Agreed to send Clinton, Gates and other senior aides to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to
give House members a classified briefing on Libya.

•Insisted the cost of the military operation will fall within the Defense budget.

In a letter to Obama on Thursday, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa said,

"American taxpayers deserve a full accounting" of the costs of a third military operation
in the Middle East.

Carney said that he didn't have a specific number but that "there are contingency
funds ... for this kind of thing."
-----------------------
NATO to take over Libya no-fly zone (UPI)
By Unattributed Author
March. 24, 2011 at 8:05 PM
TRIPOLI, Libya - NATO member nations Thursday adopted a plan for the alliance to
assume command of the no-fly zone over Libya and perhaps assume more authority in
a few days.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the development, saying

for now "there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation." He said a
decision could come within days on NATO assuming wider responsibility for the
operations, The New York Times reported.

The announcement came as the advantage in fighting appeared to shift away from
forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi toward rebels, after allied airstrikes on Libyan
ground forces, the newspaper said.

At the White House Thursday, press secretary Jay Carney, responding to congressional
criticism that President Barack Obama left Congress out of the loop before deciding to
participate in the no-fly zone enforcement, said the United States had to act quickly in
the multinational military operation in Libya to save lives.

"American military action, international military action has saved an enormous number
of lives in the past five days, and that is something that Americans should be very
proud of," Carney said during a press briefing, listing a series of dates when
administration officials briefed congressional members or testified at the Capitol.

As commander in chief, Obama said leadership "requires him to take action when
action will save lives and delaying action will cost lives," Carney said. "And in this case,
had we waited for Congress to get back, there is no question I think in anybody's minds
… that Gadhafi's forces would control Benghazi and there would have been a great deal
of people killed in the process."

Benghazi is considered the de facto headquarters for opponents to Gadhafi's rule.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and National Intelligence Director James Clapper will
brief congressional members Wednesday, a Republican official told CNN. The briefing
will be classified.

Disapproval from Republican lawmakers has intensified during the last few days, with
Speaker John Boehner of Ohio criticizing Obama in a Wednesday letter to the White
House for not clearly stating the goals of the mission and offering a "sometimes
contradictory" case for the war.

Carney said Thursday Obama has answered Boehner's questions, "especially the ones
about what the mission is and what it isn't."

"It is a time-limited, scope-limited military action, in concert with our international

partners, with the objective of protecting civilian life in Libya from Moammar Gadhafi
and his forces," Carney said.

Speaking of reports about NATO assuming control of the no-fly zone, Carney said
Obama has been saying the United States would hand off running the operation "in
days, not weeks," Carney said.

"We are at less than a week at the moment and we have been in consultations with our
allies and partners on the issue of making that transition and we're confident that it will
happen relatively soon," Carney said.

The first Libyan warplane to violate the no-fly zone was shot down Thursday over
Misurata by French fighter jets, ABC News said.
Asked for a comment, Carney observed, "I would simply say that it proves that it's a
bad idea to violate the no-fly zone."

In Misurata, rebels told The New York Times they felt rejuvenated by a second night of
U.S. and European airstrikes against pro-Gadhafi forces that have been bombarding the
city. Rebels said armored units and artillery surrounding the city apparently have
pulled back after airstrikes cut supply and communication lines.

Government warships that had closed the Misurata port also left, allowing rebels to
work with Doctors Without Borders to evacuate 50 wounded people to Malta, the Times
said.

In Tripoli, Libyan officials acknowledged for the first time Thursday Misurata residents
had been living for days without water, electricity or telecommunications. But the
officials, speaking during a news conference, blamed rebels for blocking the
government's ability to enter the town center to make repairs.
---------------------
Coalition launches new attacks on Libya, U.S. aims hands off control (Xinhua)
By Unattributed Author
March 24, 2011
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Defense Department said Thursday that new attacks were
conducted against Libyan air defense and other military targets, while the United States
is looking to transfer control of the mission to the coalition.

Bill Gortney, director of the U.S. Joint Staff, told a Pentagon briefing that the attacks
were conducted by both fighter jets and missiles. He said 14 Tomahawk missiles were
launched against Libyan air defense sites.

According to Gortney, coalition fighter jets continued to target Libyan air defense
missile sites, communication nodes, command centers and ammunition depots.

While the attacks continue, Gortney voiced hope that the control of the campaign could
be handed over to the coalition by this weekend, saying "the coalition is growing in
both size and capability every day."

He said coalition planes flew all no-fly zone patrols during the past 24 hours, which are
aimed at preventing Libyan planes from taking off, while U.S. planes flew other
missions.

But the handover might be tricky, as the United States has the most planes in the
mission, despite the absence of U.S. aircraft carriers. Gortney said more than 350 aircraft
are now taking part in coalition operations against Libya, slightly over half of them
American.
Gortney said after the handover, the U.S. military will continue to provide some unique
capability to the coalition, including aerial refueling, intelligence surveillance and
reconnaissance, as well as interdiction strike packages, which can mean jamming and
electronic warfare. He expects U.S. planes to fly some combat missions after the
handover.
-----------------------------
Airstrikes continue over Libya as more forces mobilize (Xinhua)
By Unattributed Author
March 24, 2011
TRIPOLI - Multinational forces enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya vowed Thursday to
keep up their airstrikes against Libyan government forces, with more means and more
countries involved.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday the coalition operation would
continue for a "necessary" period, "days or weeks", but "certainly not months", to
prevent Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from attacking rebels.

