Oorlog in Libië #100: We gaan weer demonstreren in Tripoli.

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23 rebels killed in fighting in eastern Libya

Associated Press= MISRATA, Libya (AP) — A Libyan doctor says 23 rebels have been killed in fighting outside the eastern oil town of Brega.

Suleiman Rafathi, a doctor at the hospital in the town of Ajdabiya where the casualties were brought, says 26 people also were wounded in the battle Monday about 22 miles (35 kilometers) east of Brega.

The front lines between Brega and Ajdabiya have been relatively quiet in recent weeks, while fighting has raged in western Libya between forces loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi and rebels seeking to overthrow him.

No further details of the fighting were immediately available.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Government artillery rained down on rebel forces Monday but failed to stop their advance into key ground west of their stronghold at Libya's major port. As fighting raged for a fourth day, Germany's foreign minister paid a surprise visit to the rebel's de facto capital.

The German foreign ministry said Guido Westerwelle was meeting with the Transitional National Council to deepen relations with the rebels and their nascent government.

Should the Germans recognize the council as the legitimate governing power in Libya, it would mark yet another big diplomatic boost for the rebels who rose up four months ago to end Moammar Gadhafi's 40-year rule in the oil-rich North African country. Germany refused to participate in the NATO air mission over Libya and withheld support for the no-fly zone.

The rebels control roughly the eastern one-third of Libya as well as Misrata, the country's major port. The also claim to have taken parts of coastal oil center of Zawiya in the far west. That port city is 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Tripoli and a prize that would put them in striking distance of the capital. Control of the city also would cut one of Moammar Gadhafi's last supply routes from Tunisia.

Despite rebel claims, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said late Sunday that Gadhafi forces had driven off the attackers, and reporters taken to Zawiya saw secure streets and the green national flag flying over a central square. The insurgents, for their part, claimed a high-ranking Gadhafi commander was badly wounded in the fighting.

"The wishful reporting of some journalists that the rebels are gaining more power and more control of some areas is not correct," he said.

In the major fighting near Misrata on Monday, an Associated Press photographer at the rebel front lines said they had pushed along the Mediterranean Sea to within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of Zlitan, the next city to the west of Misrata. A rebel commander said his forces, using arms seized from government weapons depots and fresh armaments being shipped in from Benghazi, planned to have moved into Zlitan, by Tuesday.

Ali Terbelo, the rebel commander, said other opposition forces already were in Zlitan, trying to encircle Gadhafi troops. If the rebels take the city they would be within 85 miles (135 kilometers) of the eastern outskirts of Gadhafi's capital, Tripoli.

An AP reporter with rebel forces said shelling was intense Monday morning with rockets and artillery and mortar shells slamming into rebel lines west of Dafniya at a rate of about 7 each minute. Dafniya is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Misrata

Officials at Hikma Hospital in Misrata said government shelling killed seven and wounded 49 on Sunday. New casualty figures were not available but ambulances were rushing from the Dafniya line back into Misrata.

The rebel thrust at Zawiya and movements farther east — near Misrata and Brega — suggested the stalemated uprising had been reinvigorated, and that Gadhafi's defenders may become stretched thin.

"Over the past three days, we set fire under the feet of Gadhafi forces everywhere," Col. Hamid al-Hasi, a rebel battalion commander, told AP. He said the rebels attacked "in very good coordination with NATO" to avoid friendly-fire incidents. "We don't move unless we have very clear instructions from NATO."

In addition, the NATO blockade of ports still under government control and alliance control of Libyan airspace have severely crimped the North African dictator's ability to resupply his forces. And his control has been hard hit by defections from his military and government inner circle.

NATO, meanwhile, has stepped up bombing of Gadhafi's compound in the center of Tripoli, striking it again on Sunday, along with a military airport in eastern Tripoli. The government did not immediately report casualties or damage.

The rebels' Transitional National Council scored a political success, meanwhile, winning recognition from the United Arab Emirates, adding a wealthy, influential Arab state to the handful of nations thus far accepting the insurgents as Libyans' sole legitimate representatives.

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Libyan rebels breakout toward Tripoli

Associated Press= MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels Monday broke out toward Tripoli from the opposition-held port of Misrata 140 miles to the east, cracking a government siege as fighters across the country mounted a resurgence in their four-month-old revolt against Moammar Gadhafi.

