http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12535883

 

22 February 2011 Last updated at 12:13 GMT

 

Libya protests: Thousands of foreigners flee violence

 

Tens of thousands of foreigners are trying to flee Libya, after clashes between security forces and protesters reportedly left hundreds dead.

 

Egypt has boosted its military near the border and set up field hospitals, as thousands of its nationals return.

 

Several countries are evacuating their citizens and oil companies are relocating expat staff.

 

Correspondents in Tripoli say the capital is calm but there is a sense of intimidation after a night of fighting.

 

Overnight Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi dismissed reports that he had fled amid the unrest sweeping the country, calling foreign news channels "dogs".

 

Speaking to state TV from outside a ruined building, he said: "I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela," after rumours that he had flown to Caracas.

 

Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said attacks on civilians could amount to crimes against humanity.

 

In a statement, Ms Pillay condemned the "callousness with which Libyan authorities and their hired guns are reportedly shooting live rounds of ammunition at peaceful protesters".

 

The UN Security Council is to meet in closed session to discuss Libya later in the day.

 

The Arab League will also hold an emergency session.

 

Airport 'destroyed'

 

Egypt's ruling military council said it had sent reinforcements to the main border crossing, the Salum passage, following a withdrawal by Libyan border guards.

 

Around 10,000 Egyptian nationals based in their western neighbour are fleeing the violence. Thousands have already returned from Libya since the protests began almost a week ago.

 

The Egyptian army has set up two field hospitals on the border to deal with the sick and injured.

 

Egypt says it will send at least four aircraft to evacuate its citizens.

 

But Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the airport at Benghazi had been destroyed and there were problems getting flight permits.

 

"We know there are about one million to 1.5 million EGYPTIANS in Libya, therefore we recommend to our citizens that you stay in your homes, stay off the streets, secure yourselves with water and food," he said.

 

Meanwhile unconfirmed media reports said at least 300 foreign construction workers employed by a South Korean company, about 100 of them from BANGLADESH, were being held hostage, possibly by protesters, in the eastern port of Darnah.

 

There are about 50,000 Bangladeshis currently working in Libya.

 

In other developments;

 

CHINA has urged Libya to ensure the safety of its citizens after reports that hundreds of Chinese construction workers in Ajdabiya were forced to flee an armed attack.

 

Three TURKISH ships have been sent to Benghazi to evacuate about 3,000 nationals. A thousand have already been airlifted to safety.

 

ITALY is to send three C-130 air force planes to evacuate its citizens. The former colonial power has about 1,500 nationals resident in Libya.

 

The US has ordered all non-emergency personnel to leave Libya.

 

The UK foreign office is advising Britons to leave if they can, although most of the 3,500 resident in Libya are thought to have already left. The remainder have been advised to take commercial flights, but airlines British Airways and BMI have cancelled all flights on Tuesday.

 

Oil company Royal Dutch Shell says all its expatriate staff have been "temporarily relocated". ITALY's Eni and France's Total are also evacuating staff.

 

Multiple fronts

 

A BBC correspondent in Tripoli says that while there is a heavy police presence in the capital, the second city, Benghazi, is in opposition control and there is no sign of security forces.

 

"People have organised themselves to get order back to the city. They have formed committees to run the city," said eyewitness Ahmad Bin Tahir.

 

Reports that military aircraft had fired on protesters in Tripoli on Monday have been backed up by Libyan diplomats who have turned against the leadership.

 

But Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said the aircraft had been used only to bomb army bases which had defected to the opposition.

 

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in western Egypt, says the regime now seems to be fighting on multiple fronts, trying to put down the protests and fighting a bitter battle against a growing number of army units that have risen up against the Libyan leader.

 

Libya's diplomats at the United Nations in New York called for international intervention to stop the government's violent action against street demonstrations in their homeland.

 

Deputy Permanent Representative Ibrahim Dabbashi said Libyans had to be protected from "genocide", and urged the UN to impose a no-fly zone.

 

Ali Aujali, Libya's most senior diplomat in the US, also criticised the country's leader. He told the BBC he was "not supporting the government killing its people".

 

Meanwhile Libyan state TV denied there had been any massacres, dismissing the reports as "baseless lies" by foreign media.

 

Opposition control

 

Our correspondent says Col Gaddafi has now lost the support of almost every section of Libyan society.

 

Foreign journalists work under tight restriction in Libya, and much of the information coming from the country is impossible to verify.

 

But the authorities have accepted that eastern cities such as al-Bayda and Benghazi - traditional pockets of resistance to the government - are now under the control of the opposition.

 

The unrest did not touch Tripoli until Sunday, when hundreds of protesters flooded the streets, only to be suppressed by security forces. Witnesses say more than 50 people have been killed.

 

Before the unrest spread there, Human Rights Watch estimated that 233 people had been killed. Other groups said the figure was much higher.

 

The violence has helped to push up oil prices to their highest levels since the global financial crisis of 2008.

 

 

At the scene

 

A correspondent

 

BBC News, Tripoli

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Colonel Gaddafi's short, bizarre appearance was described as disgraceful here. People were angry that he didn't address the situation in the country. No mention of the fear that he'd spread among people, and no mention of the orders he'd given to bomb Tripoli and Benghazi.

But they are also happy to know he is still in town so he can be tried inside Tripoli. "We want him to stay here and pay for what he's done," said a Tripoli resident.

 

Tripoli seems to be quiet after a frightening night.

 

People are intimidated and staying at home. Shops are closed.

 

There are few cars on the roads. There are long queues for petrol and longer ones for bread.

 

A couple of streets that we drove past have evidence of burning and riots. There is a very heavy army presence in and around sensitive areas, especially where there is a diplomatic presence. Evening is the time to watch out.

 

Yet people seem to be determined to continue. Looking at what people achieved in Benghazi, they are encouraged. There are no police, no army and no officials there. The army is still in control of the suburbs of the city and the airport.

will one day, one of those Arabs dictators be A REAL MAN and leave his power before everything gets destroyed?

 

kadhafi said " i won't leave the country until i burn everything" source Aljazeera.

will one day, one of those Arabs dictators be A REAL MAN and leave his power before everything gets destroyed?

 

kadhafi said " i won't leave the country until i burn everything" source Aljazeera.

 

:sick: :sick:

Gaddafi is not stepping down. Accusing protesters to have taken hallucinatory drugs. Also says that they should be executed.

;_______________________________________________________;

Reports say soldiers are just shooting people in the streets.

I hope he hangs from a lampost in Tripoli.

Text-TV + live TV from Denmark, Germany and Sweden plus also CNN:

 

According to Libyan state TV the accusations that security forces commit a crime towards regime-critical protesters are "lies and rumours".

