Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, has strongly condemned the invasion of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Libyan, noting that the attack on the North African country was uncalled for.


Obasanjo said this while addressing newsmen at State House in Freetown last Friday during visit to President Ernest Bai Koroma in acknowledgement of his Golden Jubilee Award presented to him during the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations on April 27, 2011.


Speaking about the on-going conflict in North Africa, Obasanjo, he said ‘North Africa has given a lesson to all of us. The first lesson is that the apparent economic progress is not enough to satisfy the yearning of the people - for they want to have a feeling of fulfilment and choice.


“It is obligatory for leaders to respect their people and create an enabling atmosphere for good governance, but the NATO intervention in the conflict in Libya is wrong because it will take a long time to address the damages caused.”


He also cautioned the international community, saying that change in any country and in the world - particularly in Africa, must be left in the hands of the people, as change from outside may not immediately bring lasting peace to a country.


Meanwhile, Libya’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, said the six months of fighting left some 50,000 dead.


“In Misrata and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa took a lot of casualties. We liberated about 28,000 prisoners. We presume that all those missing are dead. Then there was Ajdabiyah, Brega. Many people were killed there too,””he said.


“About 50,000 people were killed since the start of the uprising,” Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, commander of the anti-Gaddafi troops who advanced on Tripoli out of the Western Mountains, known as Jebel Nafusa, also told Reuters.


As the hunt for Gaddafi himself goes on, Libyan officials accused Algeria of an act of aggression for giving refuge to his fleeing wife and three of his children, as well as a new grand-daughter, born on Tuesday.


Algeria’s Foreign Ministry said Gaddafi’s wife Safia, and his sons Hannibal and Mohammed had entered Algeria on Monday morning, along with their children. His pregnant daughter Aisha was also among the party and she gave birth within a day to a girl, a source close to Algeria’s health ministry said.


The incident stirred a diplomatic row as Libya’s interim council works to consolidate its authority and capture places still loyal to Gaddafi, notably the coastal city of Sirte.


Anti-Gaddafi forces have converged on Sirte from east and west, but have stopped short of an all-out assault in hopes of arranging a negotiated surrender of Gaddafi’s birth-place.


Gaddafi’s whereabouts have been unknown since his foes seized his Tripoli compound on Aug. 23, ending his 42-year rule after a six-month revolt backed by NATO and some Arab states.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art2011083119464298

Ye, OBJ is right. I really wonder how democracy will work in country like Libya with 140 ethnical groups

Obj is a strong man.I'm proud of him for simply saying the truth quite unlike Jonathan who went to quickly recognise a government of rebels that killed innocent people just because they are blacks.

The best President Federal Republic Of Nigeria ever had. Thanks for not bn as dumb as others who sees NATO as peace makers. Dumbness is a biitch to Africans and brainwash is a mofo

The interesting part for me is 'change from outside may not immediately bring lasting peace to a country'.