The rebels gained a diplomatic boost as well when the visiting the German foreign minister said the nascent opposition government was "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people." Guido Westerwelle was visiting Benghazi, the capital of the rebel-held east of the country, to open a liaison office and hand over medical supplies.

He stopped short of full diplomatic recognition of the Transitional National Council, as has the United States, awaiting the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi from his more than 40-year rule in the oil-rich North African country.

Germany has refused to participate in NATO airstrikes in Libya and withheld its support for the U.N. resolution that allowed the attacks.

What started as a peaceful uprising against Gadhafi has become a civil war, with poorly equipped and trained rebel fighters taking control of the eastern third of Libya and pockets of the west.

But the fighting had reached a stalemate until last week when NATO began the heaviest bombardment of Gadhafi forces since the alliance took control of the skies over Libya under a U.N. resolution to protect civilians from Gadhafi's wrath. NATO has been pounding Gadhafi military and government position with increasing vigor and the rebels are again on the move.

Gadhafi's power has been considerably degraded by the NATO attacks as well military and government defections.

In London, Libyan analysts reported Monday that Gadhafi had lost another close official who defected and fled the country.

Sassi Garada, one of the first men to join Gadhafi when he took power, left Libya through Tunisia, according to Noman Benotman, a Libyan analyst in London who was in contact with his friends and family. Guma el-Gamaty, U.K. organizer for Libya's interim council, also confirmed the defection.

There were initial reports that Garada fled to Britain, where he has several family members, but Benotman said Garada was in Switzerland.

British officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss immigration and security matters, said they could not confirm whether Garada was in the U.K. Swiss Foreign ministry spokeswoman Carole Waelti told AP the government was "not aware of the possible presence of Mr. Garada in Switzerland."

Garada reportedly passed up several military promotions over the years to stay out of the limelight and serve Gadhafi, said Benotman, who works as an analyst for the London-based Quilliam Foundation.

Garada is also from Libya's Berber minority, which has often fought the Arab majority to have their language and customs protected. Many Berbers occupy the Western mountains of Libya, where Garada had been in charge of trying to neutralize tensions, el-Gamaty said.

It is not known why Garada defected or when, but he is one in a growing list of senior officials who have fled the country, suggesting Gadhafi may be losing his grip on power.

Last month, Shukri Ghanem, the Libyan oil minister and head of the National Oil Co., crossed into neighboring Tunisia.

Others who have defected include Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, one of Gadhafi's earliest supporters; Interior Minister Abdel-Fatah Younes; Justice Minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, and Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former U.N. General Assembly president. A number of ambassadors and other diplomats also have resigned.

In the major fighting near Misrata on Monday, an Associated Press photographer at the rebel front lines said they had pushed along the Mediterranean Sea to within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of Zlitan, the next city to the west of Misrata. A rebel commander said his forces, using arms seized from government weapons depots and fresh armaments shipped in from Benghazi, planned to have moved into Zlitan, by Tuesday.

Ali Terbelo, the rebel commander, said other opposition forces already were in Zlitan, trying to encircle Gadhafi troops. If the rebels take the city they would be within 85 miles (135 kilometers) of the eastern outskirts of Gadhafi's capital, Tripoli.

An AP reporter with rebel forces said shelling was intense Monday morning with rockets and artillery and mortar shells slamming into rebel lines west of Dafniya at a rate of about seven each minute. Dafniya is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Misrata

Officials at Hikma Hospital in Misrata said government shelling had killed seven rebels and wounded 49 on Sunday. New casualty figures were not available but ambulances were rushing from the Dafniya line back into Misrata.

Rebels encountered a major setback, however, near the eastern oil town of Brega on Monday. Suleiman Rafathi, a doctor at the hospital in the town of Ajdabiya where the casualties were taken, said 23 rebels were killed and 26 wounded in a government ambush about 22 miles (35 kilometers) east of Brega.

The front lines between Brega and Ajdabiya have been relatively quiet in recent weeks, while fighting has raged in western Libya.

In other diplomatic developments, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke again against the Libyan regime, telling the nations of Africa on Monday to sever links with Gadhafi despite his long support and patronage for many African leaders.

In a speech on Monday to diplomats at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Clinton said Africa should join most of the rest of the world in abandoning Gadhafi. She said the Libyan leader has lost all legitimacy to rule because of attacks on his own citizens.

She's urged all African leaders to demand that Gadhafi accept a cease-fire and then leave Libya.

