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

BBC World News:

Andrew Harding Africa correspondent

Besieged Misrata: 100 days of bombing June 26, 2011

The rebel leaders say the fighters are inexperienced, "but have heart and morale"

A dozen fighters have gathered in the sand dunes west of Misrata.

There's a small campfire battling a stiff sea breeze, several homemade tents, a trench, and the usual assortment of machine gun placements and rocket launchers aimed across no-man's land towards Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

"Your energy and courage inspire," says Gen Suleiman Mahmoud in a brief speech to the group.

He's come here from Benghazi on a morale-boosting, fact-finding tour of the front lines around this besieged city.

In recent days Nato has intensified its efforts here, with warships firing at Col Gaddafi positions just along the coast, and Apache helicopters targeting heavy weapons near the town of Zlitan.

But the front lines around Misrata have barely moved in weeks.

"You are making history here. If Misrata falls, Libya will be divided. We are behind you and united," says the general.

Then it's the fighters' turn to speak.

"We need more weapons, more ammunition."

"We need cars. Ours are in very bad shape."

"And we need binoculars."

All this comes out in a torrent from several men speaking at once.
Libyan doctors attend a wounded rebel fighter in Misrata general hospital, June 26, 2011 The rebel fighters suffer casualties and complain that Nato makes too few air strikes

They've been stuck out here in the dunes for more than a month now, under almost daily rocket and artillery bombardment. Frustration is evidently growing.

The general strokes his neatly clipped, grey moustache, and promises to take their demands back to Benghazi.

Gen Suleiman Mahmoud is a well-known figure here - one of the earliest senior defectors from Col Gaddafi's armed forces.

"I know him well," he says of his former boss.

"He is a weak, crazy man… he must say 'goodbye my people, I need to go,' but he won't do it.

"He won't [commit] suicide. If we don't kill him and bomb him he will not do it."

Later, after his front line tour, I ask Gen Mahmoud for his impression of the rebels' capabilities.

There's a long pause. "Well, they're inexperienced," he says finally.

"They are volunteers not soldiers. But they have heart, and morale, and this is what matters."

As for Nato's performance: "They did their best in the last few days," he says.

"But we need more. And more, and more. We can do our best but we need support from friends."

The current Nato campaign is "not enough".

It's a familiar complaint here.

At the Hekma hospital in Misrata, a 19-year-old fighter is being rushed into surgery.

Moftah Ellibdy had been begging his older brother, Heithim, to let him fight. This was his first day on the front line.

"They're going to amputate his leg. He's fighting for what? He's fighting because he wants his freedom. That's all," says Heithim.

"There are lots of injured people. God is great - that's all I can say."

Optimism in Zlitan

The next day, Moftah is sitting up in bed, surrounded by visiting friends.

"Of course I'm sad to lose my leg," he says.

"But this is a price we are all paying.

"I'm confused about Nato. Some days they help us a lot. But some days not at all."

But a rebel fighter in nearby Zlitan paints a more optimistic picture.

I've been speaking to him by telephone most nights for the past week.

He says the town remains firmly under Col Gaddafi's control, but he's encouraged by Nato's recent air strikes.

His colleagues have been sending the coordinates of military operation centres there to Nato, via the Transitional National Council in Benghazi. But he's frustrated that Nato has yet to attack those particular sites.

Nato has "started working properly," he says.

"If they continue like these days for three or four days more, they will be working as we need.

"After three or four days, the rebels from Misrata can enter Zlitan."

BBC World News

Andrew Harding Africa correspondent

Besieged Misrata: Seaside picnics, laughter and rockets

It's an unusually quiet Friday evening, and on the long, unkempt beach just west of the western Libyan city of Misrata, dozens of families have gathered by the dunes to watch the waves and the sunset.

One of the rebels' few rocket launchers often sends a late afternoon volley towards Col Gaddafi's lines from a position not too far from here.

But it's been silent today, and instead the air is full of shouts and laughter as a group of boys play in the surf.

I know this is a besieged city, battered by artillery and rockets, surrounded by bitterly contested frontlines, and mourning daily the rising toll of young lives lost in the struggle against Col Gaddafi's forces.

But despite the enormous pressures, there are still occasional hints of normality to be found here.

Fear, suspicion, hardship

Families head for picnics on the coast, bored children demand entertainment, a weary fighter rushes home to meet a newborn son, and teenagers too young to hold a gun arrange football games instead.

For many here, the desire to "unwind" seems both strong and deeply uncomfortable.

It's been more than three months since the conflict started in Misrata and the population here is trapped in a gruelling routine of fear, suspicion and hardship.

There have been moments of public relief, above all in May when Col Gaddafi's forces were driven out of the city and the daily bombardments abruptly - temporarily, as it turned out - ceased.

But as the fighting outside the city rages on, many here are reluctant to be seen to drop their guard, even for a second.

A British-Libyan psychiatrist who has travelled to the city to help victims of post-traumatic stress and other ailments, told me recently how he had tried to persuade other volunteer doctors working relentless shifts at a local hospital to take a few hours off to relax by the coast.

But he said they had all declined, saying they would feel guilty abandoning their posts.

A Libyan friend recently took his three young daughters to the beach, after rockets had landed 200m (656ft) from their house.

"It's good for them sometimes just to try to pretend everything is normal," he said.

But the young fighters who race around town in their pick-up trucks often appear to resent any sign of "relaxation".

Another Libyan colleague here told me how he'd seen them lecture a group of older men they'd spotted sitting outside a coffee shop, telling them it was "inappropriate" behaviour.

The hardest part, of course, is not knowing how long this is going to carry on.

"Two weeks" still seems to be the favourite answer here.

But that's been the case for well over a month now, and people are becoming more reluctant to hazard a guess.

Al Jazeera latest - reaction to ICC arraest warrants:

25 min 29 sec ago - Libya

Al Jazeera correspondents Sonia Gallego and Zeina Khodr report live from, respectively, The Hague, the Netherlands and Benghazi, Libya, on reactions to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi:




Al Jazeera live blog:

9:59am: Libya dismissed a move by the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday, rejecting the authority of the tribunal.

