February 26, 2011: Former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Mohamed Abud Ajleil has allegedly formed an interim government in the city of Benghazi. The media quoted Ajleil as stating he held Qaddafi alone responsible “for the crimes that have occurred” in Libya. The dictator’s tribe, Qaddadfa, he reportedly stated, was forgiven.

The former Justice Minster of Libya was working to establish a temporary government in Benghazi, an area of the county states is no longer under Muammar Qaddafi’s control. The minister quit his post last week, stating that he could no longer tolerate the violence against citizens. He stated that Qaddafi alone would be considered responsible for the war crimes being committed.

In a conversation Saturday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Barack H. Obama called on Muammar Qaddafi to immediately leave his position as leader of Libya. In a statement discussing the call, a White House spokesperson stated that Obama stated that when a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now.” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed Obama’s demand, stating that “Qaddafi has lost the confidence of his people and he should go without further bloodshed and violence.”

The U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva called for an investigation into possible crimes against humanity in Libya. The recommendation would have charged Qaddafi with war crimes for the deaths of over 1,000 of his countrymen in protests last week. In addition, the world body also recommended that Libya’s UNHRC membership be suspended. UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon urged a quick vote on imposing the sanctions, telling members that Libyans would continue to die in the meantime.

The UN Security Council on Saturday night delayed voting on a proposal to impose sanctions on Libya. The sanctions were held up over the opposition of Brazil, India and Portugal to trying Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi for crimes against humanity. They recommended milder language that would allow the situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, but not require such a move. Diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters that Portugal was concerned about the safety of its citizens still in Libya.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed to the membership earlier in the day to avoid imposing sanctions, saying it would do no good. Erdogan accused the international body of being concerned primarily with Libya’s oil supply, rather than its people.“The people are already struggling to find food, how will you feed the Libyan people? Sanctions, an intervention, would force the Libyan people, who are already up against hunger and violence, into a more desperate situation,” Erdogan warned. “We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values, not out of oil concerns.”

The United States, meanwhile, approved sanctions against Qaddafi and his family on Friday. President Barack Obama signed an executive order freezing the U.S.-based assets of the Libyan leader and four of his children. In addition, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated his country was in the process of enacting sanctions against Qaddafi’s regime.

The European Union is considering a similar move. Christoph Steegmans, spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stated that Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron both agreed in a phone conversation on Saturday to support sanctions by the EU against Libya. The aforementioned expressed their firm support for sanctions against the Libyan dictator by the U.N. Security Council.

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February 26, 2011: The multitudes of foreigners leaving Libya as Qaddafi’s regime attacks anti-government protesters has been staggering. Mediterranean ports overflowed with thousands of evacuees from Libya, and thousands more foreigners were still scrambling to flee the North African nation by sea, air or land as the security situation around the capital Tripoli deteriorated.

UK, US Embassy staff flee Libya as two British military planes rescued more than 150 civilians Saturday from the Libyan desert, according to a report from London. Britain’s Foreign Office also issued a statement Saturday stating it has temporarily suspended operations at its embassy in the capital. UK interests will be represented by the Turkish government until further notice.

British military planes entered Libyan airspace to rescue oil workers and others from desert locations in a daring and secret mission meant to save those unable to flee escalating violence. The C-130 Hercules planes, carrying Britons and other nationals, safely landed in Malta on Saturday after picking up the civilians south of the eastern Libyan port of Benghazi, Defence Secretary Liam Fox stated. Fox stated the frigate HMS Cumberland was returning to Benghazi from Malta to evacuate any remaining “entitled persons” from there.
The mission is likely to give a boost to a government reeling from complaints in recent days about the ineptitude of its earlier efforts to evacuate citizens trapped in the chaos.

Britons returning to London from Libya after being evacuated spoke of the chaos enveloping the North African country.”Gangs of young Libyans had knives and machetes. What they wanted was any valuables money, laptops and mobiles. We just gave them those and the keys to cars and they just left us alone to some extent.”

Over 2,800 Chinese workers landed in Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete aboard a Greek ship. Further to the west, another 2,200 Chinese arrived in Valletta, the capital of Malta, after a long journey from the eastern Libyan port of Benghazi. Hours earlier, in the dark of night, a U.S-chartered ferry dropped off over 300 passengers in Valletta who spent three days waiting to leave Libya’s chaotic capital.

As of Saturday, at least 16,000 Chinese, 15,000 Turks and 1,400 Italians had been evacuated, most working in the construction and oil industries. In addition, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that some 22,000 people have fled across the Libyan border to Tunisia and another 15,000 crossed the border into Egypt. Col. Malek Mihoub, a Tunisian security forces official, stated that “despite the good intentions of those present,” aid groups like the Red Crescent, local authorities and the Tunisian army have become overwhelmed by the flow of people fleeing Libya.

Meanwhile, France’s Foreign Ministry stated Saturday that the French embassy in Tripoli has been closed temporarily due to the unrest. It stated a French Air Force flight took 122 people, including the entire embassy staff among the 28 French nationals on board to France on Saturday. In an accord with Russia, France stated it is temporarily conferring its interests in Libya to the Russian Embassy in Tripoli.

A flight carrying U.S. citizens departed from Tripoli on Friday, removing the last of America’s embassy staff as well. As with the UK Embassy, the American Embassy in the Libyan capital was also closed until further notice.

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February 26, 2011: Early election results showed Ireland’s Fianna Fail party was facing the biggest collapse for any Irish party since independence from Britain in 1921.

Ireland sought help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which was the consequence for Fianna Fail’s defeat. This would make Ireland the first euro zone government to be brought down by the debt crisis.

Ireland’s main opposition parties prepared to form a coalition with a record majority after voters, incensed at a financial collapse and humiliating bailout, routed the government. Despite typical Irish temperment, Fine Gael and Labour are capable of working together and with a large enough majority should bring some stability back to Irish politics after the chaos of Fianna Fail. The presence of Labour may intensify calls to renegotiate the terms of the international bailout. Regardless of the mandate, the government will come under pressure if economic growth falters and it has to make further cuts.

Fianna Fail, a former goliath of Irish politics, will likely lose more than 50 seats and be left with aprroximately 20 lawmakers to share the opposition benches with a diverse group of anti-bailout independents and Sinn Fein, best known as the political wing of the now-dormant Irish Republican Army. The hard-left Sinn Fein party is set to possibly treble its presence in parliament to around 15 seats and its leader Gerry Adams, who was officially banned from speaking on Irish media until 1993, could top the poll in the border county of Louth. In Dublin, Fianna Fail was expected to retain just one seat out of a possible 47. The make-up of a new parliament will not be confirmed until manual counting finishes on Sunday.

The main opposition party Fine Gael stated it would most probably form a coalition with the centre-left Labour party. Fine Gael and Labour formed a joint platform in 2007. An exit poll from state broadcaster RTE put the centre-right Fine Gael on 36 percent of first preference votes under the system of proportional representation, its best result since 1982 but short of expectations for an outright victory. Under the RTE exit poll, Labour secured 20.5 percent of the vote, possibly giving it a record 35 seats.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Ireland’s longest-serving parliamentarian, is almost certain to become prime minister. The former primary school teacher will face immediate pressure to fulfil an election pledge to renegotiate the 85-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout and ease some of the burden on an electorate struggling to make ends meet. Fine Gael, like Fianna Fail a pro-business and low-tax party, has pledged to stick to the overall austerity targets laid down by the EU, but Labour wants an extra year to get the deficit under control and has taken a tougher line on renegotiating the interest rate charged by Brussels.

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