BENGHAZI: China acknowledged Friday for the first time contact with Libya's rebels, as US lawmakers passed a resolution forcing President Barack Obama to explain his decision to intervene in Libya. The United States and the United Nations, meanwhile, slammed Qatar's deportation of a Libyan woman who alleged she had been raped by soldiers loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said a Chinese diplomat has met with the leader of Libya's opposition to discuss the conflict in the oil-rich nation. China's Ambassador to Qatar, Zhang Zhiliang, held talks with Mustapha Abdul-Jalil of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) in recent days. “The two sides exchanged views on the Libyan situation,” Hong said. The announcement of talks comes as explosions rattled Tripoli and Russia prepared to send an envoy to mediate the conflict. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would send an envoy to Tripoli and the rebels' capital of Benghazi to mediate, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting diplomats. “We would like as much as possible for the problem to be resolved through negotiations and not by military means,” Medvedev told reporters in Rome. The US House of Representatives, meanwhile, voted to reprimand Obama for keeping a US role in NATO's Libya operations, but stopped short of calling for an end to the mission. The lawmakers voted 268-145 for a resolution offered by Republican House Speaker John Boehner. Washington, meanwhile, accused Qatar of violating humanitarian norms by deporting to Benghazi Libyan woman Iman Al-Obeidi, who charged she had been raped by Gaddafi's soldiers. US officials had repeatedly asked Qatar to allow her to “travel with UNHCR (High Commissioner for Refugees) officials to a safe third country,” State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said. – Agence France
