GADDIFI TOPPLED!!!!!TRIPOLI CELEBRATING!!!!!!!!

Time USA via Libyans Forever

Libya’s Rebels Grow Wary of Western Journalists
Posted on July 2, 2011

As the push to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi has stalled, journalists have increasingly borne the brunt of the frustrations of Libya’s rebels. Although the foreign press was eagerly welcomed just months ago, reporters in rebel-controlled areas have recently been harassed and intimidated. Officials of the rebel-led National Transitional Council (NTC) have steadily begun to treat correspondents as hostile elements: some have been prohibited from filming bomb scenes; others have been accused of being spies.

In several incidents in the months following the February uprising against Gaddafi, rebels have prevented journalists from recording events they consider embarrassing. For example, when a skirmish erupted in March after one fighter ordered another to stop firing an antiaircraft gun outside the town of Brega, which is about 130 miles (210 km) west of the rebel capital, Benghazi, other rebels kept correspondents from filming the incident. On another occasion, journalists were prevented from photographing a rebel who accidentally shot himself in April near Ajdabiyah, approximately 95 miles (155 km) west of Benghazi.

In Benghazi, reporters face similar restrictions. In April, a man barged into a press conference featuring the rebels’ military chief of staff, Abd al-Fattah Yunis, and accused the former Gaddafi loyalist of persecuting the Libyan people for 40 years. After the intruder was rushed from the conference hall, journalists were barred from following him and were forced to remain in the room. In June, rebels prevented reporters from filming a car that exploded in a hotel parking lot in Benghazi.

In recent weeks the NTC has intensified pressure on journalists, with most of the intimidation occurring in the rebel enclave of Misratah, 117 miles (188 km) from Tripoli, the capital. Officials there accused reporters of being “spies” and working for “outside powers.” They prevented journalists from traveling to the front and began vetting them, even though the reporters had already registered with the NTC Media Center in Benghazi and had been approved to work in all rebel-controlled areas of Libya. Suspicion has fallen particularly heavily on those correspondents from non-English-speaking countries, because Misratah’s officials cannot read their foreign-language articles on the Internet. A Polish correspondent was accused of not being a “real” journalist because he took a number of pictures and no one there could understand his published pieces.

Officials in Misratah have stipulated that foreign correspondents can use only “approved” translators, a condition the NTC has not imposed in other areas under its control. In addition, journalists are being hassled about the subject of their articles. In June, one correspondent asked a media official to help arrange meetings with prisoners captured from Gaddafi’s forces; the official chastised him and suggested that he instead visit civilian amputees wounded by Gaddafi fighters. When asked why he was muzzling coverage, the official responded, “I am the new Gaddafi! I control everything here!” Another writer was accused of being a spy because his questions had vexed a Misratah official.

Some NTC officials sought to discount events in Misratah by blaming battlefield conditions. “There is paranoia in Misratah because Gaddafi is making a serious push lately,” explains Jalal al-Galal, the council’s media-committee spokesman. “When Misratis become agitated, they lash out at the first target they find, and that is foreigners.”

Privately, NTC officials concede that the actions of their counterparts in Misratah are somewhat justified. “We can’t discount that Gaddafi has spies operating in our midst,” says a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We have an open environment where people come and go. And being a journalist affords the best cover to provide information.” The rebels have already apprehended foreigners they believe were working for Gaddafi. In May they detained a group of French security contractors, claiming they were relaying military information to Gaddafi’s forces in Tripoli.

Others, however, believe the problem lies with Libyans’ unfamiliarity with Western journalistic standards. “Many here just don’t understand how journalists behave,” says Salah al-Senoussi, a professor of political science. “We never had a free media. For the last 40 years, the papers and television have been telling us how great our political system was, and no journalists ever challenged this farce. This is the legacy of Gaddafi. When journalists challenge the politicians, they believe there is some hidden agenda. Journalists are seen as enemies because they want information politicians don’t want to give up.”

And with Western reporters eager to learn why the rebels are faltering at the front and how they plan to resolve the dilemma, the NTC’s frustrations with journalists are not likely to subside anytime soon.

5 days ago - Libya

According to an email by the Free Generation Movement, the wife of Khaled El-Khweldi (Katiba Commander and major regime member) and his 2 children are dead following blasts today in Surman.

This has been confirmed from family sources. His children are Khaleda and Khweldi (the names after his grandfather), aged 4 and 6.

His wife is Safaa Ahmed Mahmoud, was an engineer and daughter of high end military commander Ahmed Mahmoud.

CNN:

Libyan rebels, Gadhafi forces exchange fire; 11 rebels wounded
By the CNN Wire Staff
July 3, 2011 -- Updated 0225 GMT (1025 HKT)

Dafniya, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan rebels and troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi shelled each other for hours on Saturday in clashes at the highly contested frontline of Dafniya, an embattled town just west of the besieged port city of Misrata.

At least 11 rebels were wounded in the exchange of fire and treated at one of the two field hospitals in what has been the most active day in Dafniya this week, according to a CNN team.

Heavy government shelling on Misrata and Dafniya began shortly after Gadhafi rallied his supporters in an audio message on state TV and threatened to take the fighting to Europe in retaliation for NATO's bombing campaign.

"As soon as Gadhafi's speech ended, they started shelling Dafniya and around midnight there was a salvo of about eight rockets inside Misrata itself, and it continues on the front this morning," said CNN's Ben Wedeman, who was in Misrata Saturday.

Gadhafi has vowed vengeance for NATO bombings in Libya. He said the Libyan military could be "like locusts, like bees" in Europe, potentially targeting homes and offices.

"You are mistaken, you are involved in a battle that you don't know what you are going to face, so withdraw and run away," Gadhafi told a pro-government gathering in Tripoli. "Our people is able in one day to move the battle to the Mediterranean, and able to move the battle to Europe."

Gadhafi referred to NATO, which began bombing military targets in Libya after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution in March authorizing force by whatever means necessary -- with the exception of a ground invasion -- to protect civilians.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim on Saturday reiterated Gadhafi's call for vengeance.

NATO's "aggression is killing our children (and) Europe will have to face the consequences," he said. "You will have people attacking Europe, joining terrorist organizations against Europe, and building a culture that makes legitimate all violence against Europe."

Ibrahim claimed rebel fighters "have no popular support. The rebels have no future," he added. "They know it and they are terrified."

On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the NATO mission in Libya is on track, with pressure on Gadhafi mounting and the rebel forces growing stronger.

"We need to see this through, and we are in complete agreement that we will," she said alongside the Spanish foreign minister in Madrid Saturday.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States was taking seriously the Libyan leader's remarks. "Certainly this is an individual who's obviously capable of carrying out these kinds of threats," he told reporters. "It's what makes him so dangerous. But he's also someone who's given to overblown rhetoric."