 

The Internet and telephone traffic to Libya is still disrupted. Internet and telephone connections are available for 30 minutes each day because Gaddafi & his regime need to communicate with the outside world.

 

Muammar Ghaddafi was on Libyan television addressing the nation. He called the protesters "rats" and said that many of them were young Libyans misguided or under influence of drugs provided abroad. Some of the protesters were not Libyan. He said that the protesters were violating Libyan law and should be executed / hung.

 

Ghaddafi said that he could not resign like presidents could, because he was leader of the revolution. He said that he would never leave Libya. He would die in Libya as a martyr. He said that he was ready to defy international superpowers. He urged his followers to win back the streets from the protesters. He said that he had not yet used force, but would do so if he felt forced to. He claimed that the protesters would make Libya an islamistic state.

 

The UN has been or will be holding a closed-door meeting on Libya.

 

There have been sporadic clashes in eastern town of Tobruk according to Reuters correspondent.

 

A former major in the Libyan army said that eastern regions of Libya have broken free from Ghaddafi's regime. The army and the people here stand together hand in hand.

 

Mercenaries helping Ghaddafi come from countries like Liberia, Tschad and Niger. Libya has trained foreign militsia from in particular Liberia. There might also be mercenaries from the European country Serbia.

 

Many Libyan representatives cannot / will not represent Libya anymore after the reports of military shooting at the protesters from army helicopters.

 

Libya's interior minister resigned Tuesday 22.2.11 and joined the 17 February revolution according to al-Jazeera. He read aloud a declaration in which he urged the Libyan army to support the Libyan people and its "legitimate" demands.

 

The regime tries to kill people in the streets, says a Tripoli resident over the phone to TT.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12544624

 

22 February 2011 Last updated at 23:03 GMT

 

Libya protests: Defiant Gaddafi refuses to quit

 

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has refused to stand down amid widespread anti-government protests which he said had tarnished the image of the country.

 

In his first major speech since unrest began last week, Col Gaddafi said the whole world looked up to Libya and that protests were "serving the devil".

 

He urged his supporters to go out and attack the "cockroaches" demonstrating against his rule.

 

Rights groups say nearly 300 have been killed in the violence so far.

 

A defiant and angry Col Gaddafi said that he had brought glory to Libya.

 

As he had no official position from which to resign, he would remain the head of the revolution, he said.

 

He blamed the unrest on "cowards and traitors" who were seeking to portray Libya as a place of chaos and to "humiliate" Libyans. At other points he referred to the protesters as rats and mercenaries.

 

During the speech there were reports of gunfire on the streets of the capital, TRIPOLI. In Benghazi, the second largest city, people watching the address reportedly threw shoes at screens as a sign of their anger.

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later described the violence as "completely unacceptable".

 

After an emergency session on Tuesday, the UN Security Council condemned the crackdown on protesters and called for an "immediate end" to the violence.

 

Civil war threat

 

State TV had said Col Gaddafi was going to announce "major reforms" in his speech, but the only such reference was to some devolution of power to local authorities.

 

In his angry and rambling speech, Col Gaddafi said the protesters represented less than 1% of Libya's population.

 

They had been given drink and drugs, he said, urging people to arrest them and hand them over to the security forces.

 

He called on "those who love Muammar Gaddafi" to come out on to the streets, telling them not to be afraid of the "gangs".

 

"Come out of your homes, attack them in their dens. Withdraw your children from the streets. They are drugging your children, they are making your children drunk and sending them to hell," he said.

 

He would "cleanse Libya house by house", he said.

 

"If matters require, we will use force, according to international law and the Libyan constitution," he said, and warned that the country could descend into civil war or be occupied by the US if protests continued.

 

Anyone who played games with the country's unity would be executed, he said, citing the Chinese authorities' crushing of the student protests in Tiananmen Square as an example of national unity being "worth more than a small number of protesters".

 

He also railed against western countries, in particular the United States and Britain, which he accused of trying to destabilise Libya.

 

It was unclear whether the speech, which lasted about an hour, was live or pre-recorded.

 

But it was apparently filmed at his Bab al-Azizia barracks in Tripoli, which still shows damage from a US bombing in 1986. The cameras occasionally cut away to show a statue of a giant fist crushing a US war plane.

 

Defectors

 

The BBC's Frank Gardner said Col Gaddafi appears to be completely divorced from reality, as if he has been living inside a bubble for the 40 years of his rule.

 

The Libyan leader said he had not authorised the army to use force, despite opposition statements that more than 500 people have been killed and more than 1,000 are missing - an indication that he was either not aware of the deaths or was deluded, says our correspondent.

 

The Libyan authorities have reacted fiercely to the outbreak of protests in the country, which have come amid anti-government unrest in many other countries in the region.

 

Foreign journalists work under tight restriction in Libya, and much of the information coming from the country is impossible to verify.

 

But witnesses say foreign mercenaries have been attacking civilians in the streets and that fighter planes have been shooting down protesters.

 

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in eastern Libya, said the region appears to be wholly under opposition control and people are deliriously happy.

 

Many of the army and police have defected and have been accepted by the opposition.

 

Local people said the government there had collapsed on Thursday after the first protests. They believe the only people now supporting Col Gaddafi are foreign fighters in the country.

 

Our correspondent says there is now little doubt that Col Gaddafi's rule is finished, but the only question of how long it takes and how bloody the end will be.

 

Many Libyan diplomats, including the country's ambassador to the US, have turned their backs on Col Gaddafi and are urging the international community to take action. They have urged the UN to impose a no-fly zone over the country in protest.

 

Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi is reported to have resigned on Tuesday evening, and to urged the army to "join and heed the people's demands". Justice Minister Mustapha Abdeljalil reportedly resigned on Monday.

 

In other developments:

 

Tens of thousands of foreigners are trying to leave the country.

CHINA has urged Libya to ensure the safety of its citizens after hundreds of Chinese construction workers reportedly fled armed looters

Three Turkish ships have been sent to Benghazi to evacuate about 3,000 nationals. A thousand have already been airlifted to safety

Italy is to send three C-130 air force planes to evacuate some 1,500 of its citizens in Libya

The US has ordered all non-emergency personnel to leave Libya

The UK foreign office is advising Britons to leave if they can, although most of the 3,500 resident in Libya are thought to have already left

Oil company Royal Dutch Shell says all its expatriate staff have been "temporarily relocated". Italy's Eni and France's Total are also evacuating staff while Spain's Repsol is suspending operations and sending its expatriate staff home

The Arab League said it has suspended Libya's participation until it responded to the people's demands.

 

Human Rights Watch says at least 62 bodies had been taken to hospital morgues in Tripoli since Sunday, in addition to the 233 people it said had been killed outside the capital previously. Opposition groups put the number of dead at at least 500.

 

The violence has helped to push up oil prices to their highest levels since the global financial crisis of 2008.