In a lighter moment, the Gadhafi was shown on Libyan television playing chess with the visiting Russian head of the World Chess Federation. The federation is headed by the eccentric Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who until last year was the leader of Russia's predominantly Buddhist republic of Kalmykia. He once claimed to have visited an alien spaceship.

The television report showed Gadhafi, dressed all in black and wearing dark sunglasses, playing chess Sunday evening with his Russian guest.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ilyumzhinov as saying Gadhafi told him he has no intention of leaving Libya despite international pressure.

It was unclear where the chess game took place. Gadhafi's compound in the center of Tripoli has been under NATO bombardment and was hit again Sunday.

Gadhafi had not been seen in public since mid-May, and Ilyumzhinov told him how pleased he was to find him healthy and well.

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Zuid-Afrika: NAVO misbruikt VN-resolutie voor politieke moord

De NAVO misbruikt een resolutie van de Verenigde Naties (VN) onder het mom van bescherming van Libische burgers tegen het leger van dictator Muammar Kaddafi. Dat doet ze om regimeverandering door te voeren en politieke moorden te plegen, meent de Zuid-Afrikaanse president Jacob Zuma.

'Wij hebben sterk de indruk dat Resolutie 1973 wordt misbruikt. We hebben ons uitgesproken tegen wangebruik van de goede bedoelingen van de resolutie', aldus Zuma tijdens een toespraak in het parlement. Volgens de president heeft de NAVO de grenzen van de resolutie overschreden.

Resolutie 1973 werd in maart aangenomen en machtigt onder meer lidstaten om militairen in te zetten voor bescherming van burgers in Libië.

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‘Gaddafi akkoord met eerlijke verkiezingen in Libië’
De Libische leider Gaddafi wil instemmen met het houden van eerlijke verkiezingen onder internationaal toezicht. Dat zegt zijn zoon Saif al-Islam vandaag in een interview met de Italiaanse krant Corriere della Sera.

Saif stelt in het interview dat de verkiezingen binnen drie maanden gehouden kunnen worden. “Het belangrijkste is dat de verkiezingen eerlijk verloopt en dat er geen verdenkingen van stemfraude”, aldus Saif. Volgens de oudste zoon van kolonel Gaddafi is er geen twijfel mogelijk dat zijn vader gekozen zal worden. “Ik heb geen twijfel dat een overweldigende meerderheid van de Libiërs de opstandelingen zien als fanatieke islamitische fundamentalisten en terroristen, die zijn opgehitst door de Franse president Sarkozy.”

Hoewel het onduidelijk is in hoeverre Gaddafi serieus is met zijn voorstel, lijkt het ‘onwaarschijnlijk’ dat de internationale gemeenschap akkoord zou willen gaan met het houden van verkiezingen onder Gaddafi, zegt onze buitenlandredacteur Marc Leijendekker:

“Voor de coalitie is dit geen aanvaardbare optie, want die streeft naar de val van Gaddafi. Voor Gaddafi zelf is het allicht een poging om te redden wat er te redden valt. Maar de coalitie staat op het standpunt dat er geen vrije verkiezingen mogelijk zijn zolang Gaddafi aan de macht is.”

Russische gezant in Tripoli voor gesprekken met regime

Een gezant van de Russische president Medvedev arriveerde vanochtend in Tripoli om gesprekken te voeren met een aantal belangrijke regeringsfunctionarissen, waaronder de minister-president en de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken. Rusland vreest dat de NAVO afkoerst op de inzet van grondtroepen in Libië en wil een poging doen om te bemiddelen in het conflict. Gezant Mikhail Margelov zei te verwachten dat de gesprekken niet gemakkelijk zullen zijn.

De NAVO bombardeerde vanochtend vroeg opnieuw het gebied rondom de compound van Gaddafi. Een serie bombardementen deed volgens journalisten in Tripoli de ramen van omliggende huizen trillen en ook was er rook te zien. Het is onduidelijk welke doelen precies getroffen zijn en of er slachtoffers zijn gevallen.

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'Kaddafi gijzelt duizenden lokale leiders'


De Libische leider Kaddafi houdt volgens de commandant van de NAVO-operaties tegen Libië de voorbije weken duizenden stamhoofden en andere invloedrijke lokale leiders in gijzeling. Zo hoopt Kaddafi een volksopstand tegen zijn regime in de kiem te smoren, zei de Canadese generaal Charles Bouchard vandaag in een interview met de Franse krant Le Figaro.

