Summary of the American and International Press on the Libyan Revolution

Confusion hampering charge on Al Qathafi desert bastion

(Reuters) - Confused orders, no central command and dissent in the ranks are holding up efforts by Libya's provisional government to take the Muammar Al Qathafi bastion of Bani Walid, fighters said.

On Sunday, ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) forces fled in a chaotic retreat from the town, after failing in another attempt to storm the desert stronghold.

Bani Walid, along with Al Qathafi's hometown of Sirte, and the remote but important town of Sabha, is one of the last places frustrating NTC efforts to take control of the whole country.

Attempts to storm it for the last three days have failed - with surprised NTC fighters being pushed out of the town by heavy rocket and sniper fire from Al Qathafi loyalists.

Fighting has been chaotic and scattershot with different brigades arguing amongst themselves, Tripoli fighters not getting along with local fighters, and talk of traitors infiltrating the ranks and sabotaging the assault.

"I've never seen anything like this," Sabri Salem, a former pilot in Al Qathafi's airforce who switched sides, told Reuters.

Salem, who commands a rebel brigade from the town of Zawiyah and who took part in the successful operation to take Tripoli, has been shocked by the lack of organisation since he arrived.

"We just showed up and nobody asked us any questions," he said, shaking his head. "We just drove in to Bani Walid."

Salem and his brigade were told on Sunday that there was a huge NTC force already inside Bani Walid and that they should advance towards the town to join it.

"But there was absolutely nobody," he said. "Then we came under very intense fire from Al Qathafi forces and retreated."

"I'm going home"

Salem's complaints are echoed by other fighters, many of whom have been camped outside the town for more than two weeks and the majority of whom thought the assault would be easier.

The story is similar at Sirte, where NTC forces have made better progress but have still been held back by Al Qathafi loyalists through three days of heavy fighting.

The failure to capture the towns is a serious setback to a new government trying to exert its control over all of Libya and shore up the remaining bastions of the man who ruled it eccentrically for 42 years.

The Bani Walid front was reinforced with 1,000 fighters over the last few days, many of them in uniform and identifying themselves as from Libya's "national army".

At Sirte, more than 900 vehicles are involved in the fight on one front and 400 are trying to approach from another.

Yet, still, no victory.

"There's no central command, just isolated groups of 10 to 20 fighters all acting on their own," said Salem. "Last night the national army retreated -- half of them went home, the other half are stationed somewhere in the desert."

Some of the NTC men outside Bani Walid blame traitors, others blame snipers, many blame the oil the Al Qathafi men pour down the steep streets leading to the city centre.

They also say that the better commanders and strategists are at Sirte - perhaps because, as a port town and the one-time home of Al Qathafi - it is more strategically important.

Some wonder aloud why the NTC doesn't just take the towns one by one.

Later on Sunday, after the majority of the NTC forces had pulled out, another couple of brigades raced towards the town despite orders to hold position outside the town.

"If it goes on like this I'm going home," said Salem.

NTC claims humanitarian disaster in Al Qathafi stronghold

(CNN) – Forces loyal to Muammar Al Qathafi are creating a humanitarian disaster in Bani Walid, the National Transitional Council's military spokesman charged Monday.

Col. Ahmed Bani told reporters that Al Qathafi forces are robbing food stores, leaving civilian residents to starve. He also charged that Al Qathafi loyalists are shooting everyone trying to join the revolution, including men, women and children. "They are carrying out mass killings," Bani said.

"This proves they are trying to destroy the town before it is liberated," he added, calling the Al Qathafi forces "criminals" and "killers."

Asked by CNN why, if there is such a humanitarian disaster, NTC forces do not immediately enter the city, the colonel said the problem is "geography." There are tactics the forces must follow to reduce casualties, he said.

Bani Walid is surrounded by anti-Al Qathafi forces, he said.

Asked to comment on assertions by Al Qathafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim that loyalist forces in Bani Walid had captured a group of 17 mercenaries fighting for the NTC, including some British, Qatari, French and Asians, the spokesman dismissed the claim, saying, "Don't listen to him, he's from another planet."

The rebel spokesman's remarks at a news conference came after rebel fighters suffered a sizeable blow. More than 20 were killed in the northern city of Sirte on Sunday, the country's transitional government said Monday.

Another 31 fighters were injured, said Abdul Rahman Busin, an NTC spokesman.

Sirte, Al Qathafi's hometown, is among a handful of pro-Al Qathafi strongholds left in the country.

"The injured revolutionaries in Sirte have all been hit with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) fired from areas congested with civilians where Al Qathafi loyalists are hiding," Adel Ghulaek, spokesman for the NTC in Misurata, said Monday.

"Our men are not even firing back because they do not want to kill any innocent people. Two helicopters evacuated the injured fighters last night."

Al Qathafi fighters also fired anti-aircraft weapons at one of two Turkish transport planes that was parachuting aid to civilians on Sunday, NTC spokesman Abdallah Kanshil said.

The Turkish government issued a statement saying that during a food drop mission, a C-160 plane "was fired at from land by anti-aircraft weapons. However, our plane got away from the area by increasing its altitude.

Our planes, which completed their air drop mission successfully, returned first to the Benghazi airport and then back to Turkey safely."

Bani, the NTC's military spokesman, said Monday that rebel forces are close to the town of Sabha in southern Libya and took the airport and the citadel. "Our flag is waving high in both locations," he said.

East of Sabha, a ragtag stream of civilians-turned-revolutionaries encountered scant resistance as they swept through oasis towns.

A CNN crew in the region saw locals in the southern Libyan town of Winzrik rejoice.