“Libya … does not accept the decisions of the ICC which is a tool of the Western world to prosecute leaders in the Third World,” Justice Minister Mohammed Al-Qamoodi told a news conference in Tripoli.

Morning! Al Jazeera Live Blog:

3 hours 8 min ago - Libya
Libyans living in rebel-held Misurata have taken to the streets to celebrate the issuing of arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, his son and his spy chief.

Judges at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands say they have grounds to believe Gaddafi has committed crimes against humanity.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton has this report:

http://feb17.info/ - see here for photos from the report below

Qatar itself takes care of war refugees in Libya
Posted on June 28, 2011 by admin

This Article is originally in Spanish and has been translated to English by Omar Havana

As Libya continues to suffer the consequences of a war of interests, the drama of the refugees continues. There are several fields that have been built on Tunisian soil to ease the flight of more than 400,000 displaced people have arrived in Tunisia since the conflict began Libya. Chouchen, Remada , Ras Jedir Dehiba and were the first. They last a month and a half they were joined by the field Tataouine, funded entirely with funds from the Government of Qatar.

Situated on the outskirts of this village and built on land annexed to the football stadium of the Tunisian city, surprised by his organization, for its cleanliness, but mostly by the tight security imposed by the Tunisian soldiers stationed at the door 24 hours a day.

This field holds more than 800 refugees from the 60,000 who have arrived in the region since the beginning of the war in Libya.

“we can accommodate up to 1600 people, at any time without neglecting safety, medical needs, food or education. Aquí los refugiados disponen de un menú variado del que pueden escoger sus tres comidas diarias, duchas con placas solares para calentar el agua, hospital, escuela, incluso dentista” . Here the refugees have a varied menu from which they can choose their three daily meals, showers with solar panels to heat water, hospital, school, even the dentist. “

In this field everything is different, here the wide streets that run through this complex humanitarian law are even suitable for those refugees who travel in wheelchairs.The dining rooms, three in total, more restaurants are equipped with high quality furniture, catering truck parked at the back of them. The stores for the health service have the latest in equipment: a store for optical problems, another dentist for consultation, three warehouses full of medications, x-rays, such is the quality of service “patients arrive every day from the city hospital to be treated here, “he confesses one of the health workers serving in this field.

Qatar has shown that when there is commitment to do things right, you can achieve that goal. There are many examples can be found in the Tunisian border on the plight of refugees Libyan Remada field being led by UNHCR, the worst possible examples of how not to do things. However, in this town south of Tunisia, Qatar has set a precedent that many of the world should copy humanitarian agencies, even as Al-Koubaythi said,

“If my government wants us to raise more than refugee camps in Tunisia or any other country in the world, we are ready, but for now, we focus on helping thousands of refugees who have come to Tataouine, although we know that the condition in other areas need urgent help, but they are refugees themselves who have to give his opinion as to which is better or worse, we just do our job. “

Telegraph Libya section:

Moussa Koussa could help rebels in Libya from his five-star subsidised hotel in Qatar, Downing Street has suggested.

Moussa Koussa, Colonel Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief and foreign minister, is facing calls to return to Britain for prosecution after The Daily Telegraph tracked him down to a luxury hotel in the Gulf. He has refused to say when he would leave Qatar, or even if would be allowed to.

By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor 10:00PM BST 27 Jun 2011

The news came after The Daily Telegraph tracked Mr Koussa to a 17th floor penthouse at the Four Seasons hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The former Libyan intelligence chief and foreign minister is thought to have been living there for several weeks, since being allowed to leave Britain after he defected this year. It is understood his hotel bills are being met by Qatar.

News of Mr Koussa's whereabouts came as the International Criminal Court yesterday issued arrest warrants for Col Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al–Islam and the intelligence chief Abdullah al–Senussi.

David Cameron's official spokesman said the Government wanted to see Mr Koussa help rebels in Libya from his base in Doha.

He said: "It is not for us to give a commentary on what Moussa Koussa is doing. We want to see him play his part in opposing the Libyan regime."

Asked if it was possible to "do that from a five–star hotel in Doha", he said: "I am not going to get into a lot of commentary on what Moussa Koussa is doing - he is a private individual."

The spokesman added: "We have also been clear that he will not be given any immunity from prosecution in this country."

Mr Koussa had "already been interviewed by Dumfries and Galloway police" over the Lockerbie bombing, he said.

In Parliament, a Conservative MP said he would be asking what level of financial support, if any, Britain had given Mr Koussa since he came to the UK after defecting from Col Gaddafi's regime.

Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, said: "Allegedly this man has blood on his hands, and I hope very much that the British taxpayers are not subsidising him in any way."

Mr Koussa defected to Britain at the end of March but left for Qatar shortly afterwards to take part in a "Gulf contact group" meeting of countries hoping to resolve the Libya crisis.

He was expected to return to Britain, where he is facing calls for his prosecution over accusations ranging from the Lockerbie bombing to supplying arms to the IRA, but is currently showing no signs of doing so.

Telegraph:

Moussa Koussa, Colonel Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief and foreign minister, is facing calls to return to Britain for prosecution after The Daily Telegraph tracked him down to a luxury hotel in the Gulf.
By Richard Spencer, Doha 6:00AM BST 27 Jun 2011

Mr Koussa has been living for several weeks in a 17th-floor penthouse suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar, under the protection of Qatari security services.

He has been in the Gulf state, a close western ally which is also a conduit for support for the Libyan opposition, since being allowed to leave Britain in mid-April.

At the time officials said Mr Koussa was likely to return to the United Kingdom, where his grandchildren live.

But at the weekend he refused to say when he would leave Qatar, or even if would be allowed to. He is constantly trailed by a team of Qatari “minders”, who were summoned to escort The Daily Telegraph away when it approached him for an interview.

The Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon, called for Mr Koussa to be handed over to the International Criminal Court in the Hague and put on trial for his role in atrocities perpetrated over decades by the Libyan government under Col Muammar Gaddafi.

