ANOTHER TYRANT – GADDAFI FALLS
Kyaemon 
Libya rebels in Tripoli, Gadhafi defenses collapse
Libya rebels in Tripoli, Gadhafi defenses collapse – Yahoo! News
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday that met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenders melted away and his 40-year rule appeared to rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in the city’s main square, the symbolic heart of the regime.
Opposition fighters captured Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam. The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands said he would contact the rebels to discuss his handover for trial on charges of crimes against humanity.
Associated Press reporters with the rebels said the fighters rebels easily advanced 20 miles on Sunday from the west, took town after town — welcomed by residents — overwhelmed a major military base, then swept into the capital in a stunning turning of the tide in the 6-month-old Libyan civil war.
The fighters and Tripoli residents who support them flooded Green Square, shooting in the air in celebration, clapping and waving the rebels’ tri-color flag, according to television footage of the scene. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi’s regime and shot holes in a poster with his image.
“Now we don’t call it the Green Square, but we call it the Martyrs Square,” said Nour Eddin Shatouni, a 50-year-old engineer who was among the residents who flowed out of their homes to join the celebrations. “We were waiting for the signal and it happened. All mosques chanted ‘God is great’ all at once. We smelled a good scent, it is the smell of victory. We know it is the time.”
Green Square holds profound symbolic value. The regime has held pro-Gadhafi rallies there nearly every night since the revolt began in February, and the historic Red Fort that overlooks the square is a favorite scenic spot for the Libyan leader to deliver speeches to his loyalists.
Thousands of Libyans also celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels’ de facto capital in the east. Firing guns into the air and shooting fireworks, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city’s main square……
Rebels enter heart of Tripoli, crowds celebrate
Rebels enter heart of Tripoli, crowds celebrate – Yahoo! News
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Jubilant rebel fighters streamed into the heart of Tripoli as Muammar Gaddafi’s forces collapsed and crowds took to the streets to celebrate, tearing down posters of the Libyan leader.
Rebels waving opposition flags and firing into the air drove into Green Square, a symbolic location which the government had until recently used for mass demonstrations in support of the now embattled Gaddafi.
Earlier, a convoy of rebels entered a western neighborhood of the city. Rebels said the whole of the city was under their control except Gaddafi’s Bab Al-Aziziyah stronghold, according to al-Jazeera Television.
Remaining defiant, Gaddafi earlier had made two audio addresses over state television calling on Libyans to fight off the rebels.
“I am afraid if we don’t act, they will burn Tripoli,” he said. “There will be no more water, food, electricity or freedom.”
But resistance to the rebels appeared to have largely faded away, allowing the rebels and their supporters to demonstrate in Green Square.
Televised images showed Libyans kneeling and kissing the ground of Tripoli in gratitude for what some called a “blessed day.”
Gaddafi, a colorful and often brutal autocrat who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years, said he was breaking out weapons stores to arm the population. His spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, predicted a violent reckoning by the rebels.
“A massacre will be committed inside Tripoli if one side wins now, because the rebels have come with such hatred, such vendetta…Even if the leader leaves or steps down now, there will be a massacre.”
NATO, which has backed the rebels with a bombing campaign, said the transition of power in Libya must be peaceful.
After a six-month civil war, the fall of Tripoli came quickly, with a carefully orchestrated uprising launched on Saturday night to coincide with the advance of rebel troops on three fronts. Fighting broke out after the call to prayer from the minarets of the mosques.
Rebel National Transitional Council Coordinator Adel Dabbechi confirmed that Gaddafi’s younger son Saif Al-Islam had been captured. His eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi had surrendered to rebel forces, he told Reuters.
Only five months ago Gaddafi’s forces were set to crush the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the leader warning then that there would be “no mercy, no pity” for his opponents. His forces, he said, would hunt them down “district to district, street to street, house to house, room to room.”
The United Nations then acted quickly, clearing the way for creation of a no-fly zone that NATO, with a campaign of bombing, used ultimately to help drive back Gaddafi’s forces.
“It’s over. Gaddafi’s finished,” said Saad Djebbar, former legal adviser to the Libyan government
Gaddafi’s son Saif arrested in Libya: ICC
Gaddafi’s son Saif arrested in Libya: ICC – Yahoo! News
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Sunday Saif al-Islam, the son of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, had been detained in Libya.
“Saif was captured in Libya,” prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters. “We have confidential information from different sources that we have within Libya confirming this.
“It is very important to make clear there is an obligation to surrender Saif to the ICC in accordance with the Security Council resolution.”
Libyan rebels said earlier that they had detained Saif and Gaddafi’s eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi…..
Irish-Libyan rebel fighter Husam Najjair speaks to reporters at a front line checkpoint near Tiji in western Libya, August 1, 2011. REUTERS/Bob Strong
Who can unite Libya if Gaddafi falls?
Who can unite Libya if Gaddafi falls? – Yahoo! News
NALUT, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebel Husam Najjair seems more concerned about the possibility of rebels turning on each other when they try to take control of the capital Tripoli than the threat posed by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
“The first thing my brigade will do is set up checkpoints to disarm everyone, including other rebel groups, because otherwise it will be a bloodbath,” said Najjair. “All the rebel groups will want to control Tripoli. Order will be needed.”
His comments pointed to the biggest question that will be asked as the endgame appears to be nearing in Libya — is there one unifying figure who can lead Libya if the rebels take over?
Right now the resounding answer seems to be no.
“There isn’t one rebel leader who is respected by everyone. That’s the problem,” said Kamran Bokhari, Middle East Director at STRATFOR global intelligence firm.
Gaddafi ran the North African oil producing-country like a cult, without state institutions that would make any transition easier for the rebels, who have plenty of spirit but lack a proper chain of command.
They are also weighed down by factionalism and ethnic and tribal divisions.
The most prominent rebel leader is Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), a disparate group of Gaddafi opponents based in the eastern city of Benghazi.
It consists of former government ministers and longstanding opposition members who represent wide-ranging views including Arab nationalism, Islamists, secularists, socialists and businessmen.
A former justice minister, the soft-spoken Abdel Jalil was described as a “fair-minded technocrat” in a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.
A mild-mannered consensus builder in his late 50s, he was praised by Human Rights Watch for his work on Libya’s criminal code reform. Abdel Jalil resigned as justice minister in February when violence was used against protestors.
But like other former members of Gaddafi’s inner circle, he will always be viewed with suspicion by some rebels who want completely new faces with no past links to the regime running the country…..
‘Miscalculated’ Libya: What happens if Gaddafi falls?
‘Miscalculated’ Libya: What happens if Gaddafi falls? – YouTube
RT gets more analysis on Libya from Jean Bricmont, author of the book ‘Humanitarian Imperialism’.
