TRIPOLI/NAWFALIYA, Libya: Libyan forces converged on Moamerr Qadhafi’s hometown of Sirte on Monday, hoping to seal their revolution by seizing the last bastions of a fallen but perhaps still dangerous strongman.
Qadhafi’s whereabouts have been unknown since Tripoli fell to his foes and his 42-year-old rule collapsed a week ago.
Residents in the capital, hit by shortages of food, fuel and water, ventured out to shop ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“Thank God this Eid has a special flavour. This Eid we have freedom,” said Adel Kashad, 47, an oil firm computer specialist who was at a vegetable market. “Libya has a new dawn.”
Gunfire echoed occasionally across Tripoli as residents picked up their lives amid the stink of burning rubbish and aid agencies reported a revival of medical and other services. Rejoicing at Qadhafi’s fall is not universal, however. “You media don’t tell the truth, you’re all traitors, spies,” shouted an enraged taxi driver in a loyalist district, not caring that anti-Qadhafi fighters were nearby.
Qadhafi strongholds in Sirte and some towns deep in the southern desert remain a challenge for Libya’s new rulers, who have vowed to take them by force, if negotiations fail.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), asked Nato to pursue its five-month-old air campaign, which has given essential firepower to ragtag rebels who rose against Qadhafi in February.
“I call for continued protection from Nato and its allies from this tyrant,” he said in Qatar, a tiny but wealthy Gulf Arab state that has backed the revolt. “He is still a threat, not just for Libyans but for the entire world.” Abdel Jalil was speaking at a meeting of defence ministers from countries that have supported the anti-Qadhafi movement. A Nato commander pledged to pursue the alliance’s mission, at least until its internal mandate expires on Sept. 27.
“We believe the Qadhafi regime is near collapse, and we’re committed to seeing the operation through to its conclusion,” US Admiral Samuel Locklear, who heads Nato’s Joint Operations Command, told a news conference in the Qatari capital, Doha. Nato warplanes struck at Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, for a third day on Sunday, a NATO spokesman said in Brussels.
Britain said its aircraft also attacked artillery fired by Qadhafi forces near Sidra, west of the oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Whether or not Qadhafi makes a last stand in Sirte, the city is a strategic and symbolic prize for Libya’s new rulers as they tighten their grip on the vast North African country.
The NTC has offered a $1.3 million reward and amnesty from prosecution for anyone who kills or captures Qadhafi.
Its forces have advanced towards Sirte from east and west, even as contacts continue for its surrender. Jamal Tunally, a commander in Misrata, to the west, told Reuters: “The front line is 30 km from Sirte. We think the Sirte situation will be resolved peacefully, God willing.”
“Now we just need to find Qadhafi. I think he is still hiding beneath Bab al-Aziziya like a rat,” he said, referring to Qadhafi’s Tripoli compound, which was overrun last Tuesday.
On the coastal highway east of Tripoli, transporters carried Soviet-designed T-55 tanks towards Sirte.
Libyan forces advancing from the east pushed past the village of Bin Jawad and secured the Nawfaliya junction, a spokesman said. “We’re going slowly,” Mohammad Zawawi added.
“We want to give more time for negotiations, to give a chance for those people trying to persuade the people inside Sirte to surrender and open their city.”
NTC spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said most people in Sirte were against Qadhafi. “But it’s the minority of Qadhafi loyalists who have the weapons,” he said.
“They’re using all kinds of scare tactics but it’s a losing strategy.” Marwan Mustapha, an ambulance worker at Nawfaliya, said: “God willing, the rebels will enter the city without bloodshedand the negotiations will have succeeded. But if they have toenter by force, there will be blood.”
In the desert to the south, Qadhafi loyalists are also holding out. NTC military chief Suleiman al-Obeidi said pro-Qadhafi commanders in the city of Sabha had been in touch. But a spokesman for the NTC, Mahmoud Shamman, said there would be no negotiations with “killers and executioners”.
