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MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – Libya categorically denied claims on Saturday by a rights watchdog that Moamer Kadhafi's forces were using illegal cluster bombs against rebel fighters in Misrata, as the long-besieged rebel-held town came under heavy fire once again.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said a new United Nations resolution to push Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi into quitting was unnecessary, and German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle suggested frozen Libyan funds be diverted to the UN to pay for aid to victims of the conflict.
US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said its researchers reported the use of internationally banned cluster munitions against Misrata, the rebels' last major bastion in western Libya.
But a spokesman for the Libyan regime denied the accusations.
"Absolutely no. We can't do this. Morally, legally we can't do this," Mussa Ibrahim told journalists. "We never do it. We challenge them to prove it."
Insurgents said Kadhafi loyalists were using cluster bombs, which explode in the air and scatter deadly, armour-piercing submunitions over a wide area.
"Last night it was like rain," said Hazam Abu Zaid, a local resident who has taken up arms to defend his neighbourhood, describing the cluster bombings.
The use of the munitions was first reported by The New York Times. A reporting team for the daily photographed MAT-120 mortar rounds which it said were produced in Spain.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said a new United Nations resolution to push Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi into quitting was unnecessary, and German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle suggested frozen Libyan funds be diverted to the UN to pay for aid to victims of the conflict.
US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said its researchers reported the use of internationally banned cluster munitions against Misrata, the rebels' last major bastion in western Libya.
But a spokesman for the Libyan regime denied the accusations.
"Absolutely no. We can't do this. Morally, legally we can't do this," Mussa Ibrahim told journalists. "We never do it. We challenge them to prove it."
Insurgents said Kadhafi loyalists were using cluster bombs, which explode in the air and scatter deadly, armour-piercing submunitions over a wide area.
"Last night it was like rain," said Hazam Abu Zaid, a local resident who has taken up arms to defend his neighbourhood, describing the cluster bombings.
The use of the munitions was first reported by The New York Times. A reporting team for the daily photographed MAT-120 mortar rounds which it said were produced in Spain.
