Libyan opposition: We want international political support more than weapons

|
Toby Melville/AP/Pool
Guma El-Gamaty, British co-ordinator for the rebel Interim National Council of Libya, speaks during a news conference at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on March 29.

Members of the Libyan opposition's Interim National Council appeared today at the London meeting on the international action in Libya and called for broader political support.

“We have been fighting with machine guns” against a superior army, said media chief Mahmoud Shammam, "but we are asking for political support more than we are asking for arms.”

In sharp contrast to what Muammar Qaddafi has called drug addicts and Al Qaeda members, he described the rebel movement as being made up of "well-educated" young people. What's more, said Shammam, a Libyan exile and native of Benghazi, where the rebel government is based, rebels want to implement secular and democratic reforms.

NATO's in charge – so who is doing what in Libya?

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Minister William Hague met opposition leader Mahmoud Jabril outside of the talks here. Ms. Clinton said that Mr. Jabril’s views on politics and civil society, including a secular vision of government, are “exactly in line with what [the opposition] has said are their goals.”

She added that until recently they have “not had any specific information” on the so-called “interim council” largely based in Benghazi. “We are still getting to know those who are leading” the transition, she said.

Another opposition leader, Guma el-Gamaty, who teaches at the University of Westminster in London and has been a Qaddafi opponent for years, said that Libyan youth have lived with “no hope, no jobs, no freedom of thought, no freedom of anything” for so long that when the tide turned in Tunisia and Libya, “they seized the chance to revolt ... but Qaddafi is making that very hard.”

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Libyan opposition: We want international political support more than weapons
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0329/Libyan-opposition-We-want-international-political-support-more-than-weapons
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us