"Raise your head high, you're a free Libyan!" chanted residents in the town suddenly freed from Al Qathafi's control.

People waved the pre-Al Qathafi Libyan flag as revolutionary fighters swept through the area.

"I can't explain - the feeling is wonderful," Muhammad Zarouq said. "Many emotions - I'm so happy. I'm so glad."

But some have doubts about the revolution in a part of the country traditionally loyal to Al Qathafi.

"What happens after the men with guns move on is still unclear," university physics student Mohamed Arhuma said.

The whereabouts of Al Qathafi himself also are unclear.

A man identified as Ibrahim, the Al Qathafi spokesman, insisted that pro-Al Qathafi forces will be victorious.

"We will defeat them in a way they never would have imagined," he said on Al Rai TV, a Syrian-based station that airs pro-Al Qathafi statements. "We have God and we have millions (of followers). ... We have decided it's either victory or martyrdom."

He added, "Tell the world that our nation will not surrender to gangs and it will not give them legitimacy. We will liberate Libya and return it to its true Islamic and Arabic state."

Al Rai said the comments aired Sunday were live, but it was not clear where Ibrahim may have been as he spoke.

Turkish cargo plane fired on over Libya; Al Qathafi loyalists capture 17 ‘mercenaries’

(Al Arabiya) - A Turkish military cargo plane dropping humanitarian aid over the Libyan town of Bani Walid came under fire from the ground, the Turkish news agency Anatolia reported Monday.

The incident happened on Saturday when one of two Turkish C-130 transport planes parachuting aid to residents was fired on, the agency said, citing a journalist on the plane, according to AFP.

The pilots took evasive action and narrowly missed being hit, returning the plane safely to base in Turkey after a brief stopover in Benghazi to check for possible damage.

A spokesman for Muammar Al Qathafi, meanwhile, said on Sunday that 17 “mercenaries,” including what he called French and British “technical experts” had been captured in the Al Qathafi bastion of Bani Walid in Libya.

“A group was captured in Bani Walid consisting of 17 mercenaries. They are technical experts and they include consultative officers,” Moussa Ibrahim told Syrian-based Arrai TV.

“Most of them are French, one of them is from an Asian country that has not been identified, two English people and one Qatari,” he added, according to Reuters.

He said the 17 would be shown on television at a later time, but did not give more details.

It was not immediately possible to verify Ibrahim’s claims. The French foreign ministry said it had no information regarding the report.

NATO, French and British officials had on Saturday denied a report by Arrai TV that some NATO troops had been captured by Al Qathafi loyalists.

Western special forces are known to have been in Libya and to have liaised with anti-Al Qathafi officials during the conflict. Private security firms have also been helping anti-Al Qathafi forces, according to Western media reports.

Libyan interim government fighters fired rockets from the southern entrance to Sirte on Sunday and exchanged heavy fire with Al Qathafi loyalists holed up in a conference centre.

“The situation is very, very dangerous,” Mohamed Abdullah, a rebel, told Reuters on the edge of the coastal city, where the ousted leader was born.

“There are so many snipers and all the types of weapons you can imagine,” he said, as rockets whooshed in the air and black smoke rose above the city, which is controlled by soldiers loyal to Al Qathafi.

The rebels fired several mortars and tried to ambush revolutionary forces Sunday at the northern gate of the loyalist stronghold of Bani Walid, The Associated Press reported.

With their numbers stretched thin, the former rebels sent reinforcements, some who arrived with a tank that had been seized from the ousted regime.

Libya’s new rulers, meanwhile, pressed forward with efforts to assert authority over the country. The National Transitional Council (TNC) is expected to announce a new Cabinet lineup soon. That would show progress in forming a new government ahead of the UN General Assembly this week.

NTC fighters capture parts of Libya's Sabha

(Aljazeera.net) - Fighters make major advances in southern city of Sabha, as NTC says "human tragedy" is unfolding in

Colonel Ahmed Bani, military spokesman of the NTC, said a 'human tragedy' is unfolding in Bani Walid

Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in areas still held by the forces of Muammar Al Qathafi are in increasing danger from heavy fighting and siege-like shortages of food, water and medical care, Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) has said.

Hundreds of families fled "unbearable" conditions in the Al Qathafi stronghold of Sirte on Monday, while the NTC said it had captured the airport and other strategic parts of the southern town of Sabha.

During a news conference in Tripoli, Colonel Ahmed Bani, military spokesman of the NTC, said a "human tragedy" is unfolding in Bani Walid where Al Qathafi's forces have put up fierce resistance for nearly a week.

"They have stolen all supplies from the residents of the town and they are shooting everyone who is showing support for the revolutionaries. They show no mercy, not even for woman and children," Bani said.

"For us, this is proof that the Al Qathafi forces are trying to destroy the city before it will be liberated."

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Tripoli, said NTC fighters in Sabha, located 770km south of the capital, were "confident that in a matter of hours they would control the centre of the city".

"In the punch into Sabha, the anti-Al Qathafi forces targeted strategic areas, including the airport, which is some 10km from the city centre," said Ahelbarra.

"(Al Qathafi loyalists) have been using similar tactics as in Sirte and Bani Walid. They have taken up positions in urban areas and are using snipers in the very centre of the city to repel the forces."

'Saving lives'

Al Jazeera's David Poort, reporting from Tripoli, said that the NTC had said that its army had not yet taken Bani Walid because of concern for civilians, difficult terrain and disagreements over battle tactics.

"There are certain tactics and procedures we need to follow to take this town. But Bani Walid is completely surrounded. We are also focussed on saving lives, especially civilians," Bani said.

