NATO pounded Libya’s capital yesterday, only hours after South Africa’s president left following talks that produced only a commitment to a peace plan already rejected by the military alliance and rebels.
South Africa called for an immediate ceasefire and “a dialogue to a democratic transition” a day after South African President Jacob Zuma failed to close the gap between Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and rebels fighting to oust him.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini arrived in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to open a new consulate, another blow to the Qaddafi regime after NATO insisted the Libyan leader’s “reign of terror” is nearing an end.
Only hours after Zuma left Tripoli, NATO launched a fresh round of air strikes against targets in the Libyan capital, the suburb of Tajura and Al-Jafra, a city to the south, Libyan state television reported.
The report on Jamahiriya TV cited a military source as saying “NATO colonialist crusaders” had targeted military and civilian sites in Tripoli and Tajura, causing deaths and damage.
From the center of Tripoli, which NATO has been attacking for several weeks now, a correspondent reported warplanes flying overhead and distant explosions at around midnight.
In its latest operational update, NATO said yesterday that it struck four military sites in the vicinity of Tripoli, including missile launchers, a vehicle storage facility and a radar facility. Elsewhere it took out a command and control node and several tanks, truck-mounted guns and other military vehicles in and around Misrata, the main rebel-held city in western Libya.
Zuma said raids by NATO, which is enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya and protecting civilians from a government crackdown under a UN mandate, were undermining African mediation efforts.
South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane called for an immediate ceasefire yesterday, after Zuma had left Tripoli saying Qaddafi was “ready” to implement an African Union (AU) peace plan already rejected by NATO and the rebels.
“Consistent with the decision of the AU on Libya, we reiterate our call for immediate ceasefire that is verifiable and encourage the warring parties to begin a dialogue to a democratic transition,” she told parliament, adding: “We strongly still believe that there is no solution for the Libyan problem that will come militarily but only with political dialogue.”
Before he left Tripoli, Zuma said Qaddafi was “ready to implement the roadmap of the AU” and that he had insisted “all Libyans be given a chance to talk among themselves” to determine the country’s future.
However, Zuma did not publicly discuss the key obstacle, Qaddafi’s departure, which the rebels insisted on as the starting point to any ceasefire agreement.
In Rome on Monday, five generals, two colonels and a major announced they had defected from Qaddafi’s forces, and said the regime’s army was now at 20 percent capacity.
Abdel Rahman Shalgham, a former foreign minister who was Tripoli’s UN representative before switching sides, told a press conference: “These officers are among 120 who left Qaddafi and Libya over the last few days.”
The rebels also launched their first television channel, Al-Hurra, broadcasting for four hours on Monday night from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi.
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