Sunday evening: Libyan *army* announces cease-fire

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by heech, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. heech

    heech

    I don't know about the internal politics here... but speaking as an interested outsider, it's interesting that the (discredited) ceasefire announced Friday came from the foreign ministry. Today's announcement comes courtesy of the military directly, but Qaddafi isn't personally named. Perhaps he's being sidelined?

    If this holds true, Monday's markets should be interesting...

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/20/uk-libya-ceasefire-idUKTRE72J3NM20110320

    Libyan army says immediate ceasefire ordered
    TRIPOLI | Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:23pm GMT
    (Reuters) - The Libyan armed forces have issued a command to all units to observe an immediate cease-fire, a Libyan army spokesman told a news conference on Sunday.

    The announcement came after some 24 hours of air bombardment from American, French and British forces aiming to implement a U.N. resolution authorising the use of force to protect Libyan civilians from government troops.

    "The Libyan armed forces ... have issued a command to all military units to safeguard an immediate cease-fire from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) this evening," a Libyan army spokesman said.

    Earlier in the day, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, using tanks and artillery to try to put down the most serious uprising in his 41 years in power, had said he would give out weapons to his people to help defend Libya against Western forces.