South Africa Won’t Apologize for Backing UN Security Council Libya Vote

South Africa won’t apologize for backing the United Nations Security Council resolution that allowed the bombing of troops allied to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi by forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other countries.

“By the time we voted on the resolution more than 2,000 people were mowed down by their own government,” Maite Nkoana- Mashabane, South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, told lawmakers in Cape Town today.

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma has raised the issue of locating the body of Anton Hammerl, a South African photographer killed by Libyan forces, and returning it to South Africa with Qaddafi, the minister said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at clourens@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net