ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday urged assistance to popular uprisings in north Africa and to refugees fleeing a crackdown by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Qaddafi.
"We have every obligation to respond to the (revolutionaries’) demands for moral, economic, political and institutional support," Papandreou told his ministers during an emergency cabinet meeting on the Greek economy.
He added that the European Union, whose leaders held talks on the issue in Brussels on Friday, is preparing a "broad" humanitarian aid plan to address a possible refugee crisis in war-torn Libya.
"Greece will play a decisive role in this effort," Papandreou said.
"There will be a fully developed plan by June to manage immigration and refugee waves to Europe," he added.
Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt recently toppled decades-old authoritarian regimes, and rebels in Libya are similarly trying to end Qaddafi’s 42-year rule.
Athens has traditionally maintained close relations with the Arab world, and Papandreou’s father Andreas cultivated ties with Qaddafi during his own tenure as Greece’s prime minister some 30 years ago, when the Libyan strongman was still ostracized in the West.
The Greek prime minister was also until recently a trustee in the international charity and development foundation headed by Qaddafi’s son Seif Al-Islam.
Libyan rebels on Sunday retreated from another key town under heavy shelling from government forces as Qaddafi loyalists swept closer towards the main opposition-held city of Benghazi.
A lightning counter-offensive over the past week has pushed the rebels out of Mediterranean coastal towns, allowing the regime to wrest back momentum against a month-long uprising to end Qaddafi’s four-decade grip on power.
Papandreou last week spoke with Qaddafi by telephone and urged him to help resolve the crisis peacefully. An envoy from the embattled strongman later met Greek officials in Athens as part of a European diplomatic tour.