“He was part of a grim regime,” said Mr Halfon, whose family’s roots are in Libya and whose grandfather fled Tripoli in the 1960s.

“It’s all very well and good that he defected, and that should be taken into account, but people like this should face court over their actions.”

Mr Koussa defected to Britain at the end of March, and was debriefed by MI6 and interviewed over the Lockerbie bombing by Dumfries and Galloway police.

He was deputy head of the Libyan intelligence service at the time Pan-Am 103 exploded in mid-air over the Scottish town, though he has always denied that Libya was responsible.

American families of the dead were furious he was allowed out of Britain two weeks after he arrived, to attend a meeting of Gulf leaders with an interest in the Libya conflict in Doha.

Last night, Rosemary Wolfe, whose stepdaughter Miriam died on Pan-Am 103, said: “There he is living in luxury in Qatar and probably thinks the West will forget but we haven’t forgotten.

“The British let him go, which never should have happened, and to make it worse the US had no reaction whatsoever. It’s an absolute outrage.” Mr Halfon said he had asked for an explanation from Downing Street as to why Mr Koussa was allowed to leave but received no reply.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “He’s a private individual who is free to travel to and from the UK. We don’t provide a running commentary on his movements or current activities.”

A senior official at the Qatari Foreign Ministry said he had “no new information” on Mr Koussa.

An article from the Bellingham Herald, WA, USA:

POSTED: Monday, Jun. 27, 2011
Libya's money for Libyans
By ALI AL-ISAWI - Los Angeles Times

Libya is undergoing great turmoil at the hands of a brutal regime simply because the Libyan people want to experience what others take for granted: freedom and democracy. Though parts of Libya are secured from Moammar Gadhafi's retaliation, these areas remain in desperate need of aid. The world community is holding billions of dollars in Libyan assets in their respective banks. Now is the time to unfreeze those assets, grant the Libyan people some of their own money and alleviate the suffering.

As I write this, Gadhafi is systematically trying to destroy all those who dare oppose him. His brigades, by most estimates, have massacred more than 10,000 of their own people, devastated cities, towns and villages such as Misurata and Zawiya and displaced more than 50,000 people to camps in Tunisia and eastern Libya.

The world knows there is no future for democracy in Libya while Gadhafi remains in power. The Libyan opposition's Transitional National Council, recognized by more than a dozen European nations, is generally considered the only legitimate ruling interim authority in Libya until stability can be restored and full, free elections can be held.

Despite some assistance from many countries, the council is finding it increasingly difficult to provide essential services as the conflict drags on. The council must provide for residents and displaced people in the eastern half of the country, where it is in authority, and it must coordinate humanitarian aid and medical supplies for besieged areas, such as Misurata, and in refugee camps along Libya's borders.

The council was unable to pay the May salaries for employees in the public sector. We have purchased fuel on credit. Medical supplies are at a critically low level. We have no drugs available for cancer, heart and kidney patients or for those suffering from psychological ailments. Anesthesia supplies are running low as the conflict creates major casualties in need of immediate treatment and care.

Even with regard to food, the subsidized staples of our diet are running out, and if we are forced to pay full market prices for these goods, the majority of our people will have to go without even the most basic items.

At the start of the conflict, sanctions against Gadhafi were quite rightly implemented and most Libyan government bank accounts abroad were frozen. These billions of dollars in assets, which belong to the Libyan public, were misappropriated by Gadhafi and his extended family. But now this frozen money should be released in a controlled and accountable manner to the council and the Libyan people. U.N. Resolution 1970, which established the latest sanctions, allows frozen funds to be released for humanitarian aid.

It is incredible that in their time of great need, Libyans are unable to access these resources to bring relief to innocent civilians victimized by a dictator whom they have collectively decided to oust. The international community's alternative to unfreezing Libyan funds, known as the temporary financial mechanism, so far appears to be purely an academic exercise. Forwarding funds to the Libyan people has yet to take place. We cannot wait for a long, drawn-out bureaucratic process.

Not so long ago, the Libyan people were subjected to U.N. sanctions as a result of Gadhafi's support for terrorism around the globe. Even without those sanctions, the 1980s and early 1990s would have been a period of great oppression coupled with terrible economic mismanagement. The sanctions devalued Libya's currency by two-thirds and hindered oil production, which is the country's main source of income.

The Libyan people, even though they were the main victims of the sanctions, understood the reasoning behind the international community's attitude toward Gadhafi. Today we are indeed grateful for NATO's actions and for the international support in protecting civilians. However, Libyans find it extremely difficult to understand why they must again pay so heavily for Gadhafi's actions.

I appeal to the international community to urgently consider Libya's critical situation. Do not make us double victims: to Gadhafi's fire on one side and to the sanctions designed to implode the regime on the other.

To have been double victims once was difficult enough. To experience such needless suffering again is simply not an option.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Ali Al-Isawi is the vice president of the executive office of Libya's Transitional National Council in Benghazi, Libya. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

From St Louis Today website, USA:

Libyan mountain region falling to rebels.

Underequipped fighters have capitalized on knowledge of area, strong local sympathy for their cause.

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK NYTimes | Posted: Monday, June 27, 2011 12:00 am

ROGEBAN, Libya • Until a few weeks ago, the rebellious towns in the Nafusa Mountains were struggling to survive on dwindling supplies of barley, water and gas, during a long siege by Moammar Gadhafi's soldiers.

But after an improbable series of military victories over the past three weeks — with fewer than 100 rebel fighters killed, their military leaders say — residents of a broad area in this mountain region are celebrating virtual secession from Gadhafi's Libya. While there have been defeats, and the Grad rockets of Gadhafi's forces still menace the outskirts of Nalut near the Tunisian border and Yafran to the east, rebels point hopefully to the growing stability of the towns under their control as evidence of how tenuous Gadhafi's grip may be.

"This is the new Libya," said Anwar Fekini, a Sorbonne-educated French-Libyan lawyer, rebel organizer and local tribal leader who returned for a weekend trip to his ancestral home to strategize with local allies. "It feels good."

