Revenge killings unsettle Benghazi

BENGHAZI, Libya, May 15 (UPI) -- Killings of former Gadhafi regime operatives in Benghazi, Libya, are raising fears of revenge and secret death squads, residents say.

In recent weeks, two former interrogators for the dictator's internal security, Nasser al-Sirmany and Hussein Ghaith, were found shot dead outside the rebel capital in eastern Libya, The New York Times reported last week. Their families said they had joined the revolution.

Rebel authorities in Benghazi are trying to round up Gadhafi loyalists and agents, but say their security forces are not responsible for the killings and they are committed to the rule of law.

"It's our responsibility to protect people," said Jamal Benour, a rebel justice official. "It's important the killers are punished. The law is most important."

Dr. Omar Khalid, a forensic pathologist, said Jalaa Hospital has received at least a dozen bodies of executed men, though it was not known if they had worked for the government. District Attorney Ali Wanis said he is investigating the executions of Gadhafi soldiers.

"This is a war of rumors," said Col. Fawzi Omami. "People are very edgy."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/05/15/Revenge-killings-unsettle-Benghazi/UPI-68481305475950/.

Greece to send humanitarian aid to Benghazi

14/05/2011

Greece will send a humanitarian aid ship to Libyan rebel's stronghold of Benghazi, Greek Foreign Minister, Dimitris Droutsas said on Saturday.

"Next week Greece will provide a ship that will carry humanitarian aid for Libyan rebels as well as the mobile hospital. Greek diplomats will accompany the mission and will provide communication with insurgents," Droutsas said after the talks with the UN special envoy on Libya, Abdelilah al-Khatib, who is leaving for Tripoli on Sunday.

Greece has already closed its embassy in Tripoli on security concerns, but has yet broken diplomatic ties with Libyan government.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi which began two days later.

Greece was among those supported the military intervention to Libya and provided the NATO allies with the airports and military base, but did not take part in the operation itself.

ATHENS, May 14 (RIA Novosti)

Source: RIA Novosti.
Link: http://en.rian.ru/world/20110514/164029405.html.

Libyan local council members express support to opposition in Qatar

May 12, 2011

Members of Libyan local councils gather in Qatar's capital Doha on Wednesday to express their "unequivocally allegiance to, and trust in" the Libyan opposition Interim Transitional National Council.

According to a statement obtained by Xinhua, the local councils representing the western, central and southern regions of Libya gathered to "counter the regime's attempts to cause division and animosity between Libyans of various regions."

They also vowed their unity and continuing struggle to build a new Libya in a two-hour meeting in Qatar, the first Arab nation to recognize the Libyan opposition Interim Transitional National Council.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7377830.html.

Tunisian police arrest Libyan transporting munitions

TUNIS | Wed May 11, 2011

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police arrested a Libyan man in a car packed with Kalashnikov rifle cartridges on Wednesday in the south of the country, 80 km (50 miles) from the border with Libya.

A police officer at the scene also said by telephone that authorities had also arrested a second man, an Algerian, who was transporting grenades. It appeared the vehicles were traveling from Libya.

There were no further details on the separate arrests in the southern town of Bir Amir but Arab and Western officials have said that Al Qaeda could be exploiting the Libyan conflict to acquire weapons and smuggle them into other countries.

A senior security official in neighboring Algeria told Reuters last month there were signs Al Qaeda was at work to acquire surface-to-air missiles and other arms to smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali.

The Algerian official described a convoy of Toyota pick-up trucks which had left eastern Libya and arrived in Mali after it crossed through Chad and Niger.

In that case the trucks unloaded Russian-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov heavy machine guns, Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and ammunition.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Writing by Sylvia Westall; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/us-tunisia-libya-arrest-idUSTRE74A2OX20110511.

Russia Seeks China's Support on Libya Crisis

May 08, 2011
Vladimir Socor

On May 6 in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov each received Lavrov’s Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi. According to Lavrov at the concluding news conference, Russia and China would “coordinate their actions” in the UN Security Council and beyond to support the “soonest possible stabilization of the situation” in North Africa and the Middle East.

Lavrov spoke more abundantly and aggressively than Yang during this event. Reasserting Russia’s known objections to NATO’s intervention in Libya, Lavrov added for the first time negative comments about Arab states and organizations that support that intervention in one way or another.

Utmost among Moscow’s concerns is the retention of its veto power, via the UN Security Council, over NATO or US operations. It was Medvedev who started the litany of complaints that NATO’s operation was exceeding the mandate of Security Council resolution no. 1973 on Libya. The Russian president used his visit to China on April 14 to air those complaints, hoping to draw support from the Chinese hosts in the first place. Moscow insists that any military measures that, in its view, overstep the UN mandate must first be submitted to the Security Council for Russian consent.