He said the United States would continue to support NATO's mission of increasing pressure on Gadhafi to step aside.

The events came one day after the African Union's special committee on Libya said it had officially presented a plan meant to help Libya find a way out of the current crisis. The proposal states that Gadhafi will not be part of the negotiation process, but stops short of saying he should step down.

"It is envisaged to convene, soon, in Addis Ababa, (Ethiopia) negotiations between the parties to discuss these proposals," the group said in a statement.

Committee members have met with Gadhafi and opposition leaders over the past three months. Another African Union-led attempt to broker peace between Gadhafi and the rebels fell through in April.

The French government was in talks with Libyan rebels about supplying them with weapons and ammunition, a Libyan opposition military spokesman in Misrata said Thursday.

The French government has not confirmed the claim, which follows an acknowledgment earlier this week that its military has previously dropped light weaponry to rebels elsewhere.

CNN's Ben Wedeman and David McKenzie contributed to this report.

Even if Gaddafi was in a position to carry out threats - well, he has bombed innocents before; it will scarcely help his standing in the world if he carries out more acts of terrorism, will it?
In fact, it would give NATO the perfect excuse to flatten his bunkers.

Al Jazeera:

South African president to hold talks with Russian counterpart in bid to resolve conflict raging for nearly five months.
Last Modified: 03 Jul 2011 10:52

Jacob Zuma, the South African president, will be visiting Russia for talks on Libya, his spokesperson says.

The visit follows an African Union (AU) summit in Equatorial Guinea, which sought to push a regional peace plan to end the conflict in the north African nation.

"He is leaving today, and the meeting is scheduled for tomorrow [Monday]," Zanele Mngadi told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Zuma belongs to the African Union team tasked with finding a solution to the conflict.

The Kremlin said in a statement late on Saturday that Zuma and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, held a telephone conversation in which they agreed on a "personal meeting in the closest time" but gave no details on when it would take place.

"The heads of state agreed on a personal meeting in the closest time to agree and co-ordinate the ensuing steps for a solution to the internal Libyan conflict," it said.

Moscow's anger

Like South Africa, Russia has also sought to play a mediating role in the Libyan conflict that has been raging for nearly five months.

Medvedev has said it is time for Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, to step aside but Russia has also expressed mounting anger with the intensity and duration of the NATO air strikes against loyalist targets.

At its summit in Equatorial Guinea, the AU adopted a plan for negotiations between the warring Libyan parties.

"We are very happy that we have reached this point, that we can now say very soon we will be launching the talks in Addis Ababa and we believe we will get the necessary support from everyone," Zuma said late on Friday after the summit.

But the accord reached at the summit did little to bring forward earlier AU proposals, which have been rejected by the rebels who insist that Gaddafi must go.

The AU's road map proposes provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

The AU also says that Gaddafi has agreed to stay out of the negotiations, but the 53-nation bloc was unable to take a position on his future, which is a key sticking point between the two sides.

The agreement contained no direct criticism of Gaddafi and even called for an amnesty for crimes during the conflict and the unfreezing of Libyan assets abroad.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week issued an arrest warrant for Gaddaffi, his son and his spy chief, citing evidence of crimes against humanity committed against political opponents.

But the AU said its members would not execute the warrant against Gaddafi.

AFP:

Libya rebels poised for push towards Tripoli

By Andrew Beatty (AFP) – 4 hours ago

BENGHAZI, Libya — Buoyed by French arms drops and intensified NATO air strikes on the regime's frontline armour, Libya's rebel army said it is poised for an offensive that could put it within striking distance of Tripoli.

The rebels' announcement late on Saturday came as a prolonged deadlock on the battlefield prompted mounting pressure from countries outside the NATO-led coalition for a negotiated solution to a conflict that has dragged on for four and a half months.

Rebel fighters are readying an advance out of their hilltop enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli, in the next 48 hours in a bid to recapture territory in the plains on the road to the capital, spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said.

"In the next two days the (revolutionaries) will come up with answers, things will change on the front line," he said.

The rebels had pulled back last week from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Tripoli, in the face of loyalist bombardment.

But last week France made a series of controversial weapons drops to rebel fighters in the Nafusa Mountains and NATO has bombarded loyalist positions around Bir al-Ghanam and elsewhere on the front line around the rebel enclave.

Two armoured vehicles belonging to Kadhafi forces were destroyed in the town on Friday night.

In Gharyan, another government stronghold near the mountains, NATO aircraft struck eight targets over the past four days, including a military complex used to resupply Kadhafi troops, tanks and other military vehicles, the alliance said on Saturday.

In its daily report for Saturday, NATO said it had launched a total of 52 strike sorties over Libya, hitting a tank near Gharyan and three armoured vehicles near Zlitan, also on the Nafusa front line.

"March on the jebel (mountains) and seize the weapons that the French have supplied," he said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe insisted that the arms were meant only to defend peaceful civilians from Kadhafi's forces and thus fell in line with UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict.

"It is not a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions" under which France and other allies launched air strikes and imposed embargoes to protect civilians from Kadhafi, he said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow of the talks between Russian and South African officials and representatives of the NATO-led coalition but both countries have been outspoken advocates of a negotiated solution to the conflict.

The foreign ministry in Pretoria said the talks in Russia would include all members of the so-called International Contact Group on Libya but could provide no further details.

The Kremlin said in a statement late Saturday that Zuma and President Dmitry Medvedev held a telephone conversation in which they agreed on a "personal meeting in the closest time" but gave no details on when it would take place.

Pretoria said that the talks had been scheduled for Monday and that Zuma would leave for them later on Sunday.

The announcement came shortly after the South African president returned home from an African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea, where the continental grouping adopted a plan for negotiations between the warring Libyan parties.

"We are very happy that we have reached this point, that we can now say very soon we will be launching the talks in Addis Ababa and we believe we will get the necessary support from everyone," Zuma said after the summit.

But the accord reached in Equatorial Guinea produced little movement on earlier AU proposals, which have been rejected by the rebels who insist that Kadhafi must step down before they will agree to a truce.

New elements in the AU plan include provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

The bloc also says that Kadhafi has agreed to stay out of the negotiations.

Report: Al Jazeera:

Libya: 'We win or we die'
Libyan rebels continue their struggle against Muammer Gaddafi loyalists; for the rebels it is a matter of life or death.
Ruth Sherlock Last Modified: 03 Jul 2011 10:36

"You rats, you sons of rats, we are coming to get you." The voice of the regime loyalist crackled on the rebel radio.

Under the pine trees behind a sand barrier defence on Misurata's western front line, the boys of the Martyr brigade laughed, and returned a torrent of insults. The group's anti-aircraft gun was pointed outwards to the open expanse of fields where the loyalist troops roam.