I agree with obj, but he also betrayed charles taylor

[b]CIA recruits 1,500 from Mazar-e-Sharif to fight in Libya


By: Azhar Masood | Published: August 31, 2011


ISLAMABAD – The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States recruited over 1,500 men from Mazar-e-Sharif for fighting against the Qaddafi forces in Libya.
Sources told TheNation: “Most of the men have been recruited from Afghanistan. They are Uzbeks, Persians and Hazaras. According to the footage, these men attired in Uzbek-style of shalwar and Hazara-Uzbek Kurta were found fighting in Libyan cities.”
When Al-Jazeera reporter pointed it he was disallowed by the ‘rebels ‘to capture images.
Sources in Quetta said: “Some Uzbeks and Hazaras from Afghanistan were arrested in Balochistan for illegally traveling into Pakistan en route to Libya through Iran. Aljazeera’s report gave credence to this story. More than 60 Afghans, mainly children and teenagers, have been found dead after suffocating inside a shipping container in southwestern Pakistan in an apparent human smuggling attempt.
More than 100 illegal immigrants were discovered 20km from the border town of Quetta last week inside the container, which had been locked from the outside.
Aljazeera having dubious record gave human touch to this story as most of the men who intruded inside Pakistan from Afghanistan were recruits for Libyan Rebels’ Force.
The sources said: “The CIA funded Libyan Rebels with cash and weapons.” In a report the New York Mayor’s TV Channel Bloomberg said, “Leaders of the Libyan rebels’ Transitional National Council flew to Istanbul seeking legitimacy and money. They will leave with the official recognition of the US and 31 other nations. As for the cash, they will have to wait.
The decision to treat the council as the “legitimate governing authority” in Libya is a key step to freeing up some of the government’s frozen assets for rebels seeking the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi. Still, obstacles such as existing United Nations sanctions won’t disappear overnight.
“We still have to work through various legal issues, but we expect this recognition will allow the TNC to access various forms of funding,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
At stake are about $34 billion in frozen Libyan government assets that are held by the US institutions and as much as $130 billion more held around the world. Speaking via phone from Istanbul, Transitional National Council spokesman Mahmoud Shammam put the total in excess of $100 billion globally.
Qaddafi, in an audio message broadcast to supporters in the town of Zlitan, said the Libyan people “will never give up” in the fight to prevent him being ousted, the Associated Press reported. “The Libyan people will persevere,” he said.
In the coming weeks, the US officials will consult with the TNC and international partners on the most effective and appropriate method of making additional significant financial assistance available, according to a Treasury official who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Shammam said the TNC needs $3 billion to cover the budget for six months. The council is seeking loans secured by the Qaddafi regime’s assets abroad as a means of funding, he said.
Recognition may lawfully allow nations to buy state-owned oil from the TNC, which controls the oil-rich eastern part of the country. Italy’s Eni SpA and France’s Total SA are the top oil companies operating in Libya, a former Italian colony.
How much money the Benghazi-based government can get, and when, may be more tied to politics than the law.
“The legal issues are in the eye of the beholder,” said Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “If Obama and Clinton want to go slow in paying out the money, their lawyers can invent plenty of legal issues to justify the chosen pace.”
The US envisions a “short timeframe” for releasing some of the Libyan government assets frozen by the US, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
President Barack Obama signed an order on February 25 freezing any US assets of Muammar Qaddafi, his family and members of his regime in Libya. As a practical matter, most of the frozen $34 billion is tied up in complicated property interests, including ownership interests in non-publicly traded companies or real estate, according to the Treasury official.
The mechanics of how the US will unfreeze assets still has to be worked out. The United Nations sanctions against Libya remain in place, a hindrance to efforts to get money to the rebels.
The UK and France, which led the campaign to unseat Qaddafi, yesterday didn’t commit any financial contributions.
Recognition of the council “will allow some countries to unfreeze some money,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said. Libyan frozen assets in France total $250 million, he said.
Other nations have already found the means to act.
Italy will open a credit line to rebels using frozen assets as collateral, and will provide them with 100 million euros ($141 million), Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said yesterday. Another 300 million euros will be released in two weeks and in total, Italy will release 400 million euros, he said, describing the money as loans.
The council is expecting $100 million from Turkey within three days, Shammam said.
The main criterion for international law for the recognition of a rebel group as the government of a state is its effective control over the territory.
The recognition of the TNC, given the fact that Qaddafi still controls Tripoli, could “arguably constitute an illegal interference in internal affairs,” Stefan Talmon, a professor of International Law at the University of Oxford, wrote in a paper for the American Society of International Law.
A number of actions by the rebels convinced the US to offer recognition, including a commitment to pursue a reform process, and to seek more inclusive representation of Libyans, politically, geographically and tribally,” according to a State Department officially.
The US will continue to watch closely how they perform, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The contact group laid out conditions for a “genuine ceasefire” in a final statement and declared that “Qaddafi and certain of his family members must go.”
The way he will leave power has yet to be defined, the group said. The ceasefire conditions call for complete withdrawal of Qaddafi-led forces to their bases, the release of detainees and hostages, provision of water and electricity to all regions, and the opening of all borders for the quick return of refugees.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization started air strikes in late March to protect civilians, an intervention that aided rebels seeking Qaddafi’s ouster. Qaddafi has already lasted longer than allies had anticipated, though his hold on the capital, Tripoli, appears to be weakening amid shortages of food and fuel. There are reports that his government is seeking a political solution to end the fighting.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be the only person authorized by the contact group to negotiate with both sides in Libya. Ban will set up a board of two to three interlocutors from Tripoli and the rebel-held town of Benghazi, Frattini said.
The military campaign against Qaddafi will continue “indefinitely” until he steps down, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters yesterday in Istanbul.[/b]

Gaddafi forces would have committed mass murder! The rebels and the people were no match for the Gaddafi artillery forces. It would have become the worst massacre in the history of North Africa if not for the intervention of NATO!

