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Libya – May Timeline

Libya – May Timeline 1st: Gaddafy escapes a NATO air strike, which kills his youngest son, Seif al‐Arab , and three of his grandchildren (p. 18807) . Italian and British embassies attacked in Tripoli. Britain expels the Libyan ambassador. The UN pulls its staff out of Tripoli. Clashes at the Dehiba border post with Tunisia . 2nd: NATO warplanes destroy three regime howitzers in Misrata. 3rd: Turkey urges Gaddafy to immediately cede power and leave. Rebels ask France , Italy and US for a $3 bn credit line. 4th: An aid ship docks in Benghazi ferrying more than 1,100 evacuees from Misrata. Reports of more rocket attacks on rebel enclaves in the west . Qatar ’s Prime Minister, Hamid bin Jassim al‐Hani says some countries “already sending arms” to Benghazi. Qatar pledges up to $500m to the TNC fund. Gaddafy’s forces pound Misrata, killing at least five people, as the ICC’s chief prosecutor says “thousands” have died. 5th: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that Washington is trying to free part of £30bn in frozen Libyan assets in the US and give them to the TNC. Foreign ministers from 22 countries restate their confidence in NATO. 6th: Tribal chiefs accuse NATO of violating and abusing the UN resolutions through “the bombing of Libyans, the destruction of basic infrastructure, terror inflicted on peaceful children, women and old people”. 10th: NATO bombards Tripoli and government forces respond to rebel claims of a breakout by Free Libya forces from Misrata with intensive shelling of civilian areas. 11th: Libyan state TV shows Gaddafy meeting tribal leaders, apparently in a Tripoli hotel. A joint EU/AU security committee meeting calls for an immediate end to all attacks against civilians. AU officials warn of disastrous consequences for regional peace without dialogue between the rival Libyan factions. 12th: NATO carries out 52 missions including an airstrike on Gaddafy’s Bab al‐Aziziya compound in Tripoli, which kills “three innocent journalists” Gaddafy says. 13th: Reports from Tripoli’s Catholic Archbishop, Giovoanni Martinelli, say Gaddafy is “probably wounded” and may have fled. Gaddafy says on tv he is alive and “in a place where you can’t get me”. Regime spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claims that in a NATO attack on Brega dozens of imams and officials who were gathered to pray for peace are killed. NATO claims it attacked a military HQ. NATO ships bomb Al‐Dafniya suburb in Museratha, 200 km east of Tripoli. 14th The Brega imams and scholars killed are buried – 16 died and 30 were injured. 15th: UN Secretary General’s special envoy and former Jordanian Foreign Minister, Abdel Ilah Al‐Khatib , arrives in Libya to assess “the magnitude of deviations and violations committed by NATO,” a Libyan official says. 16th: The ICC issues warrants for the arrest of Colonel Gaddafy, Seil al‐Islam Gadaffy and Intelligence Chief Abdullah Al‐Senoussi , for crimes against humanity. Moussa Ibrahim disputes ICC assessment and denies the Libyan authorities had ever ordered the killing of civilians or hired mercenaries. Civilian and military targets in Tripoli, Ben Ghachir sector (south), Zaouyia, 40 km west of Tripoli are hit by NATO planes, Libyan TV says. Foreign Secretary Juma Ibrahim meets African diplomats in Libya to “review the impact of air strikes and missiles by NATO and their violation of UN resolutions …by targeting civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, houses, farms…” 17th: NATO jets pound two government buildings in Tripoli, including the Interior Ministry, and set them on fire. 18th: Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov , calls on the Gaddafy regime to stop using force against civilians but stops short of asking Gaddafy to step down. Libyan NGOs call on the international community to stop “the terrorist, savage and horrible crimes being perpetrated by NATO”. Air strikes and missiles hit a residential district in Jeffra, 500 km south‐east of Tripoli. Civilian sites in Tripoli are bombed at midday by the “colonialist crusader alliance” says Libyan TV. 20th: NATO “has succeeded in preventing harsh repression and civilian massacres” in Libya says Italian President Giorgio Napolitano ’s at the 60th anniversary of the NATO Defence College in Rome. NATO jets strike at three Libyan ports – Tripoli, Khoms and Sirte. 21st: Authorities in Tripoli slam US President Obama as “delusional” for suggesting that Gaddafy’s departure is inevitable and deny that Gaddafy’s wife Safia and daughter Aicha have fled or Oil chief Shokri Ghanem has defected to Tunisia. The family of South African photographer Anton Hammerl, missing for six weeks, says he has been fatally shot by Gaddafy’s forces in a desert location. 23rd: The International Red Cross ( ICRC ) calls on donors to provide an extra US$53m. French officials say that France and Britain will deploy attack helicopters, a step aimed at targeting Gaddafy’s forces more precisely. The move carries risks for NATO, as helicopters fly lower than warplanes and are more exposed to ground fire. The downing of helicopters could draw ground forces into rescue efforts. Jeffrey D. Feltman, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, starts a two‐day visit to Benghazi signaling a growing international effort to bolster the rebels diplomatically. TNC head Mustafa Abd‐al‐Jalil tells a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara that he supports a Turkish peace map calling on Gaddafy to leave. He says: “Turkish support is important to negate Gaddafy’s allegations that the allied campaign is a medieval crusade.” 24th: The EU opens a technical office in Benghazi and pledges ongoing support for the TNC. The EU as a body has not formally recognised the TNC but recognises it as an “interlocutor.” NATO warplanes hammer Tripoli with some of their heaviest air strikes yet after the US says Gaddafy would “inevitably” be forced from power. At least 12 huge explosions rock the capital. Four French employees of the security firm, Secopex who were arrested as their employer, Pierre Marziali , was killed by the rebels in Benghazi on May 11th and who were released on May 22nd, arrive home. They were suspected of spying for Gaddafy, according to the rebels. Secopex is a private military firm. 27th: NATO raids on military and civilian targets in the region of Al‐Karyat in the city of Medza, about 150 km south of Tripoli. 28th: Libyan pupils in Tripoli begin their 2010‐2011 basic, medium and technical cycle examinations as NATO planes drop bombs on the city. 29th: The lifting of the siege of Misrata reveals the disappearance of hundreds of people with many of them suspected victims of snatch squads loyal to the Gaddafy regime, relatives and rights workers say. (PANA, JANA, AFP, Al‐Sharq al‐Awsat, RFI and others) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