As Lavrov indicated again during Yang’s Moscow visit, Russia does not rule out its consent. It simply hints that its consent via a new resolution is subject to negotiation. Moscow professes concern that NATO countries may be planning a military operation on the ground in Libya. The Kremlin does not necessarily oppose a ground operation in principle. It does oppose NATO/US actions undertaken without prior negotiations in the Security Council with Russia, implying strategic trade-offs. Consequently, Medvedev and Lavrov are warning against “usurpation of the Security Council’s authority” – by NATO in this case.

Moscow’s next concern is to rehabilitate its own interpretation of state sovereignty and noninterference in the internal affairs of states. Russia and China are traditionally on common ground with this principle, although applying it differently. While Beijing accepts the self-restraint this principle implies, Moscow seeks to use it as a restraint on the West. In Libya’s case, Moscow criticizes those “taking sides” in favor of the Benghazi rebels and against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the two parties to a civil war. While stopping short of defending Gaddafi’s legitimacy, Russia objects to the calls for his removal from power. As Lavrov insisted during Yang’s visit, the UN mandate does not authorize Gaddafi’s removal or any regime change through “interference from the outside.”

In this context, Lavrov specifically criticized the Libya Contact Group’s May 5 decisions. The Contact Group’s meeting called for Gaddafi and his close circle to give up their power, decided to finance the Benghazi civilian authorities, and approved shifting funds from the Tripoli government’s frozen accounts abroad to the Benghazi authorities.

Such complaints can put Russia at odds with some influential Arab states on this issue. The Libya Contact Group includes, in one way or another, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Islamic Conference Organization, and the African Union, alongside the UN, the US, NATO, and the EU. While the Western participants pushed through the Contact Group’s May 5 decisions, and although the Arab countries’ views are far from uniform on this issue, many Arab and other Muslim countries supported the Contact Group’s May 5 decisions. Lavrov cautioned the Contact Group against trying to substitute the UN Security Council or taking sides in this civil war.

Yang agreed with Medvedev’s and Lavrov’s calls for an immediate ceasefire and political negotiations between the Libyan sides, “without external interference.” Beijing is careful to endorse Libya’s territorial unity, unlike Moscow which remains ambiguous on this point.

China, like Russia, had abstained in the UN Security Council’s April 17 vote that authorized a limited military operation to protect Libya’s civilian population. On May 2, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern over the operation’s escalation and a growing number of civilian casualties. It stated Beijing’s objections to any action not authorized by the UN Security Council, and it expressed hope for an undelayed ceasefire and negotiations.

Moscow and Beijing share an interest in protecting their UN Security Council veto powers from any erosion. Their common interests do not go far beyond this issue in the Libya crisis. Russia seeks to exploit the crisis against NATO. China, however, does not appear to be pursuing any such objectives.

Source: Georgian Daily.
Link: http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21436&Itemid=132.

Libya Tribal Appeal to Rebels Falls Flat

MAY 9, 2011
By RICHARD BOUDREAUX

TRIPOLI, Libya—Col. Moammar Gadhafi has turned to Libya's tribal leaders in a new effort to erode a Western-backed insurgency, but the initiative, including the promise of an amnesty, is having no immediate impact on the stalemated conflict.

The rebel leadership dismissed an appeal by hundreds of tribal elders to engage in peace talks. And the tribal chiefs, who held a nationally televised conference in Tripoli, stopped short of pledging armed followers to back up the Libyan leader's military campaign.

Government forces attacked isolated rebel strongholds in western Libya over the weekend, striking a fuel terminal in rebel-held Misrata with ground-to-ground rockets and igniting a fire that threatened the besieged port city's fuel supply.

The rebel-held mountain towns of Zintan and Wazin also came under rocket fire, forcing many inhabitants to flee across the border into Tunisia. About 80 shells fell on Tunisia's soil, prompting a protest by its government Sunday to Libyan authorities, the Tunisian state news agency reported.

Since the uprising began in mid-February, Libyan authorities have enlisted local tribal leaders and offered amnesties in some towns recaptured from the rebels. The latest amnesty plan, announced Saturday by Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoudi, would cover all of Libya, including the rebels' eastern strongholds.

The Justice Ministry is drafting an amnesty law, Mr. Mahmoudi told a news conference, and a nationwide committee of tribal leaders will be entrusted to present it to counterparts in rebel-controlled areas in an effort at reconciliation.

The tone of the prime minister's remarks was plaintive, reflecting frustration over Libya's division and deadlock. At one point, he addressed defectors from his government who now work for the rebels' Transitional National Council, calling them "my brothers" and urging them to "say no to bloodshed."

"If there were mistakes or wrongs" in governing Libya, he said, "then the mistakes belong to all of us."

