Libyan Envoy Says UN Must Enact No-Fly Zone Immediately

UNITED NATIONS -- Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy envoy to the U.N. who has turned against Moammar Gadhafi, said Wednesday the U.N. Security Council had 10 hours to pass a resolution imposing a no-fly zone in Libya and possibly authorizing airstrikes.

"We think Col. Gadhafi today has lost his mind," Dabbashi told journalists, explaining that Gadhafi's forces had instructions to "destroy everything and kill whoever you find" in the eastern city of Ajdabiya.

"We think that in the coming hours we will see real genocide in Ajdabiya," he said. "The international community has to act within the next 10 hours."

Dabbashi said Gadhafi's forces would unleash "ethnic cleansing" on villages in mountain region of the western part of the country. "I think something will be in the resolution to allow air strikes," he said.

As Gadhafi's son declared that rebels in Libya would be crushed in the next two days, the U.N. Security Council this afternoon had not reached any consensus on whether to impose a no-fly zone to stop Gadhafi's forces from bombing civilians and rebel-held areas.

On Saturday, the Arab League called for such a no-fly zone to be established, but the proposal needs to be authorized by the U.N. Security Council.

"I am sure you heard Saif al-Islam Gadhafi's statement that in two days they will be in Benghazi," Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's envoy to the U.N., told reporters today, referring to a rebel stronghold in the eastern part of the country.

"I hope the Security Council will prove him wrong on two counts ... that there will be no rivers of blood and the council will act swiftly and have a no-fly zone and other measures to protect the civilian population," he said.

The Security Council is discussing a draft resolution, prepared by France and Britain, which was circulated Tuesday by Lebanon, the only member of the Arab League represented in the council.

In a letter to the Security Council, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was "high time" for the international community to "pull together" and respond to the appeal by the Arab League.

"Together, we can save the martyred people of Libya. It is now a matter of days, if not hours," he wrote today. "The worst would be that the appeal of the League of the Arab States and the Security Council decisions be overruled by the force of arms. "

However, there was little consensus among countries of 15-member body after three hours of discussion today.

Among the five permanent members of the council that have veto power, China and Russia have expressed reservations about applying the no-fly zone. Other nonpermanent members want more details about how and where will such a no-fly zone be imposed.

Li Baodong, China's ambassador to the U.N., said Tuesday that the "next step" of the Security Council depended on "whether that will be helpful to bring back the peace and end violence."

Vitaly Churkin, Russian envoy to the U.N., said today that reports of Moscow opposing the no-fly zone were "baloney."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the Libyan authorities against an "assault" on Benghazi and called on all parties to accept "immediate ceasefire."

"A campaign to bombard such an urban center would massively place civilians at risk," he said in a statement.

"Benghazi will not fall in any way," Dabbashi countered today, saying that Gaddafi's propaganda was a "psychological war."

The U.S., which already has forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, is worried about getting bogged down in a third Muslim country.

"We are hoping to focus the efforts of the international community on actions that will have a real influence on events," Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. at the U.N., told reporters. "In terms of process, we are about to get started."

Speaking in Cairo to CBS News, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the Arab League's endorsement of the no-fly zone had made more countries receptive to the measure.

"That has changed the thinking of a lot of people," she said, adding that Washington would not take any "unilateral action."

On Feb. 26, the Security Council adopted a resolution slapping sanctions on the Libyan regime, which included an arms embargo, an asset freeze and travel ban on Gadhafi and his supporters, and a referral to the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

The current draft resolution also has a second part that strengthens these sanctions and imposes them on more of Gadhafi's supporters.

On the no-fly zone, there is also concern that it would be viewed as foreign military intervention.

Salam, the Lebanese diplomat, stressed that Arab countries would be involved in implementing the no-fly zone and reiterated that action authorized by the Security Council is not foreign intervention but "an international legality."

"Several Arab countries assured us that they will participate," Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, blogged today.

Dabbashi said today that "around five" Arab countries will participate in imposing the no-fly zone.