 

 

ANALYSIS by Frank Gardner

 

BBC security correspondent

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Even by his own bizarre and eccentric standards, the latest speech by Col Gaddafi was breathtaking in its defiance of both the wider world and the reality now facing him.

 

Speaking from his favourite location, Tripoli's bombed-out Bab Al-Azizia Barracks, he referred to the protesters variously as "cockroaches" and "traitors" who were "drug-fuelled, drunken and duped".

 

At times, the Libyan leader seemed to lose control of his temper, shouting his words in Arabic. At others, he paused to adjust his matching khaki shawl and cap. His language, while undoubtedly aimed at shoring up what support he still has in the country, was one of quaint nationalist slogans from the 1960s and 70s.

 

To many of those opposing his rule, who use Twitter, Facebook and the internet, this was a speech from a bygone era from a man whose time they believe has long passed.

 

 

 

Mid-East unrest: LIBYA

Col Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969

Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km, much of it desert

Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%

Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)

A reporter/correspondent from Danish TV2 News has reported from Tobruc in eastern part of Libya. TOBRUC and BENGHASI are both in the hands of the protesters. No police there.

 

It is quiet in TOBRUC. There have been heard shots there - but it is shots of joy.

 

The protesters in Tobruc have heard of massacres in TRIPOLI. And seen pictures from hospitals in Benghasi. The Danish reporter/correspondent has seen these pictures - terrible pictures so they will not be shown on television. People had been shot from helicopters - weapons had been used against protesters - weapons that would normally be used against tanks. These weapons have cut protesters in two halves!! The pictures show the victims and loose limbs!!

 

The protesters are afraid and know that they have to continue the protests. They know that they will either WIN OR DIE.

 

US President OBAMA: The Arabic league, EU, African Union - all have condemned the brutality and the violence used against the protesters in Libya. The EU countries are discussing sanctions against Libya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12556005

 

23 February 2011 Last updated at 22:21 GMT

 

Libya protests: Gaddafi battles to control west

 

Libyan ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi is battling to retain control of Tripoli and areas in western Libya as protesters consolidated gains in the east and foreigners continued to flee.

 

Much of the capital is deserted as pro-Gaddafi gunmen roam the streets, with reports of uprisings in western towns such as Misurata, Sabratha and Zawiya.

 

Masses of protesters have been celebrating success in eastern towns.

 

Thousands of foreigners continue to leave, with chaos at Tripoli airport.

 

At least 300 people have died in the country's uprising.

 

Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, went on television on Wednesday evening to say that everything was "normal", Reuters reported.

 

"The ports, schools and airports are all open," he said. "The problem lies in the eastern regions. Life is normal. Brothers, Libyans should come together in this national battle."

 

US President Barack Obama called the suffering of the people in Libya "outrageous" and said the government there must be held accountable for its failures to meet its responsibilities.

 

'Many deaths'

 

An eyewitness in Tripoli said that the city was virtually closed, with many people hoping protesters and defecting soldiers would arrive from the east to help them.

 

A text message had been sent out by government officials telling civil servants and other workers to return to their jobs but many people are too scared to go on to the streets.

 

One Tripoli resident said: "I hope residents don't go to work - this can be our way of a peaceful protest - we will all stay at home indefinitely."

 

There were reports of gunmen opening fire on Tuesday morning on a queue of people at a bread shop in the Fashloum district, where there has been a heavy military crackdown, with three people killed.

 

Two naval gunships are reported to have been deployed facing the city.

 

A Tripoli citizen told BBC Arabic that the only people on the streets were police, soldiers and African mercenaries but that the opposition was in touch with cities in the east that had fallen to protesters and a march was planned for the capital on Thursday.

 

Another Tripoli resident said: "Anti-government protesters have disappeared. The streets are quiet. There are many, many deaths."

 

The resident also said doctors were reporting gunmen shooting people in hospitals.

 

Information from Libya is currently difficult to verify and reports cannot often be independently confirmed.

 

The BBC's Paul Danahar on the Tunisian border says unconfirmed reports suggest several towns between the border and Tripoli have seen anti-government protests but the roads in between are held by people loyal to Col Gaddafi.

 

Troops are said to have been sent to Sabratha after demonstrators burned government buildings, according to the Quryna news website.

 

The pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag was also reportedly raised in Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) west of Tripoli while other unconfirmed reports said protesters had seized control of Misurata, 200km east of Tripoli, after days of fighting.

 

One Tunisian man who crossed from Libya told our correspondent there was no law in the country and added: "God help them".

 

Col Gaddafi has vowed to crush the revolt and die as a martyr. His televised speech on Tuesday referred to the protesters as rats and cockroaches and has been greeted with a mixture of anger and mockery.

 

In the east, thousands of people celebrated on the streets of Benghazi, waving the pre-Gaddafi flags and handing out food and drink.

 

Protesters are said to be in control of cities from the Egyptian border to Ajdabiya, 800km east of Tripoli.

 

Quryna reported that a Libyan fighter plane had crashed near Ajdabiya after the two pilots refused to bomb Benghazi and ejected.

 

At the Egyptian border, sprayed graffiti read: "Welcome to the new Libya".

 

Many defence committees of residents and defecting military have been set up, including one to guard the anti-aircraft missile bases outside Tobruk.

 

"Down with the Tyrant" was scrawled on a building in the town of al-Marja.

 

Airport chaos

 

Meanwhile, foreigners are struggling to evacuate the violence-torn country.

 

One American who reached Vienna on a flight from Libya, Kathleen Burnett, told Associated Press the scene at Tripoli airport was "total chaos", adding: "The airport was mobbed, you wouldn't believe the number of people."

 

And a Briton airlifted out by the Portuguese told the BBC he knew of dozens who were trying to get to Tripoli airport but were too afraid because of "the soldiers who are out on the streets looting and plundering".

 

One Air Malta pilot who was evacuating Maltese from Tripoli airport said he had to go into the terminal to round up passengers.

 

He said he saw people fighting to get on to a plane.

 

Briton Chris Murphy and his wife said they had also "fought their way" through crowds to get on their flight but the plane had about 100 empty seats.

 

Many countries have been trying to evacuate their citizens.

 

France and Russia are among the nations that have sent planes and frigates to pick up thousands of their stranded nationals.

 

Two Turkish ships evacuated 3,000 citizens, while hundreds of Americans are taking a US-chartered ferry from Tripoli to Malta.

 

Col Gaddafi is also facing increased internal and international diplomatic pressure.

 

The man considered the colonel's number two, Interior Minister Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi, is among senior figures who have joined the opposition.

 

The UN Security Council demanded an end to the violence on Tuesday, while the Arab League suspended Libya.

 

On Wednesday, the African Union condemned "the disproportionate use of force against civilians" in Libya.

