By Dahlia Kholaif and Donna Abu Nasr
- Apr 25, 2011 6:19 AM GMT
Rebel fighters gear up on the main highway awaiting a rumored Libyan Army advance between the crucial towns of Ajdabiyah and Brega, Libya, on April 11, 2011. Photographer: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Kuwait is giving 50 million dinars ($181 million) to the Libyan rebel Transitional National Council, according to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the group’s chief.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah, speaking at a news conference today with Abdel Jalil, didn’t immediately confirm the contribution. “Actions speak louder than words,” he said when asked if Kuwait had officially recognized the transition council.
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces fired shells and rockets at Misrata today, countering Libyan government claims that the army was holding its fire into the western city, the Associated Press reported. Doctors said 32 people were killed and dozens wounded over two days, according to AP.
The U.S. carried out its first missile attack from a drone aircraft in Libya. The Predator drone fired its missile yesterday, the U.S. Defense Department said in an e-mailed statement, without elaborating. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said a Predator strike destroyed a multiple-rocket launcher that had been used against civilians in Misrata.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, after traveling to Libya, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program today that the U.S. should increase its role in NATO air attacks even though putting “troops on the ground is out of the question” and would be counterproductive.
Libyan Uprising
McCain visited Benghazi, the center of the Libyan uprising, on April 22, in a show of support for insurgents trying to end Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the U.S. to recognize the rebel council as the country’s government and provide financial assistance.
“We need to take Qaddafi out,” McCain said. “I think you can do it with air power and a sufficiently trained and equipped liberation forces.”
Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said on CNN television’s “State of the Union” that it’s “possible” to target Qaddafi directly and doing so would be the “surest way” to end the violence.
In Syria, security forces have detained at least 200 people in widespread sweeps as some officials announced their resignations following the killing of dozens of anti-government protesters, activists said.
Mahmoud Merhi, who heads the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said in an interview from Damascus today that 200 to 300 people have been detained since April 22. Many of those arrested were taken from their homes at night, according to Haitham al- Maleh, a member of the Syrian Human Rights Committee who estimated that “hundreds” were arrested.
Syrian Activists
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has failed to quell protests after pledging steps to meet activists’ demands and end a 48-year state of emergency. Khalil al-Rifai and Nasser al- Hariri, lawmakers from the southern town of Daraa, the scene of the deadliest clashes, resigned yesterday. The city’s top government-appointed religious leader, Mufti Rizq Abdel Dayem Abazid, also said he quit.
Protests in Yemen showed no signs of ending after President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the opposition agreed to a Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered peace plan.
Demonstrators rallied today in Sana’a, the country’s capital, chanting “Down, down with the regime” and demanding the president’s unconditional departure. In al-Turbah, a district of Taiz province, six people were wounded when police fired on thousands of protesters, Bushra al-Maktari, a protest leader, said in a phone interview.
Military Divide
Gulf council officials want to avert an escalation of violence in Yemen or a deadly military divide like the one in Libya. Rising social unrest also threatens to strengthen al- Qaeda as it seeks to use Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, as a base to destabilize neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil.
Non-violent protests were held today in the Moroccan cities of Casablanca, Fes, Rabat and Marrakech. Some demonstrators demanded the dissolution of the government and greater involvement in rewriting the constitution. King Mohammed VI pledged last month to introduce more liberties.
In Egypt, former President Hosni Mubarak is being transferred to a military hospital near Cairo from a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Al Arabiya television said today, quoting the country’s attorney general.
Mubarak will be held at the military hospital until authorities prepare a medical facility for him in the Torah prison outside the Egyptian capital, Arabiya said today.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dahlia Kholaif in Kuwait at dkholaif@bloomberg.net; Donna Abu Nasr in Dubai at dabunasr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kevin Costelloe at kcostelloe@bloomberg.net
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