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

bb1 wrote:Thanks, LL. How very civilised, giving them another week to come to their senses......

There must be Scots blood somewhere in the NTC, they are extraordinarily canny! LL

This is a nice bit of cunning-ness from the UK, for once:

Libya Oil Cell' Blocked Gaddafi Supplies


2:01pm UK, Thursday September 01, 2011
Sophy Ridge, political correspondent
A handful of British officials have played a crucial role in the Libya conflict by starving Colonel Gaddafi’s supporters of oil.

David Cameron set up the secretive unit in the Foreign Office to mount an economic operation against the regime.
They were tasked with strengthening sanctions against Libya and blocking supplies of crude oil to the dictator's supporters.
A source close to the operation told Sky News the team played a "very important" role in restricting fuel that was "essential" to Gaddafi's military operation.
While blocking fuel supplies to Tripoli, the so-called "Libya oil cell" helped make sure the anti-Gaddafi forces continued to receive oil.

Full story at:

http://news.sky.com/home/politics/article/16060797

I am sure there was a lot of 'secret' happening going on behind closed doors. And news came out earlier that the Russian Federation has recognised the Libyan NTC!! LL

Oh yes...

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16060345


World Powers Meet Libya's New Leaders
That's an awful lot of governments...

David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy are hosting a high-level summit in Paris to welcome Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) into the diplomatic fold.


The event represents an enormous coalition of global powers - 60 countries and international organisations including the Arab League, United Nations and African Union have been invited


The Russian Federation recognises the National Transitional Council as the current authorities.
The Russian Foreign Ministry.

And they've got lovely new banknotes, too. We'll have to stop calling them the 'rebels'

Good morning!

Al Jazeera:

Gaddafi vows to carry on fighting

Deposed leader calls for Libya to be "engulfed in flames" and says nation's tribes will not accept foreign intervention.
Last Modified: 02 Sep 2011 05:03

Muammar Gaddafi has issued a defiant audio message, accusing international forces of seeking to occupy Libya for its oil and other resources and warning them to prepare for guerrilla war.

In a message broadcast on a Syria-based television channel on Thursday, the deposed Libyan leader called on NATO and the UN to end their intervention in Libya and said that Libya's tribes would not accept their presence in the country.

The international community has forced Libya into a civil war, he said. "Imperialism is hated by Libyan people, who can accept it? All people will fight against imperialism," he said.

Gaddafi called on NATO to end air strikes.

In another message broadcast earlier during the day, he urged his supporters to keep up their resistance to the uprising in Libya that has forced him into hiding, the Syria-based Arrai television channel said.

He asked his supporters to continue what he called "struggle against foreign aggression" and said those against him were divided.

He vowed again not to surrender, saying he would carry on fighting. "Even if you cannot hear my voice, continue the resistance," Gaddafi said.

"We will not surrender. We are not women and we are going to keep on fighting," the message said.

Gaddafi called on his supporters to set Libya alight, vowed that his backers would not give up, he said in the message.

"Let there be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames." He said the "balance of power is now levelled as all tribes are now armed".

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said on Tuesday that that the Gaddafi camp is still preparing for battle with tens of thousands of troops ready for the onslaught.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton says rebel fighters find Gaddafi's rhetoric to be "irrelevant".

"The attitude here is really almost that these ramblings are an irrelevant," Turton reported from Yifrin, in the western mountains of Libya.

"They just don't see anything that the Gaddafi family says any more, has anything to do with what's going on on the ground, apart from the fact that the fight will continue."

Gaddafi's location

Gaddafi was speaking on the 42nd anniversary of the military coup that toppled King Idris and brought him to power in 1969 when he was a 27-year-old army captain.

There have been conflicting reports about Gaddafi's location since his Tripoli compound was overrun on August 23.

A senior military commander of the Libyan interim leadership said Gaddafi was in a desert town outside Tripoli, along with Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, planning a fightback.

All three men are wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

Abdel Majid Mlegta, co-ordinator of the Tripoli military operations room, told the Reuters news agency "someone we trust" had said Gaddafi had fled to Bani Walid, 150km southeast of the capital.

He said Ali al-Ahwal, Gaddafi's co-ordinator for tribes, was also in Bani Walid, a stronghold of the powerful Warfalla tribe, Libya's biggest tribe among a population of six million, but many say their loyalty is divided.

"We are capable of ending the crisis but military action is out of the question right now," Mlegta said.

"We cannot attack this tribe because many of our brigades in Benghazi and Zintan are from Bani Walid. The sons of Bani Walid hold the key."

