Sunday, March 20, 2011

What's with the Arab League?

What's with the on again - off again support by the Arab League for the UN's response to Gaddafi?

I asked two tweeters, and here are their replies:

@SultanAlQassemi What's going on with Arab League? #Libya
34 minutes ago
in reply to @uaeeconomist ↑

@SultanAlQassemi
Sultan Al Qassemi
@uaeeconomist it's now a tool in the hands of Amr Moussa
34 minutes ago via web
__________

@Tripolitanian What Arab countries are going to join coalition? Do you agree with Arab League's concerns? #Libya
38 minutes ago
in reply to @uaeeconomist ↑

@Tripolitanian
Libyan
@uaeeconomist UAE&Qatar r in the coalition - Arab league's concerns were irresponsible, it's too early 2 tell if there were civ casualties
36 minutes ago via web
_________

This twitter thing is starting to make sense to me as a communications tool.

These answers help inform the read of this report in the Washington Post:
Arab League condemns broad bombing campaign in Libya

The Arab League secretary general, Amr Moussa, deplored the broad scope of the U.S.-European bombing campaign in Libya on Sunday and said he would call a new league meeting to reconsider Arab approval of the Western military intervention.

Moussa said the Arab League’s approval of a no-fly zone on March 12 was based on a desire to prevent Moammar Gaddafi’s air force from attacking civilians and was not designed to embrace the intense bombing and missile attacks—including on Tripoli, the capital, and on Libyan ground forces—that have filled Arab television screens for the last two days.

“What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone,” he said in a statement on the official Middle East News Agency. “And what we want is the protection of civilians and not the shelling of more civilians.”

Moussa’s declaration suggested some of the 22 Arab League members were taken aback by what they have seen and wanted to modify their approval lest they be perceived as accepting outright Western military intervention in Libya. Although the eccentric Gaddafi is widely looked down on in the Arab world, Middle Eastern leaders and their peoples traditionally have risen up in emotional protest at the first sign of Western intervention.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous www.avila-3d.com said...

This can't succeed in reality, that is what I think.

10:45 AM  

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