Abed Abu Hamada, a leader of the Mergharbah tribe from the eastern city of Ajdabiya, struck a similar note at the tribal conference, appealing to "our brothers in the eastern regions—the armed ones, the misled ones." The two-day conference ended late Friday with a denunciation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's aerial attacks and support for an amnesty and peaceful dialogue.

Mansour el-Kikhia, an adviser to the rebel leadership, said the tribal leaders' message would have no impact in eastern Libya, where rebel forces shielded by NATO airstrikes have a solid hold on Benghazi, seat of their leadership council, and other coastal cities.

"The east is feeling so free, so removed from Gadhafi, that none of this is going to make any difference," he said.

Moussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman, said about 200 elders from the rebel-held east took part in the conference and would exert their influence back home. But in interviews, two of those elders said they had fled the region weeks ago, after the rebel takeover, and didn't plan to return anytime soon.

Tribal loyalties and influence have diminished in recent decades as Libya's population has become more mobile and urban, social scientists say. Tens of thousands of members of the predominately western tribes that form the core of Col. Gadhafi's support now live in Benghazi and in March staged a demonstration there calling on their western cousins to join the revolt.

The government gave extraordinary publicity to the tribal conference and opened it to foreign journalists. "You can't get more representative than this," said Mr. Ibrahim, who listed 851 tribal groups present. "It sends a powerful message to the country."

George Joffe, a Cambridge University professor who has studied Libya's tribal politics, said the gathering may have been staged more for audiences in the West "in the hope of creating the impression that Col. Gadhafi enjoys widespread support." Even that support was limited. Two weeks after government officials suggested that armed tribal groups might take up the siege of Misrata, there was no mention of such action at the conference.

Instead, the gathering's final declaration called for peaceful marches to rebel-held "hijacked towns" to try to "liberate" them. But no marches were immediately planned. "NATO must stop bombing first," said Mansour Khalaf, leader of the Warfalla tribe. "Then Libyans will stop fighting each other."

In Misrata on Sunday, fires were still blazing from fuel depots a day after being struck by Col. Gadhafi's forces. Rebel spokesman Mohammed Alzawwam said the attack had diminished gasoline supplies for rebel vehicles.

It was the second pinpoint attack on Misrata by government forces in recent days. Rebels were working to clear antitank mines that had been dropped by parachute across the port area late Thursday from rockets that open in midflight.

In Benghazi, Abdul Hafidh Ghoga, spokeman for the rebels' governing council, said it planned to use money from a fund pledged for humanitarian and reconstruction needs to buy weapons from the Italian government. Maurizio Massari, an Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman, denied that Rome planned to supply weapons to the rebels. He said the fund, set up by 22 NATO and Arab countries last week, could not be used for weapons purchases from any source.

—Stacy Meichtry in Rome and Muneef Halawa in Benghazi contributed to this article.

Source: The Wall Street Journal.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576311492781200746.html.

Italy rescues 500 Libya refugees in 'miracle' operation

By Dario Thuburn (AFP) – May 8, 2011

ROME — Italian coast guards and local fisherman saved all 528 refugees on a boat from Libya early Sunday after their vessel hit rocks off the island of Lampedusa, an operation one rescuer described as a "miracle".

Refugees threw themselves into the water in the night, with some clinging to ropes strung between the rusty fishing boat and the shoreline by rescuers, as officers and local residents dived in to help along the rocky coast.

"There were about 500 people on board. It was a difficult situation. Our patrol boats couldn't come close because of the shallow water and the undertow was very strong," said Antonio Morana, a coast guard spokesman.

Coast guards later said 528 had been on board, including 24 pregnant women.

Many refugees were later seen wrapped in thermal blankets on the rocks and in temporary housing in the port in footage released by coast guards.

"The sea was rough and it was pushing the boat towards the coast," said one coast guard, Davide Miserendino.

"When the first immigrants jumped into the water, we immediately dived in to try and rescue as many as possible," he added.

"When we finished, to be honest, we burst out crying and embracing. We all thought about those children in the sea. It was incredible. It was a real miracle that we managed to rescue everyone," he said.

Local residents brought food and clothes for the survivors and a Ghanaian woman with a baby called Wisdom was given diapers and toys.

A few of the refugees suffered slight injuries and have been hospitalized.

President Giorgio Napolitano later expressed "since admiration" for the rescuers and said: "Italy is showing solidarity and a spirit of hospitality."

Most of those on board were migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia who have been living in Libya. Thousands of refugees fleeing Libya have been arriving in Lampedusa in recent weeks as the conflict there has escalated.

"The bombs forced us to flee. Right now the situation in Libya doesn't leave us any choice," a Pakistani refugee was quoted by ANSA news agency as saying.

Lampedusa, which measures 20 square kilometers (eight square miles), is Italy's southernmost point and is closer to North Africa than to the mainland.

Morana said an investigation was underway into what had gone wrong but he believed there had been "a malfunctioning of the rudder" on the vessel.

