International

Yesterday the United Nations Security Council voted to approve measures to protect Libyan civilians. I am completely happy with this. The world cannot continue to sit by and look on as Gaddafi ruthlessly hunts down and kills his own people. Such acts must have consequences. Firstly we must do all we can to bring about a ceasefire. If that doesn’t work, then military intervention cannot be ruled out.

The fatal attack on Abdul Rahman Saidkhaili, chief of police in the Afghan province of Kunduz, demonstrates how the region is becoming more and more a war zone. That is the conclusion of SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel, who has asked Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to comment on the security situation in the northern province. Hundreds of Dutch soldiers will be arriving in Kunduz to provide training for the Afghan National Police. ‘The police chief was killed in the middle of the provincial capital,’ Van Bommel says. ‘I want the minister to tell us how in such circumstances our soldiers will be able to train police officers to perform civilian tasks.’