The targets were purely military, he said.

Juppe said on Wednesday the coalition intervention in Libya wouldn't last long and the
countries involved would have political meetings to steer and coordinate the next phase
of the operation.

The political steering committee, proposed by France, will convene its first meeting in
London next Tuesday to review the progress in implementing the UN Security Council
resolution authorizing the military action.

The French military said on Thursday French fighter jets pounded an air base in Libya's
inland overnight Wednesday, while other coalition warplanes attacked tanks and some
helicopters on the ground.

Coalition warships Thursday continued to patrol the coast of Libya to prevent arms and
mercenaries from entering Libya after they began the operation on Wednesday.

The British Defense Ministry said Thursday a Royal Navy submarine fired Tomahawk
missiles on Libyan air defense targets late Wednesday and early Thursday as part of
Britain's contribution.

The Danish Air Force's Tactical Air Command said Wednesday its F-16 fighter jets had,
for the first time, dropped precision-guided bombs on targets in Libya.

Denmark has deployed six F-16 fighters at the Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily,
Italy, as part of the UN-mandated multinational forces to establish a no-fly zone over
Libya.
The command said the six F-16s had carried out at least 12 missions since Sunday,
including 11 air-to-ground and one air-to-air missions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for extensive sanctions against
Libya and defended Germany's abstention on the UN vote approving the military
action.

Merkel told the German parliament she hoped the countries involved could reach
agreement on a complete oil embargo and extensive trade sanctions against Libya, but
added the effects of the military actions were "still disturbing" and Germany hoped to
have quick and sustainable solutions for reaching U.N. goals.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle Tuesday urged the European Union to
approve a full-scale oil and gas embargo to cut off Gaddafi's money sources.

The fighting between forces loyal to Gaddafi and rebels continued on Thursday near the
western city of Misurata and the eastern city of Ajdabiya, where they have been at a
stalemate.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Gaddafi to leave power,
saying: "The quickest way for him to end this is to actually serve the Libyan people by
leaving."

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, multinational forces have flown at least
336 sorties over Libya and launched at least 108 air strikes since the start of the
campaign on Saturday.

Reports said that no Libyan planes had taken off in recent days and multinational forces
have been targeting Gaddafi's ground forces to further clamp down on him.

On Wednesday night, several targets in the Tajoura district in Tripoli's east were
attacked by three rounds of bombing, and a military engineering institute was hit and
caught fire.

Several cars parked nearby or passing were also struck by the bombing and people
inside were injured.

Meanwhile, Libyan media reported on Wednesday that "a large number" of civilians
had been killed in eastern Tripoli by Western airstrikes.

The Canadian military has said that Canadian warplanes conducted their first attack in
Libya Tuesday night. Canadian F-18 Hornet fighter jets, supported by two C-150 air-to-
air refueling aircraft, bombed an ammunition depot in northern Libya.
Before that, Canadian planes had been solely escorting other nations' planes. Canada
has so far deployed a total of six F-18s at a base in Trapani, Italy.

The UN Security Council on March 17 adopted Resolution 1973 to authorize a no-fly

zone over Libya and called for "all necessary measures", excluding ground troops, to
protect civilians under threat of attack in the North African country.
--------------------------
UN Chief: Libya Not Complying with Cease-fire (VOA)
Margaret Besheer
March 24, 2011
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says there is no evidence to support Libyan
assertions that it is complying with a cease-fire. In a briefing to the U.N. Security
Council Thursday, the U.N. chief said he continues to have serious concerns about the
protection of civilians, abuses of human rights and violations of international
humanitarian law.

Mr. Ban made a brief trip earlier this week to Egypt and Tunisia, where demonstrators
brought down each of those government’s long-time leaders. These two countries,
neighbors of Libya, have also endured the brunt of an exodus of more than 300,000
people fleeing the recent violence in Libya.

The U.N. chief briefed council members on his trip, as well as on the situation in Libya,
where he said the authorities have repeatedly claimed they have instituted a cease-fire.
But Mr. Ban said there is no evidence to support that assertion.

"We see no evidence that is the case," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "To the
contrary, fierce battles have continued in or around the cities of Ajdabiya, Misratah and
Zitan, among others. In short, there is no evidence that Libyan authorities have taken
steps to carry out their obligations under Resolutions 1970 or 1973."

Resolution 1973 was adopted by the U.N. Security Council one week ago and
authorized the establishment of a No-Fly Zone in a bid to protect civilians under attack
by government troops. The United States, Britain and France quickly began air strikes
on Libya’s military air defenses and Gadhafi’s forces. They have since been joined by
several other countries, including two Arab states, in enforcing the flight ban and other
provisions in the Security Council resolution.