OBJ thanks for knowing the TRUTH.

Thank you sir for not supporting the lawless in Libya. It is sad that our clueless, directionless and faint-hearted President, GEJ, played to the gallery.

I love obj jooh. D united states gingered d libyans 2 take up arms cuz dey(d US) nided a libyan leader dat they cn control(lyk odechukwu) so dat dey cn b stealing free oil

I trust you baba when it comes to serious and international issue like this

This is coming a bit too late.

All the African leaders and OAU (or is it AU now?) went mute when the invasion started.

I don't really know the reason for the commendation. When the id--t Gadafi was killing is own people neither OBJ nor AU said anything because they are all birds of the same mother fuckers. what can you say about the president that ordered a shot at sight on his own people, a president that is power drunk and curruption breeder; OBJ. The USA support democracy and it's evidence  in their actions and words. They never intervened for Mubarak of Egypt who is one of their strongest ally; were out spoken against the Chinese Government, that owns large part of US credit, even when Hilary came to Nigeria she expressed the truth in the midst of our lunatic senators. Believe it or not If not for USA this world would have seize to exist, because the crazy tyrants in North korean, Iran, zimbabwe and host of others would have used WMD on any perceived enemy. China and Russia always lay back because they don't have anything call human right. Hate them or like them US is exactly what we need to check the maniac leadership

Obj should have educated our loud-speaker president who knows nothing about international diplomacy.stuupid man

THIS IS THE SAME REASON WHY Nigerians WILL NOT BE LIBERATED, THAT IS THE SAME REASON WHY WE CAN NOT TAKE OUR DESTINIES INTO OUR OWN HANDS. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BTW OBANSANJO AND GADDAFI, WHEN HE WANTED TO GO FOR THIRD TERM, THEN FOURTH TERM. NIGERIANS HAVE SHORT MEMORY AND THAT IS THE REASON THEY FAIL. THE SAME NIGERIANS KNOWING FULLY WELL THE MOTIVE BEHIND THIRD TERM AND HOW THE ANTI- THIRD LONG TERM CRUSADERS WHERE KILLED, HOW SO MANY RULES OF LAW WERE DISOBEYED COUNTLESS TIME AND THE SAME NIGERIANS CAN STILL COME HERE AND START PRAISING A MAN THAT WHEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY WILL DO MORE THAN GADAFFI.
IF NOT FOR THE SAME NATO- ADOLF HITLER OF GERMANY WOULD HAVE LEVELED THE WHOLE AFRICA.
NATO SAVED THE WORLD FROM USSR NUCLEAR POWERS.
NATO SAVED SOUTH KOREA FROM DESTRUCTION FROM NORTH KOREA. ETC

I KNOW NIGERIANS DON'T READ AND IT SADDENS ME EVERYDAY I COME TO THIS FORUM AND HEAR HUMAN BEINGS(NIGERIANS) THINKING LIKE THIS. WHAT IS THE CONTRIBUTION OF OBANSANJO TO THE WHOLE OF THE ENTIRE HUMANITY. WHAT IS HIS DEVELOPMENT- EDUCATIONALLY, RESEARCH WISE, MEDICALLY, TECHNOLOGY TO THE WORLD.
THE PEOPLE OF LIBYA HAVE LIBERATED THERESELVES AND THEY LOVED IT. IF NOT FOR NATO, COUNTLESS PEOPLE KILLED BY GADDAFFI SECRETLY WOULD NOT HAVE BEING NOTICED, RAPE AND CORRUPTION WOULD HAVE CONTINUE WITHOUT NO-BODY TO CHECK-MATE HIM.