Mindful of preserving their image to the world and stung by accounts that captured Qadhafi loyalists have been found dead with their hands tied behind their backs, NTC leaders sent a text message urging followers not to abuse prisoners.
Qadhafi’s whereabouts have been unknown since Tripoli fell to his foes and his 42-year-old rule collapsed a week ago.
Residents in the capital, hit by shortages of food, fuel and water, ventured out to shop ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“Thank God this Eid has a special flavour. This Eid we have freedom,” said Adel Kashad, 47, an oil firm computer specialist who was at a vegetable market. “Libya has a new dawn.”
Gunfire echoed occasionally across Tripoli as residents picked up their lives amid the stink of burning rubbish and aid agencies reported a revival of medical and other services. Rejoicing at Qadhafi’s fall is not universal, however. “You media don’t tell the truth, you’re all traitors, spies,” shouted an enraged taxi driver in a loyalist district, not caring that anti-Qadhafi fighters were nearby.
Qadhafi strongholds in Sirte and some towns deep in the southern desert remain a challenge for Libya’s new rulers, who have vowed to take them by force, if negotiations fail.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), asked Nato to pursue its five-month-old air campaign, which has given essential firepower to ragtag rebels who rose against Qadhafi in February.
“I call for continued protection from Nato and its allies from this tyrant,” he said in Qatar, a tiny but wealthy Gulf Arab state that has backed the revolt. “He is still a threat, not just for Libyans but for the entire world.” Abdel Jalil was speaking at a meeting of defence ministers from countries that have supported the anti-Qadhafi movement. A Nato commander pledged to pursue the alliance’s mission, at least until its internal mandate expires on Sept. 27.
“We believe the Qadhafi regime is near collapse, and we’re committed to seeing the operation through to its conclusion,” US Admiral Samuel Locklear, who heads Nato’s Joint Operations Command, told a news conference in the Qatari capital, Doha. Nato warplanes struck at Sirte, on the Mediterranean coast, for a third day on Sunday, a NATO spokesman said in Brussels.
Britain said its aircraft also attacked artillery fired by Qadhafi forces near Sidra, west of the oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Whether or not Qadhafi makes a last stand in Sirte, the city is a strategic and symbolic prize for Libya’s new rulers as they tighten their grip on the vast North African country.
The NTC has offered a $1.3 million reward and amnesty from prosecution for anyone who kills or captures Qadhafi.
Its forces have advanced towards Sirte from east and west, even as contacts continue for its surrender. Jamal Tunally, a commander in Misrata, to the west, told Reuters: “The front line is 30 km from Sirte. We think the Sirte situation will be resolved peacefully, God willing.”
“Now we just need to find Qadhafi. I think he is still hiding beneath Bab al-Aziziya like a rat,” he said, referring to Qadhafi’s Tripoli compound, which was overrun last Tuesday.
On the coastal highway east of Tripoli, transporters carried Soviet-designed T-55 tanks towards Sirte.
Libyan forces advancing from the east pushed past the village of Bin Jawad and secured the Nawfaliya junction, a spokesman said. “We’re going slowly,” Mohammad Zawawi added.
“We want to give more time for negotiations, to give a chance for those people trying to persuade the people inside Sirte to surrender and open their city.”
NTC spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said most people in Sirte were against Qadhafi. “But it’s the minority of Qadhafi loyalists who have the weapons,” he said.
“They’re using all kinds of scare tactics but it’s a losing strategy.” Marwan Mustapha, an ambulance worker at Nawfaliya, said: “God willing, the rebels will enter the city without bloodshedand the negotiations will have succeeded. But if they have toenter by force, there will be blood.”
In the desert to the south, Qadhafi loyalists are also holding out. NTC military chief Suleiman al-Obeidi said pro-Qadhafi commanders in the city of Sabha had been in touch. But a spokesman for the NTC, Mahmoud Shamman, said there would be no negotiations with “killers and executioners”.
Mindful of preserving their image to the world and stung by accounts that captured Qadhafi loyalists have been found dead with their hands tied behind their backs, NTC leaders sent a text message urging followers not to abuse prisoners.
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