Libya crisis: UN security council to meet over Gaddafi crackdown

• James Meikle, Ian Black and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 February 2011 10.53 GMT
• Article history



Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi appears on state television to deny claims that he had fled. Photograph: Al-Arabiya Television Channel/Ho/EPA The United Nations security council is to meet in closed session to discuss Muammar Gaddafi's brutal crackdown in Libya amid fears of a bloodbath following the dictator's appearance on state TV to deny he had fled the country. Libya's deputy ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim al-Dabashi appealed for international intervention, starting with a no-fly zone over the country, to help stop "a real genocide". Runways at Benghazi airport are reported by Egyptian authorities to have been destroyed in the violence. The country's second city has been the scene of alleged massacres in recent days. The death toll in Libya passed 250 on Monday after six days of unrest, but this is a conservative estimate. The International Federation of Human Rights estimated the death toll at 300 to 400.   Read More