An Algerian newspaper said Gaddafi was in the border town of Ghadamis and had tried to call Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to appeal for refuge.

Bouteflika would not take the call, even though Algeria gave sanctuary to Gaddafi's wife and three of his children when they crossed the border on Monday.

Al Jazeera Live Blog:

1 Sep 2011
In a second audio message broadcast on a Syrian TV channel, Muammar Gaddafi called on his supporters to prepare for a long battle against Libya's new leaders.

Al Jazeera:

Secret files: Gaddafi had spies in rebel camp
Double agents worked the highest levels of the rebel movement, according to intelligence documents found by Al Jazeera.
Jamal Elshayyal Last Modified: 01 Sep 2011 21:26

Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had spies at the highest levels of the rebel movement at least until the fall of Tripoli, according to a top-secret document that appears to be a briefing for Libyan intelligence mastermind Abdullah Senussi.

The briefings, found by Al Jazeera in a sealed envelope on Senussi's abandoned desk at the Libyan intelligence service's headquarters, detail key weapons sites across the Western Mountains, with a focus on the pivotal town of Azzawiya, which proved to be the rebels' gateway into the capital.

One of the spies appears to have provided Gaddafi's forces with maps and identified National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders who were to lead the attack on Ghazaya and Azzawiya, together with the forces and vehicles the rebel leaders had available.

The documents also suggest that the Libyan rebel fighters were using refugee camps on the Libyan border set up by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to smuggle in weapons and pick up trucks.

Gaddafi's spies (whose names Al Jazeera has redacted) suggested that the rebels had the permission of the Tunisian prime minister and his army chief to use the camps as a base.

"There are 4x4 vehicles in the Qatar, Kuwaiti and UAE camps, equipped with automatic weapons and hidden under tents," reads one document. The agent who wrote the briefing also singled out the names of NTC leaders, suggesting they be targeted for assassination.

"I have drawn up a plan of which rebel commanders and NTC leaders should be killed. This will strike fear within their ranks and cause disunity between them," reads the document.

Spies around the world

In return for this information, the double agent expected the Libyan government to meet his three demands – by providing a luxurious car, preferably a white BMW; paying out an 'exceptional' amount of cash; and supplying him with a Thuraya satellite phone to use for 'sensitive' phone calls.

Gaddafi's spying was not limited to double agents, however. His spy network was also able to intercept highly sensitive emails, including those from NTC chief Mahmoud Jibrail.

One such email appears to be from the foreign ministry of Cyprus to leaders in Benghazi, outlining a planned visit by their foreign minister to the NTC’s stronghold.

Other documents found in the Intelligence Headquarters suggested that Gaddafi's secret services were not limited to Libyan borders.

Government officials all over the world – in Libyan embassies – were used to spy on expatriates supporting the opposition from abroad.

One document, provided by the embassy in Malta, suggests that a number of Libyans who allegedly met with Goma Gomati (now the ambassador to London) should be kidnapped.

Now thousands of secret documents are in the hands of rebels -- and some of them could incriminate the rebel leaders themselves.

What will become of those leaders – and whether information contained within them will trigger reprisals throughout the troubled country – remains to be seen.

Sky News:

Gaddafi Prisoners 'Left To Die In Desert'
Sky News – 6 hours ago

Nineteen people suffocated after being caged in metal boxes and left to die in the desert heat by pro-Gaddafi forces, Amnesty International has claimed.

Survivors told how they were forced to drink their own urine and sweat as they watched fellow detainees die in front of them.

Amnesty said 29 people had been imprisoned in two cramped cargo boxes on a construction site in Khoms, 75 miles east of Tripoli. Only 10 survived.

"This is obviously appalling and inhumane treatment of a group of people who were mostly civilians," said Diana Eltahawy, North Africa researcher at Amnesty. The charity said its team in the country had examined the containers, which had no windows.

The smaller of them was only two metres by six metres and held 10 people.
The deaths occurred in June, but news of the tragedy has only just emerged as Khoms was previously off-limits to independent reporting.

Survivor Mohamed Ahmed Ali, a schoolteacher, described how armed men arrested him at his home on May 20 after he took part in anti-government protests.

The pro-Gaddafi forces forced him to kneel, before giving him electric shocks and beating his head and back with metal wires. He was later detained in one of the containers.

"People were falling on the floor all around me. We were screaming: 'We will die in here, let us out'," he told Amnesty.

Abdel Rahman Moftah Ali, 24, was the only survivor of the smaller of the two containers and watched his fellow inmates die in front of him, said Amnesty.
"Foam was coming out of some people's mouths. I saw my cellmates drop to the ground and become motionless one by one," Ali said. "I think I fell and hit my head. Eventually I regained consciousness... It was a day from hell."