Mr. Ban also appointed a special Envoy for Libya, Abdel-Elah al-Khatib, a former
Jordanian foreign minister. He went to Libya last week and met with both government
and opposition leaders. Mr. Ban said al-Khatib, as well as representatives of both the
Gadhafi government and the opposition, would attend an African Union meeting
Friday in Addis Ababa with the goal of reaching a cease-fire and finding a political
solution to the crisis.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, French Ambassador Gérard Araud, whose
government spearheaded efforts to implement the No-Fly Zone, said efforts so far to
enforce Resolution 1973 have been successful.

"As you know, [resolution] 1973 is aiming at the protection of civilians against acts of
violence from the Gadhafi regime and so far it has been successful in two ways: first we
have avoided massacre in Benghazi and cut short the offensive of the Gadhafi forces.
Secondly, the No-Fly Zone is in place; this morning a French fighter jet has destroyed a
plane of the Libyan air force," said Araud.

Ambassador Araud said France has deployed a significant air and naval force as part of
the effort. But he warned that the Libyan goverment's forces continue to fire on
civilians and hinder humanitarian access across most of the country. He urged Mr.
Gadhafi to accept a cease-fire immediately and withdraw his forces from all areas they
have entered. The French envoy said only then can a political dialogue begin to allow
the Libyan people to decide their own future.
-----------------------
Allies Are Split on Goal and Exit Strategy of Libya Mission (NYT)
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
March 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — Having largely succeeded in stopping a rout of Libya’s rebels, the
inchoate coalition attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces remains divided over
the ultimate goal — and exit strategy — of what officials acknowledged Thursday
would be a military campaign that could last for weeks.

The United States has all but called for Colonel Qaddafi’s overthrow from within —
with American commanders on Thursday openly calling on the Libyan military to stop
following orders — even as administration officials insist that is not the explicit
objective of the bombing, and that their immediate goal is more narrowly defined.

France has gone further, recognizing the Libyan rebels as the country’s legitimate
representatives, but other allies, even those opposed to Colonel Qaddafi’s erratic and
authoritarian rule, have balked. That has complicated the planning and execution of the
military campaign and left its objective ill defined for now.

Only on Thursday, the sixth day of air and missile strikes, did the allies reach an
agreement to give command of the “no-fly” operation to NATO after days of public
quarreling that exposed the divisions among the alliance’s members.

“From the start, President Obama has stated that the role of the U.S. military would be
limited in time and scope,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday
evening in announcing the plan.
But even that agreement — brokered by Mrs. Clinton and the foreign ministers of
Britain, France and Turkey — frayed almost immediately over how far the military
campaign should go in trying to erode the remaining pillars of Colonel Qaddafi’s power
by striking his forces on the ground and those devoted to protecting him. It was
salvaged, one diplomat said, only by papering over the differences concerning the
crucial question of who actually controls military strikes on Libya’s ground forces.

“There were differences in the scope of what NATO would do and what would remain
with the national militaries,” a senior administration official said, expressing hope that
the agreement on NATO command would be a step toward resolving them.

The questions swirling around the operation’s command mirrored the larger strategic
divisions over how exactly the coalition will bring it to an end — or even what the end
might look like, and whether it might even conceivably include a Libya with Colonel
Qaddafi remaining in some capacity. While few countries have openly sided with the
Libyan leader, officials said on Thursday that most of the allies expected that the use of
military force would lead to talks between the government and the rebels.

“I don’t think anyone is ruling out some kind of negotiated settlement,” the official said.
Colonel Qaddafi has responded defiantly, making the likelihood of his negotiated
departure seem exceedingly remote.

The allied bombardment remains in its early stages. It has already badly eroded Libya’s
combat power — with scores of missile and airstrikes against Libya’s air defenses and
armored columns — but not yet drastically reversed the military equation on the
ground.

Mr. Obama, having returned from his trip to Latin America on Wednesday, met
privately at the White House with his senior national security officials, but he made no
public statements, even as reservations percolated in Congress and elsewhere about the
conflict and its end game.

Asked about concerns raised the day before in a letter by the House speaker, John A.
Boehner, Mr. Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, said, “I think the president’s been very
clear, and he has been asked and answered this question numerous times.”

In fact, Mr. Obama has not made clear what will happen if the international coalition
succeeds in establishing control of the skies over Libya, but Colonel Qaddafi’s loyalists
and rebels continue to attack and counterattack each other in a bloody, protracted
stalemate.

“We should never begin an operation without knowing how we stand down,” said
Joseph W. Ralston, a retired general who served as NATO commander and vice
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We did a no-fly zone over Iraq for 12 years and it
did nothing to get rid of Saddam. So why do we think it will get rid of Qaddafi?”

In Paris, the French foreign minister, Alain Juppé, expressed confidence in the success
of the operation so far, even as he urged patience. “The destruction of Qaddafi’s
military capacity is a matter of days or weeks, certainly not months,” he told reporters,
adding: “You can’t achieve our objective in just five days.”

But any exit strategy will depend on the climate on the ground, and whether rebel
forces can be effective in defending themselves without international support. So far,
the rebels in the east have failed to punch through the line of Qaddafi forces at the
strategic city of Ajdabiya, even with foreign forces battering Libya’s air and ground
forces. In one potentially significant shift in momentum, the rebels were negotiating the
surrender or withdrawal of one unit of Qaddafi troops in Ajdabiya. “We are trying to
lead them to peace,” said a rebel spokesman, Col. Ahmed Omar Bani.