"Sources tell us that many people in Bani Walid do not know what is going on in the rest of Libya. It is surprising how well Al Qathafi's forces managed to cut communications with the outside world."

Bani promised that his fighters would not abandon the people of Bani Walid and that the city would be "liberated" shortly.

"The revolutionaries came to Bani Walid this morning and engaged in a hard battle," Abdullah Kanshil, a senior official in the NTC, told the AFP news agency on Monday.

Kanshil added that negotiations were underway for the evacuation of about 50,000 civilians from the town.

Residents stranded

NTC fighters also prepared for another battle to wrest Al Qathafi's birthplace of Sirte from his loyalists on Monday as humanitarian groups voiced alarm at the reported conditions within the besieged city.

Residents flooding out of the coastal city said the situation is unbearable, with no electricity or water.

Escaping locals told Al Jazeera that hundreds of people were still trapped in Sirte as fighters sent by Libya's new rulers amassed a number of huge rocket launchers and artillery guns to pound the area.

"There's no electricity, no phone coverage, nothing," resident Ibrahim Ramadan told the Reuters news agency, standing by a car packed with his family as he fled the fighting.

Ramadan, who acts as a community leader, estimated that about two-thirds of Sirte's roughly 70,000 population were still inside the city and an all-out NTC assault was expected.

Residents of Sirte said homes had been destroyed and cars smashed to pieces as disorder spread across the city in the recent days of fighting.

"People are fed up. There are explosions going off everywhere and you don't know where the bullets will come from next," resident Abubakr said as he made his way out of the city.

NTC fighters, who were forced into retreat on Saturday after storming the city, said they were holding off advancing deeper into Sirte or firing heavy artillery for now because they wanted to give residents a chance to leave.

"The problem is that there are some (Al Qathafi) brigades preventing them from leaving," NTC fighter Sadiq Atman said as his fellow fighters pieced together an anti-aircraft machine gun on the back of a pickup truck.

"If these families were able to get out, this would be a proper war," he said.

Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, along with Bani Walid and Sabha, are the last significant strongholds of pro-Al Qathafi forces

Al Qathafi spokesman says UK, French mercenaries caught

(Reuters ) - Muammar Al Qathafi's loyalists said on Monday they had captured 17 mercenaries - some British and French - in what would amount to a severe blow to Libya's new rulers and their international backers.

The claim by the fugitive ousted leader's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim could not be verified, but it comes as the new authorities are facing stark reversals on the battlefield and in the political arena.

Nearly a month after Al Qathafi was driven from power, his loyalist holdouts have beaten back repeated assaults by National Transitional Council forces at the town of Bani Walid and Al Qathafi's home city of Sirte. NTC fighters have been sent fleeing in disarray after failing to storm Al Qathafi bastions.

The NTC, still based in the eastern city of Benghazi, has faced questions about whether it can unify a country divided on tribal and local lines. A long-promised attempt to set up a more inclusive interim government fell apart overnight.

"A group was captured in Bani Walid consisting of 17 mercenaries. They are technical experts and they include consultative officers," Al Qathafi spokesman Ibrahim said on Syria-based Arrai television, which has backed Al Qathafi.

"Most of them are French, one of them is from an Asian country that has not been identified, two English people and one Qatari."

The French foreign ministry said it had no information about the report. The British foreign ministry said it was aware of media reports about the capture of mercenaries but was not able to substantiate them. Qatari officials were not immediately available for comment.

NATO, which is staging air strikes on Al Qathafi loyalist positions, says it has no troops on the ground in Libya.

However, Western nations have sent special forces in the past, and media have reported that private security firms have aided anti-Al Qathafi forces in training, targeting and with leadership. Gulf Arab states have also sent trainers and arms.

Debacle

The interim government's attempts to seize Bani Walid, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Tripoli have become a debacle, with forces repeatedly surging into the town only to be driven out by its pro-Al Qathafi defenders.

On Monday, NTC forces were unable to approach the northern gate to attack the town because of heavy gunfire from Al Qathafi loyalists.

Fighters said on Sunday plans had gone awry for tanks and pickup trucks with machine guns and rocket launchers to lead an attack. Foot soldiers piled in first, only to be driven out.

"There is a lack of organization so far. Infantry men are running in all directions," said Zakaria Tuham, a senior fighter with a Tripoli-based unit.

Many fighters spoke of tension between units drawn from Bani Walid itself and those from other parts of the country.

Some fighters openly disobeyed orders. In one incident, an officer from Bani Walid was heckled by troops from Tripoli after he tried to order them to stop shooting in the air.

NTC forces and NATO warplanes also attacked Sirte, Al Qathafi's birthplace, where assaults have been repelled. Hundreds of families were fleeing the city on Monday as NTC forces rolled up with huge rocket launchers and artillery.

Humanitarian groups have voiced alarm at reported conditions in the besieged coastal city.

"There's no electricity, no phone coverage. Nothing," resident Ibrahim Ramadan said, standing by a car packed with his family at a checkpoint. Interim government forces were handing out juice to civilians and rifling through their belongings to search for weapons.

Interim government forces amassed on the western outskirts of Sirte and exchanged scores of rockets with pro-Al Qathafi fighters inside the city. They were advancing cautiously and using heavy artillery to try to weaken loyalist defence lines.

As in many episodes during Libya's conflict, the front lines at Sirte and Bani Walid have moved back and forth, with shows of bravado crumbling in the reality of battle.

In Benghazi, interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril failed to name a new cabinet when his proposals did not receive full backing from all current members.

"We have agreed on a number of portfolios. We still have more portfolios to be discussed," Jibril told reporters at a news conference on Sunday.

