An assault on Libya’s rebel-held city of Misrata was stalled on Sunday by new fighting between members of Muammar Gaddafi’s security forces, rebels said, but the government denied reports of a mutiny.
The reports of a mutiny could not be verified because Libyan authorities have not allowed reporters access to the city, which is 200 km (130 miles) east of the capital.
“From the early morning they (the security forces) are fighting among each other. We hear the fighting,” Mohammed, one of the rebel fighters, told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.
“This division between them came to us from God. Just when we thought the end was coming, this happened. Now we are waiting to see what will happen.”
Mutiny reports “rubbish”
Asked about reports of a mutiny in Misrata, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said: “This is rubbish. It is not true.”
“The army has surrounded the center of Misrata. They are in the city. Tribal elders are talking to them (the opposition fighers) to surrender,” he said in Tripoli.
Misrata residents said they could hear the sound of heavy fighting from a military airfield to the south of the town, where pro-Gaddafi forces have been based. They said there were no clashes between opposition fighers and security forces on Sunday.
“The situation in the town center is very calm. There is no fighting now. People are in the streets to buy what they need,” said a spokesman for the fighters who was in the city.
“But the problem is on the outskirts of the town. There is shooting among the brigades,” he said.
Reports of a mutiny in Misrata, though unconfirmed, will raise questions about the ability of Gaddafi’s security forces to press an offensive in the country’s east, where the revolutionaries have their biggest stronghold.
Residents had said the main force preparing to attack Misrata was the 32nd Brigade. This is commanded by Gaddafi’s son Khamis and, according to military analysts, is the best trained and equipped force available to the Libyan leader.
Gaddafi, in power for four decades, lost control over large swathes of the oil exporting country last month in a revolt against his rule that took some of its inspiration from uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.
But in the past week, the momentum has shifted back towards Gaddafi. His forces stamped out a rebellion in Zawiyah, 50 km west of Tripoli and pushed opposition focrs in the east back from an oil terminal they briefly held at Ras Lanuf.
Libyan fighters abandoned another key town Sunday after heavy shelling by government forces pressing their advance as international backing slowly grew for a no-fly zone over the country.
An AFP reporter saw dozens of fighters pulling out of the coastal town of Brega and heading for Ajdabiya, 80 kilometers (50 miles) away on the road to the main rebel cities of Benghazi and Tobruk.
Opposition sources said forces loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi were advancing from the west after seizing the town of Uqayla and the village of Bisher 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Brega.
Rebel morale had been boosted Saturday by an Arab League decision to support plans to impose a no-fly zone over Libya and make contact with the insurgents’ provisional national council in Benghazi.
Arab foreign ministers urged the U.N. Security Council “to assume its responsibilities in the face of the deteriorating situation in Libya and take the necessary measures to impose an air exclusion zone for Libyan warplanes.”
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the League, meeting in Cairo on Saturday, had decided that “serious crimes and great violations” committed by the government
Fighters say a no-fly zone is vital to ground Gaddafi’s air force.
US welcomes decision
The United States welcomed the Arab League decision, which “strengthens the international pressure on Gaddafi and support for the Libyan people,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.
“The international community is unified in sending a clear message that the violence in Libya must stop, and that the Gaddafi regime must be held accountable,” he said.
“The United States will continue to advance our efforts to pressure Gaddafi, to support the Libyan opposition, and to prepare for all contingencies, in close coordination with our international partners,” he added.
But he stopped short of giving full support for the no-fly zone which is being pushed for by Britain and France especially, reflecting divisions in the administration of President Barack Obama.
Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday that the United States and its allies could impose such a zone militarily but it remained unclear if it would be a “wise” move.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was leaving Washington on Sunday for an overseas tour to find ways to help Libya’s opposition and maintain the momentum of pro-democracy revolutions in the region.
She is due first in Paris for talks with Mahmud Jibril, a member of the
opposition national council, before going on to Tunisia and Egypt, where she will become the highest-level US official to visit since their presidents were toppled in January and February respectively.
In Paris on Monday, Clinton will also meet her counterparts from host France as well as Russia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan to discuss combat-torn Libya amid divisions over calls for foreign military intervention.
The United States has agreed to name a special envoy to deal with the opposition, but has refrained from recognizing any particular leader or group as it struggles to understand the nebulous movement.
Clinton has said a plan for a no-fly zone over would be presented to NATO on Tuesday.
Washington has said it would soon send humanitarian aid teams to rebel-held areas of eastern Libya, but cautioned the move should not be seen as military intervention.
“Very significant”
Britain’s Foreign Office said the Arab League’s support for a no-fly zone was “very significant” for its efforts to introduce the measure.
Britain and France have drawn up a U.N. Security Council resolution on a no-fly zone but the resolution faces opposition from veto-wielders China and Russia as well as splits within the European Union.
“NFZs are one option being considered as part of international contingency planning to respond quickly to events on the ground as they develop. This planning does not pre-judge any particular outcome,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman added.
“The outcome of today’s Arab League meeting shows Gaddafi’s actions do not have support in the region,” she said.
“In brutally repressing a popular uprising by his own people, it is clear he is isolated and ignoring the will of the international community.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon also hailed the Arab League’s move, saying, “In light of the grave and deteriorating situation in Libya, and Muammar Gaddafi’s reckless disregard for the lives of the Libyan people, this resolution clearly signals that Gaddafi does not have support in the region.”
A U.N. envoy arrived in Tripoli on Saturday to discuss with Libyan officials access to the country for humanitarian relief efforts, the United Nations said.
Tripoli has so far made no mention of a mission by former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib, dispatched by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to raise international concerns about Gaddafi’s uncompromising response to the uprising.
Khatib, due in Tripoli early next week, would put across to the regime “in no uncertain terms the concerns of the United Nations and the international community,” Ban told reporters in New York.
The envoy would have a political role in trying to end the conflict but also to try to open up humanitarian access to the Libyan population, Ban said.
Source: AlArabiya.net
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