Apr 21, 2011


US deploys armed drones over Libya

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Defence Secretary Robert Gates and General James Cartwright explained the drones' "unique capabilities"

Libya Crisis

Armed US Predator drones are carrying out missions over Libya, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said.
Mr Gates said their use had been authorised by President Barack Obama and would give "precision capability" to the military operation.
US drones are already used to target militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Libyan rebels have been battling Col Gaddafi's troops since February but have recently made little headway.
"President Obama has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those," Mr Gates told a news conference.
He said two armed, unmanned Predators were being made available to Nato as needed, and marked a "modest contribution" to the military operations.
Mr Gates denied that the drone deployment was evidence of "mission creep" in Libya and said there were still no plans to put US "boots on the ground" in Libya.
"There's no wiggle room in that," he said.
Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first mission had taken place on Thursday but turned back due to bad weather.
He said the drones - which can fly at a lower altitude than conventional fighter jets - were "uniquely suited for urban areas", providing improved visibility of tanks and other potential targets.
Post captured
Earlier on Thursday, Libyan rebels seized control of a border post on the Tunisian border after about 100 government soldiers fled, say reports.
The post is on the road between the Libyan town of Nalut and Dehiba in Tunisia.
A rebel fighter runs up a burning stairwell during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in Misrata, Libya, on 20/4/11
The move marks a rare advance against government troops in the west of the country and followed intense fighting in the western mountain region.
Restrictions on journalists in remote areas of Libya mean it is hard to independently verify such reports.
Fierce fighting is also continuing in the besieged western city of Misrata, with at least seven people killed on Thursday.
Medics say more than 1,000 people have died in weeks of fighting.
Residents say they are being targeted in the streets by snipers firing indiscriminately.
Rebels in Misrata claim to have found remnants of cluster bombs but the Libyan government has so far denied the charge.
US Predator drone (file image)Predator drones have been used to target militants on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Misrata says she has seen the bombs herself and that doctors have told her they are causing increasingly horrific injuries, with some civilians losing limbs.
On Wednesday, two journalists died in a mortar attack in the city - Tim Hetherington, a British-American filmmaker and Chris Hondros, an American photographer.
A Ukrainian doctor was also killed in a separate artillery blast in Misrata on Wednesday. His wife was reportedly seriously injured in the incident.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim has said that if foreign troops enter Misrata the government would "unleash hell".
"We will be a ball of fire. We will make it 10 times as bad as Iraq," he said, saying the government was arming people in preparation.
Hundreds of foreign workers, Libyans and injured people are being evacuated from Misrata by sea to the rebel-held city of Benghazi in the east.
'Vicious attacks'
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Libyan authorities to "stop fighting and stop killing people".
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Parents of missing US journalist Clare Gillis "want her home"
He said the UN's priority was to bring about "a verifiable and effective ceasefire" to enable humanitarian work and political dialogue to take place.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned what she called the "vicious attacks" on Libyan civilians.
She also demanded that Libyan authorities immediately release US citizens they have "unjustly detained," including at least two reporters.
The parents of Clare Gillis, one of the missing journalists, said she was able to contact them on Thursday for the first time since she was detained on 5 April.
They told the Atlantic, one of the papers Ms Gillis was working for, that she was in good health but had not been allowed a visit by humanitarian or diplomatic officials.
Map
Are you in Libya? Have you been affected by the unrest? You can tell us your experiences using the form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
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Two photojournalists killed in Libyan city of Misrata

Tim Hetherington at the Academy Awards on 23 February 2011Mr Hetherington was best known for his award-winning work in Afghanistan

Libya Crisis

Two award-winning photographers have been killed while covering the conflict in the Libyan city of Misrata.
Briton Tim Hetherington, 40, is said to have been killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
US photographer Chris Hondros, 41, was also killed, and two others, including Briton Guy Martin, were injured.
Mr Hetherington, co-directed the Oscar-nominated war documentary Restrepo. Mr Hondros won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for war photography.
Mr Hetherington's friend James Brabazon, who worked with him on Restrepo and had been e-mailing him right up until his death, said: "He was extremely talented, experienced and dedicated."
He explained why Mr Hetherington was working for Vanity Fair magazine in Libya: "He went there for humanitarian reasons. He went there to shed light on a very confusing situation."
In a statement on the magazine's website, his family said: "It is with great sadness we learned that our son and brother, photographer and filmmaker, Tim Hetherington was killed in Misrata, Libya, by a rocket-propelled grenade.
His family said he would be "forever missed".
"Tim will be remembered for his amazing images and his Academy Award-nominated documentary Restrepo."
They added: "Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict."

