UN Backs Libyan Rebels

Moving swiftly in response to a request by Arab nations, the United Nations Security Council last night endorsed international air strikes against Moammar Gadhafi´s forces, voting to authorise military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

France immediately signaled plans to begin military operations against the regime.

“The strikes will begin immediately,” French government spokesman, Francois Baroin said in Paris this morning. The United States too is ready to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya.

The council acted five days after the Arab League urged the U.N.´s most powerful body to try to halt Gadhafi´s advancing military and reverse the realities on the ground, where rebels and their civilian supporters, especially in Benghazi, the last bastion of the opposition, are in danger of being crushed by government forces using rockets, artillery, tanks and warplanes.

The vote was 10-0 with five countries abstaining including Russia and China, which have veto power in the council, along with India, Germany and Brazil. Russia and China expressed concern about the United Nations and other outside powers using force against Gadhafi, and Germany expressed fear that military action would lead to more casualties.

The United States — which in a dramatic reversal joined the resolution´s initial supporters Britain, France and Lebanon — not only helped push for a quick vote but pressed for action beyond creation of a no-fly zone to protect civilians from air, land and sea attacks by Gadhafi´s fighters.

“This council moved with remarkable speed in response to the great urgency of the situation on the ground,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said.

“This resolution should send a strong message to Colonel Gadhafi and his regime that the violence must stop, the killing must stop, and the people of Libya must be protected and have the opportunity to express themselves freely.”

The resolution bans all flights in Libya´s airspace to help protect civilians. It also authorises U.N. member states to take “all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.

The UN resolution has however impacted negatively on oil prices. The prices surged today in early Asian trading, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, gaining $1.65 to $103.07 a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May was up $1.56 to $116.46.

Libya was producing 1.69 million barrels a day before the unrest, according to the International Energy Agency, of which 1.2 million were exported, mostly to Europe. The other major customers are China and the US.

Unrest in oil-producing Bahrain also contibuted to the market jitters.

Bahrain’s security forces rounded up dissidents yesterday as the UN warned of ‘shocking and illegal’ abuses in the Gulf kingdom, where the US-backed Sunni Muslim rulers are waging a bloody crackdown on Shiite-led protesters.