A protester shouts slogans during a protest against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi February 27, 2011.
SUHAIB SALEM/REUTERS
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday called for embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to resign and announced a suite of sanctions as world leaders shifted their sights from rescuing citizens to providing political support to anti-government rebels.
Calling the 68-year old dictator the “root cause” of Libya’s instability, Harper went beyond the sanctions announced Saturday by the United Nations Security Council and additionally slapped a ban on any financial dealings with the regime.
“A government’s first and most fundamental responsibility is to protect the safety and security of its citizens,” Harper said. “Mr. Gadhafi has blatantly violated this most basic trust.”
The Prime Minister added that the only acceptable way forward now was for Gadhafi to “immediately vacate his position and authority.”
But even as armed rebels consolidated their control over towns, and foreign governments tried to choke off Gadhafi’s ability to battle his own citizens, the leader of the North African country took steps to shore up dwindling support among his remaining loyalists, including handing out $400 per family.
“The Libyan people are fully behind me,” Gadhafi said in an interview with a Serbian television network.
He said the uprising that began in eastern Libya and as of Sunday claimed control of Zawiya, just 50 kilometres from the capital, was the work of a “small group” and that the disturbance would be “dealt with.”
Hundreds of people chanted “Gadhafi out!” in the city Sunday as anti-government rebels deployed tanks and anti-aircraft weapons, bracing for an attack by troops loyal to Gadhafi. The rebels said they were in full control of the city of 200,000, which is close to an oil port and refineries.
“To us, Gadhafi is the Dracula of Libya,” said Wael al-Oraibi, an army officer in Zawiya.
The rebels also began to unite around Libya’s former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, setting up what they called an interim opposition government in the city of Benghazi.
Canada’s sanctions come after the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution Saturday ordering an investigation into war crimes allegations, by the International Criminal Court, a travel ban on Gadhafi, his family and closest allies in the regime, and a prohibition on arms sales to Libya.
Additionally, Canada will impose an asset freeze on the Libyan government, and outlaw any financial transactions with the regime, government institutions or agencies as well as the Libyan Central Bank. The steps are being taken under the Special Economic Measures Act.
The sanctions were unveiled Sunday in concert with several other western nations, including Britain. Other countries — including those with a heavy reliance on Libyan oil and those with citizens waiting to be evacuated from the country — have been slower to take such measures.
More than 230 Canadians have been evacuated from Libya, but Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Sunday morning that about 100 Canadian citizens remain behind. He said four military aircraft, two C-17 transport planes and two C-130 Hercules aircraft, have been put on standby in case a rescue operation becomes necessary.
“If there is the need to land at an austere runway somewhere outside of Tripoli or at another location, that option would now be available to us,” MacKay told CTV’s Question Period.
Britain, for example, sent in its special forces aboard a C-130 aircraft to rescue about 150 British oil workers who were stuck in a remote part of the country.
Canada exported about $250 million of goods to Libya in 2010, according to government statistics. But the crackdown on the Gadhafi regime’s assets could take a toll on Canadian firms with significant business in the country.
Montreal’s SNC Lavalin has been working for the better part of a decade on an irrigation project, most recently signing a $450 million contract with the Gadhafi regime last October. It was also working on a $275 million prison construction project on the outskirts of Tripoli when the protests and violence erupted.
Calgary’s Suncor was working on an oil project that produced 50,000 barrels of oil a day when the country descended into chaos.
Asked about the sanctions Sunday, SNC Lavalin spokeswoman Leslie Quinton said the company had no details on how its operations might be affected.
“But we always respect the law in all our operations, wherever they are,” she said.
On Monday, the international community heads to Geneva, where the United Nations Human Rights Council is meeting to discuss how to support the growing rebellion against Gadhafi as well as how to implement the sanctions.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the meeting will be “significant.”
In addition to the fresh sanctions, the 47-member council will be discussing “how we can respond to the needs of the Libyan people not only in a humanitarian way, but in a political and civil response as they try to sort through how they’re going to organize themselves post-Gadhafi,” Clinton said.
Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon is attending the meetings for Canada.
Clinton said the U.S. has been “reaching out” to a number of anti-government organizers who have been leading the insurrection from the country’s east toward Tripoli in the west. Reports Sunday night said that the rebels were on Tripoli’s doorstep, making a major battle likely in the coming days or weeks.
Clinton, however, downplayed reports that Abdel-Jalil, the former justice minister, was now in charge of an interim opposition government that was being organized out of Benghazi. She said recognition of an interim Libyan leader was “premature.”
“We are just at the beginning of what will follow Gadhafi,” she said. “First we have to see the end of his regime with no further violence and bloodshed, which is a big challenge in front of us all.”
With files from The Canadian Press