Uploaded by RussiaToday on Mar 19, 2011
http://newscastmedia.com/blog/2011/02/21/if-gaddafi-falls-no-african-or-arab-dictator-is-safe/
Newscast Media TRIPOLI, Libya– The litmus test for all African and Arabian dictators will be Gaddafi. If he falls, this will have a ripple effect across all dictatorial regimes. Libya is the last country one would expect to have an uprising. Its economy has an enviable Gross Domestic Product. It has a budget surplus and is literally a “debt-free” nation of roughly 7 million. While Tunisians and Egyptians were rioting, there was silence across Libya. That silence should have been a warning to Gaddafi that something insidious was about to happen.
Gaddafi himself dismissed the possibility of a Tunisa-Egypt style uprising happening in his neck of the woods. He even encouraged Palestinians to rise up against their oppressors in Israel. Now it seems Gaddafi himself might have to flee. Already two jet fighters have landed in Malta after reportedly fleeing Libya as reported by Malta Today.
The pilots claim that they were ordered to take to the air and bombard the protesters in various parts of Benghazi where the situation is dramatic and civilians have taken over military assets. The pilots decided to make a run and flee to Malta, explaining why the planes were fully armed.
This the modus operandi of dictators. They instruct their soldiers and police force to squash protesters, and intimidate them using fire power. Gaddafi, ordered his military to pump bullets into protesters, and they complied. The video below also shows that Gaddafi hired black Africans from sub-Saharan Africa to use live bullets against protesters. Human Rights Watch said Monday that at least 233 people had been killed since the protests began last week, even though protesters put the number much higher.
2 videos inside
Tripoli Falls to Libyan Rebels – ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=14349082
Click video inside
Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli Sunday and met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenders melted away and his 42-year rule rapidly crumbled. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in Green Square, the symbolic heart of the fading regime.
Gadhafi’s whereabouts were unknown, though state TV broadcast his bitter pleas for Libyans to defend his regime. Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was in contact with rebels about surrendering, the opposition said.
“It’s over, frizz-head,” chanted hundreds of jubilant men and women massed in Green Square, using a mocking nickname of the curly-haired Gadhafi. The revelers fired shots in the air, clapped and waved the rebels’ tricolor flag. Some set fire to the green flag of Gadhafi’s regime and shot holes in a poster with the leader’s image.
By the early hours of Monday, rebels controlled large parts of the capital. They set up checkpoints alongside residents — many of them secretly armed by rebel smugglers in recent weeks. But pockets of pro-Gadhafi fighters remained: In one area, Associated Press reporters with the rebels were stopped and told to take a different route because of regime snipers nearby…….
Hunt on for Gadhafi as rebels surge into Tripoli; sons seized
Hunt on for Gadhafi as rebels surge into Tripoli; sons seized – World Wires – MiamiHerald.com
BENGHAZI, Libya — The long, brutal reign of Col. Moammar Gadhafi appeared to collapse Sunday as rebels swept into Tripoli, captured two of his sons and set off wild street celebrations in a capital that he’d ruled by fear for more than four decades, Libyan officials and NATO said.
With NATO bombings paving the way, rebel forces entered Tripoli with surprising ease and by early Monday controlled large swaths of the city. Gadhafi’s presidential guard surrendered to rebel forces, and live television footage showed crowds of opposition fighters in Tripoli unfurling the country’s pre-Gadhafi tricolor flag and smashing the ruler’s portraits in scenes that were unthinkable just days ago.
“This is historic,” Amal Abdelrazk, a 42-year-old resident of downtown Tripoli’s Andalus Street, said by phone. “After 41 years, eight months and 27 days, we witness this moment….
“The whole thing is like a dream.”
As rebels partied in the streets, hailed “as the victors of war,” Abdelrazk said, rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani told McClatchy that his forces were hunting Gadhafi in and around Tripoli. Gadhafi’s whereabouts were unknown, but a U.S. official said, “We have no reason to believe (he) has left the country.”
Late Sunday Gadhafi made a brief audio statement on Libyan TV, sounding desperate as he called on individual tribes and cities to “take weapons” and defend “beautiful Tripoli.”
“All the tribes, you must all march to Tripoli in order to defend and purify it,” he said, calling the rebels agents of Western powers. “Otherwise you will have no dignity; You will become slaves and servants in the hands of the imperialists.”
But the mercurial leader was nowhere to be seen, and for many Libyans, the regime’s death blow had come anyway with the rebels’ arrest of Saif al Islam, Gadhafi’s feared and powerful son and onetime heir apparent, who’d vowed after the uprising against his father began earlier this year that the regime would fight its opponents “until the last bullet.”……
In Tripoli, rebels proclaim end of Gadhafi’s 41-year regime – The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/in-tripoli-rebels-proclaim-end-of-gadhafis-41-year-regime/article2136689/
Rebel fighters danced under fireworks in the heart of Tripoli as they celebrated a stunning advance into the capital, meeting weak resistance from forces loyal to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi and claiming that his regime is finished.
Gunfire and explosions continued into the early hours of Monday in several neighbourhoods of the city, however, and state television continued to broadcast messages from Col. Gadhafi calling for tribesmen to rise against the rebels.
5 videos inside
The dictator’s voice on a crackling phone line, interrupted by technical problems as he spoke from an unknown location, made him sound hurt and confused about why his followers failed to defend his regime.
“How can you allow Tripoli to be burned, these towers we built with our own sweat?” Col. Gadhafi said.
A flurry of unconfirmed reports emerged from the confused urban war, fought in the darkness, but the sudden collapse of Col. Gadhafi’s defences appeared to vindicate NATO’s strategy of supporting the rebels from air and sea, without putting regular forces on the ground.
Rebels claimed that a contingent of Col. Gadhafi’s elite guards had surrendered, and that three of his sons – Saif Al-Islam, Saadi and Mohammed – had been arrested. The International Criminal Court confirmed Saif’s capture; the ICC had earlier issued a warrant for his arrest to face charges of crimes against humanity. He has been among the most important faces of the regime, second only to Col. Gadhafi himself.
The rebels also claimed they had executed a commando-style sea raid, with hundreds of gunmen boarding vessels that took them from the coastal city of Misrata, almost 200 kilometres east of Tripoli, skirting through the NATO-patrolled waters of the Mediterranean to avoid pro-Gadhafi strongholds such as Al-Khoms. That manoeuvre allowed the rebels to bypass swathes of loyalist territory that had blocked their route to Tripoli for months, putting them ashore in zodiac landing craft near the eastern gates of the capital….
“Early indications point away from mass retribution,” Mr. Joshi said. “The swift collapse of Gadhafi forces averted a bloodbath and, thus, mass grievance. The TNC [Transitional National Council] is one of the most reconciliation-minded rebel movements to have emerged in recent years, and even if it struggles to exert control, it has no incentive to destroy its credibility at its moment of triumph.”