Also Sunday, another boat carrying 800 refugees from Libya arrived in Lampedusa, a day after two boats with 842 refugees including 101 women and 22 children also fleeing the North African state landed there.

Lampedusa, which has a population of only around 5,000 has been overrun by more than 30,000 migrant and refugee arrivals since the start of the year. Almost all have since been transferred to the mainland or sent back.

Almost all have been Tunisians in search of a better life in Europe amid continued upheaval in their homeland in the wake of a revolt in January.

Some 150 refugees fleeing Libya are believed to have died on April 6 after their boat capsized in stormy weather in the middle of the Mediterranean. Italian coast guards managed to pluck 53 survivors from the sea.

A week later, two women died and another person was reported missing after their overcrowded boat hit rocks on the Italian island of Pantelleria.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Spokesman: Italy to supply Libyan rebels with arms

Reuters
Sat, 07/05/2011

Benghazi -- Rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi said on Saturday they have reached an agreement with Italy to supply them with weapons, but the former colonial power denied the report.

Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the rebel Transitional National Council, told a news conference in Benghazi that the weapons would be provided to the insurgents soon.

Asked to confirm reports that Italy had agreed to provide rebels with weapons, Ghoga said: "Yes, the military officers have confirmed that they have an agreement with the Italians.

"They will supply us with weapons. They've already been there (to Rome) twice, and we will receive them very soon," he added.

He declined to specify what kind of weapons would be furnished to the rebels but said they would be the "weapons that are needed for liberation."

In Rome, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said no such deal had been reached. "There has been no agreement to supply them with weapons," the spokesman told Reuters.

He said Rome would only offer the rebels "equipment for self defense" as agreed by the so-called Libyan "contact group" of countries at a meeting in Doha last month.

Italy has thrown its full support behind Libyan rebels, formally recognizing the transitional council as the only legitimate representatives of the country, but it is unlikely that it would go further than other countries in the anti-Qadhafi coalition.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had close ties with the Libyan leader before hostilities broke out and already faces internal opposition to Italy's involvement from his main coalition partner, the Northern League.

Rebels have long been demanding they need more heavy weapons to take on the Libyan leader's better-armed and trained forces.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/427157.

Turkish Ambassador to Libya back at home

04 May 2011 Wednesday

Turkey's ambassador in Libya returned to Istanbul on Tuesday, one day after Turkish government announced that it temporarily closed its embassy in Tripoli.

Ambassador Salim Levent Sahinkaya and a 12-man embassy staff arrived in Istanbul after a flight from Tunisia. First group of embassy personnel had returned to Turkey last week.

Ambassador Sahinkaya said security risks had increased recently in Libya because of international military operation in Libya and the rise of armed people in streets of Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata.

He said Turkey's policy on Libya insists on stopping bloodshed and restoring peace through dialogue.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to immediately step down "for the sake of his country's future."

"Gaddafi has ignored calls for change in Libya and instead preferred blood, tears and pressure against his own people," Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul. "We wish that the Libyan leader immediately withdraw from the administration and leave Libya for his own sake and the sake of his country's future without leading to further destruction."

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=73302.

Libyan youth find new voices in the media

Tuesday, 03 May 2011

By MUNA KHAN
Al Arabiya with Agencies

Benghazi is more than just the de facto capital of Libya’s rebel forces. It is the nerve center of the newspapers and magazines that are mushrooming here as a new generation of entrepreneurs enjoys the freedom of airing their voices long suppressed by Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.

Ahmed Al-Jahmy, 27, is one example of that voice. The son of a prominent pro-democracy activist who died after falling into a coma while jailed in solitary confinement, Mr. Jahmy is a political reporter at Panorama, a multilingual weekly newspaper.

“My father had many principles that I hope to advance,” the young man, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, told Agence-France Presse. He appeared nervous as he looked around during the interview, not wholly convinced that the new freedom actually existed.

“Don’t speak so loudly, you just don’t know,” he reprimanded his colleague Ziad who was discussing whether fundamentalism could gain ground in Libya’s moderate Muslim society.

“There was no freedom of expression before,” Mr. Jahmy told AFP with an apologetic smile.

“Under Mr. Qaddafi there was no way of starting a newspaper without security clearance, and every newspaper had to have [the leader’s] Green Book slogans at the top of the front page,” he said.

The two main newspapers during Colonel Qaddafi’s regime in Benghazi were the state owned Akhbar Benghazi and Al-Qurayna, which were under the grip of Mr. Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

“The press before was all by Qaddafi and [made] him look like an angel,” said 20-year-old Miehad Mahana, an engineering and architecture student turned English editor.

“Now we can say whatever we want and we want the world to hear us: we don’t want Mr. Qaddafi. We win or we die. We want to show the world the brave Libya that is willing to die to be free,” she told AFP.