The bonds between the young men were forged in the urban battles that raged for months on Misurata's Tripoli Street. Now they are to learning adapt to the front line of open war.

For more than a month, the fighters have been stationed at the end of a dirt track that delineates the western front line at Dafniya. Long range shelling; pounding mortars, BM21 'Grad' missiles, and katyusha rockets define their new war.

"Before we were street fighters, you slept on one road, whilst the enemy slept next door. Kalashnikovs were useful. Here we are fighting in open fields, we need bigger weapons and new tactics," said fighter Hazem Abu Zeid, 29.

Life and death

They lack heavy munitions, with Grad rocket launchers being few and far between. The weapons they do have are captured by running incursions into enemy ground. "This is the good weapon!" said Salah Mabrook, spying a rusty antiquated anti-aircraft gun on a green leopard print painted Toyota pickup that they took in battle.

Every Friday forces loyal to Colonel Muammer Gaddafi have launched massive offensives on their position. Friday in mid-June, a day that still sends shivers down their spines, was second bloodiest day for the rebel fighters since the battled moved to the city; over 30 of their comrades were killed, and 150 injured.

A crater of splattered shrapnel marks in the road beside the fighters'. Mattresses marks where one of the rockets exploded. A fighter plucked a piece of shrapnel beside a pillow. "This is the piece of rocket killed our friend Ali Seck. We feel such sorrow for our friends, a lot of them have died beside me, just shot in the head," said Zeid.

Every Thursday, Misurata braces herself for attack. Rebels clean and load their Kalashnikovs, medical staff organise emergency room teams and prepare surgical instrument sets. The elderly and their children scurry to buy provisions so that they won't have to go outdoors on Friday. Housewives cook meals for the rebels on the front lines.

Rebels gathered on the beach, running, and diving into the crashing waves. As the sun sank on the horizon silence fell on the group as they contemplated what tomorrow would bring. "Maybe tomorrow I will be dead," said a young fighter nicknamed 'Ronaldo' for his love of football.

But as members of the Misurata council declared that their fighters could not again suffer such an attack, on the front line rebel youths stand determined to fight.

War stories

I went forward with the young brigade to within 400m of the Gaddafi forces. The brigade provided a barrage of cover fire for their diggers that advanced to push defences further into enemy territory. Bullets flew fast from the thickets where regime soldiers hit.

Back at the 'base' - a sheet hung in the trees for shade - they told war stories. Sitting on pillows, a shisha pipe bubbling in the corner, with mortars whistling overhead, 'Hefta' - named after Libya's famed rebel commander Khalifa Hefta and wearing a t-shirt displaying the words 'Never Walk Alone' - spoke: "And we went forward until we were within twenty metres of the Gaddafi men. We said "drop your weapons and come here." They replied "you are going to die," and opened their guns on us. But we killed so many. They left dragging their dead behind them." The boys cheered.

All the young men were students in English, and engineering, or businessmen before the war changed their lives.

Their youthful passions come through in the slow times of the war. A young man grabbed the spout of the tanker filled with water supplies and unleashed a giant arc of water on the men. They ran and jumped in the spray. Another fighter cycled on a child's bike, his FN rifle clanking by his side.

Zeid's passion, he explained, is metallica music. "I mix war with music. Death metal gives the real part of humanity; most music talks about love, beaches, cars, but this talks about real things, brutality, poverty, the soul." His Iron Maiden T-shirt denoting the slogan 'matters of life and death' made for the perfect war gear.

"I have to stay on the front line, I can't go back to my home and wait for Gaddafi to come and kill my family. We win or we die," added Zaid his face turning somber.

Arab News:

Qaddafi welcome to retire in Libya, says rebel chief

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of Libya's National Transitional Council, in interview with Reuters in Benghazi on Sunday. (Reuters)

By MARIA GOLOVNINA | REUTERS

Published: Jul 3, 2011 16:16

BENGHAZI: Libya’s rebel chief on Sunday said Muammar Qaddafi was welcome to retire on Libyan soil as long as he resigns formally and agrees to international supervision of his movements.

Libyan rebels and their Western allies have rejected any solution to the conflict that does not include Qaddafi’s resignation, saying he must quit before any peace talks can begin.

Qaddafi has fiercely resisted all international calls on him to go, vowing to fight to the end.

Speaking in his stronghold of Benghazi, rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil — Qaddafi’s former justice minister — said he made the proposal about a month ago through the United Nations but had yet to receive any response from Tripoli.

“As a peaceful solution, we offered that he can resign and order his soldiers to withdraw from their barracks and positions, and then he can decide either to stay in Libya or abroad,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“If he desires to stay in Libya, we will determine the place and it will be under international supervision. And there will be international supervision of all his movements,” he said.

He added: “We offered this through a UN envoy. We haven’t received any answer.” He said the rebel council believed Qaddafi could be held in a military barracks or “a civilian building” in Libya, but gave no details.

There was no immediate reaction from Tripoli to Abdel Jalil’s remarks but Qaddafi has so far shown no sign of backing down. He says he is the legitimate leader of the North African nation and will not leave Tripoli without a fight.

The conflict appears to be deadlocked both militarily and politically despite moves by Western powers to step up their bombing campaign against Qaddafi’s installations across the desert country.

With the war dragging into a fifth month, there have been moves by some nations to try to mediate a face-saving solution that would suit both the rebels and the Tripoli government. So far these initiatives have failed.

Escalating his rhetoric, Qaddafi has threatened to attack Europeans in their homes in response to NATO air strikes.

The rebels in Benghazi, a Mediterranean city now festooned with NATO and Libyan monarchy-era flags, say the end to Qaddafi’s 41-year rule is near.

Sitting underneath a giant rebel flag in his modestly furnished office in central Benghazi, Abdel Jalil was unfazed when asked if he saw himself as Libya’s future leader.

“No. I don’t hope to be in this position. I am here for the transitional period,” he said. “The leader will be decided through elections. And I don’t intend to run myself.”



Rebel vision

The soft-spoken Abdel Jalil earned the respect of many east Libyans for opposing Qaddafi’s harsh line against political opponents.

He resigned from his ministerial post at the start of the revolt over what he saw as the excessive use of violence against protesters rallying against the veteran Libyan leader.

Seen also as a consensus builder who has leaned toward talks before, he said the rebel authority was determined to give negotiations a chance.

“We welcome political solutions to stop bloodshed and avoid any further devastation and damage for the country,” said Abdel Jalil. “But if we find no solution then we will focus on military action.”

Outgunned by Qaddafi’s better-equipped troops, rebel forces have struggled to make progress in past weeks but managed to advance briefly to within 80 km (50 miles) of Tripoli before being forced into a retreat on Friday.

Rebels say they see no settlement under which Qaddafi or his entourage would be allowed to stay in Libya’s political arena after four decades of what they describe as severe repression and abuse of basic human rights.

