TRIPOLI: France on Friday expelled 14 Libyan diplomats loyal to the government of Muammar Gaddafi as Amnesty International said Libyan forces could be guilty of war crimes in the besieged city of Misrata. France, the United States, Britain and others are trying to go beyond a NATO bombing campaign against troops loyal to Gaddafi to find other ways of helping an uprising that prised eastern Libya from his control but then stalled. The bombing and imposition of a no-fly zone, both intended to protect civilians, have not prevented scores being killed in government attacks on remaining pockets of rebellion in western Libya, notably besieged Misrata and Zintan. Amnesty International said indiscriminate attacks on Misrata, including the use of snipers, cluster bombs and artillery in civilian areas, might amount to war crimes. “The scale of the relentless attacks that we have seen by Al-Gaddafi forces to intimidate the residents of Misrata for more than two months is truly horrifying,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior adviser in Libya. A French diplomatic source said the decision to expel the 14 Libyan diplomats had been taken some time ago, “but there was a process to follow”. “Many of these people were using their status as diplomats as a cover,” said the source, who declined to be named. A coalition of Western and Arab countries agreed on Thursday to provide Libya's eastern rebels, based in Benghazi, with millions of dollars in non-military aid to help them keep services and the economy running as well as try to topple Gaddafi, in power since 1969. The rebel Transitional National Council has said it needs up to $3 billion to keep going in the coming months, and the UN World Food Program said Thursday that Libya's food supplies could run out in six to eight weeks, particularly in the east.