Panorama will release its second edition on May 3 and is the labor of love of 22 young Libyans, all under 30, “who worked countless hours to produce a publication containing articles in Arabic, English, French and Italian” according to AFP.

The first 2,000 copies cost them “575 dinars exactly” [$947.5] which the team financed themselves but they will soon have to put a price on the publication or find funding as it may prove difficult to sustain it.

“We want to show the real Libya... the poverty despite oil profits and all the problems that are a fall-out from Qaddafi: the high unemployment, the corruption, our polluted coastline,” said Ziad.

“The collapse of censorship,” he added, “opened many doors.”

However, social mores still set some barriers “with values such as women’s modesty pushing their female colleagues to return home early or women to refuse being photographed,” reported AFP.

“When a woman is taking the picture it is more comfortable for women because of our culture and religion but some still do not accept to be photographed and we respect that,” said 21-year-old Rona Issam Quleissa, the team’s photographer.

The newly liberated Libyan media entrepreneurs are, however, still learning on the job about the mechanisms of the media—be it printing costs or distribution issues to fact-checking and media ethics.

But their efforts are not going un-noticed. An older generation of intellectuals—“who still recall their own secretive student meetings underscored by the fear that Mr. Qaddafi’s revolutionary committees would eavesdrop or barge in to blow them up”—appreciates the efforts.

“Anyone can start a newspaper now, but most people doing this are young, and that’s a real pleasure to see,” said Ramadan Jabrou, a Benghazi-based lawyer and writer.

“There is a sense of initiative, a new mindset. Never mind the materials—they are doing it,” said writer and diplomat Idris Tayeb Lamin.

“Before the revolution I don’t think I saw my son read a newspaper once, but now he leaves home at eight in the morning and comes back at one the next morning because he’s working on a magazine,” he added.

Mr. Lamin’s son, Yussef works for Ashab (Friends), a 32-page magazine which covers an array of topics—from the serious to the light-hearted—written in a dialect “by young people for young people” reports AFP.

“We write in dialect and slang so that people can relate to it because people were sick of the formal language of the regime,” said Yussef.

Most of the magazine’s 16 staff is aged 17 to 24 years.

“There's a blast of motivation and ambition to meet our goals,” said the 23-year-old Mohammed Bozeid editor.

What is the one headline Ashab hopes to publish next?

“The fall of Qaddafi.”

Source: al-Arabiya.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/03/147699.html.

Car explosion hits Libyan rebel city of Benghazi

BENGHAZI, LIBYA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- A car explosion occurred near the Tahrir square of the Libyan rebels' stronghold of Benghazi on Tuesday. No casualties during the explosion.

The wreckage of the exploded car scattered around the scene, and several pick-up trucks and cars nearby suffered severe damage, Xinhua correspondent witnessed.

Local security forces were dismantling and clearing the wreckage when Xinhua correspondent arrived at the scene. While hundreds of local citizens still gathered at the scene, taking photos and videos by their mobile phones.

Libya has been witnessing nation-wide unrest for more than two months after the anti-government protests broke out in mid February, which demand leader Muammar Gaddafi to end his 42-year rule.

The ground fighting between insurgents and the Libyan government troops has immersed in a stalemate for weeks, and the frontline is now between Brega and Ajdabiyah, some more than 100 kilometers west to Benghazi.

Thousands of people usually rally at the square every day and night since the anti-government protests broke out in the city firstly. The courthouse, the headquarters of the rebels, is also located on the square.

The cause of the explosion is unknown up to now, according the rebel official sources.

However, some witnesses claimed that the huge blast was a car bombing made by Gaddafi supporters. Meanwhile, some other local citizens told reporters that it was just an accident due to the home-made explosive for fishing in the car.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/04/c_13857659.htm.

Libyans panic over expired gas masks

Monday, 2 May 2011
By Daniel Howden in Benghazi

An urgent appeal for gas masks to be sent to the residents of Misrata has been delayed after supplies in Benghazi were found to have expired and be useless. Unconfirmed reports yesterday that pro-Gaddafi forces who are surrounding the port city have been seen wearing masks prompted an urgent appeal to Libya's interim government in Benghazi.

But a source who has been shipping food, medicine and weapons to Misrata said stocks of masks in Benghazi were out of date. “They have been asking for them but the ones here are useless, they have expired,” said the source.

The scramble to find gas masks comes after forces loyal to Col. Gaddafi issued an ultimatum to the rebels defending the city to surrender by midnight tonight. There have been fears that the regime will commit further atrocities in the wake of the alleged death of one of Col. Gaddafi's sons – Saif al-Arab - in a NATO airstrike on Tripoli on Saturday.

“We know he has chemical weapons and he is capable of anything,” said Jalal al-Gallal, a spokesman for the provisional national council in Benghazi, last night. “We will send anything we have but right now we don't have enough masks for even a fraction of people in Benghazi.”