Jalil said his vision for a new Libya involved building a democratic state that was respectful of its Islamic traditions.

He said he was determined to lead the country toward a post-transitional period when Libyans would be able to choose their new leader through free and fair elections.

“Libya will be a free, democratic Islamic country,” he said. “It will be run in accordance with the moderate standards of Islam, it will ban murder of civilians and will not rob people of their money.”

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

3 hours 31 min ago - Libya

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi on Sunday to recognize the opposition National Transitional Council and pledge hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

............................................................................................
Telegraph:

Sir David Frost was paid £57,000 by a management consultancy to help boost the image of Colonel Gaddafi’s Libyan regime, it has been revealed.

By Martin Evans 5:19PM BST 03 Jul 2011

The broadcaster was among a number of influential people in the west recruited by the US based Monitor Group to help enhance the profile of Libya between 2006 and 2009 when Muammar Gaddafi was attempting to improve international relations.

In addition to Sir David Frost, documents released by the Monitor Group, reveal that Anthony Giddens, a former director of the London School of Economics (LSE), who was ennobled by Tony Blair, was also on the payroll.

Lord Giddens was paid £41,500 after making two visits to Tripoli during which he took part in a public discussion alongside an American academic, chaired by Sir David.

One of the aims of the strategy was to help change Libya’s international image as a sponsor of terrorism and pariah state and also to portray Colonel Gaddafi as an intellectual and a thinker.

The Monitor Group also undertook a series of interviews on behalf of Gaddafi’s son, Saif, while he was undertaking research for his 2008 PhD.

The doctorate has since become the subject of scrutiny amid allegations that it was partly plagiarised.

Last week the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi, accusing him of crimes against humanity and of ordering attacks on civilians in Libya following the uprising.

Arrest warrants have also been issued for his son Saif and the regime’s intelligence chief, Abdullah Senussi.

Other recipients of payments from the management consultancy include American intellectuals who paid regular visits to Libya between 2006 and 2008.

Oh dear! Worms, can of...

BBC News article:

2 July 2011 Last updated at 15:27 GMT

Article written by Andrew Harding Africa correspondent

Libya crisis: Leaving Misrata as 'storm' approaches

Last night I sat on the roof and watched Misrata city - blackened by a power cut - glow orange as another barrage of rockets smashed into the port area.

"The storm is coming," one rebel military official assured me. "Our storm," he added.

But this morning the rebel casualties were pouring, as usual, into a field hospital just behind the western front lines as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces nudged closer.

As the deadlock here continues, and the summer heat rises, I'm heading back to my base in Johannesburg. The only way to get out of this famously besieged city is still by boat, and there haven't been too many of them coming or going in recent days.

Below is something I've written for From Our Own Correspondent and, although it contains some material that has appeared before on this blog, I thought I'd include it by way of a parting message from this remarkable city.

I'm crouching behind a ridge of sand on the long, meandering, front line west of Misrata.

Most afternoons, you can find a few families sitting on the sand, staring at the Mediterranean, and trying to pretend that life is vaguely normal”

I'm told that if you can actually hear the whistle, it's not going to hit you.

But my face is already in the sand as the shell explodes maybe 50 yards behind us.

Beside me, under a small tree, a group of young rebel fighters barely look up from their rice and stew.

They've been camped out in this olive grove for well over a month now, and still haven't bothered to dig trenches.

Around them, the war that seemed at one point to be such an unpredictable, dynamic drama, has settled into something close to a routine.

I've met fathers driving out to the front to bring their sons home for the night.

Brothers taking turns on the battlefield, sharing one gun.

There are wounded friends to visit in hospital. And the endless scavenging for ammunition and supplies.

For the inhabitants of this besieged city, the stakes and the sacrifices could hardly be higher, and yet the rebellion here has retained its amateur, DIY quality.

I often go to see the local military commanders at their bunker in the city. The man responsible for coordinating things with Nato here is an unfailingly cheerful man called Fateh Bashaga.

We sit outside, sip tea, and discuss the stalemate and why Nato isn't doing more. It's odd - and useful - to remember that, until February, Fateh ran a business importing car tyres.

There are some professional soldiers here.

A man carries away a piece of furniture from a destroyed building in Misrata on 30 June. Rockets fall regularly and the population has become suspicious

Gen Suleiman Mahmoud has come in by boat.

He's brought with him an immaculately clipped grey croissant-shaped moustache - and a keen interest in the military strategies of Erwin Rommel - the "Desert Fox" of World War II.

General Mahmoud is a senior defector from Colonel Gaddafi's army - 13 years in the republic guard, he says with evident pride.

While we're talking, gunfire erupts on the streets nearby. The city is celebrating the news of an international arrest warrant for Colonel Gaddafi, his son and brother-in-law.

General Mahmoud's moustache wrinkles with pleasure. Gaddafi is our Hitler, he declares. And he will end the same way.

But when?

"Two weeks" has become the stock answer here to almost any question about the conflict. When will the rebels liberate the next town, when will Tripoli fall, when will Nato finish the job, when will Misrata's mobile phone system finally be fixed?

But as the days stack up, the defiance in this isolated city is slowly curdling into frustration.

The rockets don't help.

They arrive here most nights - up to a dozen at a time crashing into the centre of Misrata - an area that everyone had assumed was finally out of reach of Colonel Gaddafi's heavy weapons.

The bombardments are not nearly as devastating as they were in April and May - and the population is remarkably stoical.

But the death toll keeps rising, and many people are starting to think that the rockets are now being launched from inside the city. I don't think they are, but the rumours are feeding fears about spies and fifth columnists.
Libyans celebrate after news that an arrest warrant had been issued against Col Gaddafi on 27 June. Thousands celebrated the news that an arrest warrant had been issued against Col Gaddafi.

The spirit of unity forged here during the past three months hasn't disappeared. But it is being tested.

Foreign journalists are suddenly being restricted, and suspected.

The old, hard-learned habits of repression and control are bubbling to the surface, making me wonder what sort of democracy will finally emerge here.

Still, there's always the beach.

Most afternoons, you can find a few families sitting on the sand, staring at the Mediterranean, and trying to pretend that life is vaguely normal.

There are lots of rather drab beach resorts just west of the city - most of them have been taken over by detachments of fighters.

They come here to sleep, or to weld protective sheets of steel onto the front of their pick-ups, or to swim.

Just before sunset, I head down the public beach to cool off, and kick a ball around.

Soon, the heavy machine-guns start off, further up the coast. That's followed, for a good half hour, by the distant, but heavy boom of Grad rockets.

A young, bearded fighter named Walid walks out of the water and crouches down beside five German Shepherd puppies that have been adopted by his rebel unit.

The puppies want to sleep. But Walid is trying to make a joke about them being named after Gaddafi and his sons, and how they deserve to be drowned.