“Start Quote

It really is a very tragic death for a giant in the field of war photography”
Peter BouckaertHuman Rights Watch
Vanity Fair magazine said Mr Hetherington was "widely respected by his peers for his bravery and camaraderie" .
In a recent entry on Twitter, Mr Hetherington described "indiscriminate shelling" by pro-Gaddafi forces, who have been battling rebels trying to end the rule of long-time leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Mr Brabazon said Mr Hetherington very last Twitter message mentioned that there was "no sign of Nato".
He said: "Although it's an oxymoron to say it, Tim was a very cautious war reporter. He knew the risk but he decided to take them in order to cover the story."
Mr Hondros was based in New York for Getty Images.
The company's director of photography, Pancho Bernasconi, said Mr Hondros had covered conflict zones since the late 1990s including Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House issued a statement expressing its "deep sadness" at Mr Hondros's death.
"Chris's tragic death underscores the need to protect journalists as they cover conflicts across the globe. Our thoughts are with Chris's family and loved ones," it said.
Cornish photographer Guy Martin, who was working with Panos Pictures agency, was hit by shrapnel and is being treated at a hospital in the city.
Chris Hondros pictured in Misrata on 18 April 2011The White House said it was deeply saddened about the death of US photographer Chris Hondros
Mr Martin's girlfriend told the BBC his condition had stabilised.
Polly Fields said: "He was in surgery for about six to eight hours. He's come out of that now.
"Now it's a case of getting him stable enough so he can be evacuated from Misrata."
New York-based photographer Michael Christopher Brown was also treated for shrapnel injuries.
A survivor told the BBC that a group of journalists had been pulling back from near the front line during a lull in the fighting in Misrata when they were attacked.
Doctors at a Misrata hospital say they have treated more than 100 casualties, mostly civilians injured by mortar and sniper fire.
Libyan government forces have been battling rebels in Misrata, which is in western Libya, since late February and an estimated 300 civilians have died.
The Foreign Office confirmed Mr Hetherington's death and said it was offering consular assistance to his family.
Tim Hetherington (centre) is assisted by Libyan rebels as he climbs down a building in Misrata on 20 April 2011 Mr Hetherington (centre) is assisted by rebels as he climbs down a building hours before his death
Mr Hetherington, who had dual UK and US nationality, studied Literature at Oxford University.
The New York-based journalist was best known for his work in Afghanistan, and the film Restrepo followed US troops on an outpost in the country. He won the World Press Photo of the Year Award in 2007.
Another of Mr Hetherington's friends, Peter Bouckaert from the campaign group Human Rights Watch, said he had a "tremendous reputation and a giant heart".
He told BBC News the journalist had been planning to "slow down" and start a family with his partner.
"I was just with Tim two weeks ago in Benghazi, the rebel capital. At our last lunch together, he told me about the wonderful relationship he was in with this Somali woman and how he wanted to slow down and spend more time making kids," he said.
Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said Mr Hetherington was "about as perfect a model of a war photographer as you're going to find these days".
In an editorial for the magazine, he described him as a "rangy, charming workhorse of a photographer".
"Devilishly good-looking and impossibly brave, he was both a ladies' man and a man's man," he said. "There were few like Tim, and there will be fewer like him."
Tributes have started to appear on his Facebook page.
One from film director Jean Manuel said: "Tim Hetherington, I love you. Thank you for everything. I will help make sure our work continues."
The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) said two other journalists had been killed this year in the Libyan conflict.
Cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber was shot when his Al-Jazeera crew was ambushed near Benghazi on March 13. Mohammed al-Nabbous, founder of the online Libya Al-Hurra TV, was killed as he was streaming live audio from a battle in Benghazi on March 19.
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Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier in hospital