He delicately accepted an aging Belgian rifle from two gray-haired rebel fighters, just for safekeeping.

The Nafusa Mountains have emerged as a strategically significant front in the battle for Libya, in part because the rebels there are closest to Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital, Tripoli, and in part because they have the potential to cut off vital supply lines from the border. And though barely trained and few in number — one rebel leader estimated that there were about 2,000 armed fighters — they have used their knowledge of the terrain and the sympathies of much of the local population to expand their territory as the fighting around Benghazi to the east and Misrata on the central coast has moved toward a stalemate.

At least seven local newspapers — photocopied newsletters — have sprung up to capitalize on the new freedom of the press. In Rogeban, each issue of a new paper produced by a history professor includes both a "face of the revolution" feature on a local activist and a short civics lesson introducing concepts that may be useful in discussing Libya's future, like "confederation" or "federalism."

Rogeban residents have covered the walls with cartoons mocking Gadhafi and decorated public spaces with shards of his military's Grad rockets. A new museum in Yafran celebrates local culture and achievements, with one room devoted to the armaments fired at local communities and another archiving the new newspapers.

There is also a media center in Yafran. The founder, Mazigh Buzakhar, said he had received five visitors. "But we're expecting a lot more," he said.

Across the border in Tunisia, a small industry has sprung up to furnish baseball hats and T-shirts emblazoned with the tricolor pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag that the rebels have adopted as their own.

Local doctors say they are better equipped with supplies than they were before the uprising, in part because of the generosity of wealthier Libyans abroad. The rebels have even painted a runway along more than a mile of highway, in the hopes that planes might land with more weapons and supplies. In the latest victory, several members of the Libyan national soccer team defected from Tripoli and entered the Nafusa Mountains on Friday to declare their support for the insurrection.

Residents in the mountains have long been resentful of Gadhafi's government, in part because perhaps a third are members of the Berber ethnic minority. For decades, Gadhafi denied and suppressed the existence of their culture, language and sect of Islam, and in Berber centers like Jadu, Nalut and Yafran, the Berber symbols have been added to the rebel flag.

Signs and graffiti in the characters of the Berber language, Amazigh, have sprouted up everywhere, along with newspapers printed in Amazigh and Arabic. At a rally Friday night in Jadu, demonstrators carried signs calling for national recognition of their language and others, declaring "Libya is one tribe."

But the key to their success, rebel military leaders say, has been the extraordinarily weak morale of Gadhafi's troops.

The turning point came with the rebels' surprise takeover of the border crossing between Wazen, Libya, and Dhiba, Tunisia, on April 21. Two nights earlier, the rebels sneaked down through the mountains at 1:30 a.m. to attack Gadhafi's troops.

After reinforcements arrived the next day, the rebel fighters ultimately numbered about 120, with 16 pickups equipped with artillery captured or taken by defectors from the Libyan army. The force included dozens of former army officers who had switched sides at the start of the revolt, but the rest of the force was so underequipped that some of the rebels were fighting with 100-year-old rifles their ancestors once used to fight the Italian colonial rulers.

Still, the next morning they managed to turn back a column of Gadhafi reinforcements trying to climb to the crossing from their base at the town of Al Ghezaia, rebel fighters said.

Some of the defected officers acknowledge difficulties with their novice recruits. Bengassim el-Abiyad, an officer who defected and is in charge of training rebel fighters, said: "When I used to tell people in the barracks to stand, they stand. When I told them to sit, they sit. Here they tell you, 'Get lost!'"

Not all is tranquil. Parts of Nalut, the Berber town closest to the border crossing, still lack electricity and water and its outskirts come under fire from the Grad rockets. Many villages seem largely deserted. Last week, a group of rebels from Nalut tried unsuccessfully to attack a Gadhafi base about 10 miles into the valley below the town, losing several fights. Leaders of other tribes suggested that the Naluti had invited their own defeat by refusing to ask for more help.

The other mountain front is between Yafran and Gharyan, a town of 85,000 that is Gadhafi's last major foothold in the mountains.

Standing at the last checkpoint, Hisham al-Gibali, 33, showed a bullet wound in his leg that he suffered near Yafran a few weeks ago. He said he had left a life in the Netherlands to return to Libya to join the fight, and he contended that the rebels would soon take Gharyan despite their inferior numbers because of the strength of their morale.

"We are fighting for truth and they are not," he said. "The fighters from Zintan and Jadu will come here and we will all go together. We are all Libyans."

From Eurasia News:

Colombian Women Among Gaddafi Fighters, Rebels Say

Written by: Asmaa Elourfi June 26, 2011

Moamer Kadhafi’s government is using Colombian mercenaries to fight revolutionary forces, according to Misrata residents.

The rebels alleged that they captured several Colombian women belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the early days of the Libyan uprising.

“We found women of Colombian origins and they were armed,” said Mourad al-Misrati, an employee at the Central Hospital in Misrata. He explained that he participated in the arrest of one woman, and that he later travelled to Benghazi to accompany a wounded friend seeking treatment in the rebel capital.

“One of the revolutionaries sneaked his way through the back stairs of the building and arrested her. The local council released her because she was a woman and after she promised to leave,” al-Misrati said. “However, we were surprised with her returning to rooftops where she was targeting the revolutionaries again after she received weapons from Kadhafi’s battalions. When she was arrested for the second time, she was placed at a special prison in Misrata with the other captives.”

The revolutionaries said they were taken aback to discover that some of Kadhafi’s snipers were women.

“There are a lot of women in Misrata who were recruited by Kadhafi to defend him,” al-Misrati asserted. “It is said that he had brought them when they were little and trained them. They are loyal to him because he raised them. Therefore, they are prepared to die for him.”

Youssef Afat, a journalist at a Misrata radio station, said that “five women snipers were arrested, two at Ben Salah apartment building and three at al-Taemeen apartment building. However, according to revolutionaries’ sources, those who were arrested at Ben Salah apartment building were not armed; they were there just to satisfy the desires of soldiers who were there.”

“But there were other women snipers like the three who were arrested at al-Taemeen,” he said. “They were from Serbia, Columbia and Mali.”