 

The US and EU both said they were discussing possible measures against Libya, including sanctions.

 

President Obama said the world was watching Libya and he would coordinate his response with the international community.

 

He said: "Change is taking place across the region, being driven by the people of the region - it is not the work of the United States or any other power but the aspirations of people seeking a better life."

 

The UK Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to Libya.

 

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Jon Leyne / BBC News, eastern Libya

 

All of the area I have been through is firmly in opposition control. There are militias running checkpoints, a nearby government building has been torched and is still belching smoke. But for the opposition it's been very hard fought. After they began to take over the streets, Col Gaddafi's government used a major air base to bring in reinforcements, elite forces and mercenaries from other parts of Africa. But young people from the nearby village, armed initially with just sticks and stones, took them on.

 

Gradually they were equipped with small arms from looted army bases, and they began to push the elite of the military back. The Libyan air force responded, using fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

 

After a battle lasting several days, the last of the government forces abandoned the base. They've all fled or been captured. The airfield is now in opposition hands. You can see an old tank and vehicles that are being used to block the runway. Across this area local people are now out every night, celebrating their success in taking on Col Gaddafi's power and winning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12570279

 

24 February 2011 Last updated at 22:11 GMT

 

Gaddafi says Bin Laden to blame

 

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has told state TV that Osama Bin Laden and his followers are to blame for the protests racking his country.

 

In a phone call addressed to residents of the town of al-Zawiya, Col Gaddafi said young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in "destruction and sabotage".

 

Col Gaddafi is battling to shore up control of Tripoli and western areas.

 

Protesters have been consolidating gains in cities in the east.

 

Opposition politicians and tribal leaders have held a key meeting in the eastern town of al-Bayda to show a united front against Col Gaddafi.

 

'This is your country'

 

The telephone call addressed al-Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) west of the capital, where fighting now appears to be the most fierce.

 

Col Gaddafi said the protesters had no genuine demands and were being dictated to by the al-Qaeda leader.

 

"Bin Laden... this is the enemy who is manipulating people. Do not be swayed by Bin Laden," he said.

 

"It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda. Those armed youngsters, our children, are incited by people who are wanted by America and the Western world.

 

One civilian leaving through the Tunisian border told Reuters: "It is chaotic there. There are people with guns and swords."

 

An eyewitness told Associated Press that soldiers had opened fire on protesters holed up in the city's Souq Mosque, while a doctor at a field clinic told AP he had seen 10 bodies and 150 wounded people.

 

Information from Libya remains difficult to verify and many reports cannot be independently confirmed.

 

Zuara, 120km west of Tripoli, was said to be in the hands of anti-government militias and defence committees of civilians, with no sign of police.

 

Fighting is reported between pro- and anti-government forces in Misrata, Libya's third-biggest city, 200km east of Tripoli.

 

Pro-Gaddafi forces are said to have also launched attacks in Sabratha and Sabha.

 

But Tripoli, under government control, and cities in the east, held by the protesters, are generally said to be calm.

 

In Benghazi, protesters were building defences against a possible counterattack by pro-Gaddafi forces. The BBC's Jon Leyne there says that more than 400 died in the battle for the city.

 

Oil prices climb

 

Opposition tribal leaders and politicians met in al-Bayda in the east to demonstrate a united front against Col Gaddafi in one of the first signs of organisation for a bigger fight against the government.

 

Pictures broadcast by al-Jazeera showed delegates giving speeches in a conference hall, amid loud chants against Col Gaddafi.

 

Former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who recently resigned in protest at the violence against anti-government demonstrators, said there would be no talks with the Libyan leader and called for him to step down immediately.

 

The Libyan ambassador to Jordan has now become the latest senior official to resign his post in response to the situation in his country.

 

Switzerland has announced it is freezing assets that may belong to Col Gaddafi and his family.

 

The total number of deaths has been impossible to determine. Human Rights Watch says it has confirmed nearly 300 deaths, but the International Federation for Human Rights says at least 700 people have been killed, while Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of 1,000 dead were "credible".

 

Masses of foreigners are still struggling to leave Libya with the situation at Tripoli airport described as mayhem.

 

Briton Helena Sheehan, arriving back in London, said: "The airport is like nothing I've ever seen in my whole life. It's absolute chaos. There's just thousands and thousands of people trying to get out."

 

Bad weather has hampered some sea evacuations - a ferry scheduled to carry hundreds of Americans and other nationalities to Malta is still stuck in Tripoli.

 

Oil prices have hit their highest levels in two-and-a-half years.

 

Brent crude hit $119.79 (£74.08) a barrel in early Thursday trade, before falling back to $115.04.

Huh? I thought Gadaffi-duck blamed it on Canada, before that on "Western dogs". He likes to change his mind it seems.

Big guys are gonna hold a meeting to see what to do at the moment. As long as the States don't move for sending troops from the era.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12585949

 

25 February 2011 Last updated at 23:14 GMT

 

UN chief urges action over Libya

 

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged the global body's Security Council to take "decisive action" over the Libya crisis.

 

He said violations of human rights had been carried out by Muammar Gaddafi's regime, and more than 1,000 had died.

 

Speaking at a meeting of the Security Council in New York, Mr Ban warned of a growing refugee and food crisis.

 

In Libya, reports say anti-government protesters in the capital TRIPOLI came under heavy gunfire on Friday.

 

Witnesses reported deaths and injuries as militiamen and government troops confronted protesters as they emerged from mosques following Friday prayers and started demonstrating in several areas of the city.

 

At the same time, Libyan state TV showed Colonel Gaddafi speaking from the Tripoli's old city ramparts, urging the crowd to arm themselves and defend the nation and its oil against the anti-Gaddafi elements who have taken control of large parts of the country.

 

"We shall destroy any aggression with popular will," he said. "With the armed people, when necessary we will open the weapons depots. So that all the Libyan people, all the Libyan tribes can be armed. Libya will become a red flame, a burning coal."

 

Later, at a hastily organised news conference at the UN in New York, Libyan deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi described Col Gaddafi, who has been in power for 42 years, as a "madman". He warned that thousands would die in Tripoli because the Libyan leader would never flee and would fight to the end.

 

Much of the east of the country is in the hands of anti-Gaddafi protesters and units of the Libyan military that have crossed over to them.

 

Mr Ban said 22,000 people had fled Libya via Tunisia, and a further 15,000 via Egypt.

 

"Much larger numbers are trapped and unable to leave," he added. "There are widespread reports of refugees being harassed and threatened with guns and knives."

 

He said it was important for neighbouring countries, including those in Europe, to keep their borders open to those fleeing the violence.

 

Mr Ban also said that there was a food crisis inside Libya that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) expected to worsen. The WFP says Libya's food supply chain is at risk of collapse because imports have not been getting into the country and food distribution is hampered by violence.