IF NATO WAS THERE TO HELP MY FELLOW BIAFRIA FRIENDS THEY WOULD HAVE BEING LIBERATED FROM SUFFERINGS THEY AND GOING THROUGH NOW AND BE A SOVEREIGN STATE WHERE THEY ARE RESPECTED AND CHERISHED. OBANSANJO WAS THE PECK IN THE WHEEL OF THERE EMANCIPATION.

NOW NO HOPE FOR IBO PRESIDENT EVEN IN THE NEXT 20 YEARS. OJUKWU IS OLD AND CAN NOT GIVE THE MORAL SUPPORT FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF HIS PEOPLE

Read this carefully and come again.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=217195

The rebels are just as bad and have committed atrocities. Unless they can guaratee to have an inclusive gov. and stop killing every Black face they see no sensible African gov. should recognize them! The rebels are not even fully controlled by the NTC! The Misrata rebels have their own council! Arab experts predict that even after Gaddafi goes the NTC will start fighting each other along tribal lines thus, unless they make a serious effort to have an inclusive gov. They should not be recognized. On top of that their means of getting freedom by creating an exaggerated claim of African mercenaries and killing numerous black refugees, raping black wives of refuges and other crimes should leave a bitter taste in every Africans mouth. At the most basic level it shows the amount of criminality within the rebels.

@ VUVUZELA10, ojuyobo111 AND CO.

ALTHOUGH I AM NOT SUPPORTING LAWLESSNESS IN ALL FORM BUT I WILL ADVICE YOU TO GET YOUR INFORMATION RIGHTLY AND FROM RELIABLE SOURCE.

HAVE YOU SUDDENLY FORGOTTEN THAT NATO INTERVENED WHEN GADDAFI TOOK ARMS AGAINST HIS PEOPLE AND STARTED KILLING THEM? THE UPROAR STARTED FROM PEACEFUL DEMOSRTATION, GADDAFI SENT HIS FORCE TO STOP THE GATHERINGS AND LATER RESULTED INTO FORCE AND MASS MURDER. SOME WHERE RAPED AND BRUTALISED AND GROSS OFFENCE AGAINST HUMANITY WAS COMMITTED BEFORE NATO CAME IN. WHAT WAS OBASANJO DOING THEN TO SAVE LIBYAN PEOPLE?
LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SYRIA. THE PRESIDENT HAS BEING CALLED, ADVICED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY INSTEAD HE STARTED KILLING THE PRESUMED PEOPLE THAT VOTED HIM IN. UP TO TODAY NATO IS STILL WATCHING BEFORE THEY ACT. WHAT IS OBASANJO DOING TO SAVE THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA?
PLS READ TO UNDERSTAND AND KNOW THE DETAILS.- NIGERIANS ARE DULLARD'S

~Bluetooth:

Obj should have educated our loud-speaker president who knows nothing about international diplomacy.stuupid man

SINCE I HAVE BEING FOLLOWING YOUR COMMENTS YOU HAVE NOT MADE ANY LOGICAL AND REASONABLE COMMENTS. FRANKLY. I AM SORRY IF I SOUND TOO HARSH.

look at the stuupid people giving obj accolades.Nigeria is so forked

OBJ is a smart dude. he knows dat most black Africans lack the will to confront their government. Nigerian youth does not even know their right not to talk of protesting against our corrupt business men politicians. in chile, students are demanding for free education while their government want to increase the sch fees. Nigeria does not have a good sch yet we pay for it.

Nigeria needed nato invasion more than libya to help get rid of chimps in human dress like obj. Coming from him makes nato aggression and hidden agendas in libya seem like a blessing.

SmoothCrim:

Read this carefully and come again.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=217195

The rebels are just as bad and have committed atrocities. Unless they can guaratee to have an inclusive gov. and stop killing every Black face they see no sensible African gov. should recognize them! The rebels are not even fully controlled by the NTC! The Misrata rebels have their own council! Arab experts predict that even after Gaddafi goes the NTC will start fighting each other along tribal lines thus, unless they make a serious effort to have an inclusive gov. They should not be recognized. On top of that their means of getting freedom by creating an exaggerated claim of African mercenaries and killing numerous black refugees, Desecrating black wives of refuges and other crimes should leave a bitter taste in every Africans mouth. At the most basic level it shows the amount of criminality within the rebels.