Muammar el-QaddafiIn the western commercial center of Misrata, though, rebels say
that airstrikes from international forces will enable them to fight off the Qaddafi siege
but not to march to Tripoli, which remains a Qaddafi stronghold. Still, a rebel
spokesman who has identified himself by only his first name, Mohammed, predicted
that residents of Tripoli would rise up soon. “I know the situation there is really
simmering,” he said by telephone. “They have seen the dictator’s murderous ways, and
they feel his days are numbered.”

In Tripoli, a few residents critical of the Qaddafi government — all speaking covertly,
for fear of reprisals — said that coalition attacks had emboldened people there, who
plan new protests after midday prayers on Friday.

But others said the intervention might have arrived too late to set off a popular
uprising. “I do not think Tripolitanians will rise,” one Libyan opposition figure with ties
around Tripoli said, also speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear, citing the
reprisals that the city’s neighborhoods had already endured.

From the start, the administration insisted that it was acting to avert the imminent
slaughter of civilians in Benghazi and other rebel-held cities, and that the goal of the
military operations was clearly spelled out in the United Nations Security Council
resolution.

Mr. Obama’s administration, however, has clearly tried to avoid the debate over a
strategy beyond that by shifting the burden of enforcing the United Nations Security
Council resolution authorizing force on to France, Britain and other allies, including
Arab nations like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which on Thursday said that it
would contribute warplanes to the effort. In other words, the American exit strategy is
not necessarily the coalition’s exit strategy.
“We didn’t want to get sucked into an operation with uncertainty at the end,” the senior
administration official said. “In some ways, how it turns out is not on our shoulders.”

Even so, no matter who is in charge American aircraft and warships will continue to
support the campaigns for weeks or months, conducting surveillance, refueling and
search and rescue operations that the United States is better able to do. And in the event
that the allied mission goes badly awry, there would be little doubt that the American
forces would return to the fight.
----------------------
Many Libyans appear to back Gaddafi (Washington Post)
By Liz Sly
March 24, 10:12 PM
TRIPOLI — To all outward appearances, this is a city deeply enamored of Libyan leader
Moammar Gaddafi. His portrait hangs from lampposts, adorns shopping centers and
sprouts from the gleaming new office blocks rising from the seafront. Sayings from his
Green Book, required reading for all schoolchildren, are posted in government
buildings, including public restrooms.

And his supporters, draped in Gaddafi green and clutching pictures of their beloved
leader, noisily and passionately assert their presence in near round-the-clock displays of
devotion. Hurtling through the streets in pickups or gathering in Tripoli’s central Green
Square, they bellow the rhythmic chant that encapsulates the omnipotence of Gaddafi’s
self-ascribed role: “God, Moammar, Libya: Enough!”

How deep that support runs in a populace that has been governed by fear for decades is
impossible to tell. But six days into the allied bombardment of Libyan military targets, it
is clear that Gaddafi can count on the fierce loyalties of at least a significant segment of
the population in the vast stretches that lie beyond the enclave of rebel-held territory in
the east.

“We don’t want anyone except him,” gushed Fatima al-Mishai, 20, who joined the
crowds assembled at Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziyah compound to offer their services as
voluntary human shields against the bombs. “He gave us freedom and everything we
need.”

Indeed, the Libyan government has kept average incomes relatively high, while doling
out generous social benefits, including health care and education. Even Gaddafi’s
opponents, who dare murmur their dissent only out of earshot of regime loyalists,
concede that the man who has governed Libya for nearly 42 years does command
genuine support.

“Seventy-five percent of the people are against him,” said one dissident, who was in the
vanguard of the protest movement that was crushed in Tripoli last month and who
agreed to a furtive meeting with journalists in a downtown cafe. “But there are some
people who really do love him. They’ve known no one else all their lives. They think
he’s in their blood.”

That a man who boasts he lives in a tent and whom Ronald Reagan once dubbed “the
mad dog of the Middle East” still commands devotion four decades into his rule is one
of the enduring mysteries of this idiosyncratic country.

To enter the world of the Gaddafi believers is to enter an “Alice in Wonderland” realm
in which the regime’s supporters are the real revolutionaries, not the rebels seeking to
topple the government, because Libya is in a state of perpetual revolution.

The Libyan people can’t overthrow their government because they are the government,
in accordance with the country’s definition of itself as the Great Socialist People’s
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which loosely translates as “state of the masses.”

Gaddafi can’t be toppled because he holds no formal position; he is the Brother Leader,
a guide and a mentor, a patriarch and an uncle who advises his people but does not rule
them.

“Brother Leader Moammar Gaddafi and his colleagues are out of the executive
completely,” explained Col. Milad Hussein, who is in charge of ideological education
for the Libyan military, in a news briefing. “The Libyan people are the ones who do the
deciding and the executing . . . because the revolution is the starting point for
everything.”

In reality, said Dirk Vandewalle, a Libya expert and associate professor at Dartmouth
College, Gaddafi is the state, the wellspring from whom all decisions and policies
spring. Gaddafi is backed by a network of police enforcers and so-called Revolutionary
Committees, effectively local vigilantes who keep a close watch on citizens’ activities.