Steel plant employee Haitham al-Sahati was wounded in the clashes and also reported Colombian fighters in Misrata.

“We found 15 Colombian women snipers and 20 others from African countries. They were arrested at Tripoli Street while carrying weapons and ammunitions. The battalions were supplying them with weapons and food. At that time, Tripoli Street was under the control of the battalions,” al-Sahati said.

He added, “However, they were arrested, and there were others who were killed in the battle. The rest were detained in a place in the city, but I don’t know where it is. When I was wounded in an armed clash with the battalions, I was transferred to Misrata hospital. They then transferred me to Benghazi to receive treatment. Therefore, I don’t know what happened to those ill-mannered women snipers.”

But Benghazi resident Marwan al-Tashani said that there was no evidence of the claims. “There are no such women in Benghazi. It is said that they are members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which have been fighting the Colombian government since 1960.”

The Colombian terror group has long-standing ties with the Kadhafi regime. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told German news magazine Der Spiegel in April that Kadhafi had offered FARC $300 million to buy weapons. He said he did not know if the group had ever received the funds.

Al Jazeera:(as yet there is no video of this, will post it up as soon as it appears, LL)

Libya rejects Gaddafi arrest warrant.
Minister says International Criminal Court ruling is "cover" for NATO attempts to "assassinate" the Libyan leader.
Last Modified: 28 Jun 2011 06:46

Libya has rejected the arrest warrants issued for its leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and the country's intelligence chief for alleged atrocities committed against political opponents.

The ruling is a "cover for NATO which is still trying to assassinate Gaddafi", Mohammed al-Gamudi, Libya's justice minister, said.

Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaaim said the International Criminal Court (ICC) "functions as a European foreign policy vehicle.

"It is a political court which serves its European paymasters," he said. "Our own courts will deal with any human rights abuses and other crimes committed in the course of conflict in Libya."

The ICC said the three men were wanted for their roles in suppressing the Libyan uprising, in which civilians have been murdered and persecuted by Gaddafi's forces.

The announcement was met with celebrations in rebel-held areas in Libya.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from Misurata, said the ICC move was news residents in the city had been "desperately waiting to hear".

"Almost every family here has lost a relative in the fighting or [has had a relative] abducted and taken to Tripoli. This is a sign to them that the international community has been listening when they’ve talked about war crimes committed in Misurata."

'Murder and persecution'

ICC judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng said evidence submitted by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, was enough to establish "reasonable grounds to believe" the three were guilty of murder and the persecution of civilians, or "crimes against humanity", and that they should be arrested.

However, she stressed that the indictment and warrants were not proof of guilt, which must be proved at trial.

Beginning on February 15, when demonstrations first broke out, and continuing until at least February 28, Monageng said, Libya's security and military forces killed or imprisoned hundreds of perceived dissidents in Tripoli, Misurata and Benghazi, along with a number of other cities.

Gaddafi had "absolute and unquestioned control over the Libyan state apparatus of power," while Saif al-Islam - his second-oldest son and "unspoken successor" - functioned as a "de factor prime minister" and controlled the state's finances and logistics, she said.

Intelligence chief Senussi, meanwhile, "exercised his role as the national head of military intelligence, one of the most powerful and efficient organs of repression," Monageng said.

She said that Senussi personally commanded regime forces and ordered them to attack civilians during the fighting in Benghazi, which lasted between February 15 and 27 and ended when the local military base known as the Katiba fell into anti-government hands.

Senussi and some of his men were reportedly allowed to escape after negotiating with troops who had defected to the protesters' side.

'Justice done'

Thousands of jubilant Libyans danced and cheered in the streets of Benghazi amid a hail of celebratory gunfire and blasts of car horns.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the opposition National Council, welcomed the move by saying "justice has been done".

"The decision that was made today by the International Criminal Court stops all suggestions of negotiations with or protection for Gaddafi," he said.

"[Libyans] are worried that Gaddafi, who now is a prisoner in his own country, will fight until the end, until death"

Jalil also vowed to bring Gaddafi to task for crimes committed before the February uprising, but ruled out suggestions that a foreign force would be needed to catch him.

"We will do all we can to bring Gaddafi to justice ... The Libyan people are able to implement this decision".

But Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the opposition stronghold, said some people in the city thought it was too early to celebrate any victory.

"Even the National Council made it clear that the door has been shut to any peaceful political settlement of this conflict. They are worried that Gaddafi, who now is a prisoner in his own country, will fight until the end, until death."

The ICC's decision coincided with the 100th day of NATO operations in Libya. International military intervention succeeded in turning back Gaddafi's advance on rebel-held cities, but opposition forces have made few advances since air strikes began on March 19.

Gaddafi has refused calls to step aside and has issued defiant video and audio messages from undisclosed locations, calling the intervention a "crusade" against his country and an attempt by the West to recolonise Libya.

Thousands have so far died in the fighting, while around 650,000 others have fled the country. Another 243,000 Libyans have been displaced internally, according to figures from the United Nations.

The warrant against Gaddafi was the second in the ICC's nine-year history issued for a sitting head of state. The ICC indicted the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, in 2009, though he has yet to be arrested.

It is unclear what practical effect the arrest warrant will have on the three Libyans. The warrant against Bashir seems to have little chance of being enforced: he has travelled to Qatar, Chad and Egypt without incident and is currently visiting China.

Al Jazeera Libya Live Blog:

50 min 36 sec ago - Libya
The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court says he is investigating allegations of rape in Libya.

"Justice will be done in Libya," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters at The Hague, Netherlands.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from Misurata, said the ICC judges' decision to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam and Abdullah al Senussi was news residents in the besieged rebel-held city had been "desperately waiting to hear".

Al Jazeera Live Blog; 1 hour 21 min ago

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, speaks to Al Jazeera about the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader.

Gaddafi is accused of crimes against humanity.




ITN News:

A little light relief - Kirk and Spock to the rescue! LL

USS Enterprise enters Mediterranean to look for Gaddafi

He may as well give up now, if the Enterprise has turned up.

bb1 wrote:He may as well give up now, if the Enterprise has turned up.

