New York - The United Nations Security Council was briefed on Monday on the latest events in Libya by the UN political chief amid mounting concern over the fighting between Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces and opponents seeking his ousting.
Over the weekend, the Arab League requested that the council impose a no-fly zone against Gaddafi's air force, which has been pounding cities held by his opponents.
The council session met in closed consultations - including the briefing by Under Secretary-General B. Lynn Pascoe - and no details were officially released.
Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy for Libya, former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib, arrived in Tripoli, the capital, and in a meeting with Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa reiterated the calls by Ban and the council for an immediate end to the violence.
Khatib called for cooperation from the authorities on human rights and humanitarian concerns and was assured by senior Libyan officials that the government would fully cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry recently authorised by the UN Human Rights Council.
He urged the government to allow unfettered access for all relevant UN agencies to assist the Libyan people and alleviate the suffering of those affected.
Khatib's team will assess the situation on the ground and "undertake broad consultations with Libyan authorities on the immediate humanitarian, political and security situation," Ban said last Friday, stressing that he has instructed the envoy to convey "in no uncertain terms" the concerns of the UN and international community as expressed in Security Council resolutions.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the council last month imposed sanctions against the Libyan authorities, placing an arms embargo on the country and freezing the assets of its leaders, while referring the ongoing violent repression of civilian demonstrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo subsequently announced that he is opening an investigation into Gaddafi, some of his sons and members of his inner circle for crimes against humanity in repressing peaceful protesters in violence that has claimed hundreds or even thousands of lives, according to media reports.
Ban has said Gaddafi lost his legitimacy when he declared war on his people.