Gerard HoullierHoullier took over at Aston Villa at the beginning of the season
Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier has been admitted to hospital, the BBC understands.
It is thought the 63-year-old was taken to hospital in Birmingham overnight.
He is understood to have spoken to the club's chief executive Paul Faulkner and his condition is said to be comfortable.
Assistant manager Gary McAllister will take Thursday's training session. The club is expected to release an official statement later.
Houllier is expected to remain in hospital for a couple of days and it is anticipated McAllister will take charge of the team on Saturday for their game against Stoke at Villa Park.
Houllier had major surgery after suffering heart-related problems in 2001, whilst manager of Liverpool FC.
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Mullen: Pakistan's ISI spy agency has 'militant links'

Adm Mike MullenAdm Mullen is in Pakistan for security talks

Taliban Conflict

The US military's top officer, Adm Mike Mullen, has accused Pakistan's spy agency of having links with militants targeting troops in Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had a "long standing relationship" with a militant group run by Afghan insurgent Jalaluddin Haqqani.
The comments come as he arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for meetings with senior Pakistani leaders.
Pakistani officials regularly reject any charges of collusion.
"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network," Adm Mullen told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen."
But a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the Reuters news agency that the accusation was unfounded.
"If he means we're providing him with protection, with help, that's not correct," the official, who wished to remain unnamed, told Reuters.
Deadly attacks
But analysts say that Haqqani's insurgent network has been based in Pakistan since 2001 and that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still exerts considerable influence over it.
The group has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on foreign troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Adm Mullen said he would raise the issue with the Pakistani army chief and other leaders during his meetings there.
He said the spy agency's support of the network remained at the "core ... and the most difficult part of the relationship" and that he would take it up with Pakistan's army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.
The latest comments come as US-Pakistan ties struggle to recover following the row over CIA contractor Raymond Davis - who was arrested and later released after shooting dead two Pakistani men in Lahore.
The incident prompted a wave of anti-American demonstrations across the country.
Correspondents say that anti-US sentiment, among both ordinary Pakistanis and the country's top civil and military leaders, remains high, and point to a marked decline in the relationship between the countries' spy agencies.
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US sues over 'human trafficking' in farm industry

Thai farm worker - file photoThai farmers work in a number of countries around the world

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A US government agency has launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit in what it calls the largest human trafficking case in the US farming industry.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking damages for 200 Thai workers recruited to work on farms in Hawaii and Washington state.
The workers were allegedly abused and forced to live in rat-infested housing.
A California-based labour contractor and farms in the two states have been named in the lawsuit.
The contractor, Global Horizons Inc, "subjected the claimants to uninhabitable housing, insufficient food and kitchen facilities, inadequate pay, significant gaps in work, visa and certification violations, suspension, deportation, and/or physical violence", court papers state.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the workers were paid about $8.50-9.50 (£5.20-5.80) per hour but many were made to pay recruitment fees of as much as $25,000.
Some workers had to take out high-interest loans and were charged for housing and food, agency officials said.
A lawyer for Mordechai Orian, the head of Global Horizons Inc, said the workers were paid "more money than they ever were in Thailand" and "were not living in squalor or bad conditions".
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Libya: UN warns of blurring aid and military operations

Libyan rebels fire a rocket propelled grenade during street fighting on Tripoli Street in Misrata, 20 April Libya. Picture by Chris Hondros, who was killed later on Thursday.Thursday's street fighting in Misrata was captured by photojournalist Chris Hondros just before he died