“The man on the street has no real conviction, but there are nefarious consequences if
you don’t support Gaddafi,” Vandewalle said.

Yet some appear to believe fervently in the government’s pronouncements. In Green

Square, small crowds of Gaddafi supporters sustain what is supposed to be a
permanent vigil of chanting, dancing and singing in celebration of the so-called
perpetual revolution. They are watched over by matronly female guards dressed in
camouflage and armed with shiny new AK-47s.

“He made me feel like a free man. If I don’t hurt anyone, I’m free in my own
environment,” said Majdi Daba, a 42-year-old dentist who was born the year Gaddafi
wrested power from Libya’s monarchy. Majdi said he goes to the square every day.
“Gaddafi gives us advice, that’s all, and when he dies, 7 million people will rule
themselves.”

The regime’s opponents, he said, are interested only in making more money, while
most Libyan people are satisfied that the government adequately supports their needs.

“It’s not complicated,” he said. “This place is different from Egypt. There, a lot of
people are poor, a lot of people are hungry, but here there are no poor people, no
hungry people.”

Libya’s role as a sparsely populated, oil-rich state may go some way toward explaining
why Gaddafi has been able to retain the support he has. Libya is nearly twice as big as
Egypt, yet contains less than one-tenth as many people. Per capita incomes are more
than double those in Egypt, where a successful revolt last month inspired Libyans to
take to the streets.

The government funds generous social welfare programs that include free education
and health care, helping keep at bay the poverty that has fueled discontent elsewhere.

“He has done a lot for the country and no one can deny it,” said Mustafa Fetouri,
director of the MBA program at the Academy of Graduate Studies in Tripoli. “He’s built
hospitals, schools, roads, lots of things.”

Moreover, he said, the powerful tribal structure that forms the backbone of the
government has remained behind Gaddafi, despite initial reports in the early days of
the uprising that powerful tribal leaders had defected. Gaddafi has apparently been
helped in this regard by making good on a pledge to distribute weapons.

“There are two kinds of people: those who believe in the regime itself and just don’t
care too much about freedom, and then there is the tribal structure, which is behind
him,” he said. “The support of the tribes goes beyond Gaddafi to his tribe, and to their
relationship with his tribe, which predates Gaddafi. It’s nothing to do with Gaddafi.”
-------------------
AU invites Libyan combattants to discuss ceasefire (AFP)
By Unattributed Author
March 24, 2011
PARIS — The African Union has invited the two sides in the conflict on Libya to its
headquarters in Addis Ababa to discuss a ceasefire, AU Commission chief Jean Ping
said in Paris Thursday.

"From tomorrow a meeting is planned in Addis Ababa with those pro-Kadhafi and
those anti-Kadhafi to lay down a ceasefire," he said at a lecture in the French capital,
though he did not say whether such a meeting could take place given the bombing of
Libya.
Ping repeated the AU's opposition to the "external military intervention" led by the
United States, France and Britain.

He detailed "a programme, a timetable, an agenda" to resolve the crisis that provides for
a "ceasefire" to "facilitate humanitarian aid" and "protect foreign immigrant workers" in
Libya many of whom come from sub-Saharan Africa.

The plan also seeks to "confirm the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people for
democracy," he said.

Ping said he was sceptical about the next stages of the military operation. "The air
exclusion zone, more or less, the aim has been achieved. It was necessary to ensure
Benghazi was not taken," he said.

"That is done. What is the next step? There are disagreements, there are quarrels"
between coalition members.

"When I ask: what is the next stage? Do you have a road map? I see they do not."

Ping deplored the fact that African nations had not been adequately consulted by the
West-led coalition and justified thereby his absence from a Paris summit called by
French President Nicolas Sarkozy last Saturday, just before the first strikes.

"Why should I come to Paris for lunch and a photo, when I was not consulted," he said
--------------------------
Libya's rebel leaders struggle to get a grip (LA Times)
By David Zucchino
March 24, 2011
Benghazi, Libya— They work 18-hour days inside two dingy courthouse buildings
streaked with graffiti that ridicules Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. When they enter,
they wipe their shoes on a portrait of him.

These are the lawyers, businessmen, college professors and political defectors risking
their lives to lead the eastern rebellion against Kadafi. Thirty-seven days ago, they
demonstrated at the courthouse for political rights, and in four days of street fighting
overran Kadafi's lejan thouria, the gun-toting Revolutionary Legion that had terrorized
Libya's second-largest city.

Suddenly the rebel leaders had to fight a war and build a new government in a region
starved of resources by Tripoli. They found themselves riding a revolution they have
been unable to fully control.

Photos: U.S. and allies strike Libya targets from air and sea
"You're talking about people with no experience in running a government, and
overnight we had to build a new country and figure out how to run it," said Zahi
Mogherbi, a retired political science professor who advises the Provisional National
Council.

Their goal, they say, is to replace Kadafi with a unified nation with Tripoli as its capital.
They do not seek an Islamic emirate or Sharia (Islamic law), they say. Instead, they
envision free elections, a bill of rights, an independent judiciary, a free press and a
democratic government that guarantees free speech.