Meanwhile a vessel carrying humanitarian aid was forced to wait outside Misrata yesterday while NATO ships swept the approach to the port for mines. NATO minesweepers searched the approaches of Misrata harbor yesterday for a drifting mine that has blocked aid supplies to the besieged Libyan city and halted evacuation of foreigners and wounded Libyans.

The alliance destroyed two of three mines on Friday but fears remain that more may have been laid. "A third mine drifted free before specialized ships could arrive," NATO said in a statement. "NATO mine hunters are now working to locate and destroy this mine and to scan the area for any further possible threats."

The International Organization for Migration, which has been evacuating people from the port said at least one mine was still visible between its ship and the harbor. "We will wait until Tuesday noon," IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy. "We are still hoping that things will improve."

Witnesses in the city where hundreds of people have been killed by indiscriminate shelling said that sporadic rocket fire continued until yesterday afternoon. Coalition airstrikes and a fierce Libyan resistance force on the ground have force Gaddafi loyalists from the city center.

However, concentrated fire on the port area has succeeded in temporarily cutting Misrata's lifeline to the outside world.

Source: The Independent.
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libyans-panic-over-expired-gas-masks-2278115.html.

UN humanitarian operations continue in Libya: spokesman

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- UN humanitarian operations are continuing in Libya after 12 UN international staff fled Tripoli due to unrest in the capital, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said here Monday.

The 12 staffers were redeployed to support operations in western Libya from Tunisia. "The UN is exploring ways to re-enter the Libyan capital as soon as possible," said Nesirky.

According to the spokesman, the UN compound in Tripoli was ransacked. While some UN vehicles were taken, no staff were hurt.

More than 665,000 people have now fled Libya and as of Sunday, more than 12,000 people were evacuated from the rebel-held city of Misrata, reports the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy for Libya Abdulilah Al-Khatib is expected to brief the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya later this week.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/03/c_13855739.htm.

Libyan refugees flee fighting by land and sea

By Lin Noueihed
TRIPOLI | Tue May 3, 2011

(Reuters) - Fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi is forcing thousands of refugees to flee western Libya on foot to the Tunisian border and by boat to Europe, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Rebels said they expected billions of dollars in credit soon from Western governments to feed and supply their territories in the east and support their campaign against Gaddafi.

Refugees fleeing western Libya have said the danger of starvation is growing in some besieged towns. Zintan has been heavily shelled, and aid deliveries to the port of Misrata have been hindered by artillery fire and a mine near the harbor entrance.

Rebel spokesmen said fighting had flared again in Misrata's eastern suburbs, near the port that provides the besieged city with a lifeline to the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"Fighting is taking place in the area of Bourouia. The (pro-Gaddafi) brigades are trying to enter the Tamina area, east of the city," one spokesmen, Reda, told Reuters by telephone.

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, has not been seen in public since a NATO missile attack on Saturday on a house in Tripoli which officials say he survived but which killed his youngest son and three grandchildren.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Gaddafi is still alive. "(The) best intelligence we have is that he's still alive," CIA Director Leon Panetta told NBC television.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said an exodus from the Western Mountains region had resumed, with Libyan families fleeing into southern Tunisia.

"This past weekend, more than 8,000 people, most of them ethnic Berbers, arrived in Dehiba in southern Tunisia. Most are women and children," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva. Tens of thousands have already fled.

A violent sandstorm that battered the area had made the situation more difficult.

The Dehiba crossing point has changed hands several times in the last week, with fighting spilling over onto Tunisian soil.

"UNHCR and our partners are struggling to maintain nearby camps. The storm has destroyed hundreds of tents and two huge portable warehouses," Edwards said.

ECONOMY IN TATTERS

"Most of the Libyan refugees are leaving Libya in tribal groups. Many are choosing to stay in the camps for a few days before moving on to stay with Tunisian families," he said.

Meanwhile, more people have been fleeing Libya by sea to Italy, after a 10-day break due to bad weather. Some 3,200 have arrived on the island of Lampedusa over the past five days, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the UNHCR.

Ali Tarhouni, head of the rebel national council's finance committee, said he expected France, Italy and the United States to extend credit secured against frozen Libyan state assets. Money should arrive in a week to ten days.

"I need about $2-3 billion and we are hoping to get most or all of this," Tarhouni told reporters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

With Libya's economy in tatters after more than two months of civil war, funds to pay for food, medicine and the state salaries on which most people depend are running low.

The insurgents had been hoping for a swift overthrow of Gaddafi but his better-trained and better-equipped militias halted the rebel advance west and forced a stalemate in the fighting that could last for months.

"We are still discovering different segments that need to be paid that we thought were paid," said Tarhouni. "At every single moment another need arises in terms of food, medicine and in terms of people who are injured."