I thought you'd like that one! One neckpinch and he can join Bin Laden at the bottom of the deep blue polluted Iranian Sea! LL

Al Jazeera

Unlucky camel finds Libya's largest minefield
A civilian team with pool cues and little training unearths more than 500 mines laid by Gaddafi's forces near Misurata.
Ruth Sherlock Last Modified: 28 Jun 2011 13:00

The largest minefield found during the conflict in Libya has been discovered in a suburb of Misurata.

Libyan rebels located hundreds of anti-personnel landmines buried by Gaddafi forces by using billiard cues to gently probe the ground where they were buried.

Around 550 mines were dug up in a suburb of Misurata in what is believed to be the biggest minefield found so far in the four-month conflict, discovered when an unlucky farmer's camel wandered into a field and was blown up. Landmines are banned in most countries but Colonel Gaddafi's forces have repeatedly planted them in areas where rebels were attacking.

Behind the dangerous expanse of land, are trenches that were abandoned by the regime forces after they fled. Strewn inside are boots and green uniforms belonging to regime forces.

Residents said they found a string of Grad rocket launchers stationed behind the field. From here the regime forces pounded the port side, and the residential area of Qasr Ahmed. In early April, up to eighty rockets hit the neighbourhood in one hour.

Mines and rockets

"They laid the mine field to prevent the rebels from reaching the rocket launchers," said resident Mohammed Turgomen, 54.

Twenty five years ago he was an engineer in explosives for the Libyan army. Now Turgomen has dredged up the memories of his military past to head up a mine removal operation. It is a lethal venture, and the team are unequipped. Using billiard sticks three men stepped delicately into the area sectioned off by razor wire and covered in "danger; keep out" signs.

Poking the ground before them they stepped slowly forwards. Within minutes Turgomen found the first mine; hardly discernable in the sandy landscape was an inch wide sand coloured detonator. Then he found another, and another. Barely twenty minutes into the operation and the three men had unveiled 25 mines.

Standing still, sweat trickling down his brow - a mix of fear, and hot sunshine, a team member began scratching the ground around him to reveal four antipersonnel explosives. His colleague stepped across, gingerly pulling the mines out of the ground by their tops, and unscrewing the detonator from the body.

In less than four days, the civilian team unearthed over 500 mines. They remain stashed in the wooden boxes of used katyusha rockets. The full boxes stood in the back of Turgomen's truck, the detonators in a large basket.

The Brazilian made antipersonnel mines are plastic; making them invisible to metal detectors commonly used in mine clearance procedures. "The Benghazi Transitional National Council gave us a metal detector, but it is useless here," said Turgomen.

"I am scared that children will play over there, and it is so dangerous because the people don't know that there are hidden bombs. That is why I took them out, I am scared children will or families will play there or move there" added Turgomen.

Turgomen gave his two team members five days training. It is a far cry from the years long training, expertise and equipment usually required to remove such dangerous weapons.

"The way these mines are being removed is extremely dangerous, and not at all conventional," said Sean Sutton, Communications Manager for the British humanitarian organisation Mine Advisory Group (MAG). "You need expert technical equipment and expertise. It is a miracle no one has been hurt."

Human rights concerns

Amnesty International documented the use of the same mines on May 25, 2011 at a smaller site in the Tammina district of Misurata. There, rebels cleared twenty. The same mines were also found in Ajdabiya in late March by Human Rights Watch.

The organisation has strongly condemned the use of mines in the Libyan conflict that began in late February. "Libya should immediately stop using antipersonnel mines, which most of the world banned years ago," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.

The team said they are desperate for assistance. "We don't need money, we need experience. We have never seen these mines before, this is new for us, we are civilians, we have no idea about this," said Turgomen.

The British government in June gave Mine Advisory Group (MAG) £180,000 ($270,000) of funding to deal with the explosives that remains scattered across Misurata. "The problem is huge, and extends beyond mines. The priority now, however, is the unexploded ordnances in populated areas," said Sutton

"All homes must be checked for unexploded ordnance, including unexploded cluster munitions, before the city's inhabitants can safely return home," said MAG's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) specialist Fred Gras.

"Just the other day a child was admitted to hospital after picking up a live cluster bomb. She lost her hand," said Dr Khaled Abufalghan, spokesperson for Misurata healthy committee. "The bombs have ribbons on them and are attractive to children."

That doesn't bear thinking about, LL - I hope proper mine clearing equipment can be sent to them ASAP.

Al Jazeera Live Blog: Included in the stash - two Russian built tanks and an armored truck.

3 hours 5 min ago - Libya

Opposition fighters have managed to capture a munitions dump from Gaddafi forces in the west of the country, near the town of Zintan - a move that is seen as a major victory for the fighters as they make their way to Tripoli.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from the nearby Jadu, said that finding the stash will be an "enormous morale-booster" for the fighters, who he said have been working with limited weaponry and had been anxiously eyeing the weapons dump:

"They had eyes on the place, they'd been watching it, we'd been told, for quite some time now. Just last week this collection of weapons depots was hit by a powerful NATO bomb ... it made such a blast that people here thought that there was an earthquake.' ..."

But it wasn't and earthquake, and after an early morning attach, Hull said that "just about every man with wheels" drove across the desert to load up his vehicle with munitions.

While detailing a long list of arms found in the weapons cache, Hull said that it was impossible to guess how much longer this conflict will continue.

LA Times: More on arms dump seizure.

Libyan rebels seize massive weapons depot.
Rebels in the Nafusa mountains take control of tons of arms after a short battle with troops loyal to Moammar Kadafi in the latest in a string of victories by opposition forces in western Libya.

By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times June 28, 2011, 11:09 a.m.

Reporting from Ghaaa military base, Libya—
Rebels in Libya's Nafusa mountains seized control of and pillaged a massive weapons depot Tuesday morning after a short desert battle with troops loyal to Moammar Kadafi, taking control of many tons of arms in the latest of a string of opposition victories in the country's west.