 

Diplomats at the UN Security Council say Britain and France have drawn up a draft resolution with a package of measures aimed at isolating Libya's political and military leaders. Elements could include targeted sanctions, an arms embargo, and a proposed referral of the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court.

 

'Exaggerated media campaign'

 

The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has entered the Libyan capital at the invitation of the Libyan government.

 

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader, told him that the reports of extreme violence were an "exaggerated media campaign" run by "hostile Arab TV channels".

 

It was not true that Libya had bombed civilians, Mr Gaddafi said, although he did say that the air force had bombed ammunition dumps that were in enemy hands.

 

Visitors to Tripoli would not hear gunfire but might hear fireworks, Mr Gaddafi said. He criticised the protesters, some of whom wanted an Islamic "Afghan solution" to the country's problems.

 

He admitted that the east of Libya was "a big mess". People were behind his father, Mr Gaddafi said, and would come out into the streets to support him.

 

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration was acting "to put pressure on the regime" to cease the violence. "Colonel Gaddafi has lost the confidence of his people," he added.

 

Evacuations of foreign nationals from Libya by sea continued on Friday:

 

A US-chartered ferry carrying Americans evacuated from Libya arrived in Malta on Friday evening

 

BRITAIN has sent a second ship, the destroyer HMS York, to deploy to the sea area near Libya; the frigate HMS Cumberland has picked up more than 200 people and is taking them to Malta

 

INDIA is sending warships to the region to evacuate its nationals

 

Hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans are said to be fleeing southern Libya into Niger.

 

Many more are stranded in Libya, where they say they are being attacked by people accusing them of being mercenaries fighting for Col Gaddafi.

 

 

AT THE SCENE

Jeremy Bowen / BBC Middle East editor, Tripoli

 

Outside the airport there's a sad sight. Several thousand people queuing in the darkness and rain, trying to get flights out. Some people told me they were from Syria, others appear to be from the Indian sub-continent, the kind of migrant workers upon whom this economy has been depending.

 

I was given a briefing by a man who said he was an engineer who has come back from Italy. The fact that he spoke to us suggests he has been given permission to do so, and he was essentially presenting the regime's position as a point of stability in a sea of chaos. The only place the "system" is operational is in the capital, he said.

 

There's a fair amount of traffic on the streets. There were some reports of shooting near the airport but I saw no signs of that. In some side streets I saw some road blocks, but they didn't look like military people.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12585218

 

26 February 2011 Last updated at 00:06 GMT

 

Libya unrest: Britons urged to leave on final flight

 

Britons still in Libya are being urged to leave on the final government-chartered flight from Tripoli later.

 

There are thought to be fewer than 500 Britons left in Libya, many of them oil workers in desert regions.

 

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the rescue operation was about to enter its final phase, but there was still concern over the isolated oil workers.

 

The Foreign Office says it has helped about 600 British nationals to leave the crisis-hit North African country.

 

Reports say anti-government protesters have faced heavy gunfire in the capital Tripoli, as the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi defies calls for him to stand down.

 

Fighting has raged for the past week between anti-government forces and pro-Gaddafi troops and militiamen in towns and cities outside the capital.

 

'Way out'

 

On Monday, Mr Hague will attend the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of international efforts to end the violence.

 

In a statement, he said: "The message is clear: that there will be a day of reckoning for those guilty of the appalling atrocities. The world will act together to hold them to account."

 

He said there had been "gross and systematic human rights violations by the Libyan authorities".

 

Earlier, Mr Hague said as well as Saturday's last flight, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland would return to Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, to pick up more evacuees, probably on Sunday.

 

"There are now very few British nationals remaining in Tripoli. It's very important that those that remain go to the airport, that they do so at first light [on Saturday]," he said, adding that Saturday would see the last government chartered plane leave Tripoli.

"For.. anyone else who can get to Benghazi, HMS Cumberland will return probably on Sunday. I want them to know that they do have a way out."

 

With regards to those stranded in desert locations, Mr Hague added: "We are doing a lot of work on how we can help them. We can't say anything more about that at the moment."

 

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has given details of flights returning British nationals to the UK:

 

A flight chartered by oil company BP carrying 79 Britons landed at Gatwick airport on Thursday morning

 

An FCO-chartered flight carrying 181 adults and two children, including 113 Britons, landed at 2030 GMT on Thursday

 

Another FCO-chartered flight arrived at Gatwick at 0315 GMT on Friday, carrying 130 people including 53 Britons

 

A charter flight carrying three Britons arrived at Stansted airport at 0530 GMT

 

A charter flight which left Tripoli at 1630 GMT, arrived at Gatwick at 1954, carrying 34 Britons, 18 Canadians and 27 other nationals

 

Some 49 British nationals have also departed on a US ferry from Tripoli harbour.

 

HMS Cumberland has picked up 207 people including 68 British nationals from Benghazi and is due to arrive in Malta on Friday night, where evacuees can pick up flights to the UK.

 

An FCO spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to get [british nationals] out of Libya, drawing on both military and commercial assets, as well as working with international partners."

 

The FCO said it had helped directly about 450 British nationals to leave Libya, and facilitated the departure of another 150.

 

It added that information from British companies indicated there may be more than the 170 British workers in remote desert camps previously thought, but it would not be drawn on the exact number for "security reasons".

 

British Airways and fellow UK carrier bmi, which both usually operate daily flights between Heathrow and Tripoli, have cancelled their Libya services up to and including Monday.

 

Foreign Office helplines

The numbers for British nationals to call about charter flights out of Libya are 020 7008 0000 from the UK or 021 340 3644/45 from Libya

 

Prime Minister David Cameron has apologised for the speed of the government's response to the crisis in Libya and said lessons would be learned.

 

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "There is a worrying whiff of incompetence about the way this government is handling this issue, and it's become a pattern with this government about the way decisions are made and the way things are handled.

 

"Frankly, I think Mr Cameron has got to get a grip on the way this government works."

 

The numbers for British nationals to call about charter flights out of Libya are 020 7008 0000 from the UK or 021 340 3644/45 from Libya.

 

The Foreign Office is advising against all but essential travel to Libya.

 

 

EYEWITNESS

 

Time goes slowly when you're stuck in a country in turmoil, writes an anonymous oil worker based on the outskirts of Tripoli.

 

Mobile communications have been down for several days now, and the internet is sporadic at best.

 

We have been depending on a generator for much of our electricity, so have managed to keep a semblance of normal life ongoing.

 

We have enough supplies to last for two months, but fresh food and bread are luxuries we shall have to wait for. At night we sit and worry about our colleagues in other parts of the country, wondering whether they are safe.