23 comments
Kyaemon
August 23, 2011 at 1:45 am
Tripoli Jubilant, Jittery Amid Pockets of Resistance
Libyan Insurgents Push to Heart of the Capital; Battles at Gadhafi’s Compound
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576523591864399456.html?mod=WSJ_Home_largeHeadline
Pictures and Videos inside
The mood in Tripoli turned from jubilation to uncertain disquiet in many neighborhoods Monday, a day after Libyan rebels seized control of most of Libya’s capital.
Rebels troops poured into the city in a celebratory mood Monday morning, after fighters opposing Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s surged into the city’s center Sunday and met with little resistance from the defenses of the strongman leader of more than four decades.
By the afternoon and evening of Monday, however, there were persistent reports of random shootings in the capital, with some pockets of outright fighting. Several victims of gunshot wounds were brought for treatment Monday as reporters visited a clinic in one neighborhood, an apparent indication of continuing clashes.
Tripoli Jubilant, Jittery Amid Pockets of Resistance
Libyan Insurgents Push to Heart of the Capital; Battles at Gadhafi’s Compound
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461304576523591864399456.html?mod=WSJ_Home_largeHeadline#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB10001424053111903327904576522902558216800%26articleTabs%3Dslideshow
Slideshow 15 pictures
Kyaemon
August 23, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Interview: Al Jazeera reporter from Libyan frontline – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LowbsX-gdM&feature=relmfu
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Aug 21, 2011
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr is traveling with Libyan rebels to the west of Tripoli. She says that Libya’s opposition are in control of three Tripoli neighbourhoods: Fashloum, Zawiyat Dahmani, and Mansoura. Mansoura is close to Bab Al Aziziya, the location of Muammar Gaddafi’s compound. This is a live interview with Zeina from the frontline.
kai
August 23, 2011 at 3:58 pm
ဦးနုတုံးက… ရန်ကုန်အစိုးရအထိဖြစ်ပြီး.. ပြန်လာနိုင်ခဲ့ပေမဲ့.. ကဒါဖီကတော့.. ထရီပိုလီကို.. ကျခံရတော့မယ်ထင်တာပဲ..။
နေတိုး က..ပစ်အားနဲ့ကူနေတာကတကြောင်းပေါ့…။
အင်မတန်စိတ်ဝင်စားစရာ….။
ကဒါဖီကို.. အသေမိမလား.. အရှင်မိလား.. စိတ်ဝင်စားမိတယ်..။
ဒီလောက် တင်းခံနေတော့.. ဖမ်းမိလည်း.. ဝိုင်းသတ်တာနဲ့..သေမှာပဲထင်တယ်..။
Kyaemon
August 24, 2011 at 12:22 am
Lessons of the Libyan Endgame
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/22/lessons-of-the-libyan-endgame?ref=africa
After months of brutal fighting and setbacks and chaos, Libyan rebels are promising that the end of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s 42-year rule is nigh. No, it’s not over yet, as Qaddafi forces hit back hard in Tripoli and as his son, Seif al-Islam, visited a hotel there where foreign journalists are staying. It is unclear which rebel forces can grab the reins of power.
But a rebel government, called the Transitional National Council, has a blueprint for taking over, with high hopes of making post-apartheid South Africa the model for a peaceful transition. Can the opposition forces unite, then pacify the country, restore the economy and, perhaps most urgent, gain control of the weapons that have been taken from the Qaddafi forces’ stockpiles? What role should the West play now?
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/22/lessons-of-the-libyan-endgame/the-first-true-arab-revolution
The First True Arab Revolution
Updated August 22, 2011, 08:04 PM
Shadi Hamid is the director of research at the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
Euphoria, as it almost always is, is premature, fleeting, or both. This was the case on Feb. 11, when Egyptians celebrated after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down. They soon realized, however, that democratic transitions, even in the best of times, are messy, uncertain and occasionally bloody. As Adam Michnik memorably said: “The worst thing about Communism is what comes after.”
Unlike Egypt, Libya doesn’t have the benefit of established political parties, a largely independent judiciary, and a whole host of other weak but intermittently vibrant institutions. But, for these same reasons, Libya isn’t as weighed down by the past. The Transitional National Council does not have to contend with an old constitution or worry about hundreds of thousands of ruling party members. This, then, is the Arab world’s first true revolution; the old regime will soon find itself erased.
Libyans will go about creating a state more or less from scratch. Quite a lot is at stake. The T.N.C., a capable, impressive body, is neither cohesive nor unified. Qaddafi, as hated as he was, succeeded in uniting his own opposition. Without Qaddafi, though, the various elements within the T.N.C. will turn its attention elsewhere, and perhaps toward each other. The council includes every faction imaginable – liberals, mild-mannered technocrats, socialists, salafis and, of course, the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamists, a relatively unknown quantity in Libya but by all accounts strong and well organized, will make their real presence known for the first time. The potential for factionalization is compounded by the fact that each of these groups have guns…..
Kyaemon
August 24, 2011 at 12:48 am
Interview: British experts highlight likely tensions in new Libyan authorities
English.news.cn 2011-08-23 06:33:12
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/23/c_131067314.htm
LONDON, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) — Experts in London Tuesday said the fall of Tripoli to Libyan rebels and the likely end of the 42-year-old rule of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi would place an urgent need for stability on the possible future rulers of the North African country.
Brigadier Ben Barry, Senior Fellow for Land Forces at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told Xinhua, “Above all, the National Transitional Council (NTC) and its international supporters now want to avoid many of the failures made by coalition forces in Iraq in 2003.”
So the council has not only developed a plan for transition to a new Libya, it has also been talking to Gaddafi followers in Tripoli and hopes to enlist their active support in avoiding both a security vacuum and a blood bath of retribution. There are similar plans to sustain basic services, including food and water, and to safeguard Libya’s economic infrastructure, Barry added.
“Of course, these plans may be contested, by regime forces holding out or from factions within Libya, including the various regions and tribes. After the killing of former rebel military leader Abdul Fatah Younis, it is also clear there is the chance of factionalism within the NTC, and the true level of potentially disruptive Islamist fighters in rebel ranks is unclear,” He said.
Barry said “All the NTC’s supporters agree that the short term stabilization of the country — and the political process to agree a new constitution and conduct elections — should be led by Libyans.”
He said that those countries that bombed the regime will probably seek to avoid military involvement on the ground. But Libyans will be expecting the United Nations, the World Bank and the EU to back reconstruction and nation building.
Barry said that current international military plans “appear limited to the UN possibly deploying ceasefire monitors and NATO maintaining an ability to intervene under resolution 1973 if the situation deteriorates.”
He believed that if the NTC succeeds in maintaining security, further international military intervention should not be required.
