Africa
Libyan rebels lay down terms for ceasefire
Opposition offers ceasefire if Gaddafi halts attacks against rebel-held cities
but battles rage for Brega and Misrata.
Last Modified: 01 Apr 2011 18:57
The West has backed off from arming Libyan opposition fighters, pushing for a
political solution instead [Al Jazeera]
Libyan rebels will agree to a ceasefire if Muammar Gaddafi pulls his military
forces out of opposition-held cities and allows peaceful protests against his
regime, according to an opposition leader.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the opposition's interim governing council based
in Benghazi, spoke during a joint press conference on Friday with Abdelilah
Al-Khatib, the UN envoy. Al-Khatib is visiting the rebels' de facto stronghold
of Benghazi in hopes of reaching a political solution to the crisis embroiling
the North African nation.
Abdul-Jalil said the rebels' condition for a ceasefire is "that the Gaddafi
brigades and forces withdraw from inside and outside Libyan cities to give
freedom to the Libyan people to choose and the world will see that they will
choose freedom".
The UN resolution that authorised international air strikes against Libya
called for Gaddafi and the rebels to end hostilities. Gaddafi announced a
ceasefire immediately but has shown no sign of heeding it. His forces continue
to attack rebels in the east, where the opposition is strongest, and have
besieged the only major rebel-held city in the west, Misrata.
Abdul-Jalil said the regime must withdraw its forces and lift all sieges. He
stressed the ultimate goal was still to oust Gaddafi.
"Our aim is to liberate and have sovereignty over all of Libya with its capital
in Tripoli," he said.
The UN envoy arrived in Tripoli on Thursday.
Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi, played down the
significance of the statements, noting that this is not the first time the
rebels have said they are open to negotiation.
"You have to remember that Mr Abdel Jalil was saying it in the presence of the
United Nations special envoy to Libya, and the UN is calling repeatedly for a
ceasefire, and so he had to acknowledge that to some degree," Lee said.
"But the other thing you have to remember that he said, was that if there is no
ceasefire then the rebels will press on to try to liberate all the Western
towns."
Despite the continued bravado, the protracted stalemate and shortage of arms is
clearly causing unease in the opposition stronghold, he said.
"As time goes by, the military solution to this looks far less likely, and I
think the political solution, if not inevitable, looks far more likely," he
reported.
Forces loyal to Libya's leader of nearly 42 years spent much of this week
pushing the rebels back about 160km along the coast. Attempting to regroup, the
rebels hit back with mortars on Friday - weapons they previously appeared to
have lacked. The previous night, they drove in a convoy with at least eight
rocket launchers - more artillery than usual.
The rebels also appeared to have more communication equipment such as radios
and satellite phones, and were working in more organised units, in which
military defectors were each leading six or seven volunteers.
On Friday, they appointed Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former interior minister who
resigned to join the opposition, as the commander of the opposition military
forces combatting pro-Gaddafi brigades.
Fighting rages
The rebels' losses this week, and others before airstrikes began March 19,
underlined the reality that their equipment, training and organisation were far
inferior to those of Gaddafi's forces. The recent changes appear to be an
attempt to correct, or at least ease, the imbalance.
Opposition fighters were locked in combat with pro-Gaddafi forces near Brega on
Friday [Reuters]
Residents of Misurata, meanwhile, said they came under heavy bombardment
throughout the day from pro-Gaddafi forces.
"They used tanks, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and other
projectiles to hit the city today. It was a random and very intense
bombardment," Sami, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters by telephone. "We no longer
recognise the place. The destruction cannot be described."
Opposition fighters say government forces are targetting both the city's port
and residential areas.
Heavy fighting also took place near the key oil port of Brega, where doctors
told the AFP news agency that 11 people had been killed.
Meanwhile, in the village of Argkuk, near Ajdabiya, Al Jazeera's Sue Turton
reported that what appeared to be a NATO-led coalition airstrike on a
pro-Gaddafi vehicle killed seven civilians and injured 25 others when
ammunition in the vehicle exploded.
Oil deal
A Libyan opposition official, meanwhile, said rebels would be able to buy more
arms thanks to an oil deal they reached with the Arab nation of Qatar.
Ali Tarhouni, who handles finances for the opposition's National Transitional
Council, said Qatar has agreed to market oil currently in storage in
rebel-controlled areas of southeastern Libya.
Tarhouni said one sticking point is how to truck the oil out of the country.
The money from oil sales will be put into an account which the opposition will
use to pay for weapons, food, medicine, fuel and other needs.
It was unclear where the frontline was Friday. Rebels were holding journalists
back at the western gate of Ajdabiya, far from the fighting.
On Thursday the opposition had moved into Brega, an oil port about 80km east of
Ajdabiya, before Gaddafi's forces pushed them out.
Defections take toll
Gaddafi's greatest losses this week were not military but political. Two
members of his inner circle, including his foreign minister, abandoned him this
week, setting off speculation about other officials who may be next.
IN VIDEO
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from the
opposition's front lines near Brega
The defections could sway people who have stuck with Gaddafi despite the
uprising that began February 15 and the international airstrikes aimed at
keeping the Libyan leader from attacking his own people.
Gaddafi struck a defiant stance in a statement Thursday, accusing the leaders
of the countries attacking his forces of being "affected by power madness".
"The solution for this problem is that they resign immediately and their
peoples find alternatives to them," he said.
Yet Gaddafi's message was undercut by its delivery - a scroll across the bottom
of state TV as he remained out of sight.
Meanwhile, nations behind the campaign of international airstrikes that have
hobbled Libya's military hailed the resignation and flight to the UK of
Gaddafi's foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, as a sign of weakness in Gaddafi's
reign.
Koussa has been privy to all the inner workings of the regime, so his departure
could open the door for some hard intelligence, though Britain refused to offer
him immunity from prosecution.
Ali Abdessalam Treki, a former foreign minister and UN General Assembly
president, announced his departure on several opposition websites the next day,
saying "It is our nation's right to live in freedom and democracy and enjoy a
good life".
Treki's defection comes after Al Jazeera uncovered what was supposed to be a
secret visit to Tunis in mid-March.
The rebels say they have taken heart from the departures in Gaddafi's inner
circle.
"We believe that the regime is crumbling from within," opposition spokesman
Mustafa Gheriani said in Benghazi, the rebels' de facto capital.
The US has ruled out using ground troops in Libya but it is considering
providing arms to the rebels.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, however, told Congress on Thursday that the US
still knows little about the rebels, and that if anyone arms and trains them it
should be some other country.
Asked by a lawmaker whether US involvement might inevitably mean "boots on the
ground" in Libya, Gates replied, "Not as long as I am in this job".
NATO is among those saying a new UN resolution would be required to arm rebels,
though Britain and the US disagree. Several world leaders oppose arming rebels,
including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who said in London
that it could "create an environment which could be conducive to terrorism".
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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