At least two rebels were killed in the fighting, said a medical official at the site.

Long convoys of pickups and tractor trailer trucks could be seen streaming across the desert to the site after the fighting. They were loaded with rockets, ammunition, high-caliber guns and assault rifles before heading back to rebel-held cities. The insurgents also seized dozens of military vehicles at the site, which consisted of dozens of concrete storage mounds scattered across the desert.

The victory gave the increasingly confident rebels here a boost. They were also galvanized by the International Criminal Court's decision Monday to issue arrest warrants for the Libyan leader, his son Seif Islam Kadafi and intelligence chief Abdullah Sanusi.

"Let's go to Bab Aziziya," said one rebel fighter, referring to Kadafi's residential compound in the capital, Tripoli.

In The Hague, court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Tuesday called on Kadafi's own aides to carry out the arrest warrants. "Kadafi cannot retain power to keep attacking his victims," Moreno-Ocampo said.

He said that Kadafi's inner circle could be "part of the solution" in bringing the longtime strongman to justice or risk eventual prosecution themselves.

The rebels in the west, equipped with small arms and high-caliber artillery guns mounted on pickup trucks, staged a double-pronged attack on the vast desert facility called Ghaaa about 15 miles south of the rebel-controlled stronghold of Zintan.

The site had already been hit numerous times by NATO warplanes. Rebel fighters said they began approaching the site at midnight, with one group of fighters assigned to attack the base and another to cut off reinforcements from a nearby base.

The attack ended in less than half an hour, with about five dozen government soldiers fleeing to a nearby base at Twama. In addition to the two dead, at least four fighters were wounded in the fighting. Another four fighters later were badly wounded while opening what they described as a booby-trapped box of ammunition, said a Deutsche Welle journalist who saw the injured at Zintan hospital.

Some of the rebels began heading toward Twama, but appeared to be repelled by barrages of Grad and Katyusha rocket fire that shook the desert.

Rebels in Libya's mostly ethnic Amazigh Nafusa mountains have been waging an increasingly effective war against Kadafi since an uprising against his four-decade rule turned into a civil war between forces loyal and opposed to the Libyan leader. They have captured several small towns over the last month and pushed Kadafi's forces further back from the foothills of the mountains.

NATO warplanes also have been striking rocket launchers and military bases used by Kadafi's forces to fire on rebel-controlled cities.

"In the west we're seeing very good successes," Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO mission, told reporters Tuesday. "The violence in Yefren and Zintan has ended."

Libya's official news agency reported that NATO had struck several sites in the capital on late Monday. The arrest warrants issued for Kadafi and his inner circle were "cover for NATO, which is still trying to assassinate Kadafi," Libyan Justice Minister Mohammad Qamudi was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera television.

"It is a political court which serves its European paymasters," Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim was quoted as saying. "Our own courts will deal with any human rights abuses and other crimes committed in the course of conflict in Libya."

Moreon-Ocampo, the ICC prosecutor, noted that although NATO forces are enforcing a no-fly zone and carrying out daily air raids on targets associated with Kadafi's security apparatus, they have "no specific mandate" to execute the arrest warrant. "The court is not asking international forces for that." NATO has shown no inclination to send in the ground troops that would presumably be necessary to capture Kadafi.

Moreno-Ocampo also said investigations were ongoing into allegations that pro-Kadafi loyalists raped civilian women and then tried to cover up the attacks.

"Justice will be done in Libya," Moreno-Ocampo said.

More on the arms dump seizure: Al Jazeera:

Morning! Al Jazeera Live Blog

12 hours 16 min ago - Libya

Even as rebels seem to gain momentum with finding the weapons cache, they still have major obstacles to overcom - chief among them is how to organise a united front to take Tripoli.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports:




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Tags Explosives
2 hours 42 min ago - Libya

A key US Senate panel voted Tuesday to authorize limited US strikes on Libya as part of a NATO-led campaign against Libyan strongman Gaddafi but to forbid the deployment of ground troops.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's 14-5 vote set the stage for what was sure to be a volatile full Senate debate as early as this week, with lawmakers deeply divided on whether President Barack Obama's Libya policy flouts US law.

3 hours 44 min ago - Libya

Libya's Muammar Gaddafi could fall within two to three months, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Tuesday, as rebels sought to build on a gradual advance towards Tripoli.

http://feb17.info/

9:15am: Today marks 15 years since the Abu Salim Prison Massacre, in which Gaddafi security forces slaughtered 1200 political prisoners in 3 days. To this day, no one has been held accountable for this Nazi-style atrocity. Family members have not received proper explanations, death certificates, nor have the received the bodies of their loved ones or just compensation for their loss.

9:00am: Bulgaria and Croatia have become the 19th and 20th sovereign nations to have recognized formally the Libyan rebels’ National Transitional Council in Benghazi as the legitimate representative of the Libyan nation in international affairs.

For the story of the Abu Salim massacre read here: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2011/03/02/how-the-abu-salim-prison-massacre-in-1996-inspired-the-revolution-in-libya/

Wikipedia:

Abu Salim prison is a top security prison in Tripoli, Libya which is often described as "notorious" by human rights activists and other observers. Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into deaths that occurred there in 1996, an incident which Amnesty International and other news media refer to as the Abu Salim prison massacre. Human Rights Watch believes that 1,270 prisoners were killed, and calls it a "site of egregious human rights violations." Western governments largely ignored this and no international inquiry was launched, due to "oil interests". After the February 17 uprising, in April 2011, inmates of the prison escaped and engaged Gaddafi forces in armed combat at Bab al-Azizia.

Telegraph Libya section:

Libya: Germany replenishes Nato's arsenal of bombs and missiles
Nato has turned to Germany to replenish it arsenal of bombs and missiles in a bid to keep the coalition together for the campaign against Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Both Denmark and Norway are understood to have asked for more bombs through the Nato Maintenance and Supply Agency and the German defence minister Thomas de Maiziere has granted permission to release stocks.

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent and Matthew Day in Warsaw
9:00PM BST 28 Jun 2011

With the number of "smart" bombs dropped on Libya estimated at more than 2,000 some Nato allies have seen their stocks dramatically depleted.