A list of the approved ministries was not available, though sources familiar with the negotiations said that the position of Jibril himself was a sticking point during the talks.

There was also disagreement about whether it was necessary to form a transitional government before declaring Libya "liberated," which NTC officials say can only happen when remaining Al Qathafi loyalists are defeated.

The political infighting reveals some of the fractures in an alliance that was united during the conflict by opposition to Al Qathafi but divided among pro-Western liberals, underground Islamist guerrillas and defectors from Al Qathafi's government.

The NTC has its roots in Libya's east, but most of the militiamen who finally succeeded in driving Al Qathafi out of Tripoli are from towns in the west. Fighters are organized by home town into units with little overall coordination.

Al Qathafi himself remains on the run. Ibrahim, his spokesman, has repeatedly said he is still in Libya directing resistance.

In addition to Bani Walid and Sirte, his fighters also control the town of Sabha deep in the Sahara desert, effectively dividing the east of the country from the west and making it difficult for the NTC to exert control.

Anti-Al Qathafi forces suffer losses in Sirte, rejoice freedom elsewhere

(CNN) - Revolutionary forces in Libya suffered a sizeable blow after more than 20 fighters were killed in the northern city of Sirte Sunday, the country's transitional government said Monday.

Another 31 fighters were injured, said Abdul Rahman Busin, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council.

Sirte is the hometown of ousted Libyan ruler Muammar Al Qathafi and is among a handful of pro-Al Qathafi strongholds left in the country.

"The injured revolutionaries in Sirte have all been hit with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) fired from areas congested with civilians where Al Qathafi loyalists are hiding," Adel Ghulaek, spokesman for the NTC in Misurata, said Monday.

"Our men are not even firing back because they do not want to kill any innocent people. Two helicopters evacuated the injured fighters last night."

Meanwhile, revolutionaries "control 80%" of the contested northern city of Bani Walid, said Abdallah Kanshil, another NTC spokesman who also is serving as a negotiator in the city.

"Al Qathafi loyalists have the advantage of the geography - the mountains are an obstacle for us," Kanshil said Monday. "They are firing from mosques and civilian homes."

Kanshil said some pro-Al Qathafi fighters are mercenaries from other African countries.

While anti-Al Qathafi forces struggled in northern Libya, a ragtag stream of civilians-turned-revolutionaries encountered scant resistance as they swept through oasis towns east of Sabha - another pro-Al Qathafi stronghold - on Sunday.

Locals in the southern Libyan town of Winzrik rejoiced as anti-Al Qathafi forces drove through town.

"Raise your head high, you're a free Libyan!" chanted residents in the town suddenly freed from Al Qathafi's control.

Locals waved the pre-Al Qathafi Libyan flag as revolutionary fighters swept through the area.

"I can't explain - the feeling is wonderful," Muhannad Zarouq said. "Many emotions - I'm so happy. I'm so glad."

But some have doubts about the revolution in a part of the country traditionally loyal to Al Qathafi.

"What happens after the men with guns move on is still unclear," university physics student Mohamed Arhuma said.

The whereabouts of Al Qathafi himself still are unclear.

But a man identified as Al Qathafi's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, insisted that pro-Al Qathafi forces will be victorious.

"We will defeat them in a way they never would have imagined," he said on Al Rai TV, a Syrian-based station that airs pro-Al Qathafi statements. "We have God and we have millions (of followers). ... We have decided it's either victory or martyrdom."

He added, "Tell the world that our nation will not surrender to gangs and it will not give them legitimacy. We will liberate Libya and return it to its true Islamic and Arabic state."

Arrai said the comments aired Sunday were live, but it was not clear where Ibrahim may have been as he spoke.

OPEC recognises NTC as Libya representativ

(Aljazeera.net) - Interim council gets major boost in world forum amid continued clashes over Al Qathafi strongholds of Sirte and Bani Walid.
Libyan interim government forces are still battling Al Qathafi loyalists a month after taking the capital Tripoli

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has recognised the National Transitional Council as Libya's representative.

The OPEC's recognition came after the United Nations approved a Libyan request to accredit envoys of the country's interim government as Tripoli's sole representatives at the world body on Friday.

"OPEC will recognise the NTC ... and they will sit in the same chair," Abdullah al-Badri, OPEC's secretary-general, told the Gulf Intelligence energy forum in Dubai on Monday.

Abdul Hakim Belhaj, leader of the newly formed Tripoli Military Council, is fast emerging as Libya's rising star

Since failing to convince other OPEC members at their last meeting in Vienna in June to raise output to make up for the loss of Libyan crude since February, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies have raised their oil production over the last few months.

Badri said those countries are certain to gradually decrease their output as Libya's production recovers towards pre-war levels.

Badri, who was the Libyan energy minister for ten years (1990-2000) and headed its National Oil Corporation (NOC) until 2006, said production in fields in central Libya could be back to pre-war levels in 15 months, while other areas might take longer.

Some Libyan oil fields have recently restarted production but it remains unclear when they will return to pre-war levels of about 1.6 million barrels per day.

Situation 'unbearable'

The recognition for the NTC came even as its fighters battled troops loyal to deposed leader Muammar Al Qathafi, a month after taking the capital Tripoli.

NTC forces tried several times to take Bani Walid, only to be repelled by Al Qathafi loyalists defending the city, rebel commanders told Al Jazeera.

Since taking the capital Tripoli last month, NTC fighters have met stiff resistance in Bani Walid and Al Qathafi's birthplace Sirte, which they must capture before they can declare Libya "liberated".

