Arab League chief 'respects' action in Libya

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said today he respected a UN resolution that authorised military action on Libya, after earlier …

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said today he respected a UN resolution that authorised military action on Libya, after earlier comments suggested he was concerned by actions taken by Western powers.

"The Arab League position on Libya was decisive and from first moment we froze membership of Libya. . . . Then we asked the United Nations to implement a no-fly zone, and we respect the UN resolution and there is no conflict with it," he said.

"It is for protecting civilians and that is what we care about," he told a joint news conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Cairo. "We will continue to work on the protection of civilians. We urge everybody to take this into consideration in any military action," he said.

Mr Moussa had said yesterday that Arabs did not want military strikes by Western powers that hit civilians when the League called for a no-fly zone over Libya