A third survivor, Faraj Omar al Ganin, 27, said that detainees were getting increasingly desperate as the hours went by. "For hours we were screaming for help. It then became eerily quiet. I realised that I was the only one still conscious. I screamed: 'They have all died'. "The guards finally opened the doors. They then made me drag the bodies out by their feet."

Link for videos: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/gaddafi-prisoners-suffocate-desert-cages-213710611.html

Good morning:

Al Jazeera:

Women celebrate in Tripoli's Martyrs' square 2 Sep 2011

Thousands of women gather in Martyr's square to mark the end of Gaddafi's rule. Anita McNaught reports:

That's good to see, LL, after all those 'spontaneous demonstrations of loyalty to Gaddafi'.

bb1 wrote:That's good to see, LL, after all those 'spontaneous demonstrations of loyalty to Gaddafi'.

It's a really cheerful moment, I agree. And it just shows that, despite all Gadaffi and co's ranting about divisions between the tribes etc, there is unity in the capital city - did you see he has stated he has moved the Libyan capital to Sirte? Looks like no-one tool any notice of that load of cr*p! LL

Press Association via Yahoo News'

MI6 'worked with Gaddafi regime'
Press Association – 1 hour 18 minutes ago

Evidence has emerged of close cooperation between British intelligence and the former Gaddafi regime.

Papers discovered in Tripoli apparently show that MI6 gave Muammar Gaddafi's security service information on Libyan dissidents living in the UK.

They also contain communications between British and Libyan security ahead of then-prime minister Tony Blair's desert tent meeting with Gaddafi in 2004. Britain is said to have helped the Libyan dictator with his speech-writing.

The documents, discovered in the Tripoli offices of former head of Libyan intelligence Musa Kusa, also show how the CIA worked with the Gaddafi regime on the rendition of terrorist suspects.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said he could not comment on security matters.
But he said: "On the subject of these apparent disclosures, first of all they relate to a period under the previous government so I have no knowledge of those, of what was happening behind the scenes at that time."

The Ministry of Defence disclosed that British forces have so far hit more than 900 targets in the campaign to protect Libyan civilians from the Gaddafi regime. The latest strikes came during armed reconnaissance patrols on Friday against buildings in Bani Walid which had been used by Gaddafi's forces as a military vehicle depot.

At least 910 targets, including secret police headquarters and command bunkers, have been damaged or destroyed since operations began in March, the MoD said.
MoD spokesman Major General Nick Pope said the RAF had been patrolling areas where civilians remained "subject to the oppression of Colonel Gaddafi's remaining troops". Tornado jets had destroyed three targets, making up the vehicle depot, using Paveway laser and GPS guided bombs.

"Since the start of military operations on March 19, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps strikes have damaged or destroyed over 910 targets that were being used by Gaddafi's former regime to threaten the Libyan people, ranging from secret police headquarters and command bunkers to tanks, rocket launchers and armed trucks," he said.

Methinks Blair should be a very worried man, LL - there have been rumours over the years, following the meeting in the tent, but never anything substantial.

bb1 wrote:Methinks Blair should be a very worried man, LL - there have been rumours over the years, following the meeting in the tent, but never anything substantial.

I doubt he cares, bonnie, he's out of it now and he can always claim he did it for the good of the UK, for keeping the terrorists at bay and to further good relations and put bad things in the past to rest. LL

This should make interesting reading:

Good morning!

Al Jazeera:

NTC issues deadline to Gaddafi loyalists

Transitional head gives besieged cities one week to surrender amid reports fighters in Bani Walid are losing patience.
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2011 06:37

Cities that have not declared allegiance to Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) have been given a week's notice to do so, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya's transitional authorities, has said.

At a press conference in Benghazi on Saturday, Jalil said his forces would lay siege to pro-Gaddafi cities until a deadline for their surrender expires next week.

Jalil said his forces were supplying the cities of Sirte, Bani Walid, Jufra and Sabha with humanitarian aid despite the siege.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reporting from near Bani Walid said she witnessed a group of representatives from Bani Walid negotiating with NTC fighters. The team from Bani Walid told the Libyan fighters that they wanted two more days before surrendering their weapons, our correspondent said.

"The Libyan fighters are getting quite cross, they are saying we have been negotiating with you for months to lay down your weapons," Turton said. "They are suspicious and are still not completely convinced that this surrender is going to happen."

