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UN Security Council to meet on Libya on Tuesday

2011-02-22 11:57

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet behind closed doors at 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Tuesday to discuss the current situation in Libya, diplomatic sources told Xinhua on Monday night.

The scheduled meeting, which is not on the agenda of the 15-nation UN body, was requested by members of the Libyan UN Mission to probe the situation in Libya, they said.

Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told reporters here he no longer takes order from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and called on the UN Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court to conduct an investigation into the current situation in the North African country.

Earlier on Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "had an extensive discussion with theLibyan leader and called upon the authorities to engage in broad-based dialogue to address legitimate concerns of the population," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesman.

Unrest shook Libya in recent days with unconfirmed press reports of mass human casualties.

The secretary-general called for an immediate end to the violence in Libya given the report that the Libyan government used war planes and helicopters against demonstrators, according to the statement from Ban's spokesman.

"The Secretary-General is outraged at press reports that the Libyan authorities have been firing at demonstrators from war planes and helicopters," the statement said.

If such attacks against civilians were confirmed, it would constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law and would be condemned by the Secretary-General in the strongest terms, it said.

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