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April 22, 2011 - No. 66

Earth Day 2011

Political Empowerment -- A Necessity to Protect the Natural Environment


Earth Day 2011
Political Empowerment -- A Necessity to Protect the Natural Environment
U.S. Denies Climate Change - Radio Havana Cuba
UN Debates Bolivian Resolution on Rights of Mother Earth

Wrecking of Social and Natural Environments by Canadian Mining Firms
Mayan Women, Victims of Gang Rapes, Announce Lawsuit Against Hudbay Minerals - Rights Action
Human Rights Violation Complaint Against HudBay Minerals

Libya
UK Warned Against Military Ground Operations
Civilian Casualties Continue Under Stepped Up NATO "Humanitarian" Bombings 


Earth Day 2011

Political Empowerment -- A Necessity to Protect the Natural Environment

Today, April 22, marks Earth Day 2011. In Canada, First Nations, workers, women and youth have long been concerned about the protection of the natural environment for its own sake and as that which sustains the social environment by providing the necessities of life. They reject the "right" of monopolies to exploit and despoil Mother Earth without taking any responsibility for the consequences on society and the natural environment. Such anti-environmental and anti-social practices take place because of governments which abdicate their duty to uphold the public good and instead serve the interests of the monopolies and foreign powers.

The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada in its policy on the environment points out that "governments at all levels have a duty to protect the natural environment and make sure measures are taken so that it can flourish in the future as well. We have ample means at our disposal to make sure this is done but today governments do not recognize this duty, even in words. The manner in which Canada played around with the Kyoto agreement, as part of subservience to U.S. interests, makes a mockery of the very notion of social responsibility towards the environment.

"The MLPC actively joins all those who are taking stands on environmental issues. At the same time, it seeks to make a contribution which it thinks is decisive which is to create the conditions so that Canadians are empowered and their demands on these issues are effective. Otherwise we are condemned in perpetuity to beseech the gods of plague for salvation. In other words, the most pressing issue when it comes to the environment, as on every other question, is Who Decides? If Canadians were empowered, they would enact laws to protect the natural environment. Science and technology should be put in the service of both the natural and social environments. If the self-serving aims of the monopolies to make maximum profit off both society and the environment were not behind all decisions taken, nature could be made to serve the needs of society while at the same time it is protected and made to flourish for the future. A modern society such as Canada's, with one quarter of the planet's fresh water, can provide safe drinking water for all Canadians. Problems such as lack of safe water, pollution and clearcutting can be solved if the profit motive is not the deciding factor.

"The same applies to all conservation issues, problems of a safe food supply, genetic engineering, etc.

"The fact remains that the plight of the environment and the concerns of Canadians are completely ignored by the so-called major political parties and the monopoly media. They pay lip service to concerns of collectives such as the farmers or fishers, the First Nations, environmental activists or residents in certain areas, to the extent they are considered significant as a vote bank. The system of party government will never put the claims of the environment on society at centre stage because its sole aim is to serve the 'needs' of the rich. We think that this is the crucial matter on which those concerned with the environment have to take a stand if they are to build a bright future for the generations to come."

MLPC party leader Anna Di Carlo points out, "Which environmentalist does not know that the problem lies in the rule of the banks, developers, resource and other monopolies, which control everything? People know the kinds of measures which are required so that the environment can thrive and be sustainable, with its ecological integrity protected." She continues:

"The program of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada is to end this rule by organizing Canadians to build Citizens' Committees for Democratic Renewal (CCDRs). The aim of these committees is to renew the political process. It is to make it truly democratic and representative of the people's rights and needs. We urge all environmentalists to contribute to building CCDRs so that the full weight of the population can be mobilized behind their concerns. In other words, while those with specific concerns and expertise on environmental issues carry on bringing those issues to our attention, we do our duty by supporting them. At the same time, the political problem of lack of decision-making power must also be addressed. Unless the political issue is taken up, our concerns are marginalized. Those with expertise in these fields, or who are interested are coming forward to spearhead the work to build Citizens' Committees so that space is created for everyone's 'issues.' We must end the marginalization which the current political process imposes on us and our concerns."


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U.S. Denies Climate Change

The United States is responsible for 25% of the global emissions of polluting gases that increase climate change. However, there are still many people in that country who deny the problem and its risks to life on the planet.

