A senior leader of Libya’s rebels on Wednesday rejected accusations by Human Rights Watch that anti-Gaddafi forces have been responsible for looting, arson and abuse of civilians.
Mahmud Jibril admitted that a “few incidents” of abuse took place in the first two weeks of the insurrection, which began in mid-February when Libyans rose up against four decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s iron-fisted rule.
But he added: “This is no longer the case in the liberated areas.”
Jibril was speaking to reporters after meeting the foreign ministers of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in Brussels, according to Belga news agency.
The three countries became the latest EU member states to recognise the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
Jibril, the NTC’s number two official, met earlier with Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the 28 ambassadors of the transatlantic alliance. — Sapa-AFP