THE government of the Bahamas and the official opposition have both expressed outrage at the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya that claimed the life of US Ambassador J Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff members.
The government said it stands with its ally the United States and joins other free and democratic countries around the world in condemning the “cowardly attack”.
“We are shocked and dismayed by the disregard for life and this overt and violent display of intransigence by a fanatical minority towards the principles of freedom of expression and sovereignty, tenets that we hold so dear,” said Fred Mitchell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.
He reiterated the Bahamas’ commitment to “freedom, democracy, tolerance (in the face of dissenting points of view) and the prevalence of the rule of law, as foundational pillars to an ordered and peaceful society”.
“Diplomacy must always be the preferred option in resolving conflicts, whether the conflicts exist on a personal, national or international level,” Mr Mitchell said.
The opposition FNM, meanwhile, said it joins with the world community in expressing outrage over the “senseless attacks”.
The party said in a statement: “We express deepest sympathies to all the bereaved families. The FNM also calls for the most forthright and strongest response to such unbridled barbarism.
“The government of Libya, which has apologised for what it calls ‘criminal acts’, must go further and bring all the criminal murderers to justice.
“The United States government, and indeed the international community, must make it absolutely clear that any attack upon diplomatic staff, officials or property will not be tolerated, and that any such criminals will be rooted out and receive the harshest penalties.”
Comments
Gypsy 11 years, 7 months ago
How could you be shocked & dismayed by the violence in a territory that has had violence in it's history since the dawn of time? While I'm of Christian belief, how do you go to someone else's country offend them & what they stand for & not expect consequence. The Libyan government issued an apology on behalf of the "rebels" & while I understand that it's because he was an ambassador which is why anyone cares, it seems there is an agenda. Don't misunderstand my message... I feel for anyone who loses their lives or family to senseless violence as I've lost family members to our own known local terrorists who grease officials to stay out of local & foreign prisons & no apologies were issued, no condolences were issued just a big "eff" you, your family members deserved it. Well unfortunately there are some Americans that deserve it as well considering the damage that can follow in their paths. Iguana eating, barefoot banditting, wife/husband killing & bury the body out West, police beating, race insulting, drug selling/buying, money laundering, tax evading, water poaching, Haitian killing, peeing on corpses, scandalous, offensive, fleeing to the Bahamas, threatening group of people. Obviously not all but everyone knows ALL the situations I've touched. Everyone wants to get on the bandwagon when things look beneficial. Is it because of the prospects of oil or the new Bahamar project you lotioning for??? Oh let me guess this may just be "a genuine gesture from a politician", wink wink... Whatever man!!!
MartGM 11 years, 7 months ago
Perhaps whatever the reason, the actions of the extremists were quite severe. Even if these politicians are trying to "lotion" as you claim, it's an act of diplomacy to speak out against blatant and outright injustices. Now, don't get me wrong, ALOT of injustice goes on that we are too "afraid" to speak out on, but if someone had bombed a Bahamian embassy and killed an Ambassador, the US would have issued an apology.
Let's not take away from this particular issue to highlight other issues...
Gypsy 11 years, 7 months ago
Nobody apologized when Saddam was wrongly lynched after a fake war was started in his country. Though he may have deserved it it wasn't America's right to be there at that time. George W. Bush now deserves it but if that happens there would be hell to pay. I'm just agitated by every time something happens to an American there's this urgency to "lotion" by many nations, now ours. If Americans brought a film crew into the Bahamas & ridiculed Christianity & our island ways & culture like the silly girl some months ago who wrote the most offensive column & someone got hurt I really couldn't imagine mourning. The "other issues" are why these thing happen to them my lord. Don't get me wrong, I respect what you're saying as well but I'm also sick of all our politicians same way. SICK of them all, GREEN, RED, YELLOW & any other that rises with the same parasitic mentality.
Signed,
Angry Bahamian...
concernedcitizen 11 years, 7 months ago
does it make you feel better about yourself to put down an entire nationality .do you know ever one in america ..???do we have rapist ,child molesters ,crooked and gay and lesbian politicians here ??.do we steal from each other ??,murder each other ??,sweet heart on the people we are married to ??..next you will tell me we learned all of that from americans ,so whats the deal we have no backbone ???????????????is our illegitamite birth rate about 75%?????
concernedcitizen 11 years, 7 months ago
who anointed you to judge a whole nationality ,have you ever looked around at the level of sin in our little country ?? 75% illegitamacy rate ,higher murder rate per capita than NY city ,,god has become our personal gambling handicapper ,sending us the # in our dreams ,,,oh yeah we pure here in lil nassau ,,,,,,,,,,lmao
jt 11 years, 7 months ago
Higher murder rate than NYC? We had one murder per 2,500 people in 2011. New York City had one per 16,000 people. Yeah, I'd say that's higher. I am afraid to do the maths for NASSAU versus NYC.
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