The unfortunate thing is that they are not only sceptical about this reality, but also block any initiative that may lead to mitigating the problem, because it may cause losses to their interests.

Scientists and international and environmental agencies are tired of warning about the dangers that climate change may cause to humanity today while many U.S. politicians are pleased with and boast of ignoring the warnings.

In this regard, the Republicans' environmental stance is very well known. Let's not forget that during the George W. Bush administration, the United States -- the biggest polluter on Earth -- never signed the Kyoto Protocol promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Now with a Democrat in the Oval Office, the Republicans are boosting their anti-environmental crusade, and therefore, strive to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its control over greenhouse gas emissions.

To conclude, in the last few hours the U.S. Senate -- controlled by a Democratic majority -- unbelievably voted against an amendment calling for the recognition of the existence of climate change and acknowledged the responsibility of human beings.

For scientist Wallace Broker, a critic of the Bush administration's stance on this issue, the Barack Obama government has done nothing to change it and said that Congress has tied Obama's hands.

The scientist said the oil industry is engaged in a campaign to halt the development of renewable energy and that it's spending a lot of money on advertisements to make people NOT believe in climate change.

He also added that, in fact, they have achieved their goals because half of the population in the U.S. does not believe in global warming.

And while effective actions are delayed, a report recently released by UN-Habitat shows that by 2050 climate change will displace some 200 million people and, by 2080, people living in coastal areas will be affected by the five-fold rise in sea level compared to 1990 due to climate change.

Studies do not lie and, though many people try to deny the existence of climate change and even say it is part of a junk science, the reality is that, as stated by UN-Habitat Executive Director Joan Clos, every day we do nothing is a lost day.

"The next generations will live in a totally different world and will pay the consequences for having wasted our time in terms of acting to stop climate change," said Wallace Broker.

Unfortunately if these attitudes do not change, the future of climate change will be grim.

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UN Debates Bolivian Resolution on
Rights of Mother Earth

Bolivia has tabled a draft United Nations treaty aimed at enshrining rights for Mother Earth. Debates began at the General Assembly in New York on April 20, two days before UN activities in recognition of the second International Mother Earth Day on April 22, another initiative led by Bolivia, agencies report. The draft document calls for the recognition of the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" -- to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

The proposed global treaty says humans have caused "severe destruction that is offensive to the many faiths, wisdom traditions and indigenous cultures for whom Mother Earth is sacred."

It also says that "Mother Earth has the right to exist, to persist and to continue the vital cycles, structures, functions and processes that sustain all human beings."

"If you want to have balance, and you think that the only [entities] who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?" said Pablo Salon, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN. "But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and [if you provide] legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance."

The draft UN resolution is modeled on Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, enacted this past January. It grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities, and the right to be free from pollution. It also established a Ministry of Mother Earth and an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature's complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.

The Bolivian law restricts the activities of companies operating in Bolivia's resource sectors, and will also assist the country in its efforts to gain control over this aspect of its economy.

Salon explained that Bolivia's approach is not a dogmatic one: "We're not saying, for example, you cannot eat meat because you know you are going to go against the rights of a cow. But when human activity develops at a certain scale that causes species to disappear, then you are really altering the vital cycles of nature or of Mother Earth. Of course, you need a mine to extract iron or zinc, but there are limits."

The law also reflects Bolivia's large indigenous population, of which President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian, is a member, and the work by the Morales' administration to empower the indigenous nations which make up Bolivia, officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, through constitutional and other reforms.

President Morales has also emphasized on several occasions, including last year's World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, that capitalism and its rampant exploitation of the natural world must be ended as part of parcel of saving the planet and that an alternative economic model must be found. At that time, the Bolivian president spoke about what he termed a socialist communitarian system as a mechanism to eradicate colonialism and imperialism and to assure peace between the peoples and Mother Earth.

(Agencies)

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Wrecking of Social and Natural Environments by Canadian Mining Firms

Mayan Women, Victims of Gang Rapes, Announce Lawsuit Against Hudbay Minerals

TML is posting below two items by the organization Rights Action, which detail the wrecking activities of Canadian mining firm HudBay in Guatemala. A subsidiary of the firm is not only carrying out its mining activities with impunity, violently evicting indigenous Mayan communities and destroying the natural environment on which the people rely for the livelihood and well-being, but has responded with brutal violence against the people who want an end to such activities, including the assassination of a community leader and the use of gang-rape against women. On March 28, these women filed a lawsuit in the Canadian courts against HudBay for its use of violence to surpress their resistance to its exploitive mining.