Libya – May Timeline

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2011
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2011.03881.x
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Abstract

1st: Gaddafy escapes a NATO air strike, which kills his youngest son, Seif al‐Arab , and three of his grandchildren (p. 18807) . Italian and British embassies attacked in Tripoli. Britain expels the Libyan ambassador. The UN pulls its staff out of Tripoli. Clashes at the Dehiba border post with Tunisia . 2nd: NATO warplanes destroy three regime howitzers in Misrata. 3rd: Turkey urges Gaddafy to immediately cede power and leave. Rebels ask France , Italy and US for a $3 bn credit line. 4th: An aid ship docks in Benghazi ferrying more than 1,100 evacuees from Misrata. Reports of more rocket attacks on rebel enclaves in the west . Qatar ’s Prime Minister, Hamid bin Jassim al‐Hani says some countries “already sending arms” to Benghazi. Qatar pledges up to $500m to the TNC fund. Gaddafy’s forces pound Misrata, killing at least five people, as the ICC’s chief prosecutor says “thousands” have died. 5th: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that Washington is trying to free part of £30bn in frozen Libyan assets in the US and give them to the TNC. Foreign ministers from 22 countries restate their confidence in NATO. 6th: Tribal chiefs accuse NATO of violating and abusing the UN resolutions through “the bombing of Libyans, the destruction of basic infrastructure, terror inflicted on peaceful children, women and old people”. 10th: NATO bombards Tripoli and government forces respond to rebel claims of a breakout by Free Libya forces from Misrata with intensive shelling of civilian areas. 11th: Libyan state TV shows Gaddafy meeting tribal leaders, apparently in a Tripoli hotel. A joint EU/AU security committee meeting calls for an immediate end to all attacks against civilians. AU officials warn of disastrous consequences for regional peace without dialogue between the rival Libyan factions. 12th: NATO carries out 52 missions including an airstrike on Gaddafy’s Bab al‐Aziziya compound in Tripoli, which kills “three innocent journalists” Gaddafy says. 13th: Reports from Tripoli’s Catholic Archbishop, Giovoanni Martinelli, say Gaddafy is “probably wounded” and may have fled. Gaddafy says on tv he is alive and “in a place where you can’t get me”. Regime spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claims that in a NATO attack on Brega dozens of imams and officials who were gathered to pray for peace are killed. NATO claims it attacked a military HQ. NATO ships bomb Al‐Dafniya suburb in Museratha, 200 km east of Tripoli. 14th The Brega imams and scholars killed are buried – 16 died and 30 were injured. 15th: UN Secretary General’s special envoy and former Jordanian Foreign Minister, Abdel Ilah Al‐Khatib , arrives in Libya to assess “the magnitude of deviations and violations committed by NATO,” a Libyan official says. 16th: The ICC issues warrants for the arrest of Colonel Gaddafy, Seil al‐Islam Gadaffy and Intelligence Chief Abdullah Al‐Senoussi , for crimes against humanity. Moussa Ibrahim disputes ICC assessment and denies the Libyan authorities had ever ordered the killing of civilians or hired mercenaries. Civilian and military targets in Tripoli, Ben Ghachir sector (south), Zaouyia, 40 km west of Tripoli are hit by NATO planes, Libyan TV says. Foreign Secretary Juma Ibrahim meets African diplomats in Libya to “review the impact of air strikes and missiles by NATO and their violation of UN resolutions …by targeting civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, houses, farms…” 17th: NATO jets pound two government buildings in Tripoli, including the Interior Ministry, and set them on fire. 18th: Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov , calls on the Gaddafy regime to stop using force against civilians but stops short of asking Gaddafy to step down. Libyan NGOs call on the international community to stop “the terrorist, savage and horrible crimes being perpetrated by NATO”. Air strikes and missiles hit a residential district in Jeffra, 500 km south‐east of Tripoli. Civilian sites in Tripoli are bombed at midday by the “colonialist crusader alliance” says Libyan TV. 20th: NATO “has succeeded in preventing harsh repression and civilian massacres” in Libya says Italian President Giorgio Napolitano ’s at the 60th anniversary of the NATO Defence College in Rome. NATO jets strike at three Libyan ports – Tripoli, Khoms and Sirte. 21st: Authorities in Tripoli slam US President Obama as “delusional” for suggesting that Gaddafy’s departure is inevitable and deny that Gaddafy’s wife Safia and daughter Aicha have fled or Oil chief Shokri Ghanem has defected to Tunisia. The family of South African photographer Anton Hammerl, missing for six weeks, says he has been fatally shot by Gaddafy’s forces in a desert location. 23rd: The International Red Cross ( ICRC ) calls on donors to provide an extra US$53m. French officials say that France and Britain will deploy attack helicopters, a step aimed at targeting Gaddafy’s forces more precisely. The move carries risks for NATO, as helicopters fly lower than warplanes and are more exposed to ground fire. The downing of helicopters could draw ground forces into rescue efforts. Jeffrey D. Feltman, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, starts a two‐day visit to Benghazi signaling a growing international effort to bolster the rebels diplomatically. TNC head Mustafa Abd‐al‐Jalil tells a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara that he supports a Turkish peace map calling on Gaddafy to leave. He says: “Turkish support is important to negate Gaddafy’s allegations that the allied campaign is a medieval crusade.” 24th: The EU opens a technical office in Benghazi and pledges ongoing support for the TNC. The EU as a body has not formally recognised the TNC but recognises it as an “interlocutor.” NATO warplanes hammer Tripoli with some of their heaviest air strikes yet after the US says Gaddafy would “inevitably” be forced from power. At least 12 huge explosions rock the capital. Four French employees of the security firm, Secopex who were arrested as their employer, Pierre Marziali , was killed by the rebels in Benghazi on May 11th and who were released on May 22nd, arrive home. They were suspected of spying for Gaddafy, according to the rebels. Secopex is a private military firm. 27th: NATO raids on military and civilian targets in the region of Al‐Karyat in the city of Medza, about 150 km south of Tripoli. 28th: Libyan pupils in Tripoli begin their 2010‐2011 basic, medium and technical cycle examinations as NATO planes drop bombs on the city. 29th: The lifting of the siege of Misrata reveals the disappearance of hundreds of people with many of them suspected victims of snatch squads loyal to the Gaddafy regime, relatives and rights workers say. (PANA, JANA, AFP, Al‐Sharq al‐Awsat, RFI and others)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series – Wiley

Published: Jun 1, 2011

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