Barak Seener, of the Royal United Services Institute, said he believed that the likely future rulers of Libya faced immediate problems with conflicting ideologies within the anti-Gaddafi forces.
“There is a tension within the NTC between liberals with a Western orientation and Islamists. Furthermore, rebels in the West of Libya have an Islamist bent. There is also a growing chasm between the NTC who are considered a bunch of bureaucrats by rebels who assert that they did the hard fighting,” he said.
Barry said that the rebels from the west of Libya had been effective in fighting the Gaddafi regime and that NATO attacks had weakened Gaddafi’s forces. There were also “indications” that foreign military from Muslim countries had also helped the rebels in ground fighting.
The swift rebel advance on the capital from several directions has been partly enabled by the cumulative destruction of regime hardware and infrastructure by NATO attacks, he said.
However, the rebels in the western half of Libya have themselves been more effective than those in the east. While fighters advancing from Benghazi have found it very difficult to move past the heavily fortified regime position around the vital oil town of Brega, those in Misrata successfully raised the government siege of their city and pushed further west.
Meanwhile, rebels from the Nafusa Mountains to the south and west of Tripoli appear to have played the decisive role in pushingback Gaddafi’s troops.
Seener said Gaddafi’s imminent defeat would give encouragement to the opposition in Syria.
“Undoubtedly the Syrian opposition will feel emboldened by Gaddafi’s fall to coordinate activities to topple the (Bashar al-) Assad regime,” he said.
“The challenge now is to ensure that a transition takes place from popular revolt against Colonel Gaddafi to stable government without him,” said the leader of Britain’s main opposition party, Labor’s Ed Miliband.
“The best way for Libya to move forward is through a transition led and enforced by the Libyan people that learns the lessons of the past, including Iraq. The priorities are public order, improved lives for the people of Libya and an inclusive, peaceful settlement led by the Libyan people,” said Miliband.
Kyaemon
August 25, 2011 at 1:24 am
“Democratic government for Libya’ says NTC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14646012
The National Transitional Council, Libya’s government in waiting, says it wants “a democratic government and a just constitution”.
The head of the council, Mahmoud Jibril, is due to hold talks in Italy and France today.
James Robbins reports.
Libya oil output ‘will take years to recover’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14625800
Before the unrest in Libya, the country was responsible for around 2% of global oil production, but output has slumped since February.
Experts say it will be years before whoever ends up in charge of the country can get production back to normal levels.
Brian Milligan reports.
Kyaemon
August 26, 2011 at 4:23 am
NATO Helps in Hunt for Qaddafi as Rebels Gain Momentum
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/world/africa/nato-joins-hunt-for-qaddafi-gadhafi-gaddafi.html?hp
TRIPOLI, Libya — Rebels intensified their hunt for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his sons on Thursday, engaging in an intense fight with loyalists in a neighborhood of apartment blocks near his former Tripoli fortress, as Western officials said NATO was actively helping in the effort to find the elusive leader. But in a new taunt, Colonel Qaddafi urged Libyans in a brief audio broadcast to cleanse Tripoli of the insurgents, whom he called “rats, crusaders and unbelievers.”
The broadcast, carried on loyalist channels, came amid other indications that even with an accelerated momentum by the rebels in the Libyan uprising, strong pockets of resistance remained in Tripoli and other parts of the country, which Colonel Qaddafi ruled for the past 42 years.
Hundreds of wounded fighters and civilians streamed into Tripoli hospitals from the new clashes in Tripoli’s Abu Salim neighborhood of apartment blocks, adjacent to Colonel Qaddafi’s former Bab al-Aziziya compound, which was overrun by rebels on Tuesday. Rumors swirled in the capital that insurgents fighting in Abu Salim had cornered Colonel Qaddafi or at least one member of his family. The claims were impossible to verify.
There were reports, too, that the bullet-riddled bodies of more than 30 pro-Qaddafi fighters had been found at a military encampment in central Tripoli. At least two were bound with plastic handcuffs, suggesting that they had been executed, Reuters reported.
Five of the dead were found at a field hospital, one strapped to a gurney in an ambulance with an intravenous drip still in his arm, Reuters said.
The rebels claimed breakthroughs on other fronts on Wednesday, saying their fighters had started battling for Sabha, another of the colonel’s strongholds in the south, and in Zuwarah in the west. Cranking up the pressure, Libyan businessmen put together a $1.7 million bounty for Colonel Qaddafi’s capture — dead or alive.
But even in parts of the capital thought to be in rebel hands, there were new outbursts of fighting on Thursday. In one episode an intense gun battle broke out near the Corinthia hotel housing many foreign journalists here. The hotel is also where the provisional post-Qaddafi government, based in Benghazi, was planning to relocate in coming days.
“This is not over yet,” said Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain, which has played leading diplomatic and military roles in the effort to end Colonel Qaddafi’s dictatorship. “There are huge numbers of weapons out there and some thousands of forces are continuing to fight for a regime that is finished,” Mr. Hague said, speaking of loyalist resistance in the south of Tripoli and in Surt, Colonel Qaddafi’s tribal home. Britain’s defense secretary, Liam Fox, said Thursday that NATO was trying to help the rebels locate Colonel Qaddafi, apparently breaking from the frequent Western assertion that it adheres to its United Nations mandate to protect civilians…..
Kyaemon
August 26, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Profile of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2011-08/22/c_131065700.htm
BEIJING,Aug 22 (Xinhuanet) – Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is the longest-serving leader in both Africa and the Arab world, having ruled Libya since he toppled King Idris in a military coup in 1969. He has a reputation among many Africans as a maverick statesman. Here is a short biography of Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi was born in 1942 in the coastal area of Sirte to nomadic parents. In his youth, he was an admirer of Egyptian leader and Arab hero Gamal Abdel Nasser, taking part in anti-Israel protests during the Suez crisis in 1956.
He first hatched plans to topple the monarchy at military college, and received further army training in Britain before returning to the Libyan city of Benghazi and launching his coup there on September 1st, 1969.
After seizing power, he laid out a pan-Arab, anti-imperialist philosophy, blended with aspects of Islam. He also created a system called “state of the masses”, in which power is meant to be held by thousands of “people’s committees.”
Among his many eccentricities, Gaddafi is known to sleep in a Bedouin tent guarded by dozens of female bodyguards on trips abroad.
In the West, Gaddafi is strongly associated with “terrorism”. Libya’s alleged involvement in the 1986 bombing of a Berlin nightclub prompted US air attacks on Tripoli and Benghazi, killing Gaddafi’s adopted daughter.
The 1988 bombing of the Pan Am Flight over Lockerbie in Scotland is possibly the most well known and controversial incident in which Gaddafi has been associated with. US-Libya relations have suffered since then.