But the rebel leadership ruefully acknowledges that it has done a poor job of organizing
itself and presenting a coherent message to the world. Like the enthusiastic but
inexperienced rebel fighters, the political leaders have suffered from good intentions
undermined by shoddy execution.

Officials who deserted Kadafi, expatriates and longtime foes of the Libyan leader jostle
for power. The area faces shortages of cash and fuel. Its fighting force is disorganized
and suspicious of its leadership.

"The process is still pretty chaotic. The Provisional National Council has dropped the
ball in many places," said Ali Tarhouni, a University of Washington economics
professor who handles economics for a "crisis management committee" formed this
week to bring order to the chaos in Benghazi.

One of the council's main goals is to convince the world its members are not nihilistic
Islamic radicals, as Kadafi claims.

The students, oil engineers, bank clerks and jobless young men fighting Kadafi's tanks
with outdated weapons represent a generation that has known only Kadafi's regime.
Many young fighters are hooked on Facebook, YouTube, Britney Spears and lowbrow
American TV shows like "American Idol" and "Pimp My Ride." Some tell American
reporters they want to emigrate to the U.S.

Iman Bugaighis, an orthodontics professor and a council spokeswoman, said the

revolution was dominated by moderate Sunni Muslims.

"The last thing we want is to turn our country over to Al Qaeda," she said.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose members were jailed by Kadafi, also has called for a
democratic form of government.

The leading voices at the Benghazi courthouse are the Gheriani brothers of Michigan:
Mustafa and Essam. Both are tall, balding and urbane. Fluent in the American argot and
passionate about the revolution, they are affable but often exaggerate the rebels'
progress while discounting Kadafi's military gains.

Mustafa lived in Fenton, Mich., for 30 years with his American wife and two sons, ran a
successful construction company, and lost a school board race before returning to
Benghazi for the rebellion. He has a master's degree in industrial engineering from
Western Michigan University. Essam earned a master's in psychology from Michigan
State.

Both men say they and other rebel leaders will be targeted for death if Kadafi prevails.

"Kadafi can stand on my grave," Essam said, "but he will never rule me as a living
person."

The nominal opposition leader is Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Kadafi's former justice minister
who has a $400,000 bounty on his head after defecting last month. The soft-spoken and
uncharismatic Jalil, who maintains a low profile, engaged in an early power struggle
with Abdelhafed Ghoga, a cocky human rights lawyer who announced that he, not Jalil,
was in charge. The two men eventually made up and Ghoga became council vice
president and chief spokesman.

Ali Essawi, Kadafi's ambassador to India before he defected last month, and Mahmoud
Jibril, a planning expert who earned a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, are
designated foreign ministers who meet diplomats in Europe.

The council's military expert is Omar Hariri, a Libyan army officer who helped Kadafi
mount his 1969 military coup but tried and failed to overthrow Kadafi in 1975. Hariri
was jailed for years and under house arrest in Tobruk when the rebellion broke out.

Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, Kadafi's interior minister and special-forces commander
before he defected, is supposed to lead rebel forces. Younis has failed to bring order to
the rebels, many of whom despise him.

"Some people still don't trust him," especially young fighters, Mogherbi said.

Asked whether Younis was the right man to command the so-called people's army,
Tarhouni replied, "I'm not sure we have someone better."

The opposition's image has been stained by roundups of blacks from sub-Saharan
Africa accused of being mercenaries. Since Sunday, rebel gunmen have been hunting
what they claim are "sleeper cells" of former Kadafi operatives hiding in Benghazi.
Some detainees were put on display for a busload of journalists at the same prisons
where Kadafi's security services once held and tortured dissidents. The irony seemed
lost on opposition officials, who vowed to shoot or jail all remaining Kadafi loyalists.

Even Mogherbi, a mild-mannered academic with a doctorate from the University of

Missouri, defended the effort. He said rebels let former regime security officials remain
free, only to watch them rise up and fire on rebels Saturday as Kadafi's tanks rolled into
Benghazi's southern outskirts. The armored column was advancing into the city when
rebel gunmen and French airstrikes forced a retreat.

"One more hour and Kadafi's guys would have raised their flag at the courthouse, and
we'd have all been tracked down and killed," Mogherbi said.

Mogherbi, who once served with Kadafi's son Saif Islam on a panel writing a new
constitution, said detainees would be tried once a justice system was established. A
Human Rights Watch representative in Benghazi said the council had been cooperative
in providing access to detainees.

The council faces a crippling gasoline and fuel shortage, according to Benghazi
executives of the biggest state-owned oil company. Natural gas that normally fuels the
city's power plant has run dry, and the rebels have substituted diesel from Europe and
a Tobruk refinery.

Cash flow is another concern, although Tarhouni said the rebels had money in safes at
the national bank branch in Benghazi. They also have more than $1 billion worth of
Libyan bank notes printed in Britain and sent to Benghazi, he said.

The rebels are receiving weapons and ammunition from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and
other nations, one council representative said. But the war effort has stalled, and the
political leadership is still shaky.

"We were not as organized as we first thought, and Kadafi was stronger than we
realized," said Tarhouni, who left his U.S. teaching duties mid-semester to join the
rebellion. "We need to put our house in order."

Even with the protection of a no-fly zone and NATO airstrikes, retired professor
Mogherbi harbors no illusions.