Some NTC fighters, who established a frontline about 30km from Bani Wali, suggested the town could be attacked within hours.

Bani Walid has been speculated to be a possible refuge for toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and other members of his family.

Abdulrazzak Naduri, an NTC military commander in nearby Tarhuna, told the Reuters news agency that one of Gaddafi son's, Saadi, was in the town while another, Saif al-Islam, had recently fled.

'We know where Gaddafi is'

The city, along with Sirte on the Mediterranean coast and Sabha deep in the Sahara desert, are the main pockets not under the control of NTC forces.

At a news conference in Tripoli, Ali Tarhouni, the NTC's oil minister, said there had been no fighting in Bani Walid on Saturday. Asked if Gaddafi was in the town, as claimed by NTC military commanders, Tarhouni said: "As for Gaddafi himself... we know where he is."

Gaddafi's spokesman dismissed suggestions that Bani Walid was about to surrender and insisted that tribal leaders there were still loyal to the deposed leader.

"Bani Walid is a major city hosting one of the biggest tribes in Libya who have declared their allegiance to the leader and they refused all approaches for negotiation with the Transitional Council," Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Asked about Gaddafi's whereabouts, Ibrahim said the toppled leader was "in a safe place surrounded by many people who are prepared to protect him".

Papers 'show CIA and MI6 links'

Meanwhile, papers found at the abandoned office of Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi's former intelligence chief, indicate close links between US and British intelligence services and the Libyan regime, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

The documents suggest Abdel Hakim Belhadj, the current military commander for Tripoli of Libya's National Transitional Government (NTC), was among those captured and sent to Libya by the CIA, Human Rights Watch said.

Tarhouni on Saturday also announced the creation of a supreme security council to protect Tripoli.

"The main goal is to protect citizens, as well as public and private establishments, and to eliminate what remains of pro-Gaddafi groups, or what is called the fifth column," Tarhouni said.

He said NTC fighters would temporarily assist police forces in securing the streets of the capital, despite earlier reports suggesting that the transitional authorities had ordered many of those who took part in the attack on the capital to return home.

UN special envoy in Tripoli

A special envoy for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, arrived in Tripoli on Saturday to deliver a message that the world body was ready to assist in re-establishing security after the nearly seven-month uprising that toppled Gaddafi.

"I am here now to discuss with the National Transitional Council how the United Nations can be most helpful in the future," Ian Martin told reporters on arrival.

Martin arrived amid questions about the UN's future role in the country, particularly about whether a peacekeeping mission will be necessary.

"I think the future leaders of Libya face a very big challenge, they have already shown the ways in which they are ready to tackle that challenge and it will be the commitment of the United Nations to assist them in any way they ask."

Al Jazeera:

Libyan fighters gather outside Bani Walid
3 Sep 2011
Fighters have gathered outside Bani Wald, one of the last strong holds of Gaddafi forces.

The fighters are hopeful a surrender is imminent.

Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from Tripoli.



15 hours 19 min ago

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Nawfaliya on the Eastern Libyan front line.



3 Sep 2011
Libya's national football team is making its first appearance after the fall of Gaddafi's government.

On Saturday, they play an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Mozambique in the Egyptian capital Cairo in a new white kit, which marks a break with the green colour associated with ruler Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

The Libyans have been unable to play at home since the uprising began in February.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo.

Al Jazeera:

NTC negotiator: Time up for Gaddafi loyalists

Fighters ready to take over Bani Walid, one of Gaddafi's last strongholds, by force in the next 24 hours.
04 Sep 2011 10:26

Libyan fighters who said they had tried to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power of Bani Walid, a key city still controlled by supporters of toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi, have told Al Jazeera that talks had reached a stalemate.

According to members of the National Transitional Council (NTC), the talks failed at midday on Sunday after numerous attempts to move forward with a bloodless handover of control.

"We are ready from three fronts: north and east and west," Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a political analyst and one of those on the negotiation team, told Al Jazeera.

"Their time is over," he said, referring to Gaddafi loyalists in the town who had refused to give up their arms. "The push is going to happen in the next 24 hours."

Some NTC fighters, who established a frontline about 30km from Bani Wali, suggested on Saturday that the town could be attacked within hours, and Al Jazeera's James Bays said on Sunday morning: "[NTC] forces are now surrounding Bani Walid and threatening to go in."

Bani Walid has been speculated to be a possible refuge for toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and other members of his family.

Abdulrazzak Naduri, an NTC military commander in nearby Tarhuna, told the Reuters news agency that one of Gaddafi son's, Saadi, was in the town while another, Saif al-Islam, had recently fled.