 

Some of you may be wondering why I'm still here. Well, the reason is simple. I have four men still stuck in the desert, and I won't be leaving the country until they have been safely evacuated

I fear a civil war is starting.

it really pisses me off how the un security council is nothing but a bunch of rich diplomats sitting around and making "statement"

it really pisses me off how the un security council is nothing but a bunch of rich diplomats sitting around and making "statement"

 

Agree completely

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12583691

 

FRIDAY 25 February 2011 Last updated at 18:03 GMT

 

Libya unrest: Eyewitness accounts

 

Anti-government protesters in Tripoli have come under heavy gunfire, latest reports from the Libyan capital say.

 

Meanwhile, Libyan TV has shown pictures of Colonel Gaddafi addressing a large crowd in Tripoli's Green Square.

 

Two Tripoli residents, who wish to remain anonymous, describe the dramatic events in their city.

 

Souq al-Jomaa district, near Green Square

 

We went to prayers as it's Friday. As we were praying, the shooting started. People went out and they were shooting at them.

 

Many of my neighbours died today. My brother was hit by a bullet in his leg. The situation here is horrible. There are helicopters. The sky is raining with bullets.

 

People are just horrified. Gaddafi's supporters carrying heavy arms don't want the people to gather. They were just coming out in a crowd. They caused a massacre.

 

They started even shooting at whoever wanted to check what happened to the injured people. These people are not armed, they just came out from the mosque. They were just praying.

 

It was unbelievable. I had to run away.

 

We were trying to help a man and stop his bleeding. He was talking - he was OK. There are people lying on the street.

 

Nobody could take them. They were using ambulances to shoot at people - can you believe it? They were using anti-aircraft weapons. They were shooting continuously.

 

You'd think you are in a war zone. This is a civil area. People are not armed.

 

I am so shocked, about what happened today. The whole neighbourhood is terrified. They are shooting at civilians, just so that one person can stay in power. This is unbelievable.

 

 

Zawyet al Dahmani district

 

Many people are being killed right now in Tripoli - I just got a few phone calls from friends who witnessed people going out of mosques being shot at. I know one of the killed people - I was speaking to a friend, her brother-in-law got killed, I could hear screams.

 

This is happening in an area called Zawyet al dahmani.

 

Earlier I heard that around 500 protesters gathered in one part of Tripoli but they have directly been faced by a group of people who were not wearing army uniform and who were holding rifles and trying to stop the protest.

 

Also there was high security around all the mosques today because of the Friday prayers. I was speaking to someone I know earlier, who was telling me that a mosque in downtown Tripoli was surrounded by army cars and they heard gunshots outside.

 

I am scared to leave the house. I was planning to visit my parents, but they called me and told me not to go out because there's heavy security on the main roads, stopping cars for checks.

 

We haven't left the house for six days, apart from going out to buy bread.

 

Now that they've opened Tripoli to the international media, they've made sure they cleaned everything up. I went out in the car and I saw messages on the walls, streets destroyed, bullet holes, blood...

 

Yesterday when I went out again, it looked like a completely different city. Everything was cleaned up so that Gaddafi's people can say: Look, nothing has happened, everything is fine.

 

It's very frustrating for me, I don't want the world to fall for this lie.

 

 

Mezrun Road, near Green Square

 

I went to a mosque today for Friday prayers, I chose it well on purpose, close to the city centre, to the Green Square, on Mezrun road. After we finished praying we went out chanting anti-regime slogans like "it's the end of Gaddafi".

 

It was a very big gathering, security forces fired ammunition in the air, not at us. Tear gas was fired directly to the crowd and hit someone in the leg. This is the only injury I witnessed.

 

There was an old man, who opened his shirt and pointed at his body to them saying: "Fire me, if you can!".

 

Three of the security forces went up to him. One kissed his head and said: "We don't want to harm any Libyan or non-Libyan. But we have orders to stop you where you are."

 

We didn't reach the green square, the tear gas was close to me. I started to choke and cough - we would get dispersed and every time we would come back together, they would spread us again.

 

That was not the case in east Tripoli - there's a big mosque in Arada, where mercenaries came out and shot live ammunition into the crowd. Many had fallen, I heard from friends.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12587078

 

26 February 2011 Last updated at 19:44 GMT

 

Libya: Gaddafi in spotlight at UN Security Council

 

The UN Security Council is meeting to consider action against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government in Libya over its attempts to put down an uprising.

 

A draft resolution calls for an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze.

 

It also proposes referring Col Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

 

Meanwhile, one of Col Gaddafi's sons has said the Libyan people "have no future" if agreement on ending the rebellion is not reached.

 

Much of Libya, especially the east, is now controlled by anti-Gaddafi forces but the Libyan leader still controls the capital Tripoli, home to two million of the country's 6.5 million population.

 

The UN estimates more than 1,000 people have died in the 10-day-old revolt.

 

The global body's World Food Programme has warned that the food distribution system is "at risk of collapsing" in the North African nation, which is heavily dependent on imports.

 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded "decisive action" over the Libya crisis by the Security Council. The draft resolution it is considering is backed by Britain, France, Germany and the US.

 

The Libyan delegation at the UN has sent a letter to the Security Council backing measures to hold to account those responsible for armed attacks on Libyan civilians, including action through the International Criminal Court.

 

The BBC's UN correspondent Barbara Plett says the main point of contention in the draft resolution is the proposal to refer Libya to the court, so the Libyan delegation statement will put pressure on those in the council who oppose the reference or want to water it down.

 

The US has already imposed sanctions against Libya, and closed its embassy in Tripoli.

 

President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Friday freezing assets held in the US by Col Gaddafi, members of his family and senior officials. The president said he was also seizing Libyan state property in the US, to prevent it being misappropriated by Tripoli.

 

Thousands of foreign nationals - many of them employed in the oil industry - continue to be evacuated from the country by air, sea and land.

 

Saturday saw two BRITISH military transport aircraft pick up about 150 foreign nationals in the desert south of the second city, Benghazi, and fly them to the Mediterranean island of Malta.

 

BRITAIN also announced it had temporarily closed its embassy in Tripoli and pulled out its staff on the last UK government-chartered aircraft because of the deteriorating security situation.

 

Airport chaos

 

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, at Tripoli airport, reports that about 10,000 people remain outside the terminal building and several thousand more are inside. He saw piles of discarded luggage and personal possessions, even TVs, abandoned by people who've been desperate to get out.

 

Most of the people trying to leave are Egyptians, and many of them told our correspondent they had been waiting there for seven days.

 

Friday saw Col Gaddafi make a defiant address to supporters in Tripoli, but in an interview with the al-Arabiya TV network broadcast on Saturday, his son Saif al-Islam appeared to strike a more cautious note.

 

"What the Libyan nation is going through has opened the door to all options, and now the signs of civil war and foreign interference have started," said Saif Gaddafi.