Het zou volgens berichten van westerse inlichtingendiensten zelfs gaan om 25.000 mensen. Waar zij verblijven is onduidelijk, maar Kaddafi zou ze hier en daar ook als menselijk schild inzetten.
'De tegenstander verschuilt zich onder de burgerbevolking, achter vrouwen en kinderen, in moskeeën en ziekenhuizen', aldus Bouchard. De NAVO gaf vandaag videobeelden vrij, waarop te zien is hoe Kaddafi-getrouwe troepen zeven raketten op burgerdoelen afvuren vanaf de binnenplaats van een moskee in de stad Zlitan. In en om die stad wordt hevig gevochten tussen het leger en opstandelingen.

'Ze verbergen zich op plaatsen waarvan ze weten dat de NAVO ze niet zal bombarderen', zei een woordvoerder van de alliantie.
De NAVO heeft sinds het begin van de operatie tegen Libië ruim 2000 militaire doelen uitgeschakeld, aldus de woordvoerder.
Daaronder waren 600 tanks, pantserwagens en kanonnen, 750 munitieopslagplaatsen, 130 commandocentrales, 255 radar- en raketinstallaties, tien schepen en tien vliegtuigen. 'De NAVO gaat door met het uitschakelen van Kaddafi's militaire machine.' Zo is een installatie van de Libische inlichtingendienst vlakbij het presidentiële hoofdkwartier vernietigd.

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Kaddafi op Libische tv: Navo zal verslagen worden

De Libische leider Moammar Kadhafi heeft weer van zich laten horen. De Libische staatstelevisie zond een audioboodschap van hem uit. Daarin bezwoer hij dat de NAVO-troepen verslagen zullen worden.

'Dit is de eerste keer dat ze tegenover een bewapende natie van miljoen staan', zei Kadhafi. 'Ze zullen worden verslagen. De alliantie zal worden verslagen.'

Volgens het televisiestation was de toespraak opgenomen tijdens een vandaag gevoerd telefoongesprek.

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Op zaterdag 18 juni 2011 11:27 schreef Monidique het volgende:

NATO pilots face high risks in Libya

Franse helikopters op Libisch grondgebied en die opstandelingen vervoeren. Ja, hoor, gewoon een humanitaire interventie en een no-fly-zone. Hoe duidelijker moet het worden dat de VN-resolutie verkracht is door de NAVO?

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Libische rebellen uiten kritiek op uitblijven hulp Westen

De olie-minister van de Libische opstandelingen heeft felle kritiek geuit op het uitblijven van Westerse financiële hulp. Volgens hem zijn de rebellen bankroet.

In een interview met Reuters in Benghazi zegt de minister, Ali Tarhouni, dat de hele olieproductie stil is komen te vallen door de beschadigingen die de gevechten in het land hebben veroorzaakt.

“We hebben geen geld meer. Het is een compleet fiasco aan het worden. Of de westerse landen snappen het niet, of het interesseert ze niet. We produceren geen olie door de beschadigingen en ik verwacht niet dat we binnenkort weer olie kunnen produceren. De raffinaderijen hebben geen ruwe olie, dus ook die werken niet.” – Ali Tarhouni

Tarhouni werd gevraagd hoe hij denkt dat de rebellenregering denkt te gaan overleven. Volgens Tarhouni zullen ze wel een manier vinden.

“Mensen stierven voor deze revolutie, en sterven nog altijd. We vinden wel een manier. Een ding is zeker: we geven nooit op.” – Ali Tarhouni

De regering van de rebellen is volgens Tarhouni in gesprek met verschillende buitenlandse bedrijven over toekomstige samenwerking. Hij noemde het Duitse Wintershall en het Franse Total. Hij zegt niets te hebben tegen het werken met bedrijven die ook met Gaddafi werkten. Volgens Tarhouni is de enige vijand Gaddafi en zijn handlangers.

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Obama's raadslieden verdeeld over inzet Libië

De juridische adviseurs van de Amerikaanse president Barack Obama zijn verdeeld over de vraag of de president voor het continueren van de militaire actie in Libië toestemming van het Congres had moeten vragen.

Dat meldt The New York Times. Obama besloot uiteindelijk dat hij geen goedkeuring van het Congres nodig had om steun te geven aan de NAVO-missie.