Anti-Al Qathafi forces were pushing further on Monday towards Sirte, one of the final strongholds of Libya's old regime, as residents fled from the city.

Former rebel fighters searched the long line of vehicles waiting to escape from Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, where fighting is raging.

"The situation is unbearable. There has been no electricity, no water for six months," said one resident as he drove away with his family.

The new leadership is facing a tough fight uprooting the remnants of Al Qathafi's regime nearly four weeks after the then-rebels rolled into Tripoli on August 21 and toppled the now fugitive leader.

The battle at Sirte, launched on Friday, has been fierce, and the revolutionaries have made slow progress.

The past three days they have battled block by block into the western side of Sirte.

Other fighters in the low hills to the south have been drumming with rockets and mortars Al Qathafi strongholds in the flat plain of the city below.

At least 18 fighters have been killed and 51 wounded in the area since September 15, the opposition's military council in Misurata said on Sunday.

The whereabouts of Al Qathafi are still unknown.

Libyan militias amass weapons

(Washington Post) - At a huge weapons depot in the Libyan capital, flat-bed trucks line up to be piled high with land mines, rockets and shells, before being driven off into the western mountains.

Less than a month after rebels captured Tripoli and forced longtime leader Muammar Al Qathafi to flee, revolutionary militia groups are sweeping up any weapons they can find, often from huge unguarded weapons dumps left behind by Al Qathafi’s forces.

Some of the groups barely recognize the authority of the new civilian government, and rivalries are already surfacing — developments that are worrying officials, civilians and human rights groups.

“Until we have a national army, this will pose a real security threat,” said Noman Benotman, a former anti-Al Qathafi militant who is now a senior analyst with the Quilliam think-tank in London.

The US government says the potential for Libya’s vast arsenal to end up in the wrong hands is a serious concern. US officials worry that some of the thousands of unaccounted-for surface-to-air missiles - especially sophisticated shoulder-launched “man-portable air-defence systems,” known as manpads, that can bring down civilian airliners - could end up with al-Qaeda.

But a massive haul of explosives, much larger than the stockpiles left behind by Saddam Hussein that helped fuel the insurgency in Iraq, also poses a real risk, especially if Al Qathafi escapes abroad and uses his vast wealth to sponsor a guerrilla movement.

“While the international community until today is focused on manpads, for Libya the greater danger is from explosives and weapons that can be turned against them, as they were in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.

“The mix of these unsecured warehouses, with a leader still on the run who has access to vast funds, and a proportion of the population still quite loyal to him, is a lethal one.”

In the days after Tripoli fell, some individuals looted warehouses, and some of the stolen weapons have already found their way onto the international market, said Bouckaert.

He warned of the prospect that this could spread insecurity across the already volatile northern African region, from Chad and Sudan west to Niger, Mali and Algeria.

The fact that revolutionary militia groups are now scooping up many of the remaining weapons and explosives might seem the lesser evil, but it is nevertheless worrying those who hope that the new Libya will emerge as a country where power comes from the ballot box rather than the gun.

“This is a major, major problem,” said a military commander in Tripoli, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Many of the weapons are heading to the Nafusa Mountains, home to Libya’s ethnic Berber minority, according to officials, commanders and well-connected businessmen.

Others are going to Misurata, the coastal city that played a major role in resisting Al Qathafi’s army during the revolution.

“These groups do not recognize any authority or any control,” complained the commander. “These are areas which suffered a lot during the last few months of the regime, and now they think that whatever they do is justified.”

Some of the most intense rivalries have emerged between liberals and Islamists, and between brigades based in Tripoli and those from the western mountains, particularly the town of Zintan.

Mountain brigades have refused to leave Tripoli and are resisting moves to bring them under civilian control.

“We want to go under the umbrella of the national army, but it is too early to execute this order,” said deputy commander Ali Cuba from Zintan, whose forces are based at Tripoli’s main airport.

“We are still searching for weapons in this area, around 12,000 pieces, and we want to do this before joining the national army.”

Political observers say the Zintan fighters may be amassing weapons to protect the Berbers’ rights and because they fear Tripoli’s domination after suffering discrimination under Al Qathafi’s rule.

In Misurata, commanders say they are protecting the freedoms they fought for during the uprising against Al Qathafi.

“We will never give up our weapons until the country is being run by those who deserve to run it,” Misurata commander Salem Jhey told the country’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdul Jali, at a public meeting in the city last week, to cheers from the audience.

“We are in support of the legitimacy of the Transitional National Council,” he stressed, adding: “We are not after any political, economic or financial benefits.”

Mohamed Benrasali, a senior official in Misurata’s city council and a member of the team trying to stabilise Libya after four decades of Al Qathafi rule, said his city would not surrender its arms “until we have an elected parliament, and an elected government and an elected President.” That could take up to two years.

At the weapons depot outside Tripoli, one fighter said the arms were headed for forces trying to storm Al Qathafi’s last bastions in Sirte and Bani Walid, while another claimed that the land mines were being taken into the Sahara Desert to be destroyed under international supervision.

None of this means that Libya is about to become another Somalia. The popular desire for a peaceful, democratic future runs so deep that any militia using its weapons to fight another group would be ostracised, officials and ordinary Libyans say.

But already there is a sense in Tripoli that brigades and regions are sizing each other up based on how many fighters and weapons they possess.

The US government has two weapons experts in Libya to try to stem the potential proliferation of rocket launchers, mines and small arms, and more are being sent to help train local units, The Associated Press reported Friday.

But what frustrates Human Rights Watch is that the group spent months warning the State Department, NATO and Libyan rebel authorities of the need to secure Tripoli’s stores of sophisticated weapons as soon as the capital fell, but nothing was done.

