Allegations about the use of cluster bombs in Misurata by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi have fuelled a debate among the Libyan opposition and its Western supporters about deploying NATO troops in Libya.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that pro-Qadhafi forces used cluster bombs in the residential areas of Misurata, Libya's third largest city east of capital Tripoli. Tripoli has rejected the accusation. “Absolutely no. We can't do this. Morally, legally, we can't do this,” Mussa Ibrahim, Mr. Qadhafi's spokesman, told reporters. Cluster bombs explode in the air and scatter over a large area, deadly “bomblets” which have enough explosive power to damage tanks.
Analysts say the allegation the government was targeting its own people in Misurata with cluster bombs, if proved, will impart powerful emotional content to the joint call for regime change issued by Britain, France and the United States. HRW alleged the use of cluster bombs within hours of the publication of a joint letter seeking Mr. Qadhafi's exit by British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama.
The opposition in Misurata appears to have followed up on the HRW's allegations by seeking Western support beyond the on-going NATO air campaign. An opposition spokesman, identified as Mohamed told Observer that “the killing and destruction and human suffering [in Misurata]”, was relentless. “The massacre that was prevented in Benghazi is now happening in Misurata. There is nowhere safe in the city.” He added the opposition in Misurata had appealed to NATO to send ground troops. “This reluctance and hesitation is allowing him to suffocate the city…Either they intervene immediately with troops on the ground — now, now, now — or we will all regret this.”
A report in the New Yorker compared Misurata to a “kind of Libyan Sarajevo situation… with parts of the city held by one side or the other as they continue to fight over other neighbourhoods”.
Responding to calls for “boots on the ground”, Mr. Cameron on Sunday ruled out committing ground forces. He stressed the importance of complying with the U.N. mandate and avoiding steps that could alienate the Arab world.
However, observers say the debate on the dispatch of ground forces has only commenced, despite the Security Council resolution prohibiting such a move. Mirroring differences within the opposition, some in the anti-Qadhafi camp said instead of foreign troops, the dissidents should be supplied with advanced weapons. Major-General Abdul Fatah Younis, commander of opposition forces, told Al Jazeera that he wanted his forces, equipped with helicopter gunships so that the Misurata siege could be broken.
The French have opposed the transfer of weapons to the opposition, preferring instead an expanded air campaign that could target Libyan “strategic” assets. Asked on Friday if it was time to send weapons to the opposition, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet advocated “strikes on military decision centres in Libya or on logistics depots which today are being spared”.
On Sunday, opposition's advance towards the oil town of Brega appeared to have stalled in the face of stiff resistance from government forces, and on account of a drop in NATO air strikes due to a sandstorm in the area. Many fighters have returned to Ajdabiyah, a strategic town that is the gateway to Benghazi, the de facto opposition capital.
