Roshan Muhammed Salih: Angered by the NATO bombing of Libya, this delegation made up of British academics, lawyers, and journalists set off from London’s Heathrow Airport on a peace mission to Tripoli. Their intention is to emphasize that the Western intervention isn’t altruistic and has made the situation there worse.
Dave Roberts: It’s really a foreign intervention into a sovereign country. We feel that there are probably not two but three sides to this unfolding war. The NATO needs to step out and allow the Libyan people the space to arbitrate and resolve the clear issues and problems that they’re facing.
Ishmahil Blagrove: . . . We haven’t heard alternative voices in the media. It’s been very much one-dimensional. . . .
Roshan Muhammed Salih: Many civilian lives have been lost, and there appears to be no end to people’s suffering, as a military stalemate between the rebels in the east and the pro-Gaddafi forces in the west sets in. Once in Tripoli, the delegation will call for an immediate ceasefire from all sides and for impartial international monitors to observe it. They will also call for talks between the Libyan government and rebels and for humanitarian corridors to provide medical assistance, food, and water for civilians in affected areas. . . . This peace delegation departs at a time when the British public seems to be split over the UK’s role in the NATO intervention. Opinion polls show that many in the British public feel that this intervention could last for months if not for years, and at a time when the British economy is struggling to recover from recession, many feel that the government has got its priorities wrong.
This video was released by Press TV on 9 April 2011. For more information about British Civilians for Peace, visit <www.facebook.com/pages/British-Civilians-for-Peace-in-Libya/165918890129946>. See, also, Sandra de Andrade, “British Civilians for Peace in Libya” (visionOntv, 9 April 2011).
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