THERE ARE A LOT OF AFRICAN LEADERS THAT STILL SUPPORT GADDAFI'S AUTOCRATIC RULE AND THEY WILL POST COMMENTS WITHOUT EVIDENCES TO SUPPORT HIM. THE POST HAVE NO EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE CLAIMS.

WE SHOULD NOT FORGET THAT OBJ AND QADDAFI WERE CLOSED FRIENDS, EVEN IMPECCABLE SOURCES REVEALED THAT GADDAFI SOLD SOME SHARES TO OBJ IN LIBYA OIL SECTOR.
SEVERAL VISITS OF THE LIBYAN PRESIDENTS ( WITH HIS TONS OF SECURITY GUARDS) DOING OBJ REGIME.

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN? HA! HA!!

Obj is a number one african traitor and as always african press is stu.pid to seek his opinionon a complex issue like libya invasion and uprising.Gaddaffi was autocratic but not as dum.b, greedy,missionless and hopeless like obj

OBJ should have just put it like this.

"You Libyans, why cant you allow gaddafi to rule you for life?"

Instead of blaming NATO. So OBJ expect gaddafi to fry the citizen who are not military capable as gaddafi forces.

N.o.n.sence!

Obj has spoken the fact. You cannot bring change from outside and expect western kind of democracy to work in a tribal society like Libya. With 50,000 dead in six months I wonder what kind of DIRTY DEMOCRACY NATO wants to bring to that country. Meanwhile all EU countries are already scrambling for the oil like piranhas when the war is still on trying to lay claim to oil blocks and quickly sign contracts with the NATO Transitional Council (NTC)

The most appaling thing about the rebels is the indiscriminate killing and lynching of black skinned Libyans and Africa migrants calling them mercernaries like the Ku Klux Klan did in America back in the days

all4naija:

Gaddafi forces would have committed mass murder! The rebels and the people were no match for the Gaddafi artillery forces. It would have become the worst massacre in the history of North Africa if not for the intervention of NATO!

And you think NATO intervention casualty isnt worst? One now begin to wonder the sincerity of UN in this matter, whether they are there to prevent Gadaffi from killing his own people, but the rebels and NATO can bomb Libya thereby killing Libya people.

Gaddafi forces would have committed mass murder! The rebels and the people were no match for the Gaddafi artillery forces. It would have become the worst massacre in the history of North Africa if not for the intervention of NATO!
And you think NATO intervention casualty isnt worst? One now begin to wonder the sincerity of UN in this matter, whether they are there to prevent Gadaffi from killing his own people, but the rebels and NATO can bomb Libya thereby killing Libya people.

Who are these rebels? Are they not the same Libyan people that says they dont want gaddafi anymore ?

There is nothing like rebels in Libya. They are the same Libyan armed with guns to fight tyranny.

When American fought the British for independence, so many Americans die. It does not means America committed any genocide.

Sacrifice is part of revolution.

Numb sculls

Mubarak of Egypt is a friend of America. When Egyptians says they dont want him. America told him to leave.

That is why I respect America.

Leave Libyan people alone. It is there choice.

Why cant you blame America for Egypt ?

Useless people

OBJ is right and i think the matter should have been left for the AU,why does the western world always think it is right to invade other countries especially third world or developing countries, if my memory serves me right south africa president was still talking to Gaddafi while Cameron and his friends were planning on invading a total disrespect to the AU,the same respect given to EU should be given to the AU and shouldnt be based on the fact that most africa countries are 3rd world or developing!!

And i do hope that is Gaddafi gets arrested he shouldnt be handed to the ICC or any developed nation crime court because it is a matter for the africa nation and should be dealt with within Africa, for instance NO AMERICA CITIZEN CAN BE TRIED AT THE ICC centre!!, So why request for an african leader to be tried there!!! And i blame OBJ as well for giving Charles Taylor to the ICC!!

WE ARE AFRICAN!!!!