From the 1990s, Gaddafi turned his gaze towards Africa, proposing a “United States” for the continent.
At the turn of the millennium, Gaddafi began to spruce up his country’s relations with the West. In 2008, Libya reached a final compensation agreement over Lockerbie and other bombings, allowing normal ties with Washington to be restored.
Libya’s new era comes though Gaddafi is somewhere in Libya, says NTC vice chairman
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/22/c_131064676.htm
BENGHAZI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) — Libya has entered into a new era by overthrowing the Muammar Gaddafi regime, said National Transition Council (NTC) Vice Chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga in a TV interview with Al Jazeera on Sunday night.
“Tonight is historical,” said Ghoga.
Gaddafi is still in Libya, said Ghoga, adding that he hopes to arrest Gaddafi and bring him to trial.
He anticipated the NTC headquarters could move to Tripoli and national election could be launched as planned.
He wished to build Libya into a multilateral, democratic and civilian country.
Battle for Tripoli, ongoing conflict in Libya – latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-conflict-pictures,0,882425.photogallery
50 pics
Qaddafi Defiant After Rebel Takeover – NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/world/africa/25libya.html?_r=1&hp
TRIPOLI, Libya — Backed by NATO airstrikes and seasoned reinforcements, rebel fighters crashed through the gates of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fortresslike compound Tuesday, running madly across its sprawling lawns, ransacking its barracks for weapons and carting off mementos of his 42-year dictatorship.
The victory was by no means complete, however. Colonel Qaddafi and his family were nowhere to be found as reporters in the city said they heard the sound of renewed NATO airstrikes against unspecified targets early on Wednesday. A relief ship sent to pluck foreigners to safety was unable to dock on Wednesday because “the situation is still too volatile” around the port, a relief official said.
As crowds cheered into Tuesday night in the city’s Green Square, now Martyrs’ Square, some Qaddafi militiamen were still fighting around the city, and the rebels acknowledged that even the compound, Bab al-Aziziya, was not yet under their full control.
As a reminder that he remained on the loose, Colonel Qaddafi, in an address broadcast early Wednesday over a local Tripoli radio station, called his retreat from Bab al-Aziziya “tactical,” Reuters reported. He blamed months of NATO airstrikes for bringing down his compound and vowed “martyrdom” or victory in his battle against the alliance. It was the second such address by Colonel Qaddafi, 69, since his forces lost control of Tripoli.
Still, the storming of the compound represented the fruition of an oft-repeated rebel vow: “We will celebrate in Bab al-Aziziya,” the ultimate seat of power in the Qaddafi government. The conquest was spearheaded by hundreds of experienced fighters from the port city of Misurata, who developed into some of the rebels’ best organized and most effective units after months of bitter fighting with elite loyalist forces….
Kyaemon
August 27, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Libya: Al-Jazeera footage captures ‘western troops on the ground’ – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpdAcQLzr-Y&feature=related
Uploaded by OurNeedToAwaken on May 29, 2011
Al-Jazeera footage captures ‘western troops on the ground’ in Libya Five of Gaddafi’s generals are among latest defectors to rebels as South African president seeks to broker ceasefire Share3567 Reddit Buzz up Julian Borger and Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 May 2011 15.33 BST Article history Armed westerners have been filmed on the front line with rebels near Misrata in the first apparent confirmation that foreign special forces are playing an active role in the Libyan conflict. A group of six westerners are clearly visible in a report by al-Jazeera from Dafniya, described as the westernmost point of the rebel lines west of the town of Misrata. Five of them were armed and wearing sand-coloured clothes, peaked caps, and cotton Arab scarves………
British mercenaries fighting in Misurata.flv – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR8MFxjttgY&NR=1
Rebels enter Tripoli as Gaddafi urges Libyans to take up arms – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SifGPkmEc4I
Uploaded by RussiaToday on Aug 21, 2011
Rebels have reportedly entered Tripoli from the west as fighting in Libya appears to be intensifying. Some estimates put the death toll from this weekend alone in the hundreds – with around a thousand injured. It’s also believed that major clashes have seen the rebels capture the capital’s Mitiga airbase. Opposition forces also claim to have freed prisoners locked up during the uprising against Gaddafi’s regime.
Kyaemon
August 27, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Libya conflict: Rebels vow to resolve Tripoli shortages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14693657
Libyan rebel leaders have announced measures to tackle shortages of water, fuel and medicines in Tripoli, which the UN says are threatening lives.
Mahmoud Shammam of the National Transitional Council (NTC) promised diesel fuel to restore electricity and water supplies would arrive on Sunday.
But he warned residents not to expect miracles after such a swift victory against Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
Meanwhile, the rebels took control on the main border crossing with Tunisia.
Locals said the pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag was raised at Ras Jidir late on Friday, opening a path for humanitarian supplies to enter Libya.
However, regime loyalists are firing rockets at the road to the border.
Overnight, Nato aircraft carried out strikes on Tripoli, and Sirte, where Col Gaddafi’s supporters are continuing to hold out.
A rebel advance on Sirte has halted outside the oil port of Ras Lanuf.
‘Working around the clock’
In Tripoli, the capital, the conflict is beginning to move to a new phase.
The BBC’s Wyre Davies says the battle for the city is almost over, and for many that is cause for celebration as victorious rebel fighters arrive from the east, west and south.
The biggest crisis now is a shortage of basic goods, our correspondent adds.
There is no running water and hardly any electricity in a city of two million people. The supply of water, which usually comes from aquifers in the desert, has been disrupted by the fighting and restoring it will take some time.
At the NTC’s first news conference in the capital since the uprising began six months ago, Mr Shammam said fuel was being distributed, and that water and medical supplies would be delivered by sea from Misrata.
“We have 30,000 tonnes of gasoline. We’ll start to distribute it to the public starting today. We have diesel fuel [which] will be arriving tomorrow, to support the electricity [power stations],” he said.
“Also, we are going to provide within two days the gas for cooking. And we are working hard to reactivate [the] Zawiya refinery.”
“Tripoli was under the tight control of the dictatorship for 42 years. We are starting from point zero in this situation. Do not ask for miracles, but we promise to try to make this difficult period as short as we can.”
Mr Shammam also called on all public, private and oil industry employees to return to work to help restore basic services to the capital.
Dr Aref Ali Nayed, operations director for the NTC’s Libya Stabilisation Team, told the BBC from the Libya-Tunisia border that “multiple teams” were “working around the clock” to resolve the water shortages……
Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Libyan rebels take most of Tripoli Photos | Libyan rebels take most of Tripoli Pictures – Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/libyan-rebels-close-in-on-tripoli-1313947594-slideshow/people-celebrate-capture-tripoli-moammar-gadhafis-son-one-photo-015021889.html
People celebrate the capture in Tripoli of Moammar Gadhafi’s son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, at the rebel-held town of Benghazi, Libya, early Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday that met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi’s defenders melted away and his 40-year rule appeared to rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in the city’s main square, the symbolic heart of the regime. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) less
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:16 am
Gaddafi’s Fleeing Mercenaries Describe the Collapse of the Regime
By Jovo Martinovic / Montenegro Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2090205,00.html
Right from the start, Mario, an ethnic Croatian artillery specialist from Bosnia, suspected it was a lost cause.