“They all really missed the boat,” Human Rights Watch special adviser Fred Abrahams said. “We’re seeing some progress now, but of course so much is already gone.”

Niger seeks help over Libya arms fallout

(UPI) - Niger, one of the world's poorest nations, is appealing for help to combat a surge of militants and weapons it fears will pour in from neighbouring Libya to destabilize the country.

These are most likely to be men who fought for Muammar Al Qathafi and who could terrorize the impoverished and largely ungovernable states across the Sahara Desert and the semi-arid Sahel region.

But amid warnings that al-Qaeda's North African affiliate is extending its operational zone across the vast region, the greatest fear is that the large amount of weapons looted from Al Qathafi's armouries during Libya's six-month civil war will make their way to Niger and its neighbours.

These countries are already grappling with jihadist groups and are increasingly looking to Western powers, the United States and France in particular, to help them counter the threats.

So far as is known, there has been no large-scale migration of known jihadists into Niger. But the desert border is porous and poorly guarded and Libya's Islamist fighters have made considerable political gains in the war against Al Qathafi.

Niger's justice minister, Marou Amadou, claimed last week that 200,000 people had crossed from Libya in recent days.

That's probably an overstatement but regional officials involved in counterinsurgency operations against al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the main jihadist group in the region, say they are concerned that it will become the beneficiary of the weapons haemorrhage.

"The worst of the situation is not the Libyan people coming over but the weapons crossing into Niger," Amadou said.

"The threat is not only to our governments (in the region) but above all to European countries."

Large amounts of weapons, including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, purchased by Al Qathafi's regime during his 42 years in power are unaccounted for.

Many of these were undoubtedly seized by Libyan rebel forces, which include Islamist militants. Western intelligence officials fear that thousands of these weapons may end up in the hands of AQIM forces across the region.

Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou has warned that Libya could become another Somalia, spreading instability across the region.

"The Libyan crisis amplifies the threats confronting countries in the region," the newsmagazine Jeune Afrique quoted him as saying.

"We were already exposed to the fundamentalist threat, to the menace of criminal organizations, drug traffickers, arms traffickers … Today all those problems have increased," Issoufou lamented.

"All the more so because weapons depots have been looted in Libya and such weapons have been disseminated throughout the region. Yes, I'm very worried: We fear that there may be a breakdown of the Libyan state, as was the case in Somalia, eventually bringing to power religious extremists."

Tuareg tribesmen, hired by the hundreds by Al Qathafi, are seen as a particular threat. The Tuareg have been involved in rebellions in Niger and other countries in recent years and the return of seasoned fighters from Libya could ignite those insurgencies again.

AQIM units in Niger, Mali and elsewhere have alliances with the Tuareg and that could spell trouble in the months ahead.

Reports from Bamako, Mali's capital, say veteran Tuareg rebel chieftain Ibrahim Ag Bahanga shipped large quantities of heavy and light weapons back to Mali for his tribal allies before he was killed in Libya Aug. 26.

"There are concerns about the dispersal of his arms, which would certainly be of interest to buys from AQIM," observed analyst Andrew McGregor, who specializes in Islamic affairs.

"The direction of Tuareg military commanders and their followers, whether in support of the Al Qathafi regime or in renewed rebellion in Niger and Mali, will play an essential role in determining the security future of the region, as well as the ability of foreign commercial interests to extract the region's lucrative oil and uranium resources," he said.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned that Libya's in danger of falling into the grip of Islamist extremists if the disparate rebel forces that ousted Al Qathafi do not soon establish a stable government capable of maintaining security and order.

"We can't exclude the possibility that extremists will try to exploit a situation and take advantage of a power vacuum," he declared September 11.

There are already worrying signs that the rebel leadership is divided on many issues, including the role of Islamist militias which were involved in much of the fighting against Al Qathafi's loyalists.

Libyan forces say they have seized part of loyalist town

(Irish Times) - Libya’s interim government said yesterday that its forces had seized the airport and fort in Sabha, one of the last strongholds of forces loyal to Muammar Al Qathafi which also controls the main route south out of Libya.

“Our forces are there in the airport and in the castle . . . Our flags are flying there,” Ahmed Bani, a military spokesman for the National Transitional Council (NTC), told a news conference in Tripoli. It was not possible to obtain independent confirmation.

Sabha, 770km (480 miles) south of Tripoli and overlooked by an old fort built by Libya’s former Italian colonial rulers, controls the main trail south to neighbouring Niger, an escape route used by members of Col Al Qathafi’s entourage.

Any advance on the town, which is still used as a military base, would be an important boost for government forces who are struggling to oust Al Qathafi loyalists from the towns of Bani Walid and Sirte as well as to contain disunity in their own ranks.

Col Bani also denied an assertion by Al Qathafi’s spokesman that his forces had captured 17 British and French nationals in the fight for Bani Walid. “There are no British or French prisoners” in the town, he said.

The claim by Al Qathafi’s spokesman Moussa Ibrahim that foreign security personnel had been captured could not be verified and no immediate proof was presented.

“A group was captured in Bani Walid consisting of 17 mercenaries. They are technical experts and they include consultative officers, Mr Ibrahim said on Syria-based Arrai television, which has backed Col Al Qathafi.

“Most of them are French, one of them is from an Asian country that has not been identified, two English people and one Qatari.” French foreign minister Alain Juppé said there were “no French mercenaries in Libya”, while the British foreign office said it had no information about whether the report was true.

Qatar’s foreign ministry was not available for comment. NATO, which is staging air strikes on Al Qathafi loyalist positions, says it has no troops on the ground in Libya.