***

In response to the filing of this lawsuit, HudBay claims, surprisingly, it knew nothing about allegations of gang rapes.

The March 28, 2011, filing of this gang-rape lawsuit against HudBay Minerals, by 11 Mayan Q'eqchi' women from the remote village of Lote 8, follows upon the December 1, 2010 lawsuit filed against HudBay for the killing (wrongful death) of Adolfo Ich.

Klippensteins is the law firm representing both the Lote 8 rape victims and Angelica Choc, widow of Adolfo Ich. Rights Action is funding and working directly with Mayan-Q'eqchi' families and communities in the nickel-mining affected region of El Estor, Guatemala, including the families and communities involved in these two lawsuits.

In response, HudBay has claimed "This Canadian legal action is the first and only account of these shocking accusations received to date by HudBay or its subsidiaries."

Rights Action, Dr. Catherine Nolin and the student signatories are surprised at this response, given that the Human Rights Complaint was sent to HudBay by email on October 19, 2010, as was the original Complaint, sent July 5, 2010.

We submit this information, again, to the Canadian government and elected officials and to HudBay Minerals.

Even as these two lawsuits proceed in Canadian courts, none of the underlying problems, that have lead to and resulted in so much violence, forced evictions, killings and even gang rapes, have been resolved in the Mayan Qeqchi regions of eastern Guatemala where HudBay seeks to mine for nickel.

The underlying problems include: historic land-claim issues on behalf of the Mayan Q'eqchi' people; historic and on-going use of repression by wealthy business owners (supported by police and army forces), including miners and producers of sugar and African palm trees; and the impunity with which the wealthy business owners commit acts of violence and repression against local Mayan populations.

Our demands of the Canadian government and elected politicians remain the same, as set out below.

We strongly urge HudBay Minerals (and its subsidiary the CGN) to ensure that no violence is committed against the plaintiffs in these lawsuits. Anyone familiar with racism, repression and impunity in Guatemala -- as HudBay and CGN are -- will know that threats and repression regularly occur against people who seek justice for human rights violations and politically related struggles.

Thank-you. We would be happy to provide more information about these issues.

Grahame Russell, co-director, Rights Action
info@rightsaction.org, 1-860-352-2448, www.rightsaction.org,

Dr. Catherine Nolin, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Northern British Colombia, nolin@unbc.ca, 1-250-961-5875 (& the undersigned students)


Mayan-Q’eqchi’ women of Lote 8 & La Paz communities, El Estor, Izabal.  The 12 women of Lote 8 were gang-raped by Guatemalan soldiers, police and private security guards hired by the Guatemala Nickel Company, wholly owned subsidiary of then Skye Resources, now HudBay Minerals.  Photo: James Rodriguez, www.mimundo.org, August 2010.

Hudbay Response to Allegations in Statement of Claim
- March 29, 2011 -

HudBay Minerals has been advised by legal counsel that a Statement of Claim has been brought against the company and its subsidiary HMI Nickel related to events alleged to have taken place prior to HudBay's acquisition of the Fenix nickel project in Guatemala.

This Canadian legal action is the first and only account of these shocking accusations received to date by HudBay or its subsidiaries. The alleged events predate HudBay Minerals' business interests and operations in Guatemala, and we are not aware that they have ever been reported to Guatemala law enforcement or other authorities.

Based on reports from government sources, we understand that a legal eviction was conducted by the Guatemalan government in the area on the date in question. Official government accounts indicate that substantial effort was made to keep the evictions nonviolent, and in accordance with Guatemalan law the evictions were carried out by unarmed police officers.

Since acquiring an interest in the Fenix nickel project in late 2008, HudBay and its subsidiaries have been committed to resolving the ongoing issue of illegal land occupations through peaceful and constructive dialogue. HudBay and its subsidiaries are dedicated to promoting and respecting human rights, including through adherence to the UN Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

HudBay and its subsidiaries are disturbed by the serious nature of the allegations, which run counter to our values and the manner in which we operate. We will investigate the allegations, but they are counter to all of the available information we have regarding the events of January 2007 and as such we intend to defend ourselves vigorously against them.

