So Nato Can Also Kill Civilians?

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27 April 2011 A FORMER football player has bemoaned the declining soccer standards in Zambia attributing it to among others poor administration and has since implored the two Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) executives to unite for the development of the game. Former national team midfielder Mohammed Seedat said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that it was saddening to note that football standards in the country had dwindled over the years.

The Observer (Kampala)

22 June 2011

editorial

Three months ago, a coalition made up of the United States, United Kingdom and France launched airstrikes on Libya, ostensibly to protect civilians who were under attack from Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

A few weeks later, the three countries, which claimed to be acting on behalf of the United Nations, handed over command to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Today, the military operation, which was meant to be precise, has not only dragged on but also degenerated into a full-scale war aimed at toppling the Libyan regime.

In the process, the civilians who were supposed to be protected are being killed, not only by Gaddafi, but by NATO planes too!

Air attacks on Sunday and Monday have left almost 25 civilians dead. NATO officials have owned up to some of these casualties and denied others, but even one civilian death is one too many. These civilian casualties play into the hands of critics who cautioned at the very start that the attackers harboured a hidden agenda.

The UN resolution that Western countries are clinging onto in their aggression against Libya didn’t call for the categorical removal of Gaddafi but this seems to be the guiding principle now.

Gaddafi might be a monster but his fate, we believe, should be left to the Libyan people. On March 17, soon after the bombing started, we stated in an editorial that while Gaddafi was wrong to deny his people basic freedoms and even attack them when they tried to force the issue, this was not justification for the high-handed intervention by the said Western countries.

“If the intention is to stop Gaddafi’s forces killing civilians, how come they are killing civilians themselves with their air strikes? You cannot stop death by causing more death,” we wrote.

“The international community can play a constructive rather than destructive role by promoting dialogue between Gaddafi and his opponents. Two wrongs obviously don’t make it right.”

What more can we add?

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So Nato Can Also Kill Civilians?