Asked if Gaddafi was in the town, as claimed by NTC military commanders, Ali Tarhouni, the NTC's oil minister said: "As for Gaddafi himself... we know where he is."

'Allegiance to the leader'

The city, along with Sirte on the Mediterranean coast and Sabha deep in the Sahara desert, are the main pockets not under the control of NTC forces.

"What the NTC are hoping for Bani Walid, if they manage to get a settlement there, [is] that it will be the model for the other two [cities]," said our correspondent.

Gaddafi's spokesperson dismissed suggestions that Bani Walid was about to surrender and insisted that tribal leaders there were still loyal to the deposed leader.

"Bani Walid is a major city hosting one of the biggest tribes in Libya who have declared their allegiance to the leader and they refused all approaches for negotiation with the Transitional Council," Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Asked about Gaddafi's whereabouts, Ibrahim said the toppled leader was "in a safe place surrounded by many people who are prepared to protect him".

UN special envoy in Tripoli

A special envoy for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, arrived in Tripoli on Saturday to deliver a message that the world body was ready to assist in re-establishing security after the nearly seven-month uprising that toppled Gaddafi.

"I am here now to discuss with the National Transitional Council how the United Nations can be most helpful in the future," Ian Martin told reporters on arrival.

Martin arrived amid questions about the UN's future role in the country, particularly about whether a peacekeeping mission will be necessary.

"I think the future leaders of Libya face a very big challenge, they have already shown the ways in which they are ready to tackle that challenge and it will be the commitment of the United Nations to assist them in any way they ask."

.........................................................................................

Libyan transitional negotiator says time has run out
4 Sep 2011

Libyan fighters who said they had tried to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power of Bani Walid, a key city still controlled by supporters of fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi, have told Al Jazeera that talks had reached a stalemate and that the final push is going to happen in the next 24 hours.

According to members of the National Transitional Council, the talks failed mid-day on Sunday after numerous attempts to move forward with a bloodless handover of control.

Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a political analyst and one of those on the negotiation team.
Gaddafi's people who catch our people and who stay against our revolution [are] in Bani Walid," said Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a political analyst and one of those on the negotiation team.

"Their time is over," he said, adding: "The push is going to happen in the next 24 hours."

Oh, my! A selection of the material at:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033460/Secret-files-Labour-lied-Gaddafi--warned-holy-war-Megrahi-died-Scotland.html

So, that all begs a question re the Lockerbie case: The Labour govt always said that it was the sole decision of the Scottish Parliament to free Mahgrahi; reading that lot I find I am unable to believe that statement, and wonder how much pressure was brought on Alex Salmond to go along with what looks like a private agreement between Ghadaffi, Blair and Brown. If he was coerced, then I am surprised, as Salmond has never struck me as a man who will easily cave in - I wonder what could have be threatened from London to make him agree and also to put out statements that it was the Scots who decided he should go free - unless he genuinely believed Magrahi was dying. and was deliberately mislead by Blair and Co? This could run and run as there seems to be an awful lot of obfuscation of the truth going on. Oh, and there's the matter of torture .... LL

Alex Salmond is un-threatenable, LL. I suspect he was aware of all this skullduggery in Westminster, and Mahgrahi is undeniably dying. His release was done by the book, which is why he is now the responsibility of East Renfrewshire social work department - however bizarre that may seem.
Bear in mind that at the time the decision was taken, the SNP were a minority government, with Labour in opposition - and this makes all Labour's shreiks about the release look pretty hollow, doesn't it?
Blair and Brown must have thought it had all worked out perfectly for the blame to be dumped on Edinburgh, never expecting these letters to see the light of day.

And on top of all this comes Alastair Darling's book which tells a lot about Brown and doesn't make things look good for the Labour party. LL

Indeed, LL - those letters are absolutely damning.
They are not the usual diplomatic dance, aimed at curbing some despot's worst excesses, or trying to protect UK citizens or UK interests; they are CRAWLING to Gaddafi.

bb1 wrote:Indeed, LL - those letters are absolutely damning.
They are not the usual diplomatic dance, aimed at curbing some despot's worst excesses, or trying to protect UK citizens or UK interests; they are CRAWLING to Gaddafi.

I see no-one in the Labour Party commenting - do you? And Bliar and Brown appear to have fallen off the face of the earth. I commend the restraint of the present govt - they could be out there, rubbing salt in the Labour wounds .... LL

Thing is, LL, it is a fact of life, however unpalatable, that governments and diplomats do have to deal with despots and tyrants, in the real world.

They don't have to enjoy it, though....