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Updated Human Rights Violation Complaint
Against HudBay Minerals Submitted to Canadian Government

Canadian Nickel Mining Companies Involved in Violent, Illegal Forced Evictions of Mayan-q'eqchi' Communities, Gang Rape of Women Villagers & Assassination of Community Leader

To:

Mr. Lawrence Cannon
Minister of Foreign Affairs
509-S Centre Block, House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, Canada
cannol@parl.gc.ca

& other government officials and politicians

To: the Canada Pension Plan and other investors

To: HudBay Minerals & CGN (Guatemala Nickel Company)

From:

Grahame Russell, co-director, Rights Action, info@rightsaction.org, 860-352-2448, www.rightsaction.org,

Dr. Catherine Nolin, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Northern British Colombia, nolin@unbc.ca, (250) 961-5875, &

the undersigned

TO ALL CONCERNED PARTIES,

On behalf of the University of Northern British Columbia's Guatemala Delegation & Rights Action, we submit this updated human rights violation complaint to the Canadian Government.

As you know, we submitted earlier versions of this complaint to Mr. Lawrence Cannon, other government representatives and politicians, and investors. To date we have not received a reply from anyone, except (October 13) from Mr. Cannon, who sent us a letter that responds to almost none of the points we raise in this complaint.

The violations we have investigated and reported on have not been addressed or remedied. The underlying issues that led to this nickel-mining related repression have not been addressed and the harmed Mayan Q'eqchi' (Kek-chi, phonetically) communities may suffer more repression in the future, at the behest of Canadian (and other) nickel mining companies.

A Canadian Government Request for Complaints

In May 2008, after a previous delegation of UNBC students (and their professor Dr. Catherine Nolin) and Rights Action visited the nickel mining harmed communities of El Estor, the UNBC delegation met with then Ambassador Kenneth Cook in the Canadian Embassy. At that meeting, the delegation informed him -- and other staffers -- of serious violations that Mayan Q'eqchi' communities of El Estor had recently suffered at the behest of Skye Resources and CGN (Guatemala Nickel Company, subsidiary of Skye Resources).

Ambassador Cook told the UNBC delegation that the Canadian government -- via the Embassy in Guatemala -- was "open to receiving human rights complaints related to Canadian mining in Guatemala," though they had never received one.

A Canadian Problem: Nickel Mining & Forced Evictions,
Gang Rape & Assassination

As Canadian citizens, we demand the immediate attention of the Canadian government. This is a Canadian problem.

All of the major decisions affecting this mining operation are taken by then Skye Resources, now HudBay Minerals, in Canada. Canadian shareholders and investors (including the Canada Pension Plan) benefit from this and many similar mining operations. Additionally, the Canadian government is promoting, as policy, a largely unfettered expansion of Canadian mining companies in Guatemala.

The Violations

Over the past few years, UNBC's Dr. Catherine Nolin has organized a number of delegations to visit, along with Rights Action, the mining affected communities of El Estor. These commitments include two more visits in May and August of 2010.

We have visited the mining affected communities of La Unión, La Revolución, Lote 8, La Paz and Lote 9. We have received testimonies from eye-witnesses to, and victims of, the forced evictions; eye-witnesses to, and victims of, gang rapes; we have spoken with eye-witnesses (including family members) to the assassination of community leader and teacher Adolfo Ich.

The Violators

These human rights violations were committed by the Guatemalan army and police, and private security guards employed by Skye Resources and HudBay Minerals via their Guatemalan subsidiary company -- CGN.

Lote 8

An example: One of the most attacked and harmed communities is that of Lote 8, an isolated Mayan Q'eqchi' community on the mountain ridge north of El Estor (where much of the nickel ore is apparently located). After hiking into the Lote 8 community in May 2010, and meeting with community members elsewhere in El Estor (in August 2010), the UNBC delegation and Rights Action received substantial testimonies from the community members. The community members told us that these testimonies were one of the first public recounting of their shared experiences:

January 9th 2007: Hundreds of police, soldiers and Skye Resources/CGN private security agents arrived in at least 80 police pickup trucks, 2 army trucks and 3 nickel company trucks. They arrived with the intent of illegally and forcibly evicting the inhabitants. Community members were given 5 minutes to retrieve belongings from their small homes; they were offered 300 Quetzales to destroy their own homes.

