Gaddafi 'still a danger' as rebels move on Sirte
Libyan rebels said today that strongman Muammar Gaddafi still poses a danger to Libya and the world, as insurgents closed in on his hometown of Sirte a week after overrunning the capital.
August 30, 2011 / 10:12 IST
Libyan rebels said today that strongman Muammar Gaddafi still poses a danger to Libya and the world, as insurgents closed in on his hometown of Sirte a week after overrunning the capital.
Rebels were also battling to restore basic services in Tripoli, hit by cuts in the supply of water, electricity, petrol and food after a week of fierce clashes. The leader of the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, urged in Doha on Monday no let-up in international action against Gaddafi ."Gaddafi's defiance of the coalition forces still poses a danger, not only for Libya but for the world. That is why we are calling for the coalition to continue its support," Abdel Jalil said at a meeting of chiefs of staff of countries militarily involved in Libya, including Qatar.Another senior rebel leader, Jallal al-Digheily -- who holds the NTC's defence portfolio -- told the meeting coalition support was still necessary."We still need the support (of the coalition) to re-establish security and eliminate the sleeper cells and the remainder of Gaddafi's regime," he said.
The international coalition launched Operation Unified Protector on March 19 under a UN mandate which authorised air strikes to protect civilians in Libya's civil war which began with a peaceful revolt in mid-February.Since March 31, the air strikes have been carried out under NATO command. The coalition military chiefs in a statement from Doha agreed that the war in Libya "is yet to end."They also agreed that "there is a need to continue the joint action until the Libyan people achieve their goal by eliminating the remnants of Gaddafi." Although Gaddafi's whereabouts remain a mystery, there is widespread speculation he is holed up among tribal supporters in Sirte, 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli.Rebels moved to within 30 kilometres of Sirte from the west and captured Bin Jawad 100 kilometres to the east, the rebel commander in Misrata, Mohammed al-Fortiya, told AFP on Sunday."We are negotiating with the tribes for Sirte's peaceful surrender," Fortiya said, adding only tribal leaders were involved, and that to his knowledge no direct contact had been made with Gaddafi himself. General Suleyman Mahmud, deputy commander in chief of the rebel forces, today confirmed talks were being held for a peaceful solution."There are still negotiations with elders and representatives of the city of Sirte. We are trying not to engage anyone in fighting except with those who are with the tyrant Gaddafi. But the outcome of the negotiations is still not clear," he told reporters in Tripoli.The rebels have offered a 1.7 million-dollar reward for Gaddafi's capture, dead or alive. Fierce fighting also raged in the west as rebels trying towrest control of the region from Gaddafi's forces said they were ambushed southwest of Zuwarah.Sirte has been targeted by NATO warplanes, which since Friday have destroyed more than 50 military vehicles, two shelters, an observation point, four radars and two surface-to-air missile systems, according to NATO statements.Some 70% of homes in central Tripoli have no running water because of damage to the network, but potable water is being distributed from mosques, giving priority to elderly and medical facilities, NTC officials said.Abed al-Obeidi, deputy chief of the transitional council in Tripoli, said the water problem was technical, denying sabotage by Gaddafi's forces was to blame. But Faysal Gargab, a member of the capital's stabilisation team, said engineers who travelled to a "remote area" to connect wells back to the water grid were prevented from doing so by Gaddafi's forces."The security of the area deteriorated... The engineers had to flee because Gaddafi forces were disturbing the (sites)," he said without specifying when water would flow again or where the wells were located. Rubbish trucks were deployed on today for the first time since the capital fell to rebels. Some residents of central Tripoli tackled the problem themselves with brooms, but the outskirts were still strewn with refuse.Meanwhile, the only man convicted for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet which killed 270 people when it blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie is drifting in and out of a coma, his family said. Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, "is in and out of a coma," his brother Abdel Nasser told reporters outside the family home in Tripoli."His medicine was looted but he has new supplies now," said Abdel Nasser, who spoke to journalists outside the family home in Dimashq neighbourhood.
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch said today that evidence indicates that retreating Gaddafi forces massacred dozens of detainees, after AFP had counted at least 50 human skulls in a makeshift jail.HRW said in a statement that it had inspected about 45 skeletons and two other bodies at the makeshift prison in Tripoli's Salaheddin neighbourhood. "Sadly this is not the first gruesome report of what appears to be the summary execution of detainees in the final days of the Gaddafi government's control of Tripoli," Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and north Africa director, said in a statement.An AFP correspondent on Saturday counted at least 50 skulls in the ashes at the facility next to a base of the feared Khamis Kadhafi's 32 Brigade in Salaheddin, a suburb just south of Tripoli. The International Committee of the Red Cross, meanwhile, said that Libyan rebels were holding "hundreds" of detainees, some of them foreigners. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
