Libya calls for emergency meeting of UN security council

Xinhua, March 20, 2011

Libya called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday night after a coalition of Western countries launched airstrikes on its military forces, Al-Arabiya TV reported.

The U.N. Security Council has passed a resolution imposing a no- fly zone over Libya and allowing the use of "all necessary measures" to protect civilians in the North African country.

In the letters sent to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barak Obama on Saturday, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said that according to the Charter of the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council is not authorized to intervene in Libya's internal affairs.

The U.N. resolution on the no-fly zone over Libya will bring negative consequences to the Mediterranean countries and the Europe, he added.

The Mediterranean region has become the "battlefield," he said in a telephone speech aired by Libyan state TV on Saturday night.

French warplanes attacked an air defense site in Tajura, about 10 km east of the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Saturday night, according to Xinhua correspondents in Tripoli.

Libyan Parliament Speaker Mohammed Abul-Qassim al-Zwai said Saturday night in a press conference that foreign fighter jets hit Tripoli and Misurata which caused many casualties.

The "barbaric armed attack" came after Libya announced ceasefire and major reforms, he added.