Upon the community's peaceful refusal, the police, soldiers and private security forces started shooting teargas; they robbed the villager's homes and then set them on fire with gasoline. In total, 100 small homes were destroyed. The villagers -- from grandparents to newborns -- were forced to flee into the forests. All of their belongings, including clothes, bedding, food, cooking implements, etc, were either destroyed or stolen.

With absolutely nowhere to go, the 100 families of Lote 8 spent the next week re-building minimal shelter, attaching plastic sheeting to poles (for shelter), while scrounging for food and trying to recover some of the subsistence crops.

During this week, Skye Resources/CGN helicopters regularly flew over their remote community.

January 17th 2007: Hundreds of police, soldiers and private security agents returned to Lote 8 to again illegally and forcibly evict the community, this time while male residents were away from the community. They carried out the same plan of destruction as on January 9th.

Moreover, police, soldiers and Skye Resources/CGN private security guards gang-raped 12 female community members. At least two of the victims were pregnant at the time, and lost their babies due to the rapes. Another victim, a newlywed, has been told that she can not have children due to the violent rape.

(In an earlier version of this Complaint, we referred to a smaller number of women. Based on our August 2010 visit, we now have testimony that 12 women were raped, who also described to us their fear of coming forward, publicly.)

***

In 2008, soon after the execution of these illegal and brutal evictions and gang rapes, Skye Resources sold its nickel mining interests (including CGN) to HudBay Minerals.

Assassination of Adolfo Ich

On September 27, 2009, well-known Mayan Q'eqchi' community leader and teacher Adolfo Ich was captured and then killed by CGN (now owned by HudBay Minerals) security guards under the direct orders chief of CGN security forces Mynor Padilla. This event took place in the community of La Unión, in the town of El Estor. Under orders of Mynor Padilla, heavily armed security guards came on the La Unión property, grabbed Adolfo Ich in front of other villagers, and took him back onto adjacent company properties -- firing live rounds at community members who tried to follow them. A couple of hours later, after all the security guards were ordered to leave the premises, family and community members found Adolfo Ich dead inside CGN company buildings, with bullet wounds and machete cuts.

Deeply Entrenched Impunity

Because of Guatemala's deeply entrenched and well-documented impunity for the government and powerful sectors, no criminal legal proceedings were even initiated for these illegal forced evictions and gang rapes. A capture order is out for HudBay/CGN security forces chief Mynor Padilla, though that order has not been acted upon. Mr. Padilla is often seen in the El Estor region driving in HudBay/CGN vehicles and on CGN property.

Not surprisingly, HudBay Minerals/CGN deny all of the above.

***

The UNBC group and Rights Action have photographic, video and audio testimonies of all of the violations and repression summarized above.

Though we concentrated our recent efforts on the most remote community of Lote 8 and the killing of Adolfo Ich, similar serious charges -- including rape -- have been made against the police, army, and CGN private security guards that were carrying out violent and illegal forced evictions in at least four other nearby communities in 2006 and early 2007.

As Canadian citizens, we demand concrete actions from the Canadian Government:

* That the Canadian Government carry out a full and impartial investigation into these allegations;

* That the Canadian Government notify the appropriate Guatemalan authorities of these extremely serious charges and of the Canadian Government's investigation;

* That, with the community's consent, international accompaniers are provided to ensure that the mining affected communities are not subject to retribution for making these accusations and claims;

* That the findings of the Canadian government's investigation be made known publicly;

* That the investigation provide a complete summary of the human rights violations and property destruction and loss suffered by the Lote 8 community, as well as the other five Mayan Q'eqchi' communities that suffered similar illegal and forced evictions around the same time;

* That the investigation provide conclusions and recommendations with respect to the actions and/or omissions of the Governments of Guatemala and Canada, and the Guatemalan security forces, and with respect to Skye Resources (now HudBay Minerals) and the company's security forces; and

* That the investigation set out what reparations and compensation ought to be paid and made to the victims.