Western nations have sent special forces in the past, and the media have reported that private security firms have aided anti-Al Qathafi forces in training, target ting and with leadership. Gulf Arab states have also sent trainers and arms.

Among the confirmed sightings of foreign security personnel in Libya during the conflict, the head of a French security firm was shot dead at a checkpoint in Benghazi in May, and British special forces troops were held for three days by rebels in March while escorting a spy trying to make contacts.

The claim about the capture of foreign security personnel added to confusion about the situation in Libya nearly a month after Col Al Qathafi was driven from power.

The former leader’s loyalist holdouts have beaten back repeated assaults by National Transitional Council forces at Bani Walid and Col Al Qathafi’s home city of Sirte.

NTC postpones forming government amid clashes

(France 24) - As Libya’s National Transitional Council forces struggled to eliminate pockets of pro-Al Qathafi resistance in Sirte and Bani Walid, the country’s interim leaders indefinitely put off forming a new government after failing to meet a Sunday deadline.

The birth of a new government in Libya, due on Sunday, was put off indefinitely amid disputes over portfolios and as Muammar Al Qathafi diehards put up stiff resistance in their remaining strongholds.

National Transitional Council (NTC) number two Mahmoud Jibril said last-minute haggling delayed the announcement of the new cabinet line-up before reluctantly announcing to the media that the unveiling would be postponed indefinitely.

Progress by NTC fighters hoping to crush the last pockets of resistance in Al Qathafi bastions also appeared stalemated, as the fugitive's loyalists in his hometown of Sirte and the oasis of Bani Walid refused to yield.

"The announcement of a new transitional government has been postponed indefinitely in order to finalise consultations," Jibril told reporters in Benghazi.

But in an apparent effort to put on a brave face, Jibril said much has been achieved to mete out several portfolios, adding that he expected consultations on the rest to be "over quickly."

"But I believe that an essential part of these consultations was completed today."

The administration will also look into getting women and young people to play a major role in a new government as deputy ministers and directors general of ministries, he added.

Jibril, a former Al Qathafi regime official, has stood accused by some colleagues of failing to consult enough with long-standing grass roots opposition groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Jibril himself was expected to retain his post as interim premier, while Ali Tarhuni was touted to be named vice President in charge of economic affairs.

The defence portfolio was expected to go to Osama al-Juwili and oil to Abdul Rahman bin Yezza.

On the battle front, Al Qathafi diehards in his hometown Sirte and in Bani Walid stood their ground as NTC combatants tried to break their morale by preparing for a new multi-pronged advance.

NTC military spokesman Ahmed Omar Bani said he expected Al Qathafi forces in Sirte and Bani Walid to be defeated in a "matter of days," and military commanders said they had gained some ground.

"We are now 38 kilometres (23.5 miles) from Sirte," Mustafa bin Dardaf, a commander with the Zintan Brigade, told AFP on the eastern front.

"Since the morning we have taken 20-25 kilometres. Our fighters at this moment have entered the town of Sultana and are searching for Al Qathafi forces."

Earlier in the day, an AFP correspondent reported that new regime forces advancing from the east had come under steady rocket and machine-gun fire from Al Qathafi loyalists.

He reported at least 12 tanks loaded with fighters massing east of Sirte, along with dozens of pick-ups filled with with anti-aircraft guns and hundreds of combatants.

On either side of the road to Sirte, crouching fighters advanced slowly through the desert scrub.

With doctors at a field hospital reporting at least 10 killed and 40 wounded in the fighting, front line fighters and commanders gave contrasting reports of progress in Sirte.

Men on the ground acknowledged tough opposition while those in charge downplayed the resistance.

"We don't even have five percent of Sirte because we just go in and out," said one fighter, Abdul Rauf al-Mansuri.

But Bani predicted that "in a few days the situation will completely change in Sirte and Bani Walid which will be under our control."

Speaking at a news conference in Tripoli, Bani said the "geographical nature and the strong presence of snipers" in Bani Walid prevented a quick victory in the oasis, 180 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

"We managed to enter the town on the north side that we control. We have advanced towards the centre but we were attacked by snipers and mercenaries who have launched rockets from the mountains," he said.

Al Qathafi loyalists were also putting up stiff resistance in Bani Walid, an AFP correspondent said.

The new leadership's forces are trying to take new ground there, with some pushing further into the town as others gathered some six kilometres (3.7 miles) from its centre.

A commander of the NTC fighters told AFP the battle for Bani Walid resumed at midday after unrelenting clashes from midday on Saturday until early dawn.

Correspondents heard loud explosions and intermittent gunfire from inside the town, and rockets exploded near NTC positions on the outskirts.

"There is an unconfirmed number of wounded from today's fighting," Dr Mabruk Kornfan said.

Some fighters left the town with loyalist prisoners, as residents of Bani Walid fled.

"There is no electricity and no food in the town," Mohammed al-Khazmi told AFP. "There are many rebels inside fighting forces loyal to Al Qathafi, but they are meeting stiff resistance."

At least seven NTC fighters have been reported killed over the past two days in Bani Walid.

NATO has kept pounding Al Qathafi's remaining armour, saying its warplanes hit 11 targets around Sirte on Saturday, 11 targets in Al-Jufra oasis and three in Sabha in the deep south.

Africa fears al-Qaeda push after Libya war

(UPI) - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has stepped up attacks in Algeria amid growing fears that a surge of jihadists and plundered weapons from Libya threatens North African countries.

AQIM, composed mainly of hardened Algerian fighters who have fought the government since 1992, has increased the range and tempo of its attacks in Algeria's north in recent weeks.

