BBC news 2011-02-22 加文本

BBC news 2011-02-22

BBC News with Marion Marshall

Libya's diplomats at the United Nations have called for international intervention to stop the government's violent action against street demonstrations in their homeland. The deputy ambassador Ibrahim Omar Al Dabashi said Libyans must be protected from what he called a genocide. He told the BBC that the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi should be put on trial.

"Certainly, the best scenario is to have him before the court, to prosecute him and to know from him everything about the crimes he committed before, whether it is the genocide of the prison of Abu Saleem or the genocide he is committing now or the disappearance of certain important personalities, and all the other crimes he has committed during the 42 years in power in Libya."

The Libyan diplomats in New York urged the UN to impose a no-fly zone over the Libyan capital Tripoli, where there had been reports of warplanes attacking protesters. A BBC correspondent has sent this report from Tripoli.

The streets are almost empty, only heavy-security presence with armed police or security with civilian outfits monitoring every corner of the city. Shops are closed, and few bakeries are open where people lined up to get their bread. There's a strong sense of tension here. Supporters of Colonel Gaddafi drove through the city, keeping horned, holding the green flag in what looked like an orchestrated scene. And as the sun set, heavy gunfire is heard nearby in the city centre.

There are unconfirmed reports that the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has left Tripoli. His exact whereabouts are unknown, but the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had spoken to him to express deep concern at the escalating violence. John McManus reports.

As protests continue in Libya, two of the country's air force pilots have landed in Malta, seeking political asylum. And in London, nine embassy staff have left their offices to join around 100 protesters outside. There have also been several reports that army personnel inside Libya have changed sides. Earlier today, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that he'd seen some unconfirmed information suggesting that the country's leader Colonel Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela, something that both the governments in Tripoli and Caracas have denied.

Egypt's public prosecutor has instructed the foreign ministry to seek a freeze on the foreign assets of the former President Hosni Mubarak and his family. The move is the first sign that Mr Mubarak could be held accountable by the country's new military leadership. Critics say Mr Mubarak illegally amassed wealth during his three decades in power. It's also been announced that the former ministers of interior and tourism will face trial on charges of misusing public funds.

Thousands of people have occupied a square in the Tunisian capital Tunis to demand that the transitional government step down. They are angry that the administration contains allies of the ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

World News from the BBC

An army colonel in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for ordering his troops to commit mass rape. Here's our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding.

Colonel Kibibi Mutware's troops attacked the village of Fizi on New Year's Day following a dispute with a local shop owner. The government soldiers raped more than 60 women. For years, this kind of violence has been almost a norm in eastern Congo, a vast region, where rival armies and militias prey with impunity on civilians. But this time, a mobile court paid for by foreign donors was sent to the area. Not only were the colonel and his deputies put on trial, but crucially 49 women agreed to give evidence. It's the first time a commanding officer has been convicted of rape, a precedent that many hope will deter future crimes and strengthen the rule of law.

The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described today's Russia as an "imitation democracy". He criticised President Medvedev and the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for saying they would decide between them which one should run for the presidency next year. Here's Rayhan Demytrie.

Mikhail Gorbachev told journalists in Moscow that he did not like the way Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev approached the issue of the next year's presidential elections. "It is not Putin's business to decide who will lead the country. It should be up to voters," said Gorbachev. The former Soviet leader has described the country's main pro-Kremlin party as the worst copy of the Soviet Communist Party and said Russia had only imitations of a parliament and a judicial system.

Three inmates who attacked a Bosnian Serb war criminal in a British jail have been given additional prison sentences. The victim of the assault, Radislav Krstic, had been convicted of involvement in a massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica. The judge told the defendants, all of whom are Muslim, that he had no doubt their attack was intended as revenge.

BBC News