We believe the Canadian Government must carry out this investigation, based on the facts that:

1. the very authorities responsible for ensuring justice and security in Guatemala -- the police and the military -- were the perpetrators, along with CGN private security guards;

2. that the owners of the Guatemalan Nickel Company -- then Skye Resources, now HudBay Minerals -- are Canadian companies; and

3. that the Canadian government is playing a proactive role in supporting the expansion of Canadian companies into Guatemala.

We insist that this human rights violation complaint be taken seriously and trust the Canadian Government will take every means necessary to ensure that the perpetrators of these human rights violations be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that full reparations and compensation be made to the victims of these crimes.

We look forward to hearing back from you about this serious human rights matter. We have extensive knowledge about the violations and harms caused by nickel mining interests in the El Estor region and look forward to sharing it with you.

(For list of signatories to this complaint, visit www.rightsaction.org)

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Libya

UK Warned Against Military Ground Operations

Libya warned Britain on April 20 that it would be futile to send military advisers to Benghazi with the alleged interest of helping the armed rebellion to become organized, describing it as "an impossible mission," Prensa Latina reports.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khled Kaim said the decision announced by Britain exceeded the mandate granted by the UN Security Council Resolution, already criticized by Libya, which imposed a no-fly zone but excluded a land occupation.

"This is an impossible mission. Organize who? They [the so-called rebels] are different groups; there is no leader; they are not well-organized, and I am sure it will be a failure," Kaim said in a conference press broadcast by state-run Al Jamahiriya television.

According to British Foreign Minister William Hague, his country will send up to 20 military advisers to Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, which has become the capital of the opposition which has been fighting against the government of Muammar Gadhafi since February 15.

The British military advisers will join a group of British diplomats who are already conspiring with the Transitional National Council there, advising them on how to improve their military organization and communications.

(Prensa Latina)

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Civilian Casualties Continue Under Stepped Up NATO "Humanitarian" Bombings

News agencies report that the U.S.-led NATO alliance has stepped up its bombing of the Libyan capital Tripoli and other parts of the country. NATO officials have undertaken a new phase in operations April 19 with "deliberate, multiple strikes" by British aircraft on communications infrastructure and the headquarters of the Libya's 32nd Brigade located six miles south of Tripoli, it is reported. These attacks are ostensibly under the auspices of UN Security Council Resolution 1973, which states that the aim of the military mission is to enforce a no-fly zone for purposes of protecting civilians.

Libyan state television reported seven civilian deaths as a result of the attacks on Tripoli that were aimed at civilian and military targets and which destroyed several houses. In addition, the Libyan state information agency JANA said NATO planes attacked the town of Bir al-Ghanam to the south of Tripoli, killing four more civilians there.

Brigadier-General Mark van Uhm, NATO's chief of allied operations, claimed the attacks on Tripoli, which is outside the major combat zones, were justified, saying "What we are doing is attacking the regime's ability to supply and sustain [its] attacks [...] across the country."

Uhm also said that NATO aircraft had destroyed significant numbers of tanks, armoured vehicles and rocket launchers besieging the Libyan city of Misurata, 200 kilometres east of Tripoli on April 18.

Reports cite NATO sources saying the number of NATO airstrikes has doubled over the last two weeks.

Michel Chossodovsky, writing for Global Research, provides information on the scope of the NATO military intervention:

"NATO data confirms the magnitude and destructive nature of the Libya military operation.

"'Since the beginning of the NATO operation (31 March 2011, 08.00GMT) a total of 2,771 sorties and 1,110 strike sorties have been conducted.

"'A total of 18 ships under NATO command are actively patrolling the Central Mediterranean. 22 Vessels were hailed on 17 April to determine destination and cargo. 1 boarding was conducted (no diversion).

"'A total of 384 vessels have been hailed, 10 boardings and 3 diversions have been conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.' [NATO website]

"The above number of sorties includes only those tabulated since NATO took command of Operation Odyssey Dawn. It does not include the sorties between March 19 and March 30

"The coalition is currently running more than a hundred sorties a day.

"We are dealing with a formidable military force, a deployment of naval power and air force bombers directed against a country of less than 7 million people, less than the population of Switzerland.

"Let us be under no illusions. There is evidence of mass civilian casualties. These are war crimes (using advanced weapons systems) directed against a defenceless population."

(Agencies)

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