“My men were mainly from the south [of Libya] and Chad, and there were a few others from countries south of Libya,” said Mario, who spoke on condition that his last name not be published. A veteran of the wars of the former Yugoslavia, he had been hired by the Gaddafi regime to help fight the rebels and, later, NATO. “Discipline was bad, and they were too stupid to learn anything. But things were O.K. until the air strikes commenced. The other side was equally bad, if not worse. [Muammar] Gaddafi would have smashed the rebels had the West not intervened.” (See pictures of the lengthy battle for Libya.)
By early July, Mario said, more than 30% of the men under his command had deserted or defected to the rebel side. NATO missiles scored several direct hits on his forces, causing “significant casualties.” At that point in the war, he said, “military hardware stopped having the role it [once did]. We had to use camouflage and avoid open spaces.”
Away from the front, at the heart of the regime, mistrust and excess further undermined Gaddafi’s hold on power, Mario said. “Life in [Gaddafi’s] compound and shelters was so surreal, with partying, women, alcohol and drugs,” said Mario, 41. “One of the relatives of Gaddafi took me to one of his villas where they offered me anything I wanted. I heard stories about people being shot for fun and forced to play Russian roulette while spectators were making bets, like in the movies.”
Tension between two of Gaddafi’s sons contributed to the sense that Gaddafi’s cause was doomed. “I noticed profound rivalry between Gaddafi’s sons,” Mario said, speaking en route from the southern city of Sabha to Libya’s border with Niger. “Once, there was almost an armed clash between Mohammed’s and Saif [al-Islam]’s men. I saw one group interrogating the other at gunpoint, and then more of the other group arrived fully armed, and it was a standoff for several minutes, with both sides cursing each other.” (See portraits of refugees fleeing Libya.)
Mario respected and liked Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, who in 2009 threw himself a lavish 37th birthday party on the coast of the former Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, one of Europe’s newest glamour spots for the superrich. The ties between the Gaddafi family and the former Yugoslavia stretch back to the days of Josep Broz Tito, Yugoslavia’s storied communist leader, who was a friend and ally of Gaddafi’s. Mario said that Gaddafi had hired several former Yugoslav fighters, most of them Serbs, to help him in his fight against NATO and the rebels. One by one, Mario said, these foreign advisers and commanders left Tripoli. Some senior Libyans joined them.
“I noticed that many Libyans pretended loyalty just out of fear and were just seeking a way to turn against [Gaddafi],” Mario said. “Many officers admitted to me they stood no chance against NATO, and one of them told me he was in touch with the people in Benghazi.” Benghazi is the rebel stronghold in the east of the country.
Mario left Tripoli 12 days ago after receiving a warning from a comrade. “Two weeks ago, a friend who brought me here told me I should leave Tripoli, as things were going to rapidly change and that deals have been made,” he said. He noticed Gaddafi’s South African mercenaries beginning to leave. Mario decided with a fellow mercenary to flee Tripoli. “I tried to get ahold of Saif before that, but he was beyond reach,” he said. “Later he called my companion to ask if we needed something and to say that they would win back all of Libya.” (See a brief history of Muammar Gaddafi’s 40-year rule.)
Another former Yugoslav soldier, a retired general in the old Yugoslav army and a longtime military adviser to Gaddafi, cut things tighter, leaving Tripoli on Aug. 21. The man, who spoke on condition that his name not be published, spoke to TIME as he traveled through Libya toward Tunisia. “Back there is chaos,” he said, referring to Tripoli, which was then being overrun by the rebel forces. “The whole system has collapsed. I knew it was coming. I haven’t spoken to [Gaddafi] in four weeks. He wouldn’t listen.”……
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Libyan political prisoners set free – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgMBI8Ko_I&feature=relmfu
With Muammar Gaddafi on the run, many political prisoners who opposed him have been set free by Libyan rebel forces and are returning home. At least 107 political prisoners held in the Abu Salim prison have returned home to the eastern city of Benghazi. Many families are scanning lists of those freed from prison, anxiously looking for the names of their loved ones. Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler reports from Benghazi.
Kyaemon
August 29, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Rebels turn tour guides in Gaddafi home
Rebels turn tour guides in Gaddafi home – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7axavKS3i7U&feature=related
Rebel fighters show off what they say is a beachside compound belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 1:32 am
Libyan rebels reject negotiations with Kadafi
Responding to a supposed offer to discuss a transfer of power, a rebel leader says, ‘We’re not talking to him. We’re going to arrest him.’ Rebels are in control of Tripoli, but crucial shortages loom.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-tripoli-20110829,0,4186393.story?track=rss
Reporting from Tripoli, Libya—
Rebel leaders Sunday dismissed a purported offer by Moammar Kadafi to negotiate a transition in government, insisting that Libya’s longtime ruler turn himself in.
Musa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Kadafi’s toppled government, called the Associated Press’ New York headquarters to offer talks on a “transfer of power,” saying the leader’s son Saadi would conduct the negotiations. He said Kadafi remained in Libya but did not specify where.
But a top official of the Transitional National Council rejected the offer. “We have no negotiations with Kadafi and we can offer him only two things: safety and a fair trial,” said Ahmad Darrat, said to be incoming interior minister of the rebel government now taking the reins of power in Libya.
Photos: The Libyan conflict
“There’s no negotiations,” Mahmoud Shammam, a spokesman for the transitional government in Tripoli, told reporters. “There were no negotiations before. There are criminals running from justice. We’re not talking to him. We’re going to arrest him.”
Kadafi was driven from his longtime base of power last week in a lightning offensive by lightly armed rebels storming the Libyan capital from several directions. Tripoli now suffers power, water and food shortages, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the capital and the rebel-controlled Nafusa Mountains region.
Rebels entering the capital have found the bodies of dozens of apparently recent victims of violence at hospitals and military bases. Dozens of injured Libyans have crossed into Tunisia in recent days to seek treatment, according to Tunisian radio.
Rebels appear to have squelched the last pockets of armed Kadafi loyalists in the capital and are considering an offensive against the city of Surt, a remaining Kadafi stronghold, after negotiations to bring about the city’s surrender appear to have gone nowhere.
“As far as I know the negotiations still are going,” Shammam said. “Time is pressuring us. We’d like to unify Libya very soon.
