On September 5, the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Libya affirming, among other things, that “the Republic of Cuba does not recognize the National Transition Council or any other provisional authority and will only give its recognition to a government legitimately constituted in that country without foreign intervention and through the free, sovereign and sole will of the sister Libyan people.” This contrasts totally with the mad rush by many other states, led by France, the UK and Qatar, to recognise the NTC. Cuba’s statement is highly critical of NATO: “On the crude pretext of protecting civilians, NATO has killed thousands of people, has ignored the constructive initiatives of the African Union and other countries and has even violated the questionable resolutions imposed by the Security Council, in particular by attacking civilian targets, by funding and supplying weapons to one side, as well as through the deployment of operative and diplomatic personnel on the ground.”