Civilians massacred in Libya as pro-government forces attack Bani Walid
By Fiona Edwards, Student CND
More than 18 months on from the start of Britain and the West’s prolonged aerial bombardment on Libya, the death, destruction and chaos continues.
Civilians in the town of Bani Walid in Libya are suffering as militias linked to the government – which came to power following the West’s war on Libya last year -, are intercepting food, fuel and medicine from reaching the town and using rockets, shells and gas weapons to attack the civilian population.
Pro Libyan government forces and militias have been shelling Bani Walid almost non-stop since early October.
A civilian living in Bani Walid describes the horrific situation facing the people in this interview with Russia Today.
Yesterday the US blocked a proposed statement to the UN Security Council, drafted by Russia, calling for the conflict in Libya’s besieged city of Bani Walid to be resolved peacefully.
The Western media’s near silence on the massacres taking place in Bani Walid should come as little surprise. These atrocities are being committed by the same ‘rebel’ forces Britain, the US and others backed in the war on Libya over a year ago – which are now in government.
This serves as a reminder that the West has no progressive role to play in the affairs and future of the Middle East, North Africa or anywhere else. As our government and other Western powers continue to send arms and military advisers to assist the rebels in Syria, and as threats to bomb Iran in the near future continue, it is vital that we redouble our efforts to build a mass anti-war movement to resist our government’s reactionary role in the world – to resist imperialism’s attempts to destroy and control the Middle East.