“We’re not going to wait endlessly.”
The transitional government, still based in eastern Libya but moving to Tripoli, is struggling to take control of the country after the capture of the capital by rebel fighters from the country’s west.
Shammam said the transitional council’s two top leaders, Mustafa Abdul Jalil and Mahmoud Jibril, were meeting in Qatar to discuss their possible arrival in the capital.
Faisal Gergab, a transitional government official, told reporters that a “stabilization team” has been traveling around the capital to assess humanitarian needs; officials said 70% of Tripoli residents lacked water.
Gergab said a million-gallon tanker of water had just berthed in Tripoli’s port and that the transitional government would soon begin distribution at mosques. Another tanker carrying gasoline had arrived at the port in Zawiya, west of Tripoli. More shipments of gas and cooking fuel should be arriving soon, he said.
“We hope the fuel situation will be stabilized in the next few days,” he said.
Officials also announced plans for banks to begin reopening within 30 days and to allow residents to withdraw money and government employees to collect salaries. Plans are also being prepared to reopen police stations in part to prevent the type of lawlessness and budding anger that afflicted Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Shammam said the transitional government might request technical police assistance from other Arab or Islamic countries.
“We’re not going to repeat the mistakes we saw in Baghdad or Kabul,” Shammam said.
The transitional government has managed to complete one thing. Its satellite television station Ahrar, based in Qatar, has taken over the satellite slots from Libyan state television.
Photos: The Libyan conflict
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ENIGMATIC IN POWER, QADDAFI IS ELUSIVE AT LARGE
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/world/africa/29qaddafi.html?_r=1&hpw&gwh=B28F68AEE3D0B21AF49407D48C546FB7
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Economic future for Libya brighter than in Tunisia, Egypt
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Global-Viewpoint/2011/0829/Economic-future-for-Libya-brighter-than-in-Tunisia-Egypt
As the Libyan rebels continue to mop up resistance inside Tripoli and extend the nominal authority of the Transitional National Council to the rest of Libya, it is important to remember that the establishment of a new Libya will take time and face challenges even greater than those required to topple Muammar Qaddafi.
Although these are immense challenges, Col. Qaddafi’s ouster is a novel opportunity for the creation of an accountable government armed with the tools for rapid economic development in the heart of North Africa.
Despite its near total lack of a private sector and endemic levels of corruption and bureaucratic dysfunction, Libya’s prospects for sustainable economic growth should be brighter than that of its revolutionary neighbors, Egypt and Tunisia. That’s because of Libya’s immense resource wealth, small population, and ability to attract foreign investment and expertise.
RELATED: What happens next in Libya? America’s five greatest concerns.
To best secure the future of the Libyan state, it is imperative that the Transitional National Council uphold the transparent and comprehensive institutional framework recently outlined by the council’s interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril. This concrete and methodical “road map” for the formation of a post-Qaddafi government rightly delineates the procedure for elections based on the convocation of a National Congress composed of members of all regions of Libya. The congress would draft a constitution for a nationwide referendum under the supervision of the United Nations……
Kyaemon
August 30, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Rebels Give Gadhafi Loyalists Ultimatum
Message: Surrender Or Be ‘Liberated’ Comes After Days Of Fighting Between Rebels, Loyalists
http://www.foxreno.com/news/29011017/detail.html
Posted: 1:33 am PDT August 29, 2011
Updated: 3:09 am PDT August 29, 2011
TRIPOLI, Libya (CNN) — Rebel fighters gave loyalists in Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown until Monday to disarm or face “liberation,” an opposition spokesman said.
Thousands of rebels gathered Sunday on the outskirts of the fallen dictator’s birthplace of Sirte, even as one of Gadhafi’s sons offered to negotiate an end to the months-long war.
Gadhafi’s forces have been ordered to disarm and allow rebel fighters to enter the city, said Ahmed Bani, a National Transitional Council military spokesman.
The ultimatum follows days of fighting and reports of negotiations between rebels and loyalists to surrender the city, east of Tripoli.
But as rebel fighters moved to quash the last pockets of resistance, evidence emerged Sunday of atrocities allegedly committed by Gadhafi’s regime in its waning days of power with the discovery of a warehouse full of charred bodies.
Forces commanded by Gadhafi’s son Khamis killed an estimated 150 captive civilians as they retreated last week, hurling grenades and spraying bullets into a building full of men they had promised to release, a survivor said…..
Kyaemon
August 31, 2011 at 12:55 am
More details:
Libyan leader sets ultimatum for Gaddafi forces
http://news.yahoo.com/gaddafi-family-members-flee-algeria-without-him-040901449.html
TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI (Reuters) – Libya’s interim leader gave forces loyal to deposed ruler Muammar Gaddafi a four-day deadline on Tuesday to surrender towns they still control or face a bloody end to a war that the new leadership said has so far killed 50,000 people.
As the hunt for Gaddafi himself goes on, Libyan officials accused Algeria of an act of aggression for giving refuge to his fleeing wife and three of his children, as well as, it turned out, to a new grand-daughter, born on Tuesday.
Algeria’s Foreign Ministry said Gaddafi’s wife Safia, and his sons Hannibal and Mohammed had entered Algeria on Monday morning, along with their children. His pregnant daughter Aisha was also among the party and she gave birth within a day to a girl, a source close to Algeria’s health ministry said.
The incident stirred a diplomatic row as Libya’s interim council works to consolidate its authority and capture places still loyal to Gaddafi, notably the coastal city of Sirte.
Anti-Gaddafi forces have converged on Sirte from east and west, but have stopped short of an all-out assault in hopes of arranging a negotiated surrender of Gaddafi’s birth-place.
“By Saturday, if there are no peaceful indications for implementing this, we will decide this matter militarily. We do not wish to do so but we cannot wait longer,” Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of Libya’s interim council, told a news conference.
In Benghazi, headquarters of the anti-Gaddafi National Transtional Council during the uprising, military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Bani said the negotiations over Sirte involved tribal elders, not Gaddafi loyalists themselves.
The loyalists were thwarting the desire of most civilians to join the liberated areas, he said.
“Zero hour is quickly approaching,” Bani said.
At forward positions of NTC forces, on the main coastal road some 100 km (60 miles) west of Sirte, a Reuters correspondent saw little sign of military action on Tuesday.
Six months of fighting has left some 50,000 dead, one anti-Gaddafi commander said, an estimate that was hard to verify and which, he said, included many people who had gone missing.
“About 50,000 people were killed since the start of the uprising,” Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, commander of the anti-Gaddafi troops who advanced on Tripoli out of the Western Mountains, known as Jebel Nafusa, told Reuters.
“In Misrata and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa took a lot of casualties. We liberated about 28,000 prisoners. We presume that all those missing are dead,” he said. “Then there was Ajdabiyah, Brega. Many people were killed there too.”
