"The Indonesian government must call for a stop to the Coalition`s air strikes," Hikmahanto Juwono, dean at the University of Indonesia`s Faculty of Law (FHUI), said in a statement here, Tuesday.
The UN Resolution`s mandate had been achieved because the Coalition`s military officials had announced that the Gaddafi government`s air defenses had been paralyzed or neutralized so that Gaddafi could no longer use them to attack the opposition, he said.
Therefore, if the Coalition`s strikes continued against Gaddafi following US President Obama`s statement that "Gaddafi needs to go", the Coalition`s strikes, which initially could be considered legal, would become an unjust war, he said.
"Indonesia needs to remind the United States that the US` wish to topple Gaddafi could push Libya into a civil war," he stated.
Besides, the US policy would once again alienate the US from the Islamic world, and Obama`s efforts to reach out to the Islamic world would fail, he said.
Hikmahanto also said the Indonesian government needed to take a clear stance on the Western military strikes for internal political consumption.
"Don`t let the people think that the government is not sensitive toward Western aggression against Middle East nations," he said.
Meanwhile, AFP reported Tuesday (22/3) that a government official said that the coalition headed by the United States, Britain and France on Monday bombarded the southern town of Sebha, bastion of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi`s Guededfa tribe.
"Since Saturday, the enemy coalition has launched air raids and missile attacks on Tripoli, Zuwarah, Misrata, Sirte and Sebha, especially targeting airports," Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference in the capital.
Ibrahim said Monday`s attacks caused "numerous" civilian victims, especially at the "civilian airport" in Sirte, Kadhafi`s native town, 360 kilometres east of the capital.
(L.A017*G003/F001/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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