Monday, February 28, 2011

Armed Libyans opposed to Moammar Gadhafi were in control of the city of Zawiyah, close to Tripoli, Sunday as the Libyan leader again vowed to cling on to power while the U.N. and many nations began moving to isolate him from the international community.

A doctor at a makeshift clinic in the town mosque said 24 people had been killed in fighting with government loyalists over the previous three days.
The rebels said about 2,000 troops loyal to Gadhafi had surrounded the city and said they were bracing for an attack.

“If we are fighting for freedom, we are ready to die for it,” said a former police major who had switched sides and joined the rebellion, which started about 10 days ago.

Speaking anonymously, he said more than 2,000 police had defected and were ready to defend Zawiyah. There were also army defectors, he said.
The rebels have several army tanks, some supplied by the army defectors, and anti-aircraft guns.
“This is our revolution,” a crowd chanted, punching the air in celebration and defiance. Some stood on top of a captured tank, while others crowded around an anti-aircraft gun.

Bullet holes pockmarked charred buildings in Zawiyah, while burned-out vehicles lay abandoned. Outside the last rebel checkpoint, pro-Gadhafi troops were deployed in full force, equipped with tanks and anti-aircraft guns on pickup trucks. The scene was only 50 kilometers west of Tripoli.
Serbian television quoted Gadhafi as blaming foreigners and Al-Qaeda for the unrest and condemning the U.N. Security Council for imposing sanctions and ordering a war crimes inquiry.

“Libya is safe, there are no conflicts, Tripoli is safe,” he said. “The Security Council could not see Tripoli is safe.”
“The U.N. is not allowed to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, unless a country is attacking another state,” he said. “The people of Libya support me. Small groups of rebels are surrounded and will be dealt with.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. was getting in touch with opposition groups. “We are reaching out to many different Libyans in the east, as the revolution moves westward there as well … it is too soon to see how this is going to play out,” she said before leaving for Geneva to consult with allies.

Clinton echoed President Barack Obama’s demand for Gadhafi to relinquish power. “We want him to leave,” she said. “We want him to end his regime and call off the mercenaries and forces loyal to him. How he manages that is up to him.”

She said the U.S. was prepared to offer “any kind of assistance” to Libyans seeking to overthrow Gadhafi.
The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution imposing travel and asset sanctions on Gadhafi and close aides Saturday. It adopted an arms embargo and urged that his crackdown on protesters be referred to the International Criminal Court for a probe of possible crimes against humanity.

The death toll from nearly two weeks of violence in Libya has been estimated by some diplomats at about 2,000.
Top EU diplomat Catherine Ashton said late Saturday that the European Union “fully endorses” the Security Council’s action and noted that the EU was working on its own sanctions.

Italy’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said a friendship and cooperation treaty with Libya was “de facto suspended.”

“We have reached, I believe, a point of no return,” Frattini said, adding it was “inevitable” for Gadhafi to leave power. The suspension removes a possible obstacle to Rome taking part in any peacekeeping operations in its former colony, or allowing the use of its military bases.

Britain said it revoked Gadhafi’s diplomatic immunity and froze the assets the strongman and his family have held in the European country, as Foreign Secretary William Hague said his departure would be the “best hope” for Libya.
Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, said there was a “big gap between reality and media reports.” He said: “The whole south is calm. The west is calm. The middle is calm. Even part of the east.”
As if to reinforce that point, authorities took a group of foreign journalists to Zawiyah, apparently to show they still held the town.
But it was evident that rebels were in control.

Residents told of fierce fighting for control against pro-Gadhafi paramilitaries armed with heavy weapons. “We are finished with Gadhafi. He will fall soon. He has to go now. We are losing patience,” one man called Sabri said.
Local people said they had captured 11 pro-Gadhafi fighters, unhurt, and showed reporters two being held in a cell in the town’s main mosque.

In the second city of Benghazi, which broke free from Gadhafi’s rule a week ago, Gen. Ahmad al-Gatrani said his forces stood ready to help rebels fighting in Tripoli if called on to do so, but he rejected any need for foreign assistance. “Our brothers in Tripoli say: ‘We are fine so far, we do not need help.’ If they ask for help, we are ready to move,” said the general, who has mutinied against Gadhafi.

Meanwhile, forces opposed to Gadhafi took control of several western Libyan towns, Shaban Abu Sitta, a local lawyer and member of a revolutionary committee, told AFP. He said Nalut, 235 kilometers west of Tripoli, “has been liberated since Feb. 19.”
“The towns of Rhibat, Kabaw, Jado, Rogban, Zentan, Yefren, Kekla, Gherien and Hawamed have also been free for days … a revolutionary committee put in place,” he said.

Locals in Tajoura, a poor neighborhood of Tripoli, had erected barricades of rocks and palm trees across rubbish-strewn streets, and graffiti covered many walls. Residents said troops fired on demonstrators who tried to march from Tajoura to central Green Square overnight, killing at least five. The number could not be independently confirmed.

From Misrata, a city 200 kilometers east of Tripoli, residents said by phone a thrust by forces loyal to Gadhafi, operating from the airport, had been rebuffed with bloodshed.
But Libyan exile groups said later that aircraft were firing on the city’s radio station. – Agencies