GADDAFI “WENT TO SABHA”
………
Kyaemon
September 1, 2011 at 4:23 am
Gaddafi attempts to enter Algeria for asylum: report
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09/01/c_131087268.htm
LGIERS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) — Muammar Gaddafi was staying in a town on the Libyan-Algerian border waiting for permission to enter Algeria, the French-language newspaper El Watan reported Wednesday in its online edition, quoting sources from the Algerian president ‘s office.
The report said Gaddafi was in Ghadames, an oasis town in west Libya, accompanied by the rest of his family.
Gaddafi had tried to negotiate with the Algerian authorities on his entry into Algeria, the report said, adding that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika refused to answer Gaddafi’s phone calls.
Instead, a presidential aide apologized to Gaddafi and told him Bouteflika was busy, the report said.
The report can not be immediately confirmed.
pyinlepyaw
September 1, 2011 at 8:52 am
စိတ်ဆင်းရဲစရာကြီးနော်၊ ဒီလောက်ဖြစ်နေမှ သေလဲ အေးခြင်းတစ်မျိုးပါပဲ၊
Kyaemon
September 2, 2011 at 3:34 am
Algeria takes neutral position towards Libya conflict: FM
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-09/01/c_131092316.htm
ALGIERS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — There is no ambiguity in the position of Algeria towards the conflict in Libya, and it neutrality does not mean supporting the leadership of Muammar Gaddafi, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said Thursday.
In an interview with the French Europe 1 radio channel, hours before the Libya conference in Paris, Medelci said there’s no ambiguity (in the position of Algeria), and when the UN Resolution 1973 was adopted, Algeria has implemented it directly.
The minister said Algeria marked its “distinction” at the very beginning of the conflict, “simply because it wished that the crisis to be solved peacefully, without resorting to foreign force. ”
Medelci denied complicity with Gaddafi, saying Algeria has always stuck to neutrality towards the conflicts in Tunisia and Egypt. He added “concerning the case of Libya, it’s a bit different, because we saw foreign interventions.”
Answering whether Algeria is to offer asylum to Gaddafi, Medelci said “the hypothesis that Gaddafi could knock our door was never considered.”
Medelci further denied reports that the toppled Libyan leader is in Algeria, while admitting that part of Gaddafi’s family was given shelter in the country for “humanitarian reasons.”
Medelci also said Algeria is ready to recognize Libya’s National Transitional Council if it forms a “government representing all regions.”
Kyaemon
September 9, 2011 at 10:18 am
CIA once handed key Libya rebel figure to Kadafi, documents show
A few years ago, documents show, Abdel-Hakim Belhadj was a wanted Islamic militant whom the CIA handed over for ‘debriefing’ to the government of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, a ‘war on terror’ ally.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-islamists-20110904,0,6820496.story
Reporting from Tripoli, Libya, and Washington— The sometimes odd contortions of U.S. policy in the Islamic world have seen a new twist in the strange case of Abdel-Hakim Belhadj.
A few years ago, documents show, Belhadj was a wanted Islamic militant whom the CIA handed over for “debriefing” to the government of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, then an ally in the fight against terrorism.
Today, Belhadj is a top military commander in the provisional Libyan government and Kadafi is on the run, his government toppled, in part, by U.S. and allied airstrikes…..
Kadafi compound becomes a big attraction
Visitors throng Moammar Kadafi’s Bab Azizia compound in Tripoli. ‘I don’t think any Libyan believed we would ever see this place. But the day has finally come,’ says one self-appointed tour guide.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-kadafi-20110831,0,4893429.story
Kyaemon
September 18, 2011 at 1:46 am
REPORTER WHITEHEAD’S VIDEO OF THE BATTLE IS INSIDE THE ARTICLE BELOW:
BBC News – Libya: Anti-Gaddafi forces fire on Sirte
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14960704
17 September 2011 Last updated at 11:04 ET
Help
Anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya are regrouping for fresh attacks on loyalist strongholds Sirte and Bani Walid.
Fighters have faced fierce resistance from troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi in his home town of Sirte.
The BBC’s Alastair Leithead, with National Transitional Council forces on the road to Sirte, said that progress was slow but steady.
Kyaemon
September 25, 2011 at 4:45 pm
YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE LIBYAN WAR
International forces begin Libya strikes – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=HQTKFBG30Ag
Mar 19, 2011
International forces have begun military operations in Libya, with French fighter jets taking out several tanks operated by pro-government forces, while over 100 US Tomahawk cruise missiles struck at air defence sites. The US is taking the lead in the first phase of operations, but says it will be handing over control to coalition partners “in the coming days”. The action comes after world leaders concluded a summit in Paris to discuss the modalities of international action on Libya, as authorised by UN resolution 1973. Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from Paris.
U.S. and Allies Strike in Libya – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-eXhWVVowk&feature=related
Acting on a U.N. resolution, ally nations intervene in Libya.
66,937
Gadhafi orders air strikes on protesters, hundreds dead in Libya – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyF2QLqz3-s&feature=related
Libyans are digging their heels in protests in key cities – despite the violent response from the police as they try to curb the anti-government demonstrations. World leaders are rounding on Libyan authorities – calling for an immediate end to the clashes. Increasing numbers of protesters are demanding for an end to the 41-year rule of Colonel Gaddafi. Hundreds have been killed and over a thousand injured during a week of unrest, with reports of airstrikes from the country’s own military on Monday. Rumours spread that the Libyan leader had fled the trouble, but Gaddafi later made a brief and defiant TV appearance saying he was still in the country. One of his sons blamed exiles and outsiders for pushing Libya to the brink of civil war, and denied that live ammunition was being used on demonstrators. Some Libyan ambassadors have quit over the use of force on civilians in protest, and want the UN to intervene.
Libyan violence spreads to Tripoli – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rRVDL_OpE&feature=related
Violent clashes reportedly broke out late Sunday in Tripoli’s central Green Square. In a televised address just a few hours ago, Saif El Islam Gadaffi said his father would stand firm, and the country could plunge into civil war if the protests don’t stop. He said foreign media, Islamists, even drug addicts were part of a plot to bring down the government, and break up the country. Meanwhile, demonstrators in Benghazi claim to be in control of the city, despite yet another brutal crackdown. Human Right Watch says at least 233 people have died – with security forces continuing to use force to end the demonstrations.
Putin: Quit lecturing Russia on democracy! – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7PlQaV7Iro&feature=related
Ahead of Vladimir Putin’s visit to France, the Russian premier sits down with French journalists, to share his views on issues ranging from military cooperation to Gaza and the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
News Bulletin – 14:35 GMT update – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFmfafAepbc&feature=relmfu
The main headlines on Al Jazeera English, featuring the latest news and reports from around the world.