Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Libyan security forces launched overnight attacks on anti-government protesters seeking to emulate the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, increasing the death toll over five days of unrest to more than 170, Human Rights Watch said.
The U.S. issued a travel warning for Libya, which has the largest crude oil reserves on the African continent, citing “violent clashes” in six cities in the east of the country including Benghazi. Britain will raise the matter at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers due to gather in Brussels later today, Foreign Minister William Hague said.
Libya became the focal point of protest after violence flared in Yemen, Djibouti and Bahrain as governments sought to crack down on calls for reform sparked by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Clashes were reported today Morocco and Iran, and analysts warned of the risk of unrest spreading to Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter. Persian Gulf shares slumped, sending Dubai’s benchmark stock index down the most this month, on concern the turmoil may be widening.
“This will be bloody to the last moment but these leaders are finally aware of what is going on,” Helmy Sharawy, director of the African Arab Research Center in Cairo, said by phone. “We see it in Yemen, we see emergency meetings in the Gulf. They can’t ignore it anymore.”
‘World Is Watching’
At least 173 people have died in Libya with hundreds injured in clashes between Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s forces and anti-government protesters since Feb. 16, New York- based Human Rights Watch said today. Witnesses in Benghazi put the death toll at more than 200 with some 800 injured.
“The world is watching” Libya’s response to the pro- democracy protests, Hague said in an interview with Sky News in London. “There are reports of the use of artillery and anti- aircraft weapons” in Benghazi. “The U.K. condemns what the Libyan government has been doing and we call on other governments to do the same.”
Middle East shares dropped today, with the DFM General Index retreating 3.7 percent, the most since Jan. 30, to 1,536.45 at the 2 p.m. close in Dubai. Kuwait’s gauge tumbled 2.5 percent and Qatar’s QE Index decreased 1.6 percent. Oman’s MSM30 Index fell 1.1 percent, Bahrain’s gauge dropped 0.2 percent and Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index lost 1.9 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index declined 0.8 percent.
Yemen’s main opposition group rejected an offer for dialogue with the government as long as protesters are being attacked by security forces and called on supporters to join in demonstrations. Earlier today, Yemen’s president of 31 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, called for dialogue with opposition groups. Five people have been killed in 10 days of protest.
Iran Protests
In Iran, one protester was shot dead in Tehran as thousands gathered in main squares in the Iranian capital and clashed with government supporters, Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said. Security forces also clashed with demonstrators in the city of Shiraz, it reported.
In Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, seven opposition groups were today drawing up demands to put to the government as they discussed the government’s call for dialogue, said Ebrahim Sharif, head of the National Democratic Action Society.
Thousands of protesters yesterday poured back into the central square that has become the focus of protest in the Bahraini capital, Manama, after tanks, armored personnel carriers and riot police withdrew on the orders of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Unions called off a general strike planned for today in response.
“Calm is required so all parties can put forward their views and issues in a responsible and productive way,” the crown prince said on Bahrain TV yesterday, calling a day of mourning for those killed during the protests.
‘Real Dialogue’
Hague contrasted the “terrifying response” in Libya with that of Bahrain’s crown prince, who “is trying to embark on a real dialogue with the opposition.”
President Barack Obama told Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa on Feb. 18 that the government must show restraint in dealing with peaceful protests and hold accountable those responsible for violence, according to an administration statement issued in Washington.
The Bahrain protests provoked by discontent among majority Shiite Muslims risk spilling over to their co-religionists in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, analysts said.
The violence rippling across the region poses a challenge to U.S. strategic interests in Bahrain and Djibouti, both U.S. allies, as well as in Yemen, whose government cooperates with the U.S. on anti-terrorism efforts.
Camped Out
In Libya, run for 41 years by the anti-American leader Qaddafi, thousands of protesters, some who have been camping out since Feb. 17, gathered in front of the Supreme Court in Benghazi demanding an end to Qaddafi’s rule, an eyewitness who declined to be identified because he feared for his life, said by phone. Security police have withdrawn from most of the streets of Benghazi to nearby barracks, the person said.
Qaddafi “has not lead the country for the people,” said Paul Sullivan, a North Africa expert at Georgetown University in Washington. “They are not given the jobs and opportunities that such a resource rich country should give them. They are fed but left behind.”
Iranian Ships
Separately, two naval ships from Iran will pass through the Suez Canal and on to the Mediterranean Sea tomorrow, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified canal official. Ahmed El Manakhly, head of traffic at the waterway, has not received “any notifications about where they are and when they are requesting to cross,” he said by phone today.
Across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen in Djibouti, where the U.S. has about 2,000 personnel stationed at its only Africa base, three opposition leaders were released late yesterday after anti-government protests turned violent the previous night, leaving at least four dead and 50 injured, a party head said. The government has said one protester and one policeman died.
Ismail Guedi Hared, the president of the Union for a Democratic Alternative who was also arrested and then released, said that police had used tear gas and “shot in every direction.” Former colonial power France has 3,000 troops in Djibouti, which borders the Red Sea.
Bahrain Deaths
At least five people have been killed in Bahrain and more than 100 people were being treated at the Salmaniya Hospital after violent clashes two days ago, said Ahmed Jamal, president of the Bahrain medical society.
Protesters in Bahrain are calling for a constitutional monarchy and a change of government. The prime minister, the focus of the demonstrators’ demands, has held the office for four decades.
Fitch Ratings put Bahrain on rating-watch negative on Feb. 17, saying the protests “increase the risks to the sovereign’s credit profile.”
Swap contracts for Saudi Arabia, used as a measure of confidence although the country has no debt to insure, jumped 11.5 basis points to 138 last week, the highest since July 2009, on concern the unrest may spread. Saudi Arabi neighbors Bahrain and has a Shiite minority population in the east, where most of its oil is produced.
--With assistance from Viola Gienger, Kate Andersen Brower, Terry Atlas and Joe Sobczyk in Washington, Joseph Link in New York, Camilla Hall in Dubai, Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait, Vivian Salama, Svenya O’Donnell and Caroline Alexander in London, Maram Mazen in Khartoum, William Davison in Addis Ababa, Mohammed Hatam in Sanaa, Salah Slimani in Algiers, Ola Galal in Cairo and Benjamin Harvey in Ankara. Editors: Alan Crawford, Louis Meixler
To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Manama, Bahrain, at gcarey8@bloomberg.net; Ola Galal in Cairo at ogalal@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net