Brasília – In Luanda, Angola, Brazil’s foreign minister, Antonio Patriota, said on Thursday (20) that expectations are for violence in Libya to come to an end after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader. "Brazil hopes for the violence in Libya to end, for military operations to come to an end and for the people of Libya to proceed with its aspirations and wishes, in the spirit of dialogue and reconstruction,” he said.
In the company of president Dilma Rousseff on her trip to Africa, the foreign minister said that Gaddafi capture was announced at 1:37 pm (10:37 am, Brasília time) – while the Brazilian president was in the company of Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos. Patriota interrupted the meeting to inform the presidents who, after having heard the news, continued their meeting.
The day before yesterday (18), during the Ibsa (India, Brazil and South Africa) forum, in Pretoria (South Africa), Rousseff and the representatives of South Africa and India condemned military actions in Libya. Traditionally, Brazil is contrary to these measures and defends the peaceful route of dialogue.
However, since March, the international community, through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), approved an air exclusion area in Libya. In practice, there are military actions in specific areas of the country under the allegation of need to protect the civil population. However, Brazil is contrary to the initiative.
"In Libya, we operate guided by the certainty that armed interventions and especially those in the margin of international law neither bring peace nor protect human rights,” said Rousseff.
*Translated by Mark Ament