He's heading back to the front lines in the morning. I ask him when he thinks the war will end and he doesn't miss a beat.

"Two weeks".

Link to more Andrew Harding articles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/andrewharding/

Asharq Alawsat - Report:

Colonel Gaddafi using "African magic" to prolong his reign –Libyan rebel officer

By Amro Ahmed 01/07/2011

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – Libyan rebel officer, Colonel Saleh Mansour al-Obeidi, who defected from the Gaddafi regime to join the Libyan rebels based in Benghazi, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has resorted to using "magic" in an attempt to confront the rebels and prolong his reign.

Colonel al-Obeidi told Asharq Al-Awsat that Gaddafi is utilizing "African magicians" from Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Gambia, and Morocco to help him overcome the rebels. The rebel Colonel claimed that "African magicians" were even being deployed by Gaddafi on the battlefield to provide his soldiers with "magical talismans" that ensure loyalty to the Libyan leader, in an attempt to counteract the wide-spread defection from his military forces. Calling into question the Libyan leader's psychological state, al-Obeidi said that Gaddafi considered "magic" to be like a secondary intelligence apparatus, allowing him to spy on Libyan officials and leaders.

Libyan rebel Colonel Saleh al-Obeidi, who claims to be among the first military figures to have defected from the Gaddafi regime, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "one of Gaddafi's closest aides told me that he was utilizing a Gambian witch who was using magical talisman's and voodoo to prolong his life, and ensure that he is not injured by any rebel or NATO attack." He added that "this witch has provided Gaddafi with a magical talisman which he wears on his cloak so that he is not hit by bullets or hurt in an explosion…and this is why we always see him wearing this cloak. Even when it is extremely hot, he never takes it off!"

Colonel al-Obeidi added that "if we look at pictures of Gaddafi, we can see that he wears a silver ring, and this ring was made of hyena bone, which a significant animal to magicians. This ring was given to Gaddafi by a Mauritanian magician to inspire fear in anybody that deals or meets with him. Somebody close to me said that when he went to meet Gaddafi…he felt as if he had seen a demon. He told me that he began to recite the Quran under his breath [to ward off evil], when Gaddafi told him 'why are you reciting the Quran as if you are entreating with a demon?' and he [Gaddafi] kicked him out."

Al-Obeidi claimed that "African witches" are not only kept close to Gaddafi to protect him, but are also being sent out to the battlefield to exert "magical" influence upon Gaddafi's own soldiers, as well as to limit the progress of the rebels.

Al-Obeidi also claimed that some pro-Gaddafi fighters captured by the rebels had been magically enchanted, and could only say "God…Muammar…Libya" and nothing more. He added "we were perplexed by what was happening, but after we left them for two days and brought sheikhs to lift the magic, they would say 'where am I?' and 'how did I get here?' as if they were not aware of what they were doing, and this is because they were under the influence of Gaddafi's magicians."

Al-Obeidi also told Asharq Al-Awsat that Gaddafi is using magic to extend his own life, as well as to strengthen his grip on power. He added that Gaddafi is always accompanied by a number of "magicians" who enter the room before him, sprinkling water and muttering magical incantations, to cleanse the room prior to his arrival, stressing that such behavior "is not in line with Islamic Sharia law."

Oh Lord, not more magicians - that is never a good sign as regards the sanity of despots.

Morning!

Al Jazeera:

Turkey recognises Libya rebels
Foreign minister offers $200 million in aid as part of diplomatic shift away from Gaddafi.
Last Modified: 03 Jul 2011 21:17

In Benghazi on Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered the rebels official recognition.

Turkey has extended official recognition to Libya's rebels and offered at least $200 million in aid as part of a diplomatic shift away from the regime of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, met with rebel leaders in Benghazi during a one-day visit to the country on Sunday. He said his country now recognised the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

At the same time, Turkey officially withdrew its ambassador from Tripoli. Salim Levent Sahinkaya had left the Libyan capital in March due to the fighting and had not returned or been replaced.

Turkey has long maintained business ties with Gaddafi's Libya and initially expressed disapproval for NATO air strikes that sought to halt a regime advance on the rebel-held east. But since that campaign began, Turkey has distanced itself.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Davutoglu called Libya a "rising star" and said Turkey wanted to see the country succeed.

Rebels back off Gaddafi 'retirement' offer

After Davutoglu's press conference, a spokesman for the rebels retracted a statement made earlier by the opposition leader that Gaddafi could be allowed to "retire" if he gives up all his authority.

Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga suggested that Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the NTC, was expressing a personal view and said that the idea is "not part of any discussions on our part in negotiations".

"Let Gaddafi show us one place in Libya where he hasn't harmed, tortured or killed people and he could stay there, but this place doesn't exist," Ghoga said on Sunday evening.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency earlier in the day, Jalil said that the longtime Libyan leader is free to "retire" and stay in the country if he resigns from his position and gives up all power. Jalil said he made the offer to Gaddafi via the United Nations one month ago and had not received a response.

Gaddafi now a 'wanted man'

The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief, Abdullah Sanussi, citing evidence of crimes against humanity committed against political opponents.

The rebel leadership has said it will do its best to see the three men arrested, but it appeared from Jalil's interview that the offer to Gaddafi still stood.

"If he desires to stay in Libya, we will determine the place and it will be under international supervision. And there will be international supervision of all his movements," he said.

"As a peaceful solution, we offered that he can resign and order his soldiers to withdraw from their barracks and positions, and then he can decide either to stay in Libya or abroad."

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Benghazi, said news of the offer had been met with dismay by some residents and that it no longer stood, since Gaddafi was a wanted man.

But Jalil still seemed to stand by it. He said the rebel council believed Gaddafi could be held in a military barracks or a civilian building. Jalil is Gaddafi's former justice minister; he defected in the early days of the uprising, which began in mid-February.

There was no immediate reaction from the regime in Tripoli, where Gaddafi has been maintaining a tight hold in an effort to preserve his 41-year rule.

Zuma diplomacy

Meanwhile, South African President Jacob Zuma, who has failed so far in efforts to mediate an end to the conflict, announced he would be visiting Moscow to continue negotiations.

He visited Tripoli at the end of May as a representative of the African Union (AU) but failed to secure a concession from Gaddafi, and the rebels rejected his effort. One sticking point has been disagreements over Gaddafi's future.

The visit to Russia follows an AU summit in Equatorial Guinea, which sought to push a regional peace plan to end the conflict in the north African nation.

The Kremlin said in a statement late on Saturday that Zuma and Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, held a telephone conversation in which they agreed to meet as soon as possible.

"The heads of state agreed on a personal meeting in the closest time to agree and co-ordinate the ensuing steps for a solution to the internal Libyan conflict," it said.

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

9 hours 6 min ago - Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons, has told a French television station that the international community has "no chance, zero chance, to win the war" in Libya.

