Helping Libyans to choose their own destiny

In a move preceded by acrimonious arguments, the United Nations Security Council recently voted for a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace and Libya caved in by announcing acceptance of the resolution as well as a cease fire. The Libyan strongman's threats, however, were of a quite different order, especially in the context of his regime's acts of brutality against its own people. The Security Council resolution has no clear political objective. Is it to protect rebels or all Libyan civilians? Or removing the Libyan strongman in what will amount to regime change? Meanwhile, the Western forces hit targets along the Libyan coast using strikes from air and sea to force the Libyan troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians. Colonel Gaddafi has made this happen. The world cannot allow the slaughter of civilians to continue. Some analysts have questioned the strategy for the military intervention, fearing Western forces might be sucked into a long civil war despite their current insistence they have no plans to send ground troops to Libya. Many countries have helped with the relocation process, flying home their own nationals and helping to repatriate others. But thousands remain at the border camps, and there is concern that other people want to leave Libya but are too scared or unable to leave. The wave of demands for democracy in the Arab world is not a single-country phenomenon; nor is the effort to suppress it. In Libya, the civilian population is demanding nothing more than the right to choose their own destiny. It is the duty for every peace loving nations to help them achieve that. Gopal Sengupta Canada E-mail : gopalsengupta@aol.com