Libya seeks UN, African probe

Political unrest continues:

FRANCE: Moamer Kadhafi said he wanted the UN or the African Union to probe the unrest rocking Libya and promised investigators free access, in an interview published Sunday. The Libyan leader, making his first such demand since the outbreak of violent protests against his rule and the ensuing bloody riposte, also warned that the unrest would spell disaster for Europe.

“First of all I would like that an investigatory commission of the United Nations or the African Union comes here to Libya,” he told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. “We will let this panel work unhampered,” he said, adding that he would be in favour of France “coordinating and leading” the probe body. Shortly after the unrest broke out, Kadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam, long seen as a possible successor, said he wanted an independent domestic probe into the unrest. February 22, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, also called for an independent international investigation and an immediate halt to serious abuses committed by Libyan authorities.

Kadhafi underscored that the violence posing the greatest challenge to his 41-year rule would have serious repercussions for Europe, which has been facing an uphill battle to stem clandestine immigration, especially from North Africa and Asia. “Thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe,” he said, “and there will be no-one to stop them.” Kadhafi repeated an regular charge that the revolt against his regime was being spearheaded by the Al-Qaeda terror network.

“There is an Islamic jihad facing you from the Mediterranean,” he said. “(Osama) Bin Laden will install himself in North Africa... You will have Bin Laden at your gates.

“They will attack the US Sixth Fleet. There will be acts of piracy here at your gates, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from your borders.

AFP