UN to discuss military action in Libya: Puri

Betwa Sharma- United Nations, Mar 22 (PTI) The UN security council
will meet later this week to discuss whether the current
military action in Libya is in line of what its resolution
authorised, the top Indian diplomat here has said.
"There will be a substantive discussion…and people
will naturally want to look at the text of 1973 (resolution)
and then see whether this is compliance or less or more,"
Hardeep Singh Puri, India's envoy to the UN, told journalists.
On Monday, the 15-member body rejected a request by
Libya to convene an emergency meeting to halt what the
country's Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa described as
"military aggression" by the US and France.
In a letter on Saturday, Koussa said that the "Council
has paved the way for military aggression against Libyan
territory."
Last week, the Security Council adopted a resolution
drafted by Britain and France, authorising military
intervention in the country to enforce a no-fly zone.
India, China, Russia, Brazil and Germany abstained
from voting on the resolution, which was co-authored by
Britain and France.
The non-permanent members of the Security Council,
which abstained, are all aspirants for a permanent Security
Council seat, and these countries have been criticized by some
observers for not taking a tough stand against Libya.
"At the end of the day that resolution was molded by
some members who want to do things quickly on emergency basis
and they though that would be the solution to the problem,"
Puri said on Monday.
"In retrospect, it turns out that's not how events
have unfolded."
Puri also noted that one question that the Council
will discuss is whether armed rebels are regarded as civilians
under the resolution.
"Whether this is a situation of government attack on
unarmed civilians…the jury is out on that," he said, pointing
out that others described it as a "civil war kind of
situation."