Vijandelijkheden
Twee juridische topadviseurs, van het Pentagon en het ministerie van Justitie, oordeelden dat het voortzetten van de actie in Libië zou neerkomen op 'vijandelijkheden' en dat het Congres hiervoor toestemming zou moeten geven. Andere juridische topadviseurs van Obama waren een andere mening toegedaan en de president besloot het advies van de laatsten te volgen.

Het gebeurt buitengewoon zelden volgens de krant dat een president het advies van de juridische topadviseur van Justitie naast zich neerlegt.

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Muammar Gaddafi war crimes files revealed

Rebels find documents implicating Libyan leader in war crimes, and hold them for International Criminal Court investigators

Thousands of documents that reveal in chilling detail orders from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's senior generals to bombard and starve the people of Misrata have been gathered by war crimes investigators and are being kept at a secret location at the besieged Libyan port.

The documents, some of which the Observer has seen, will form damning evidence in any future war crimes trial of the Libyan leader at the International Criminal Court. The court's prosecutors are expected to travel to the city to view the documents once the daily bombardments have ceased.

One document shows the commanding general of government forces instructing his units to starve Misrata's population during the four-month siege. The order, from Youssef Ahmed Basheer Abu Hajar, states bluntly: "It is absolutely forbidden for supply cars, fuel and other services to enter the city of Misrata from all gates and checkpoints." Another document instructs army units to hunt down wounded rebel fighters, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Plans to bombard the city are also in the archive, say investigators, who also claim they have a message from Gaddafi relayed to the troops ordering that Misrata be obliterated and the "blue sea turned red" with the blood of the inhabitants. The documents are expected to form a crucial element of any trial against Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi if, as is expected, ICC judges confirm indictments for war crimes and crimes against humanity that are demanded by its chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

They represent a landmark in international justice because no significant war crimes trial in the short history of international courts has had access to documents directly implicating the lead players in the commission of war crimes.

"From what we have here, the case is already proved," Khalid Alwab, a Misrata war crimes investigator, told the Observer. "All the evidence is here. Signed and stamped." The documents have yet to be revealed to the ICC, according to the 60-strong team of Libyan lawyers who brave daily shelling to collect evidence from the city. "We are ready to show them to the ICC," said Alwab. "They are free to contact us."

The fierce shellfire that has pounded Misrata since late February has kept ICC investigators away, and the indictments so far requested deal with crimes elsewhere in Libya.

The documents were saved when lawyers supporting the rebellion told protesters who broke into army bases and police stations to protect the buildings against arson. Elsewhere in the rebel-held parts of Libya, such buildings have been completely destroyed along with their contents.

Government forces who surrender to the rebels are searched, and any documents they carry are preserved in case they can be used as evidence.

Alwab said that he believed Gaddafi's forces had not been ordered to destroy documents because they had not expected to be overrun.

Sir Geoffrey Nice, the former lead prosecutor of Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague, writes in the Observer: "When the citizens of Misrata made the decision not to burn the archive left to them, they were certainly serving history well."

Gaddafi continues to show defiance to Nato, greeting another night of heavy bombing of Tripoli by broadcasting a furious message through the capital's public address system.

"Nato will be defeated," he yelled in a hoarse voice that was piped across the city. Within minutes, the emotive tones of the speech were mixed with the sound of automatic gunfire and car horns from supporters across the city.

In a sign of the growing desperation felt by Libya's opposition, Ali Tarhouni, the rebel finance minister, said that they had almost run out of cash.

International loans have failed to materialise and continued fighting has made it impossible to repair damaged oil installations that halted production in April. "We don't have any [cash]. We are running out of everything," he told the Reuters news agency. "It's a complete failure. Either they [Western nations] don't understand or they don't care."

Nato has yet to find an answer to the Libyan dictator's defiance, with missiles continuing to fall on Misrata. "It is unfortunately still the case that pro-Gaddafi forces continue to show shocking determination to harm the Libyan people," said Oana Lungescu, a Nato spokeswoman.

"It is hard to imagine the end to attacks on civilians while the pro-Gaddafi regime is still in power."

Residents of Misrata hoped for just such an ending last week, when Nato leafleted government lines around the city with lurid pictures of Apache helicopters and warning of dire retribution if the bombardment continued.

Since then, the bombardment has only intensified. On the streets of the shell-shattered city, journalists are now asked at regular intervals by the frightened populace: "Where is Nato?"