"You want democracy, we are ready. You want elections, we are ready. You want, what, a new constitution? We are ready. Ceasefire? We are ready. But, the other side is refusing, all the time. But to tell my father to leave the country, it's a joke. We will never surrender . We will fight. It's our country. We have to fight for our country and you are going to be legitimate targets for us."

He also said: "If you are angry with us because we are not buying the [French] Rafale airplanes, you should talk with us. If you are angry with us because oil deals are not going well, you should talk to us. Rebels will not give you anything because they are not going to win."

Daily Star, Lebanon

Turkey seizes control of Libyan-Turkish bank

Agence France Presse July 04, 2011 12:37 PM

ANKARA: Turkey's banking authorities Monday seized control of Libyan-Turkish bank A&T in line with UN sanctions against the regime of embattled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, an official statement said.

The move came as part of a toughening Turkish stance on Libya, a day after Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, recognised the rebel council there as "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people" and offered $200 million in aid.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund said it would control the Libyan Foreign Bank's 62.37-percent stake in the Arab Turkish Bank (A&T), except for dividend rights, as long as UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973, and a related Turkish government decree stay in effect.

The A&T Bank's director-general and five executive board members who represented the Libyan Foreign Bank were removed from office and replaced by officials appointed by the Fund, the statement said.

"The financial structure of the Arab Turkish Bank is sound and it will continue to exercise all banking activities and fulfil its obligations," it said.

On Saturday, Turkey's official gazette published a government decree translating UN sanctions against Libya, Kadhafi, his family and regime officials into national law.

The journal also said that Turkey's ambassador to Libya, who returned home amid violence in May, had been reassigned in Ankara.

Turkey's Isbank and Ziraat Bank hold shares of 20.58 and 15.43 percent respectively in the Arab Turkish Bank, while the remaining 1.62-percent stake is owned by Kuwait Investment Co.

Turkey, NATO's only mainly Muslim member and an influential regional player, has gradually taken a hard line against the Libyan regime, after at first criticising the Western air strikes targeting Kadhafi's forces.

It has refused to take part in the air action, but has provided six war ships to help impose a NATO-imposed arms embargo in Libyan waters.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Kadhafi to cede power and leave Libya.

Last month, he said Turkey had offered the Libyan leader an exit "guarantee" but Kadhafi had failed to reply.

CNN Report from Dafnyia by Ben Wedemann (English)

Brief respite from war in Libya

Al Jazeera

Gaddafi forces 'intercept arms from Qatar'
Last Modified: 05 Jul 2011 06:04

Government spokesman says two boats carrying weapons for rebels seized from west of Tripoli.

Libyan officials are claiming to have intercepted two boats carrying a cache of weapons from Qatar, reportedly intended for rebels fighting forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

On Monday, Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said 11 rebels were captured from the boats close to shore near the town of Janzour, just west of Tripoli.

"In the early hours of this morning around 4 o'clock our security forces intercepted the submission of many weapons from a ship that raises the Tunisian flag to two small Libyan boats with some Libyan rebels on board the boats," he said.

"I was told that this was the load of one major container, so this would be something like one out of ten or something like that," Ibrahim added.

Foreign reporters were later taken to Tripoli's port where they were shown a cache of rifles and ammunition displayed in a tent, but not the captured boats.

The weapons included about 100 Belgian-made FN assault rifles, as well as thousands of rounds of ammunition of the same calibre used in the guns.

Several of the ammunition boxes were marked in English as coming from the armed forces of Qatar.

Qatar has emerged as one of the main supporters of the rebels. And its involvement in the country's civil war has enraged Libyan officials.

Mahmoud Jibril, of Libya's Transitional National Council, said on Thursday that foreign deliveries of military hardware would give the rebels a chance to win the battle against Gaddafi quickly and with the least amount of blood spilt.

French supplies

Colonel Thierry Burkhard, French military spokesman, said last week that France had airlifted weapons to Libyan civilians in a mountain region south of Tripoli.

The deliveries of guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions took place in early June in the western Nafusa mountains, when Gaddafi's troops had encircled civilians.

China and Russia have both questioned whether the supplying of weapons breached the terms of the United Nations Security Council resolution that authorises international action in Libya.

Britain's government has insisted that the French decision to supply weapons fell within the terms of the UN resolutions.
Click here for more of Al Jazeera's special coverage

Last week, William Hague, British foreign secretary, announced that the UK was sending 5000 sets of body armour, 6,650 uniforms, 5000 high-visibility vests and communications equipment, to police officers in rebel-held areas.

The rebels have been battling Gaddafi's forces since February in a bid to end his more than four decades long rule.

They swiftly managed to secure a number of military arms depots, and have turned those weapons on forces still loyal to the Libyan leader.

The conflict has turned into a civil war, with the rebels now controlling much of the eastern third of Libya.

They also hold pockets in the west, including the vital port city of Misurata, about 200km from Tripoli, and a number of mountain towns southwest of the capital.

But they say that they are ill-equipped and are in dire need of fresh supplies to break the current stalemate in fighting and drive out Gaddafi from power.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports on rebels' radio war against Gaddafi troops

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

1 hour 23 min ago

AFP reports that the Libyan government has denied accusations that it had executed detainees as punishment for their families' failure to join a rally in support of veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"This report is baseless and no newspaper or (other) news agency reported anything of the kind," Tuesday's statement from the government said, accusing the AFP news agency of "putting its credibility at stake."

"There has been no resort to violence against the population and a million people took part in the rally" in Tripoli's Green Square on Friday, the statement said.

A man told AFP in the rebel bastion of Benghazi that his nephew had been killed after several months in custody and his body dumped outside the family's Tripoli home on Saturday as punishment for their refusal to join the pro-Gaddafi demonstration.

6 hours 16 min ago

The Libyan government says that it has seized weapons from the Tripoli port. Moussa Ibrahim, the government's spokesman, took journalists and photographers on a tour of the seized cache today, saying that 11 rebels had been arrested while transporting the 100 machine guns from Tunisia.

Ibrahim said the weapons had been supplied by Qatar.

9 hours 18 min ago

William Hague, the British foreign secretary, has stressed to Jean Ping, the chief of the African Union Commission, that the AU has "an important rule" in solving the Libya conflict.

"It is important that the AU has signalled that Gaddafi cannot be part of the negotiation process, and that there must be a transfer of power," he said.

11 hours 29 min ago

Rebel authorities in their de facto capital of Benghazi say they discovered a pick-up truck laden with 30 to 40 kilograms of plastic explosives parked in the car park of the Tibesty Hotel. The hotel is used by officials of the rebel National Transitional Council and visiting diplomats, and the truck may have been sitting their for weeks, they told the AFP news agency.

