20110323
Xinhua
TRIPOLI/PARIS, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Loud explosions and intensive anti-aircraft fire were heard in Tripoli Tuesday, as the United States and France agreed on the role of NATO in the Western-led coalition's military actions in the North African country.

On Tuesday, French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle reportedly set a reconnaissance operation in motion in Libya earlier in the day, and two Rafale jets conducted the mission with one sending back visual information of Libya and the other escorting the former's flight.

Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Africa Command, based in Germany, confirmed that a U.S. F-15E fighter jet crashed Monday afternoon (local time) some 40 km southwest of Benghazi in east Libya due to a malfunction.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama agreed Tuesday on how to use NATO's command structure to support the military operation in Libya. The two leaders exchanged ideas over the situation in Libya in a telephone call from Obama, and agreed "on the need to continue efforts to ensure the full implementation of (UN) resolutions 1970 and 1973."

French leaders said that although NATO support was necessary in the Western-led military action against Libya, its role should be limited as the intervention was a European-centric operation.

"For us, this operation ... is conducted by a coalition of states, not all of which are members of the Organization of the North Atlantic Treaty," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said earlier, adding "it's not an operation of NATO, even though it must be supported by means of military planning and intervention of the (NATO) Alliance."

While the West was busy creating a new body to take over the lead in its current intervention in Libya, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi made his first public appearance in a week near Tripoli late Tuesday, vowing to fight on. "Be it long or short, we're ready for battle," he said in a short live address to his supporters.

Meanwhile, there were also countries and international organizations blasting the ongoing Western-led strike against Libyan government forces, saying the air raids went beyond the UN resolution and must be scrapped immediately.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin severely criticized the U.S. role in the "Odyssey Dawn" operation against Libya. "The use of force against other countries became a steady trend in U.S. policy," Putin noted, adding this trend was "disturbing."

He also said the UN resolution "is, surely, flawed and lame ... as it allows intervention in a sovereign country."

"The UN resolution on a no-fly zone over Libya aims to protect civilians. We oppose abuse of force causing more civilian casualties and more serious humanitarian disasters," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday, adding that China believes the current crisis can be resolved through dialogue and other peaceful means.

"The future of Libya should be decided by the Libyan people themselves," she said.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe reprimanded the West for bombing Libya, saying some countries manipulated the UN resolution to bomb Libya. "The West is bombarding Libya, and they are doing it in a callous way. They don't care who dies, and actually they want Gaddafi to die," he said, adding the African Union and the Arab League had been cheated by the West.

Bolivian President Evo Morales told a press conference it was unacceptable that the Western-led coalition, under the pretext of protecting Libyan civilians, was bombing and destroying the country. He described the intervention as "a crime, an assault and an aggression," and urged the United Nations to order an immediate end to the military operation.

"We will apply the United Nations Security Council resolution, but according to our understanding to what is going on in the region," Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy secretary-general of the Arab League (AL), said Tuesday.

He added that the AL's call for a no-fly zone over Libya was based upon some conditions, including the rescue of civilians and the protection of Libyan facilities, regarding it as a temporary decision to give Libyan officials a chance to respond to people's demands.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet to discuss the situation in Libya Thursday at the request of the Libyan government.