CRÍMENES DE GUERRA EN LIBIA DE UN LADO Y DEL OTRO

Libya conflict: UN accuses both sides of war crimes

UN investigators have accused government forces in Libya of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Rights experts said they found evidence of crimes including murder and torture, in a pattern that suggested Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was behind them.

The UN mission also said opposition forces were guilty of abuses which would constitute war crimes, although they were not as numerous.

Earlier Nato extended its mission in Libya by a further 90 days.

The move was unanimously agreed by Nato's 28 member states meeting in Brussels.

The decision was seen as practical in part - to accommodate the military planners of the contributing forces - but correspondents say it also aims to send a message of support to the rebels.

Nato intervened in Libya after the UN passed a resolution for the protection of civilians, amid a two-month revolt inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

It has intensified raids in recent weeks with attacks on command-and-control structures in the capital Tripoli.

In other developments:

• A suspected car bomb went off in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, near a hotel frequented by rebel leaders and foreign visitors. No-one is believed to have been killed
• Oil Minister Shukhri Ghanem confirmed at a news conference in Rome, Italy, that he had defected to the rebels

Interviews

The UN report, which has just been released in Geneva, was carried out by a team of three human rights experts.

The team travelled to Libya to carry out the investigation, and met both sides in the conflict, as well as human rights groups and medical professionals, and families of those detained.

It based its findings on interviews with 350 people in government- and rebel-held areas of the country, as well as in refugee camps outside its borders.

"In accordance with its mandate to look also at crimes committed in Libya, the commission has... reached the conclusion that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed by the government forces of Libya," the commission said in a statement.

"The commission received fewer reports of facts which would amount to the commission of international crimes by opposition forces, however, did find some acts which would constitute war crimes."

¿Y QUÉ NOS CUENTAN DE LAS VÍCTIMAS DEL"FUEGO AMIGO" DE LA OTAN?

¿Y CÓMO EXPLICAN LA LARGA DURACIÓN DEL CONFLICTO?

The report will be debated by the UN human rights council in Geneva on Monday.