Feb 17 Libya News

Libyan crisis must be solved by political means: former diplomat
Posted on July 5, 2011

A former Algerian diplomat said the solution to the crisis in Libya must be political, involving the United Nations, the Arab League (AL) and the African Union (AU), local La Tribune newspaper reported Monday.

“Contrary to Egypt and Tunisia, what’s happening in Libya is a civil war … Consequently, such a situation requires a political solution,” Lakhdar Brahimi, former UN envoy to Iraq and Afghanistan, told the newspaper.

Brahimi called Algeria to play its role in settling the Libyan crisis. “Algeria owes a lot to Libya which helped us during the Liberation War. And I’d like to say that Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, particularly, are directly concerned and have to react.”

The North African countries have to ask the UN to authorize them contributing to reach a political solution to the Libyan crisis, “and I’m sure the UN will not reject such a proposal,” Brahimi said.

“The same authorization has to be demanded from both the Arab League and the African Union … with the authorization of these three organizations, it would be possible to ask (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi to step down with dignity, setting up a peace mission to help establishing reconciliation between the disputing parties, and then creating a second republic,” he said.

Algerian Delegate Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel said last month that Algeria favors a comprehensive dialogue in Libya involving all the disputing parties, in order to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis.

He added that Algeria is in contact with all the Libyan parties in an attempt to settle the crisis.

BBC World News:
By: Mark Urban, 5 July 2011

As Nato’s Libyan bombing campaign goes on, British officials are looking with increasing interest at a negotiated solution.

The key, they believe, may lie in gaining the acceptance of the National Transitional Council for a deal that allows Col Muammar Gaddafi to go into some form of internal exile once he has given up power.

When strikes began four months ago there was scant thought to how the campaign might end. Instead there was a sense of urgency about protecting the population of Benghazi, as tanks entered the city, and a desire to avoid a humanitarian disaster.

The ability to sustain the campaign is being tested now.

Although Liam Fox, the defence secretary, expressed his dismay earlier this week at those who questioned the ability to maintain the military pressure, it is evidently true that cuts in the Tornado force, which bears the brunt of British ground attack missions, would, if they go ahead, start to hamper that air campaign by late summer.

Of course, the Ministry of Defence will find work arounds if it has to, for example postponing cuts to the Tornado force. But that it finds itself in a position where it is cutting its aircraft and pilots at the same time that they are actively engaged in bombing another country is, I would think, historically without precedent.

Britain’s problems are not unique. Several Nato countries engaged in the missions have started to run low on guided weapons, requiring the Americans to replenish them. The alliance realises that some lessening of military pressure is likely during Ramadan, which starts in one month.

They may chose, for example, not to bomb so many targets in built up areas during this time.

While the troika at the centre of this campaign – Britain, France, and the USA – have said that it will continue until Col Gadaffi is forced from power, many on the diplomatic and military side have despaired that the issuing of a war crimes warrant against him leaves the Libyan leader with no choice but to fight on ‘like a cornered rat’.

‘Tangled situation’

In this regard too, the campaign does not seem have been the result of a joined up process, since these countries could have stopped the International Criminal Court from issuing this warrant. While war crimes charges might satisfy the demands for political pressure to be maintained, it can be argued that they will cost lives by prolonging the conflict.

So where does military fatigue and the difficulty of finding a way out for Col Gadaffi leave the campaign? Of course Nato leaders daily hope for a rising in Tripoli or that the colonel will be killed in one of their airstrikes. But since they insist they are not targeting him directly and his secret police apparatus still dominates the streets of the Libyan capital neither can be guaranteed.

In this tangled situation, statements by one or two senior figures on the revolutionary side that they might allow Gadaffi to go into internal exile as part of a process of transition have been received with the greatest interest. This offers a way out for everyone.

The problem though is that this ‘solution’ is highly suspect to many on the Transitional Council. They fear that if Gadaffi was hemmed into some desert compound, he could still exert his malign influence on Libya.

So while agreement eludes those who have tried to broker peace formulas, the business of negotiation grows daily more important.

Edmonton Journal

Pizza delivery service caters to Libya’s front-line rebels
Posted on July 5, 2011 by S050

What is likely to be the most dangerous pizza delivery beat in the world is thriving in besieged Misurata, Libya, where scores of youths shuttle piping hot orders to rebel fighters on the front line.

The fast-growing team of volunteers make and deliver up to 8,000 pieces of pizza daily to the hundreds of rebel fighters on Misurata’s three front lines against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces.

The mastermind is Libyan chef Emad Daiki, 32. For years, Daiki ran a successful pizzeria in downtown Stockholm, selling his 12-inch pizzas.

The wartime pizzeria is hidden in an olive grove, within shelling range of the western front line. In the side room of a farmhouse with decor reminiscent of an old English country home, burly young men don chef aprons and knead giant balls of dough. Boys sprinkle the cheese and tomato sauce on the bases.

When he returned to his home in Misurata one month ago, Daiki made it his mission to feed the revolution: “I heard on Free Libya radio that the fighters needed food, so I decided to set up this restaurant.”

Daiki brought industrial ovens from the city’s bombed-out hotels and charmed shop owners for ingredients.

“Most people, when they heard it was for the fighters, gave many onions, tomatoes, tuna and olives, all for free,” Daiki said.

The fare is turned over to men such as Mohammed Ali, 21, whose beaten pickup truck has a bullet hole in the windshield, and metal work that is dented and torn by shrapnel.

Cooking is also a perilous practice: the rip and boom of incoming rockets often shakes the cooking pots, and mortars regularly fall nearby.

In the holes and sand banks that make up Misurata’s stalemate front lines, rebels wait and watch the enemy stationed across the fields. Tea pots, blankets, guitars and shisha pipes are strewn on the ground after more than a month of inhabitancy. For them Daiki’s piping hot slices are manna from heaven.

“We have to keep the fighters strong and their morale up; they cannot just eat bread,” Daiki said.

The Economist 5 July 2011

The world must intensify the pressure against Muammar Qaddafi—and help plan for the future

THE voices of those who prophesy doom in Libya are becoming ever louder. The fracas, they say, should never have concerned the West, which has no great interest in the place. The Americans want less and less to do with it. Barack Obama, scolded by many in Congress for getting involved in the first place, is hiding in NATO’s back seat. Generals in Britain and France, who are shouldering much of NATO’s campaign burden, are complaining about the stress and strain on their forces in trying to bring down Muammar Qaddafi. The Gulf Arabs are loth to cough up the cash they promised to support the rebels.

There is no timetable and no exit plan, say the pessimists. The rebels are a shoddy lot who are likely, if they get into power, to be no nicer than what went before. Moreover, it is all about tribes, not democracy, and Colonel Qaddafi plainly has a lot of them on his side. To cap it all, NATO, in its frustration at failing to remove the regime in a trice, is killing civilians—the very crime it was meant, under UN Security Council Resolution 1973, to prevent. In short, it is a dreadful mess, with no obvious way out.