 

"An agreement has to be reached because the people have no future unless they agree together on a new programme."

 

Friday saw reports of anti-government demonstrators in several areas of Tripoli coming under fire from government troops and pro-Gaddafi militiamen, but on Saturday the capital city was calm, with shops open and people on the streets.

 

A Libyan journalist told the BBC that supporters of Colonel Gaddafi were occupying central Green Square in a public show of support.

 

Outside the capital, anti-Gaddafi protesters are consolidating their power in Benghazi. Leaders of the uprising are setting up committees to run the city and deliver basic services.

 

It is believed that rebels are fighting units of the regular army in the western cities of Misrata and Zawiya.

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Jeremy Bowen / BBC Middle East editor

 

 

Colonel Gaddafi's men look to be in firm control of Tripoli.

 

Checkpoints are operating at major crossroads and on arterial roads into the city. Some are run by the army, at others armed men in civilian clothes are stopping cars.

 

The authorities here admit there's been trouble in Tripoli, but picking up the line used by Colonel Gaddafi himself they say it was caused by youths who'd been using drugs or by al-Qaeda supporters who are said to have hijacked the protests.

 

Small but very noisy crowds of Gaddafi loyalists surrounded the BBC team wherever we went.

 

Everywhere I went in Tripoli was calm except for the airport where there was chaos.

 

The security forces at the airport are tense and jumpy, struggling to control the crowds at the terminal entrances, sometimes using various kinds of clubs to keep them in line.

Sigh about time with the action

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12591025

 

27 February 2011 Last updated at 16:44 GMT

 

Libya uprising: Anti-Gaddafi forces control Zawiya

 

Forces fighting to oust the Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi have seized the city of Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) west of the capital, Tripoli.

 

The Libyan government took journalists to Zawiya on Sunday morning.

 

But instead of a show of government force, reporters saw opposition fighters manning the barricades in the city centre and flying their flag.

 

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Col Gaddafi's regime.

 

Eastern Libya has fallen to the uprising, which began on 16 February in the wake of revolutions which toppled the long-serving leaders of neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

 

However the Libyan capital TRIPOLI remains under the control of Col Gaddafi, who is facing the biggest challenge to his 41-year rule.

 

At least 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in nearly two weeks of violence.

 

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says nearly 100,000 migrants have fled to neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt in the past week.

 

It warns of a growing humanitarian crisis. Many of the migrants have no way to get home and are sleeping out in the open.

 

'Ready to fight'

 

Pro-Gaddafi forces are surrounding Zawiya, which saw fierce fighting last week.

 

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, who was on the government-organised trip to Zawiya, says the centre of the city and its immediate outskirts appear to be wholly in the control of anti-Gaddafi forces.

 

Pro-Gaddafi forces have tried a couple of times to enter the city, local people have told him, but the rebellion has been going on since 17 February, and they say it is going to continue.

 

Some of the demonstrators in central Zawiya fired weapons into the air, saying they were protesting peacefully but were ready to fight.

 

"This is our revolution," some, quoted by Reuters news agency, chanted.

 

A number of protesters stood on top of a captured tank while others crowded around an anti-aircraft gun, Reuters added.

 

In a televised speech on Thursday, Col Gaddafi addressed the people of Zawiya, saying young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in "destruction and sabotage".

 

The BBC's Firas Kilani in TRIPOLI says the situation in the capital is calm, and hundreds of people are gathered in front of banks to receive cash the Libyan leader recently granted to each family.

 

The Security Council unanimously backed an arms embargo and asset freeze on the Libyan government. It also voted to refer Col Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

 

Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam denied that the leader had any assets abroad.

 

"We are a very modest family and everybody knows that," he told ABC News. "They are saying we have money in Europe or Switzerland... It's a joke."

 

He also commented on the senior government officials and diplomats who have joined the anti-government camp, calling them "hypocrites"."It's good we get rid of them," he said.

 

US President Barack OBAMA has said the Libyan leader should step down and leave the country immediately.

 

ITALY - which has close ties to Libya - said on Sunday that the end of Col Gaddafi's rule was "inevitable".

 

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also said a friendship and co-operation treaty between the two countries was "de facto suspended".

 

Discussions on forming an anti-Gaddafi transitional government are reportedly under way in Libya.

 

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil - who resigned as justice minister in protest against the excessive use of force against demonstrators - said a body comprising military and civilian figures would prepare for elections within three months, Libya's privately-owned Quryna newspaper reported.

 

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Jeremy Bowen / BBC Middle East editor, in Zawiya

 

 

I spoke to doctors, to a lawyer, to various police officers who have changed sides - there were soldiers there who changed sides as well - and they're running (Zawiya) as a sort of people's republic in the centre of the town.

 

Some people are saying that the town is split. They're saying there may even be a protest rally in favour of Gaddafi. We await that with interest.

 

But certainly the people in the centre of town - at least a couple of thousand - were damant they were not going to budge.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12606855

 

1 March 2011 Last updated at 21:22 GMT

 

Aid crisis on Libya's west border

 

The situation on Libya's border with Tunisia has reached crisis point, as tens of thousands of foreigners flee unrest in the country, the UN says.

 

Aid staff are battling to cope with an exodus that has seen some 140,000 people crossing into Tunisia and Egypt.

 

The UN has suspended Libya from its Human Rights Council and has called for a mass humanitarian evacuation.

 

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has played down protests and is trying to regain control of areas in the west.

 

He is facing a massive challenge to his 41-year rule, with protesters in control of towns in eastern Libya.

 

Witnesses said pro-Gaddafi forces tried to retake the western cities of Zawiya, Misrata and Nalut on Monday but were repulsed by rebels helped by defecting army units.

 

There are fears in Zawiya that the city may be attacked from the air, but the rebels remained defiant.

 

"We're not here for power, authority or money," they said in a message aimed at Col Gaddafi.

 

"We are here for the cause of freedom and the price we are willing to pay is with our own blood. It's victory or death."

 

Protesters holding Nalut and the town of Zintan, 145km (70 miles) south-west of Tripoli, both reported the approach of Gaddafi forces and said they feared fresh attacks.

 

'Deep stress'

 

In voting to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, the resolution - passed by consensus by the UN membership - accused Libya of committing gross and systematic violations of human rights.

 

General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said: "These UN actions send a strong and important message - a message of great consequence within the region and beyond - that there is no impunity, that those who commit crimes against humanity will be punished, that fundamental principles of justice and accountability shall prevail."

 

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN says this resolution seals Col Gaddafi's isolation as it is the body that represents all member states - the one where Libya might have expected to have some support and it has none.

 

The UN says the situation on the Tunisian-Libyan border has reached "crisis point".

 

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said an estimated 40,000 people, mostly Egyptians, were still waiting at the border trying to cross from Libya into Tunisia.