Libya Crisis

The UN's aid chief has warned against blurring the lines between military operations and relief work in Libya.
Valerie Amos said there was no need yet to accept an EU offer of military escorts to protect aid deliveries.
Meanwhile, Oscar-nominated Tim Hetherington was one of two Western photojournalists killed in a mortar attack in the besieged city of Misrata.
Another journalist said they were among a group pulling back from the front line when they came under fire.
Spanish photographer Guillermo Cervera, who was with the group, told the BBC that he and the other reporters "were coming backwards because we were scared of the fight" when they were caught in the attack along Tripoli Street.
Hetherington, 41, a photojournalist and Oscar-nominated filmmakerwith dual British and American nationality, died instantly. He had covered a number of conflicts, including the war in Afghanistan.
Chris Hondros, an American photographer for Getty Images, died of his wounds several hours later.
'Impartial aid'

At the scene

image of Orla GuerinOrla GuerinBBC News, Misrata
A survivor of the attack on the journalists said they were on the front line on Tripoli Street. It was relatively quiet. They had decided to withdraw and it was when they were pulling back that they came under fire.
It appears to have been a direct hit on the group. Tim Hetherington lost his life.
He had gone back and forth several times to Afghanistan making a documentary, so he knew about the dangers of working on front lines. Last night on his own Twitter feed he had posted a statement: "In Misrata, indiscriminate shelling, no sign of Nato."
His family said he would be forever missed, remembered for his amazing images and his documentaries.
They said he had been in Libya to show humanitarian suffering in times of conflict.
Inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, Libyan rebels have been fighting Col Gaddafi's forces since February.
The rebels, based in Benghazi, hold much of the east, while Col Gaddafi remains in control of Tripoli and most of the west.
Ms Amos spoke after Britain, France and Italy said they would send small teams of military advisers to rebels fighting to topple Col Gaddafi.
"Our responsibility, all the time, is to ensure that our aid is offered on an impartial basis," she said.
Military escorts could put aid workers and the delivery of their aid at risk, she said.
"We have to be extremely careful about that and make sure the lines are not blurred."
Humanitarian supplies were reaching both sides in the conflict, she said.
Speaking at the UN in New York after a visit to Libya, Ms Amos said the Libyan authorities had agreed to secure aid workers in conflict zones and ensure they got through government roadblocks.
But without agreement on a ceasefire, access to places such as Misrata would be determined by the intensity of the fighting, she said.
If the security situation became impossible, Ms Amos said, then the UN would call on the EU for military support for its aid deliveries.
She did not directly address the decisions by Britain, France and Italy to send teams of about 10 military advisors each to the rebels.
The British team will provide logistics and intelligence training in Benghazi. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said it complied with the UN mandate authorising "all necessary measures short of occupation" to protect civilians.
UN Security Council resolution 1973 also authorised Nato to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
Late on Wednesday, Libya's official Allibiya TV reported that Nato forces fired several missiles at the Khallat al-Farjan district of the capital, Tripoli.
'International crime'
Ms Amos's comments came as fighting continued to rage in Misrata, the only major rebel-held city in western Libya.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the reported use of cluster bombs by Col Gaddafi's forces trying to retake the city "could amount to international crimes".
British journalist James Hider in Misrata: "The rebels say they will fight until they die" (This video footage cannot be verified independently for authenticity)
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Misrata said the city's hospital had received more than 100 casualties on Wednesday, the vast majority of them civilians. The hospital said five civilians had been killed.
Ms Pillay said there were reports of a cluster bomb exploding "just a few hundred metres from Misrata hospital, and other reports suggest at least two medical clinics have been hit by mortars or sniper fire".
One doctor at Misrata hospital told our correspondent that he and his colleagues were exhausted and asked where the international community was.
The rebel Transitional National Council rejected the government's latest offer of a ceasefire on Wednesday. A spokesman for the council, Abdul Hafeez Ghoga, said Col Gaddafi wanted a ceasefire because his forces were being destroyed by Nato air strikes.
Mr Ghoga said a suggestion that there could be a political solution which would allow Col Gaddafi and his family to remain "on the scene" was an impossibility, reports the BBC's Peter Biles in Benghazi.
On Tuesday, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi had said there should be a ceasefire followed by an interim period of maybe six months to discuss constitutional reforms and prepare for a UN-supervised election - a proposal initially made by the African Union.
He said the presence of foreign military personnel would be a "step backwards".
Are you in Libya? Have you been affected by the unrest? You can tell us your experiences using the form below.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
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