Gadhafi Shells Town as France Presses NATO - WSJ.com

Gadhafi Shells Town as France Presses NATO

Associated Press

AJDABIYA, Libya—Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces shelled the only major city in the western half of Libya that remains under partial rebel control Tuesday as France said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should be doing more to take out heavy weaponry targeting civilians.

Weeks of fierce government bombardment of Misrata have terrorized the city's residents, killing dozens of people and leaving food and medical supplies scarce, according to residents, doctors and rights groups.

"Unfortunately, with the long-range war machines of Gadhafi forces, no place is safe in Misrata," a medical official in Misrata told The Associated Press. Six people were killed Monday and another corpse was brought in Tuesday, he said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said NATO's actions are "not enough" and that the alliance should be firing on the weapons being used by Col. Gadhafi's troops to target civilians in Misrata.

Mr. Juppé spoke on France-Info radio, the day after Libyan rebels rejected a cease-fire proposal by African mediators because it didn't insist that Col. Gadhafi relinquish power.

"NATO has to play its role in full. NATO wanted to take the military command of the operations," Mr. Juppé said. He also urged the EU to do more to get humanitarian aid to Misrata.

France has played a particularly aggressive role in Libya in recent weeks, pushing diplomatically for a U.N. resolution to allow the international military operation and firing the first strikes in the campaign. France also was the first to recognize the Libyan opposition and to send a diplomatic envoy to the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

NATO officials in Brussels didn't immediately respond to the criticism.

Also Tuesday, having defected to the U.K., former Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa was set to travel to Qatar for an international meeting on Libyaon Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said.

The so-called Libya contact group, bringing together Western and regional governments, is scheduled to meet in Doha.

Mr. Koussa arrived in the U.K. late last month having resigned his post.

Late Monday Mr. Koussa released a statement to the British Broadcasting Corp. saying he had been "devoted" to his work for 30 years under Col. Muammar Gadhafi but that after recent events "things changed and I couldn't continue."

"I know that what I did to resign will cause me problems, but I'm ready to make that sacrifice for the sake of my country," he said in a statement in Arabic translated by the BBC.

Mr. Koussa also warned against the risks of civil war and the possibility of his country becoming "a new Somalia".

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Mr. Koussa was "a free individual, who can travel to and from the U.K. as he wishes."

Still, the U.K. would need to be given the correct paperwork by the Foreign Office for Mr. Koussa to be allowed back into Britain if he wishes to return.

The former Libyan intelligence chief was interviewed by Scottish police and prosecutors looking to get more information about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, but Mr. Koussa was never placed under arrest.