Libyan forces struck yesterday at the heart of the rebellion against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, shelling the outskirts of the rebel capital and launching air strikes in defiance of international demands for a halt to the fighting.
Leaders from the Arab world, Africa, the US and other Western powers were holding urgent talks in Paris yesterday over possible military action against Qaddafi’s forces, which are trying to crush the nearly five-week-old rebellion.
Trying to outmaneuver Western military intervention, Qaddafi’s government declared a ceasefire on Friday as the rebel uprising faltered against his artillery, tanks and warplanes. However, the opposition has said shells rained down well after the announcement and accused the Libyan leader of lying.
Photo: AFP
Yesterday, rebels shot down a warplane that was seen bombing the outskirts of the key rebel-held city of Benghazi, sending up a massive black cloud of smoke.
The fighting galvanized the people of Benghazi, with young men collecting bottles to make Molotov cocktails. Some residents dragged bed frames and metal scraps into the streets to make roadblocks.
“Where is France, where is NATO?” cried a 50-year-old woman in Benghazi. “It’s too late.”
Government spokesman Ibrahim Musa denied that a government plane had gone down. He also denied government forces shelled any Libyan towns yesterday, saying the rebels are the ones breaking the ceasefire by attacking military forces.
“Our armed forces continue to retreat and hide, but the rebels keep shelling us and provoking us,” Musa said.
Wary of the ceasefire, Britain and France took the lead in plans to enforce a no-fly zone, sending British warplanes to the Mediterranean and announcing the crisis summit in Paris with the UN and Arab allies.
In Washington, US President Barack Obama ruled out the use of US ground troops, but warned that the US, which has an array of naval and air forces in the region, would join in military action.
There should be no doubt about the Libyan leader’s intentions “because he has made them clear,” Obama said. “Just yesterday, speaking of the city of Benghazi, a city of roughly 700,000, he threatened: ‘We will have no mercy and no pity.’ No mercy on his own citizens.”
In a joint statement to Qaddafi late on Friday, the US, Britain and France — backed by unspecified Arab countries — said a ceasefire must begin “immediately” in Libya, the French presidential palace said.
The statement called on Qaddafi to end his troops’ advance toward Benghazi, the rebel headquarters, and pull them out of the cities of Misrata, Ajdabiya and Zawiya, and called for the restoration of water, electricity and gas services in all areas. It said Libyans must be able to receive humanitarian aid or the “international community will make him suffer the consequences” with military action.
Parts of eastern Libya, where the once-confident rebels this week found their hold slipping, erupted into celebration at the passage of the UN resolution, but the timing and consequences of any international military action remained unclear.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister, Khaled Kaim, denied late on Friday that government forces had violated the ceasefire and invited four nations to send observers to monitor compliance: Germany, China, Turkey and Malta.
“The ceasefire for us means no military operations whatsoever, big or small,” he told reporters in Tripoli.
He said military forces were positioned outside Benghazi, but that the government had no intention of sending them into the city.
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