Eighteen people, 16 of them army officers, were killed in a suicide bombing August 26 on a military academy at Cherchell, 110 miles west of Algiers.

It was the third such attack since mid-July. The last suicide attack in Algeria was July 25, 2010. Other clashes have been reported in Mali and Mauritania.

The collapse of Muammar Al Qathafi's regime in Libya, Algeria's eastern neighbour, has rung alarm bells in Algiers and other North African capitals across the Sahara and the semi-arid Sahel region to the south.

The rebel victory has triggered an influx of hundreds of Al Qathafi fighters into neighbouring states, such as Algeria, that are already grappling with armed militants and smugglers.

The return of heavily armed Tuareg tribesmen from Mali and Niger who fought for Al Qathafi until his forces were routed by NATO-backed rebels in Libya's six-month civil war threatens to destabilize impoverished states like Mali and Niger.

Both countries have battled Tuareg insurgencies over the last two decades, with many militants finding sanctuary and military employment in Libya under Al Qathafi.

Officials fear that the return of these battle-hardened mercenaries, who have historically roamed across the vast wastes of the southern Sahara, could benefit AQIM.

"The repercussions of the Libyan crisis on the Sahel region have become palpable, particularly with the arrival of large amounts of weapons and four-wheel drive vehicles and the return of armed individuals involved in the Libyan crisis," Mohamed Bazoum, foreign minister of Niger, told a terrorism conference in Algiers this week.

He called on Algeria, the major military power in the region, along with Niger, Mali and Mauritania, to deploy military forces into the desert to counter the heavily armed groups.

The two-day conference was attended by high-level delegations from France, which has Special Forces teams in the region conducting covert operations, and the United States, which is quietly boosting its presence in the region.

The US Air Force is reported to be expanding an airfield at Guelmim in the southern desert of Morocco, a longtime US ally, from which to operate Predator unmanned aerial vehicles to gather intelligence on AQIM movements.

"The United States is intent on making Morocco an operational springboard in the fight against terrorism in the region," observed the Paris Web site African Intelligence.

The regional states' efforts to counter the jihadist threat have been stymied in the past by traditional rivalries, particularly between Algeria and Morocco.

But in recent months, as AQIM has expanded its operation southward, these states have had little choice but to band together. They set up a joint operations centre at Algeria's Tamanrasset air base deep in the Sahara in September 2010.

Mali and Mauritania, aided by the French, have been particularly effective. Mali's government has set up as many as military bases in the barren north to counter the jihadist threat and this seems to have curbed AQIM activities, for now at least.

Mali and Mauritania are mounting joint operations against AQIM. In the last six weeks they claim to have killed dozens of militants in raids.

"These fierce battles have been closely watched by political and military leaders in the fragile Sahelian states most threatened by AQIM's destabilising activities and by their backers in the West, especially the United States and France," the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington think tank, observed.

"The military encounters also provided an opportunity to observe AQIM's capabilities and how they were affected by the group's alleged supply of weapons smuggled from Libya."

The European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, says AQIM has "gained access to weapons, either small arms or machineguns or certain surface-to-air missiles which are extremely dangerous."

Thousands of shoulder-fired, Soviet-designed Sa-24 anti-aircraft are unaccounted for and feared plundered by fleeing Al Qathafi fighters. If only a few fall into AQIM's hands, it gives the jihadists a powerful new weapon.

Evading capture: Al Qathafi’s French getaway car

(Russia Today) - In the latest twist in the Libyan revolt, reports suggest Colonel Al Qathafi could have fled his country in a state-of-the-art armoured vehicle provided by the French government. With President Sarkozy giving “the green light" to the deal.

Journalist and political analyst Nabila Ramdani told >i>RT the revelation is ironic, given that France – above all other NATO nations – wants to see the deposed Libyan leader captured.

“It’s a huge embarrassment for the French government, as it emerges that President Sarkozy sold in 2008 a 3.5-million-pound car to Colonel Al Qathafi which has allowed him to escape,” she said.” “It is a state-of-the-art armoured vehicle.

“It’s equipped with a commander system which allows Colonel Al Qathafi to keep in touch with his forces. But it is also equipped with an anti-tracking system which makes it impossible for NATO surveillance to pick up any signals, and indeed to locate and target the car.”

“The deal was struck in 2007 when President Sarkozy was then interior minister, before he became the president a few months later,” she added. “As soon as he became president, he received Colonel Al Qathafi himself in Paris for a five-day state visit where he gave him a tour of Paris.”

“And there was also an opportunity to strike very lucrative business deals,” Ramdani said. “President Sarkozy was hoping to sell Colonel Al Qathafi fighter jets - Rafale jets at that time - but the deal fell through when Colonel Al Qathafi was able to buy those jets from Russia instead.

“But nonetheless, President Sarkozy was able to sell him this armoured Mercedes 4x4 as part of the deal.”

The revelations come in the wake of a triumphant visit recently by Sarkozy to Libya, where he was very much depicted in the French press as the liberator of Libya, added Ramdani.

But it was not just France. These are hugely embarrassing revelations for Western countries involved in this military campaign in Libya as well.

“New revelations have come out, as well, making it clear that Tony Blair was very close indeed to Al Qathafi,” she added.

“Extraordinary revelations came out showing that MI6, which is the British intelligence service, were very helpful in handing over political dissidents based in the UK to Colonel Al Qathafi to basically get tortured back home.”

“And to look at it, it is very hard to believe that they are getting involved militarily out of the goodness of their hearts,” she concluded.

Morgan Strong
Contributing Editor, New York

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