"We have a very bumpy ride ahead of us," he said.

------------------------
Ivory Coast rage grows over Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to cede power (LA Times)
By Robyn Dixon
March 24, 2011, 5:29 p.m.
Abidjan, Ivory Coast— Traore Oumou selected her clothing carefully. She chose black,
the cursing color, pulling on tight pants and a T-shirt.

It was the day of a women's protest march calling on Laurent Gbagbo to stand down as
president of Ivory Coast.

The women stood against Gbagbo's soldiers, who fired some threatening shots and
lobbed a grenade. It hit a woman in the middle of her forehead but, miraculously, didn't
explode.

Anger bubbled up, stronger than modesty. Oumou and the other women tore off their
clothes and stood naked, a powerful ritual curse here.

"Normally I would never take my clothes off in public," the 25-year-old student said.
"But they shot at us and we had no guns, so we were angry, cursing them."

The soldiers didn't shoot again, not that day. But a few days later, in a different
neighborhood, they killed seven women.

In a vote result verified by the United Nations, opposition leader Alassane Ouattara
won Ivory Coast's presidential election in November, but Gbagbo refused to cede
power. No sooner had the election morphed into a dangerous power dispute than it
imploded into unspeakable, escalating atrocities, some by the military, but many by
violent, ragtag militias in black balaclavas.

With about 400 people reported dead in violence since the election, no one is predicting
a peaceful outcome in a country still trying to resolve a 2002 civil war. But it's really
anyone's guess whether Ivory Coast faces the kind of orgiastic war that has plagued the
region, or a sharp and swift operation to force Gbagbo to go.

Ivory Coast's meltdown has been overshadowed by North Africa's antigovernment

upheavals. Yet Western diplomats are watching the outcome in this West African
former French colony with alarm on a continent where peaceful power transfers
through elections have not been the norm.

This could be a make-or-break year for Africa's progress on democracy, with almost
half the countries of sub-Saharan Africa going to the polls. Ivory Coast is seen as a test
of how African leaders react when other leaders cheat in elections.

Do they take military action, as threatened by the Western African regional group
ECOWAS? Do they impose sanctions? Or do they pass resolutions but do no more?

In Abidjan, the commercial capital, some people are itching for a fight.
The city is so jumpy that anything can set off panic. A women's meeting is interrupted
when someone shouts that there's trouble in the street. The meeting dissolves.
Hundreds of people go running in one direction, not knowing what they're running
from.

Nothing, it turns out, this time. As suddenly as it began, it's over, and people go back to
their quiet evening chores.

Full of bravado and swagger, a rebel leader allied with Ouattara claims he's ready to
launch a "surgical attack" to remove Gbagbo.

"It won't be war. It won't take long," the leader, Cisse Sindou, boasts. "We know enough
people on the Gbagbo side who are willing to fight with us. We are in contact with a lot
of people Gbagbo thinks are his friends who are not his friends. They're just waiting for
the day.

"I think Ouattara should give us the OK to take Gbagbo out. We're waiting for the call."

The French-designed cathedral — the biggest on Earth, loosely based on the Vatican's
St. Peter's Basilica but a cheeky 60-odd feet taller — was built by former President Felix
Houphouet-Boigny. Nowadays, it's deserted.

The tour guides are glum for want of business, and it all seems like a fool's dream until
one steps inside the soaring walls of red and blue stained glass, like falling into a
kaleidoscope. (In one panel, Houphouet-Boigny squats improbably just below Jesus.)

Nearby, at the edge of the old presidential compound (not used by Gbagbo, who
prefers Abidjan), is a huge moat filled with crocodiles; the ancient watchman whacks
the largest one with a long stick to get it to bare its teeth for travelers.

They come when he calls them by name, the legend goes. The cruising crocodiles
irresistibly conjure comparisons with the country's political class, though that might be
unfair to the reptiles.

The French brought great baguettes and coffee to West Africa, but also exploitation, and
the anger toward the colonials has been cleverly exploited by Gbagbo. After anti-French
violence in 2004, the French population shrank from 50,000 to 15,000. Businesses shut
down, never to reopen, and investment disappeared.

For years, Gbagbo has fanned anti-Western, anti-immigrant sentiment. His charismatic
youth minister, Charles Ble Goude, founded a violent group of militants called the
Young Patriots, many of them unemployed and poorly educated, all of them highly
volatile.
In a displaced-person's camp teeming with Young Patriots ejected from Abobo, a pro-
Ouattara neighborhood of the city, the mood sours within minutes of a white
journalist's appearance. A small crowd of hostile men gathers, some apparently drunk,
screaming questions and veiled threats.

An offer to leave makes them angrier. Tension spirals and the process of extrication is
delicate.

Last week, shooting broke out around the U.N. peacekeepers' compound in Abidjan as
the army tried to crush a pro-Ouattara demonstration. U.N. officials had a bird's-eye
view of the army firing on unarmed demonstrators.

Dozens of injured were taken to the U.N. clinic and lined up on the floor, dripping
pools of blood. Nurses extracted bullets with tweezers from neat finger-sized holes.
Four of the injured died.

The same day in another neighborhood, a mortar shell hit a market, killing 25, in an act
the U.N. said could amount to a crime against humanity.

