Press conference following the Cairo Conference on Libya [with Q&A]

It's a great pleasure, and good to be back in Cairo after three weeks.

I am pleased to be joined this time by these distinguished leaders from international regional organizations. I thank them once again for working to resolve the crisis in Libya, and I thank Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, for hosting us and co-chairing our conference.

This meeting was a concrete demonstration of the international community working together in common cause and with a common voice for the people of Libya. We witnessed similar solidarity at the Libya Contact Group meeting in Doha just yesterday.

That unity has been making a difference.

The five organizations gathered here are trying to find a solution to the crisis in a manner that responds to legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people.

We need to do this, not least because of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions on the ground. We are gravely concerned about the escalation of violence, the heavy civilian casualties and human rights violations.

At our meeting today we discussed the important initiatives such as the African Union roadmap as well as the Turkish ideas for an early solution of the crisis.

Our meeting today has been very important in outlining the next steps. Of course we agreed to adopt a unified approach to finding a lasting solution to the crisis in Libya. The organizations offer their full support to the efforts of my Special Envoy, Mr. Abdul Ilah al-Khatib. He will be returning to Libya soon to continue his engagement with both parties.

Second, we reiterate our call for an immediate verifiable ceasefire, withdrawal of forces laying siege to cities, the protection of the civilian population and for respect for the arms embargo as called for in Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973.

Third, we stressed the need for freedom of movement and safe passage for those trapped by fighting and for unrestricted access by humanitarian agencies.

The humanitarian situation is particularly grave in Misrata, Brega and Zintan where people face critical shortages of medicines, water, food and other essentials.

We are also deeply concerned with the fate of third country nationals, migrants and refugees who are trapped in areas of fighting. As the fighting rages, the situation will only get worse and the more distant a political solution.

We call for an inclusive political process through which the Libyan people can choose their own future. That process should also meet the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Libyan people for democracy, freedom, the rule of law and socio-economic development.

The world must not waver. The Libyan people deserve no less.

I thank the leaders here for coming together in common cause for peace and for the people of Libya.

Thank you very much and Shukran Gazilan.

Q: My question is for Mr. Ban Ki-moon and Ms. Ashton: As you all are supporting the AU initiative do we understand from this that you are pressuring the Libyan opposition to stop asking Colonel Qadhafi to step down or what? Can you explain this?

SG: There are three objectives which we have discussed. First one, how an effective ceasefire can be realized as soon as possible to prevent further bloodshed, to prevent civilian population being killed. I have been urging the Libyan authorities to stop fighting and allow humanitarian assistance which is our second challenge. Third one comes political dialogue and after that we need to think about the post-conflict reconstruction of Libya. Killing his own people -- this is totally unacceptable, it is a violation of human rights, and international humanitarian law, thus I believe he has lost completely his legitimacy. This is what the international community has been stating, including [?] in Doha yesterday. Therefore he must stop fighting and allow the transition so that the Libyan people will be able to enjoy genuine and greater freedom and democracy. That is the position of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Q: (translated from Arabic) There are talks now about a political solution but there is an obvious contradiction now between the position of the opposition and the Libyan government, how can we reach this solution when the opposition insists on Qadhafi's withdrawal, while Qadhafi insists on staying in power?

SG: We have discussed this matter at length among the leaders of the organizations. Our priority is that there must be no further fighting, a ceasefire must be done now. I will try to have my Special Envoy to bring about this ceasefire as soon as possible. At the same time, we need to have a political dialogue to allow this transition as well as ceasefire hold on and to allow expanded humanitarian assistance. Half a million people have fled the country, they have been affected, in the worst cases more than 3 million people [could] be affected by this humanitarian situation. And therefore Colonel Qadhafi has to listen attentively and seriously to the call of [the] international community, must fully comply with the Security Council Resolution 1970 and 1973. And this is a very strong message from the international community.

Q: You've been speaking about a political solution, you've been speaking about a ceasefire, but what are exactly the mechanisms that you are giving to materialise this cease fire that would address the demands of the Libyan rebels and at the same time the acceptance of the Libyan regime?

SG: As I said earlier, we have discussed this matter at length: what would be the desirable conditions of a ceasefire, which will allow the political dialogue, which will allow humanitarian assistance. There may be many initiatives, many practical approaches. Now as I said, the AU has proposed a roadmap which was agreed upon by Colonel Qadhafi's regime but which was not agreed upon by the Interim Council. There is another Turkish proposal and my Special Envoy has also discussed on two occasions [inaudible]. Therefore this dialogue will have to continue to bring about this ceasefire, and at the same time, we are discussing this matter of political dialogue. Political dialogue will be a very important element in bringing about a reasonable resolution of Libyan crisis, allowing humanitarian assistance. About post-conflict reconstruction and stabilisation process in Libya, we will have to continue to discuss this matter with key stakeholders and the international community but what we are thinking is that as soon as the situation is stabilized, we will have to have socio-economic support, we will have to address the post-conflict process through peacemaking and also peacebuilding process. All these issues will have to be discussed in due course.