Both Denmark and Norway are understood to have asked for more bombs through the Nato Maintenance and Supply Agency and the German defence minister Thomas de Maiziere has granted permission to release stocks.

"Germany has expressed its general willingness to make available precision weaponry components," a German defence ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

The move is politically sensitive as Berlin opposed the fighting having abstained from UN Resolution 1973 authorising force to be used to protect Libyan citizens from Col Gaddafi's forces. Guido Westerwelle, the country's foreign minister, has criticised the mission.

But Nato sources said the move showed that the Germans were now "keen to make the point that they are part of the team". However it was unlikely that the weapons would be a "freebie" and the Berlin government would probably charge their allies.
Related Articles

Despite having only six F16 jets each Denmark has managed to drop more than 500 bombs and Norway has launched 350 during the 100 day campaign.

By comparison the RAF, which carries a more sophisticated array of smart bombs and missiles, has dropped 480 precision munitions with a force of six Typhoons and 12 Tornado GR4s.

There have been mutterings among French commanders that the RAF's rules of engagement are "over-the-top" and too restrictive. However, it is understood a rogue French bomb was responsible for the deaths of nine civilians in Tripoli last week.

Also the Danes and Norwegians have been given "fixed targets" whereas the RAF operates in more complex urban areas using what is called "dynamic targeting" where they have to exert greater caution to avoid civilian casualties and wait for a target to appear.

While the RAF also has a large stockpile of Paveway bombs it is possible that if the campaign last for a considerable time Air Force chiefs might have to ask Germany for bombs.

A defence industry source said it was hardly surprising that Nato allies were turning to Germany because "they haven't expended many munitions in a meaningful sense since World War Two so they should have ample stocks".

However Berlin continues to refuse to participate in direct military engagement in Libya despite criticism from its Nato allies and from within Germany that by failing to become involved it risks being isolated and having little voice in any eventual settlement of the conflict. It has been a long held policy in Berlin that Germany, like Japan, stay aloof from conflicts because of their past records. However, Germany has always been ready to give logistical support. The NATO allies and most Germans know this.

Only eight of the 28 Nato members are taking part in the air strikes, with Britain and France carrying the load while Washington provides refuelling and intelligence support.

The news comes on the day that the RAF stopped its three Nimrod R1 eavesdropping aircraft flying missions after they were axed under defence cuts. The intelligence capability gap will now be made by French, American and Italian planes. However an RAF crew will now fly in American Rivet Joint spy plane patrolling Libyan skies.

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

5 hours 2 min ago - Libya

France has begun parachuting arms shipments to Berber rebels fighting Libyan leader Gaddafi's forces in the highlands south of Tripoli, the French daily Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

According to the paper, which said it had seen a secret intelligence memo and talked to well-placed officials, the air drops are designed to help rebel fighters encircle Tripoli and encourage a popular revolt in the city itself.

From Le Figaro re above: (Translated from the French on Le Figaro English!)

France has dropped weapons to the Libyan rebels

By Philippe Gelie
28/06/2011 | Updated: 22:39

Western officials are betting on a rising opposition in Tripoli.

Blocked for months Misrata and the Eastern Front, at Brega, driven by the forces of Gaddafi the coastal road that leads to Tunisia in the west, the rebels Libyan other hand, have increased in recent weeks south of Tripoli, in the mountains of Jebel Nefousa. They have an action of France remained secret until now: the drop weapons "large quantity" to the Berber tribes of this region went to war against the regime. According to Paris, the southern front is now one of the best hopes of the Western coalition to "make the connection" with the opposition movements in the capital still dormant and cause an uprising in Tripoli against the clan of the dictator.

Finding, in early May, the risk of military stalemate, France has decided to proceed directly to airdrops of weapons in the Jebel Nefousa: rocket launchers, assault rifles, machine guns and antitank missiles, especially Milan. Until then, the weapons sent to the rebels came from Qatar and other Gulf emirates. They were conveyed by air to Benghazi, home of the National Transitional Council (CNT) to the east, then by boat to the port of Misrata, a coastal town sandwiched by forces loyal to the regime. If the French army decided to get involved without intermediaries - and without the cooperation of its allies, even the British - in the arming of rebels in the South, "because there was no other way to do, "says one senior source. In particular, the French are equipped with a single release: moored to a small parachute, the cargo falls exactly at the point in question; 200 m from the ground, a larger canvas unfolds to cushion the landing.

Two makeshift airfields

With these reinforcements on arms, the rebels have managed to secure a large area extending from the Tunisian border to the outskirts of Ghariani, lock strategic sixty kilometers south of Tripoli. Le Figaro was able to consult a card stamped " DGSE Confidential defense ", which shows the locations of Nalout, Tiji, al-Jawsh, Shakshūk Yafran and like so many past conquests at the hands of insurgent forces. In this territory, the Berbers have set up two makeshift runways, allowing small aircraft from the Arabian Gulf to take over French arms shipments.

So far, the rebels have mainly progressed southern front from west to east over a ridge line that gives them home field advantage. The decisive moment approaches, when they will descend into the arid plain to confront the forces of Qaddafi equipped with tanks and heavy weapons. Tuesday, they scored a point by taking a large ammunition depot in the desert 25 km south of Zenten. A column sent to the rescue by the plan was ambushed and three of his vehicles were destroyed, according to the rebels.

The French decision to arm the insurgents carried out the same calculation as to bring into action his helicopter Misrata: giving a boost to get out of a stalemate. In itself, however, it has not reversed the course of the war. But the calculation is clearly based on the West end a diplomatic rather than military. "If the rebels come to the outskirts of Tripoli, the capital will surely rise up against Gaddafi wants to believe a senior French official. The mercenaries of the regime are no longer paid and poorly fed, there is a severe shortage of gasoline, people can not go. "In anticipation of the" big night ", NATO bombed the towers surrounding the castle Presidential Bab al-Aziziyah, and the command centers of the secret police and intelligence services.
By Philippe Gelie
Editor, Le Figaro