There have been hundreds of other killings, according to Human Rights Watch, most of
them by pro-Gbagbo forces and militias, but many by anti-Gbagbo militias. One
Gbagbo activist, Antoinette Guede, says her brother was beheaded by pro-Ouattara
fighters outside their home.

The reported figure of around 400 dead may understate the extent of the killing.

In Abobo, the pro-Ouattara militias have set up roadblocks every 50 yards in some
areas. They wear bandannas, black masks and Che Guevara shirts and slouch about
with AK-47 assault rifles slung on their shoulders. They extort money from drivers and
beat up suspected Gbagbo loyalists.

On the edge of Abobo, a young fellow with vacant eyes, a grubby bandanna and a
machete charges at a taxi, but it's half-hearted.

"Did you see that?" the driver exclaims, frightened and indignant.

The roadblocks multiply, carving the city into pieces, controlled by the different sides.
In the streets, everyone knows who's in charge. Getting caught at the wrong roadblock
by the wrong people at the wrong time can be a death sentence.

After dark, Gbagbo loyalists stop the cab, searching bags, demanding documents. They
fire questions and accusations. Journalists, they hiss, are often spies working for foreign
governments.
"Write that Gbagbo is president," they keep saying. The taxi driver looks into the
middle distance, silent and anxious.

When it's over the driver chugs away in his ancient car, muttering angrily.

"This country," he says, "makes you afraid."

------------------------
UN Official: Ivory Coast Death Toll Up to 462 (VOA)
By Unattributed Author
March 24, 2011
A U.N. official in Ivory Coast says forces loyal to incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo
are "indiscriminately" shelling areas seen as backing Gbagbo's rival, Alassane Ouattara.

Human rights official Guillaume Ngefa told a news conference Thursday that the
shelling and other attacks have killed at least 50 people in the last week, including five
children, and wounded dozens more.

Ngefa, who was speaking in Abidjan, said the attacks bring the confirmed death toll
from post-election violence in Ivory Coast up to 462.

Gbagbo government has denied using heavy weapons against civilians, and accuses the
U.N. of siding with Mr. Ouattara in the Ivory Coast political crisis.

Gbagbo has rejected calls from the U.N., African Union, and the west African bloc
ECOWAS to give up power. All three bodies recognize Ouattara as the winner of last
November's presidential election.

Fighting between Ouattara and Gbagbo supporters has intensified in recent weeks,
sparking fears that Ivory Coast will fall back into civil war.

A brief war in 2002 left Ivory Coast split into a rebel-controlled north and a government
controlled south. The former rebels are now backing Ouattara, and have captured
several towns in the country's west.
-----------------------
France Seeks UN Steps to End Ivory Coast Unrest Amid Attacks on Civilians
(Bloomberg)
By Bill Varner
Mar 24, 2011 3:03 PM ET
France is seeking increased United Nations pressure on Ivory Coast’s incumbent leader
Laurent Gbagbo to give up his fight for the presidency, and stronger military force to
halt his attacks on civilians, diplomats said.

France has called for a Security Council meeting tomorrow on the conflict and is
circulating a draft resolution that would tell UN peacekeepers to use “all necessary
measures, including by seizing heavy weapons,” to protect civilians, according to
diplomats who spoke on condition of not being identified because the text hasn’t been
made public.

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States asked the UN today to give
peacekeepers more power to protect civilians from armed attacks, the group said in a
statement handed to reporters in Abuja, Nigeria. The UN has 9,000 soldiers and civilian
police in Ivory Coast who have a mandate to protect civilians.

The peacekeeping mission reported on March 22 that security forces loyal to Gbagbo
are making repairs to an attack helicopter and mounting rocket launchers on it.

“The mission strongly warns this camp that it will not tolerate any attempt to use these
weapons,” the UN said in a statement, without providing further details.

Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, has been divided between a government-
controlled south and a rebel-held north since a 2002 uprising of army soldiers. The
insurgents back Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner over Gbagbo
of the Nov. 28 presidential election. Gbagbo, who has led the West African nation for
the past decade, refuses to cede power, alleging voter fraud in parts of the north.

African Union

The French draft resolution would endorse the African Union’s backing for Ouattara
and demand that Gbagbo give up his effort to retain the presidency, according to the
diplomats. They said it also would impose a travel ban and asset freeze on Gbagbo, his
wife and top aides, and send results of a pending UN inquiry into human rights abuses
to the International Criminal Court.

The UN said today that 462 people have been killed since mid-December in post-
election violence. The mission also said large numbers of civilians are leaving Abobo,
Williamsville, Yopougon and other parts of the commercial capital Abidjan because of
fighting and of lack of food and medication.

Presidents and other representatives of Ecowas said the “time has come to enforce the
decisions” to recognize Ouattara as president and use “legitimate force” to remove
Gbagbo from office. Ecowas urged that UN peacekeepers to be empowered “to use all
necessary means to protect life and property and facilitate the immediate transfer of
power” to Ouattara. More “stringent” sanctions should be imposed on Gbagbo and his
associates, the group’s statement said.
------------------------------------
UN News Service Africa Briefs
Full Articles on UN Website
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