Some of what they say is right. The Americans are indeed losing the will to fight. But the picture they present of what’s going on in Libya is distorted. There is no stalemate: the campaign is heading steadily in the right direction. The colonel’s territorial writ is shrinking. His oil is running out. Defections from his camp are mounting. His days in power, perhaps also on this earth, are numbered. The leading rebels, though inevitably a mixed bunch, make incomparably more sense than the unhinged colonel. They do not represent only the east. Like-minded people in Tripoli are keen to join hands with them (see article). Tribal factors count but do not cancel out a general thirst for freedom as well as unity. And NATO has rightly taken care to avoid civilian targets, though some tragic mistakes have inevitably been made.

The big hope is that the regime in Tripoli will fizzle from within rather than be swept away by an advancing rebel army. Mindful of American mistakes in Iraq, the rebels have sensibly stated that civil servants and members of the army and police, bar those who are stained with blood, will be welcome to serve under a new order. They have called for a free press, freedom of association, a plurality of parties and open elections. If Colonel Qaddafi were unconditionally to accept the need for all of this, it might be worth negotiating with him. But no such possibility seems conceivable at present. This week the International Criminal Court at The Hague issued a warrant for his arrest.

Get ready for a result

It will be for the Libyans to plot their own future. But in the immediate post-Qaddafi phase, outside help will be vital. The United Nations is pondering the rapid creation of a ceasefire-monitoring team, with Turks, Jordanians and perhaps some of the beefier Africans to the fore; a bigger force of peacekeepers may be necessary later but would take time to create. A new order will most urgently need robust policing rather than armed force.

The West does indeed have a dog in this fight: if Colonel Qaddafi can be replaced by a decent regime, the forces of modernity and reform across the Arab world will get a huge fillip, which in turn will benefit the West in a host of economic and political ways. And if he stays put, the tyrants will take succour. So the West must hold its nerve, increase the military pressure, buttress the rebels, and accept that the campaign may last several more months. It could end a lot sooner. Whenever it does, the world must be ready for the next phase.

The Guardian

Libya- Wishing the way to victory
Posted on July 4, 2011

The intervention saved Benghazi but as we predicted four months ago, it has produced partition and military stalemate.

With the Libyan civil war now dragging on into its fifth month, and the western involvement into its fourth, the airwaves have been thick with entreaties that Nato should stay the course, as if the only impediment to pursuing a successful intervention these days is faint hearts and empty coffers back home. There are others. One is that the rebel army is stuck in the woods, 15 miles outside Misrata and 130 miles east of Tripoli. Another is that, despite a stream of high-level defections, rising bread prices, a naval blockade and long queues at the petrol stations, Muammar Gaddafi has held firm. Describe his ruling clique as you will – a family clan, the men of the tent, war criminals – but the fact is they are still there, and what’s more, they appear to enjoy a measure of support. Assessing how much is an inherently flawed activity in a rump state under siege, whose prisons are filled with torture victims, but it is an inconvenient truth that Tripoli has just seen one of the biggest demonstrations of the campaign.

The most significant impediment to an end of the war is none of the above. At the heart of Nato’s campaign lies a wish: if only the rebels were better armed, better trained and disciplined, if only one of those bombs were smart enough to find Gaddafi himself, the gates to Tripoli would fall open. In this fantasy, the omnipresent face of the dictator is replaced overnight by monarchy-era flags, and the Transitional National Council (TNC) marches straight in. Victory day. All you need to sell are the film rights, but this is a long way from becoming a reality. Still less does it amount to a policy.

The intervention saved Benghazi but as we predicted four months ago, it has produced partition and military stalemate. An intervention launched in the name of saving civilians has morphed into a drive for regime change. It is as if a coalition ground force is rumbling towards Tripoli. But nothing is rumbling anywhere. The Libyan rebels demand not just that Gaddafi go, but that the order he established be replaced. As this involves the fate not just of his own tribe, the Qadhadhfa, but those of two major tribes from which his armed forces are drawn, the Magarha and the Werfella, it is hardly surprising that western Libya is still fighting this one out.

This is not to say tribal loyalties are set in stone. But it means that even if the regime was decapitated in an airstrike, it would still continue. It does not mean that the Benghazi rebels would be welcomed with open arms into Tripoli. As the International Crisis Group cogently argued, Nato’s absorption of the rebel’s demands that has made Gaddafi going a precondition for a ceasefire and negotiations has been one of the central miscalculations of the whole saga. Yesterday the TNC welcomed an African Union offer to open talks with the government in Tripoli without the involvement of Gaddafi, but maintained that his departure was essential for a ceasefire. This, as the ICG argued, confuses two aims: securing a ceasefire and ensuring that neither Gaddafi nor any of his family are involved in the post-Jamahiriya settlement. To secure the latter, you will need the former. To secure a ceasefire in the absence of any military breakthrough, it will be on the understanding that Gaddafi will not leave Libya. Indeed, the most likely partners of such a negotiation would be two men who until recently were in the same reformist faction: Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the former justice minister and now chairman of the TNC, and Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi’s eldest son, for whom the International Criminal Court last week issued an arrest warrant.

Reversing out of a course of action that demands nothing less than the immediate capitulation of Gaddafi and sons, and the tribes from which they derive their power, is going to be painful for Nato. If Tripoli does not fall, it will have to be done.

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

18 min 18 sec ago

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen is to meet Libyan opposition members in Brussels next week in their first visit to NATO headquarters, an alliance diplomat said Tuesday.

The meeting called by Rasmussen was agreed by ambassadors of the 28-nation alliance and will take place on July 13, the diplomat told AFP.

"NATO countries agreed to invite the rebels because there is no NATO representation in Benghazi yet," the diplomat said on condition of anonimity.

Separately, a European diplomat said a member of the Transitional National Council (TNC) will likely meet with senior European Union officials next week.

NATO officials declined to confirm whether Rasmussen had invited the rebels, but noted he has met TNC officials at meetings abroad.

"NATO has had contacts with the TNC as part of the broad international efforts to find a solution to the Libya crisis," a NATO official said.

"For instance the secretary general has met representatives of the TNC in the context of the contact group. Such meetings have taken place and will continue to take place," the official said.

Several NATO nations, including the United States, Britain and France, have recognised the TNC as the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people. Turkey became the latest alliance member to recognise them on Monday. - AFP

29 min 18 sec ago

Libya's government is not negotiating Muammar Gaddafi ceding power, a government spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday.

"Information about negotiations about Gaddafi stepping down or seeking a safe refuge inside or outside the country are simply untrue," said spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim.

"The talks were about a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the start of a dialogue between Libyans, and then the fourth stage which is a transition period over the political change that will be decided by Libyans," he said.