EU ministers call for end to Libya bloodshed

[WestVirginiaRebel]

AP:

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union on Sunday denounced strongly the Libyan governments' bloody crackdown against pro-democracy protesters and urged an end to the violence in which over 170 people are reported to have died.

"We condemn the repression against peaceful demonstrators and deplore the violence and the death of civilians," said a statement issued after a meeting of European foreign ministers.

"The EU urges the authorities to exercise restraint and calm and to immediately refrain from further use of violence against peaceful demonstrators," the ministers said, adding that "the legitimate aspirations and demands of the people for reform" must be addressed through dialogue.

The crackdown in oil-rich Libya is shaping up to be the most brutal repression of anti-government protests that began with uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The protests spread quickly around the region to Bahrain in the Gulf, impoverished Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, the North African neighbors of Tunisia - Libya, Algeria, Morocco - and outside the Middle East to places including the East African nation of Djibouti and even China.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said 173 people have died in three days of unrest in Libya, which has seen commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi attack demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weapons.

An EU official in Brussels said Libyan officials in Tripoli had told the ambassador of Hungary - which holds the EU's rotating presidency - that they would discontinue cooperation with the EU in blocking immigration from the North Africa to Europe, if the bloc continued backing the protesters. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We have heard threats, we hear people saying you should do this, you should do that, but in the end the EU will do what is right," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton replied when asked about the Libyan warnings.

"We've been urging restraint and we continue to do so," Ashton told reporters ahead of the meeting of foreign ministers called to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
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I'm sure Gadhafi is quaking in his boots at the thought of more urging from the EU.