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(NEWZIMBABWE) Gaddafi can got to Zimbabwe: Clinton

Gaddafi can got to Zimbabwe: Clinton
by Staff Reporter
02/03/2011 00:00:00

THE United States says it is open to the idea of Muammar Gaddafi fleeing Libya for Zimbabwe, although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admits the possibility makes her “speechless”. Clinton said Monday that "no option was off the table," for the embattled Gaddafi, including the possibility of him seeking refuge in a safe haven, such as in Zimbabwe.

"I was almost rendered speechless by the idea of him and Mugabe together," Clinton told a news conference in Geneva, insisting that the goal is for an end to the violence, "and if the violence could be ended by his leaving ... that might be a good thing.”

But even if Gaddafi fled Libya – where his regime is facing rebellion from the west of the country – the United States and its allies would still seek to hold him accountable for a violent crackdown by his security forces try to crush the uprisings.

“… his leaving and ending the killing of so many people who are trying to assert their rights, that might be a good, a good step, but of course we believe accountability has to be attained for what he has done,” she said.

Gaddafi counts President Robert Mugabe and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez among his closest allies. But Gaddafi insists he will “live and die in Libya”, resisting pressure from western countries to quit.

Thousands of Libyans are fleeing the unrest, many of them heading for Egypt and Tunisia. The United Nations on Monday called for a mass humanitarian evacuation of people fleeing Libya for Tunisia, saying the border situation is at "crisis point".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said thousands of lives were at stake. Some 75,000 people have fled to Tunisia since the unrest began and 40,000 more are waiting to cross, the UN says.

The organisation has voted to suspend Libya from its Human Rights Council.

Labels: HILLARY CLINTON, MUAMMAR AL-GADDAFI

posted by MrK @ 2:19 PM