Tunis, February 23: A private Tunisian airline has decided to return six of its passenger planes from Libya because they may be used to transfer foreign mercenaries to crackdown on the Libyan pro-democracy protesters.
Nouvelair Limited Company has announced that it will return six of its Airbus A320 commercial passenger jet airliners from crisis-hit Libya, after receiving news that Libya does not meet its contract commitments, using business planes for other purposes.
The government of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi is reportedly using the leased airplanes of the Tunisian airline to transfer foreign mercenaries from African countries in an attempt to crack down on the pro-democracy protesters with various weapons.
Gaddafi has waged a bloody battle to hang on to power as the revolution against his 42-year rule reached the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The 68-year-old Gaddafi has rejected the pro-democracy protesters’ calls for his resignation.
Instead, he has pledged to crush the ongoing revolution seeking to put an end to his rule.
At least 1,000 people were killed in Tripoli on Monday by airstrikes conducted by the Libyan military in a desperate move meant to quell the popular uprising, according to some reports.
The International Federation for Human Rights says as many as 400 others have also been killed since the onset of protests in the North African country on February 15.
The brutality of the crackdown has led many top Libyan officials to quit. On Tuesday, the Libyan interior minister resigned from his post.
Earlier, two Libyan air force pilots defected to Malta in their aircraft after refusing to carry out the regime’s orders to bomb civilians.
Reports indicate that two Libyan naval ships have also fled to Malta after refusing to follow orders to open fire on pro-democracy protesters in the port city of Benghazi.
——–Agencies