Supplies of fuel vital to keeping eastern towns supplied and maintain the military campaign against Gaddafi are also tight.

Like anti-Gaddafi groups in other parts of Libya, rebels in the Western Mountains want more help from Western warplanes, empowered by a U.N. resolution to attack government forces to protect civilians.

Critics say NATO has already overstepped its mandate with Saturday night's attack on the Tripoli house. NATO insists it targets only military installations and was not attempting to assassinate the Libyan leader.

NATO minesweepers searched the approaches of Misrata harbor

on Monday for a drifting mine blocking aid supplies.

A NATO statement said the alliance had destroyed two of three mines laid by government forces. It said the mines were small and hard to detect but capable of doing serious damage.

The International Organization for Migration said an aid ship was still waiting off Misrata for bombing to stop and mines to be cleared before it tried to deliver supplies and evacuate some 1,000 foreigners and wounded Libyans.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Tarek Amara and Abdelaziz Boumzar in Dehiba, Deepa Babington and Michael Georgy in Benghazi, Maher Nazeh and Larbi Louafi in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, and Missy Ryan in Washington; writing by Andrew Roche and Ralph Boulton; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-libya-idUSTRE7270JP20110503.

Red Cross flies home five Libyans released by rebels

* Rebels release five Libyans it says were Gaddafi soldiers
* ICRC says they were civilians who it flew home to Tripoli

GENEVA, April 30 (Reuters) - Rebels freed five Libyans on Saturday, who they said were soldiers loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which said the five were civilians, flew them home to Tripoli.

Libyan rebels in Benghazi announced the move on Wednesday, saying their release was a goodwill gesture aimed at boosting their credibility internationally.

"To the best of our knowledge these five were not members of the Libyan armed forces. As far as we are concerned, they are civilians," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson told Reuters.

"They are Libyan civilians who were arrested by the armed opposition and visited by the ICRC in the framework of the detention visits carried out in Benghazi," she said. "They were met by their families in Tripoli and able to go home with them."

The neutral humanitarian agency, which said it had visited more than 200 detainees in the rebels' custody over the past two months, renewed its appeal to be able to visit prisoners held by Libyan government forces.

"We hope that the ICRC in Tripoli will soon be able to start visiting detainees in the western part of the country," said Samuel Emonet, in charge of its detainee-welfare activities in Libya.

The Geneva-based ICRC shares its confidential findings on the treatment of prisoners and their conditions of detention only with detaining authorities, in exchange for access to prisoners caught up in conflicts worldwide.

"The ICRC stands ready to continue acting as a neutral intermediary between the National Transitional Council and the Libyan government to provide humanitarian services such as transferring released detainees and delivering emergency aid for civilians across frontlines," it said in a statement. (Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE73T07X20110430.

Evacuees flee Misrata for Benghazi

BEIJING,April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- International efforts are continuing to evacuate people stranded in Libya's conflict. On Thursday, dozens of wounded and over 850 displaced workers fled shelling from Misrata and arrived in Benghazi.

An international aid ship carrying migrant workers and wounded civilians from Misrata docked in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Migrant workers, mostly from Niger, were taken to the Egyptian border for repatriation.

Libyan government troops resumed shelling overnight in the besieged rebel city of Misrata, where aid ships bring in emergency supplies and evacuate the wounded.

This boat was grounded for almost a day after coming under fire from Gaddafi's troops.

Dr. Jibril Al-Howeidi, said, "The boat waited around 24 hours in the port because of shelling by government forces. We were not even able to move the wounded. But thankfully, doctors were able to deliver all of the wounded safely to Benghazi, where they are being treated in hospitals."

Among the wounded was a young man whose leg had been broken from the shelling.

Injured victim Salah said, "Gaddafi's forces struck Misrata with tank shells, and rockets. A tank shell hit us. My brother and my friend were both killed, and I was hit with shrapnel here. The situation there is awful."

Aid agencies and human rights groups have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in Misrata, while NATO has publicly acknowledged it needs to do more to protect civilians in the city.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-04/29/c_13851647.htm.

UN special envoy travels to Benghazi to meet with Libyan opposition officials: UN spokesperson

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Libya has traveled to Benghazi, an opposition stronghold in the east of the country, to meet with representatives of the Libyan opposition, a UN spokesperson said here on Friday, without giving any further details.

"On Thursday, the special envoy (Abdul Ilah Al-Khatib) met in Ankara with the Turkish foreign minister and in Rome with the Italian foreign minister to discuss the ongoing crisis in Libya in the framework of the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973," Martin Nesirky, the UN spokesperson, said at a daily press briefing.

UN Security Council Resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo against Libya and slapped sanctions on members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's inner circle. Resolution 1973 authorized a no- fly zone over Libya.

Next week, Al-Khatib will brief the Security Council about his activities in support of a peaceful solution for the Libyan conflict, Nesirky said.

Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said it remains " very concerned" that people fleeing Libya could be caught in the crossfire, as government and opposition forces fight for control in the border area with Tunisia, Nesirky added.

Clashes have escalated at the Dehiba border crossing between Libya and Tunisia, stopping the outflow of refugees from Libya's western mountains, UNHCR reported.

On Thursday, the World Food Program (WFP) warned that Libya is at risk of a full-blown food security crisis within the next 45 to 60 days.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/30/c_13852426.htm.

'Fueled by Viagra' Gaddafi forces using rape as weapon against rebel children, women

Tripoli, Apr 26: Fueled by Viagra, the forces of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, are reportedly using rape as a weapon of war against rebels, including children as young as eight years.

The Daily Mail quoted aid workers as describing how Gaddafi''s forces are carrying out widespread sexual abuse, including an incident in which a group of girls was abducted and held hostage for four days.

Some of these children were too traumatized to speak about the incident after their release, while others said they were being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped.

Harrowing stories of sexual assaults against women and children have emerged from those who have fled the besieged cities of Misrata, Ajdabia and Rus-Lanuf.

Michael Mahrt, child protection adviser of Save The Children, said the reports of sexual violence against children are unconfirmed but they are ‘consistent and were repeated across the four camps we visited’.

“Children told us they have witnessed horrendous scenes. Some said they saw their fathers murdered and mothers raped. They described things happening to other children but they may have actually happened to them and they are just too upset to talk about it - it''s a typical coping mechanism used by children who have suffered such abuse,” the paper quoted her, as saying.

“What is most worrying is that we have only been able to speak to a limited number of children - what else is happening to those who are trapped in Misrata and other parts of the country who do not have a voice?” Mahrt said.

Earlier, 28-year-old Iman al-Obeidi had claimed that she was assaulted for two days by 15 men after being abducted at a checkpoint. She was arrested after trying to tell her story to foreign journalists and has subsequently been charged with slander.

Source: New Kerala.
Link: http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-196857.html.

Kuwait gives $180 million to Libyan rebels

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait — Kuwait on Sunday gave 50 million dinars ($180 million) to the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC), its chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said.

"This amount will help us pay part of the salaries of employees," Jalil told reporters after talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. "We are in need of urgent assistance."

Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah said "Kuwait will provide large and urgent humanitarian aid through the national council."

Sheikh Mohammad said Kuwait and the TNC "will work closely so that it becomes the legitimate channel of the Libyan people," but stopped short of officially recognizing the council.

"Recognition is a secondary issue," Abdel Hafiz Ghoqa, spokesman for the TNC in Benghazi told reporters, adding that the quality of cooperation with Kuwait showed the friendly nation's "approval" for east Libya's nascent government.

France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar are the only countries so far to have recognized the TNC, Libya's parallel government.

The Kuwaiti foreign minister also said the emir informed Jalil that Kuwait fully complies with UN Security Council resolution 1973 which called for using all means necessary to protect Libyan civilians.

Jalil, on his first visit to Kuwait, said the TNC welcomes any initiative that would lead to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and his sons leaving the country, "but there is no initiative on the ground right now."

He also repeated allegations that Kadhafi used Algerian planes to fly African mercenaries to fight with his forces.

"We have evidence that there are mercenaries from Mauritania and Serbia, military experts from Russia and women from Columbia," Jalil said.

Libyan rebels have not received any weapons or military training from Arab neighbors Egypt or Tunisia, said Jalil, adding that the TNC understood their situation.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Confessions of an Algerian recruited by Gaddafi's son to blow up the airport in Geneva

25 April, 2011

The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Hannibal, planned to blow up the Geneva airport and major infrastructures in Switzerland by using an Algerian bartender working in recreation centers for high Personality in Tripoli, to carry the mission. The attacks were then to be attributed to the Al Qaeda organization.

The security services have detained an Algerian who fled to Algeria, after providing important information to the Consulate of France in Annaba.

The indictment of Algiers court transferred the one of the most serious cases related to espionage, to the criminal court. This will probably be scheduled towards the end of the current criminal session.

The principal defendant in this case, the so-called "Iskander" reportedly said that the son of Libyan leader Kadhafi, Hannibal, had charged him of a secret mission in Switzerland, England and France, which consists of committing attacks in Geneva International Airport and in major economic infrastructure that would subsequently be awarded to the organization of Al Qaeda, this would have led him, according to his saying, to flee to Algeria March 7, 2010 through Debdab where he informed the Algerian authorities of all he had experienced in Libya for fear of being accused of spying.

In Annaba, he headed towards the consulate of France where he asked for the number of the Swiss Embassy to inform them of what had happened to the so-called “Kamel Mortada.” He was then held inside the embassy for 20 days and questioned about Hannibal Gaddafi.

Ennahar / Asma B.

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/6360.html.