 

It said it was urgently appealing, along with the International Organisation for Migration, for governments to engage in "a massive humanitarian evacuation of tens of thousands of Egyptians and other third country nationals".

 

World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran told the BBC food was being brought in by road and air, and bought locally, but supplies were under "deep stress".

 

"This will be a very pressured situation for some time - that's why we have launched an emergency appeal for funds to back up the system here," she said.

 

Tented transit camps are being set up hurriedly on the Tunisian side, while frantic efforts are being made to charter aircraft and ships to repatriate the stranded.

 

In other developments:

 

The European Union is calling an extraordinary summit for 11 March to discuss the situation in Libya and unrest in other parts of North Africa and the Middle East

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in testimony to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, urged lawmakers not to cut funds on dealing with overseas crises. She said Libya "could become a peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil war"

 

The Red Cross is requesting access to western Libya, amid unconfirmed reports of attacks on doctors and summary killings of patients

 

'No morals'

 

Col Gaddafi gave an interview in the capital Tripoli for BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, US TV network ABC and the UK's Sunday Times newspaper.

 

Col Gaddafi accused Western countries of abandoning Libya and said that they had no morals and wanted to colonise the country.

 

When asked whether he would resign, he said he could not step down as he did not have an official position - and insisted that the power in the country was with the people.

 

Col Gaddafi challenged those, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who have accused him of having money abroad, to produce evidence. He said he would "put two fingers in their eye".

 

Col Gaddafi said true Libyans had not demonstrated but those who had come on to the streets were under the influence of drugs supplied by Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

 

But in response to the interview, the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the fact he was laughing at questions while "slaughtering his own people" showed that he was disconnected from reality.

 

Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, on Tuesday condemned Ms Rice's comments and added that Mr Cameron's handling of the situation was "like a joke".

 

Mr Cameron has frozen Gaddafi assets and called for the Libyan leader to go.

 

Saif Gaddafi told Sky News that the east had not fallen and he denied that the people there wanted his father out, saying it was just local difficulties.

 

 

AT THE SCENE

 

Jeremy Bowen / BBC Middle East editor, Tripoli

 

The centre of the city is not normal but it's fairly quiet and people would not be out and about if they thought there was an immediate chance of a violent change of regime. But while we were there a passer-by discreetly, barely stopping and without saying a word pressed a spent cartridge from an AK47 assault rifle into the hand of one of the BBC team. His message appeared to be: "Don't let appearances deceive you."

 

The regime controls the city centre but it feels different in some of the suburbs. In Tajoura, only 20 minutes or so by car from central Green Square, there's fury about what the regime has done and fear they might do it again. The BBC was given video recordings of a demonstration there last Friday after noon prayers. We could hear the protesters being shot at, some are killed. A man, dead or dying, is carried away with blood spraying out of a bullet wound in his head.

 

In his interview with the BBC, Col Muammar Gaddafi said there were no demonstrations by Libyans, only an uprising incited by al-Qaeda. I've been to Tajoura and there people don't talk about jihadi Islam, they talk about freedom and an end to almost 42 years of rule by the colonel.

Complete List Of Which Countries Sold Weapons To Libya

 

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/complete-list-which-countries-sold-weapons-libya

'No comment' from MoD over SAS men captured in Libya

The Ministry of Defence says it will not comment on Sunday Times claims that eight members of the SAS have been seized by rebel forces in Libya.

 

Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC a small diplomatic team was in Benghazi and "they were in touch with them".

 

BBC correspondent Jon Leyne, in eastern Libya, said he had "strong suspicions" the reports were true.

 

The paper claims a unit was trying to put UK diplomats in touch with rebels trying to topple the Gaddafi regime.

 

It says eight SAS men, in plain clothes but armed, were captured.

 

The BBC's Jon Leyne, who is in the main rebel stronghold city of Benghazi, said: "I have been speaking to people from the authorities here who've not denied it and have spoken in terms that it probably is true without actually saying as much."

 

In a statement, the MoD said: "We do not comment on the special forces."

 

The Sunday Times claims the SAS soldiers were taken to Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, where they are being interrogated.

 

The full statement from the MoD read: "We neither confirm nor deny the story and we do not comment on the special forces."

 

Our correspondent said he had heard reports of a helicopter landing and British troops possibly captured on Saturday.

 

At the scene :

Jon Leyne

BBC News, Benghazi

My understanding is that they landed, possibly near somebody who they know as a British government supporter and that would have been some distance just outside Benghazi on a helicopter.

 

I don't know where the helicopter would have come from and I don't know the circumstances but you find in this area that very, very quickly somebody with a gun comes up to you.

 

The opposition here are, despite appearances, quite well organised, almost everybody's armed with guns, there are road blocks, there are patrols.

 

They are doing their best to keep in touch with each other, so word would have got around very, very quickly that this was happening and it would have been viewed as very, very suspicious.

 

"At that time it just seemed all a bit outlandish, frankly, because there was a British warship here in town just a few days ago, if anyone wanted to make contact with the authorities here they could have just walked down the gangplank and hailed a taxi," he said.

 

"But for some reason they decided to have gone a slightly more James Bond route about it.

 

"But I can't absolutely confirm this. As you can imagine in a city like this, in a situation like this there is a very, very strong rumour mill that sends rumours around."

 

Meanwhile, Libyan state TV claimed troops loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have made significant gains against rebel forces who have taken significant parts of the country in a two-week insurrection.

 

It said pro-Gaddafi forces had retaken the towns of Zawiya, Ras Lanuf, Misrata and even Tobruk - although those claims have not been independently verified.

 

Jon Leyne says the claims go against all the evidence on the ground, unless there has been a sudden and dramatic swing overnight - of which there is no sign.

 

Regarding the SAS seizure claims, Geneva-based Human Rights Solidarity group said it was aware that a team of special forces had been seized by Libyan rebels but it did not know which country they were from.

 

Separately, a group of Dutch special forces was apparently captured by Col Gaddafi's forces in western Libya while trying to assist Dutch nationals evacuate.

 

Earlier, the MoD had confirmed Scottish troops were on standby to assist with humanitarian and evacuation operations in Libya.

 

Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC the UK had no plans to use British land forces in Libya.

 

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, is on a routine deployment notice of 24 hours at an RAF base in Wiltshire.

 

Former foreign secretary, David Miliband, told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that Libya was going to have to a "big squeeze rather than a big bump on Gaddafi".

 

He said they would need to squeeze his oil money, squeeze him politically and also "make sure people know that they have our support".

 

Questioned about Col Gaddafi's son, Saif, giving the Ralph Miliband memorial lecture at the LSE last year, he said it was "horrific".

 

Set up to honour his academic father's memory, he said it had been "horrific to the whole family, obviously".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12658054