Libya: World Urges Gaddafi To Surrender (LIVE UPDATES)
PARIS -- World leaders said Monday the end is near for Moammar Gadhafi's regime and began planning for Libya's future without the man who has held power there for 42 years.
Across Europe, premiers welcomed the rebels' dramatic advances in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after six months of fighting, and urged Gadhafi to surrender and avoid a bloodbath. Hundreds of Libyans living abroad celebrated in the streets, taking over embassies, burning images of the Libyan strongman and hoisting rebel flags.
Egypt and Jordan recognized the rebel National Transitional Council as the sole representative of Libya's people.
Though Gadhafi's whereabouts were not known, leaders were setting the stage for new leadership there.
Britain said its frozen Libyan assets would soon be released to help the country's rebels establish order; France announced plans for an international meeting next week; and Italy sent a team to the rebels' base of Benghazi, Libya, to help plan reconstruction and the restoration of oil and natural gas production.
"The time is up. There is no alternative to surrendering and handing himself in to justice," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said of Gadhafi on Monday.
"His regime is falling apart and in full retreat. Gadhafi must stop fighting, without conditions," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in London. He vowed that Britain and others would now assist Libya's "effective transition to a free, democratic and inclusive" nation.
Cameron said British diplomats would move from Benghazi in the east to Tripoli as soon as it was safe to do so. Crucially, he announced that Britain, which has frozen about 12 billion pounds ($20 billion) of Libyan assets, will soon release the funds.
Germany announced similar plans once the Gadhafi regime is gone. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that about euro7 billion ($10.1 billion) is frozen in Germany and that the money could be used to help rebuild Libya. "The Libyan people are entitled to this money," he said.
France said the "contact group" of international powers involved in stabilizing Libya would meet next week in Paris. French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited Libya's opposition leader to come to Paris for the talks, his office said.
France and Britain, backed by the United States, have spearheaded the NATO-led air campaign that began under a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for the protection of civilians.
British Defense Secretary Liam Fox told BBC radio that resistance to Libyan rebels was coming mainly from foreign mercenaries, rather than Libyans still loyal to Gadhafi.
"Pockets of resistance remain and there is a certain amount of violence still occurring. We also know that a lot of the resistance from the pro-Gadhafi forces has in fact come from mercenary elements," Fox said.
Fox confirmed that NATO's mission in Libya would continue for the time being.
"NATO will continue with its overwatch, and while we have stopped bombing operations at the present time, we would be able to respond to any threat to the civilian population or to NATO forces themselves," he said.
Portugal's Foreign Ministry urged the rebel National Transitional Council to embark on "a process of national reconciliation, with a peaceful transition to democracy."
In Brussels, the European Union vowed in a statement to "keep supporting the country in its democratic transition and economic reconstruction, based on social justice, inclusiveness and territorial integrity." The EU has given euro150 million ($215 million) in humanitarian aid to Libya during the civil war, and in May, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton extended de-facto recognition to the rebels' council by opening a diplomatic office in Benghazi.
Egypt, which shares its western border with Libya and is just months out of its own pro-democracy revolt, formally recognized the National Transitional Council as the sole representative of the Libyan people.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr announced that at a joint news conference in Cairo with the council's representative to the Arab League, Abdel-Moneim al-Huni.
Hundreds of people celebrated the advance of rebel troops into Tripoli early Monday by staging a rally in front of the Libyan embassy in Cairo. In the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria, residents pulled down the green Libyan flag from a consulate building and replaced it with the rebel tricolor flag.
Jordan, a strong Arab ally of the U.S. and one of the first countries to recognize the rebels' council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, said any transition should lay the foundations for a "new democratic regime." Jordan's top diplomat Nasser Judeh said his country "hopes for a swift and peaceful transition of power," according to the official Petra news agency.
But leaders also cautioned against the risk of escalating violence as a desperate Gadhafi might try to cling to power. Instead, they said, Gadhafi should face justice and turn himself in to the International Criminal Court.
The court has indicted Gadhafi on charges of crime against humanity, along with one of his sons, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, and Libya's intelligence chief. Seif Gadhafi has been arrested by rebel forces, while another one of Gadhafi's sons is under house arrest.
"There's a great risk that the violence will escalate," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told Swedish news agency TT. "It's a very dangerous situation with various militia groups of young, angry men on the loose and armed with weapons. It would be best if the regime simply surrenders and we get a cease-fire and rid of the weapons."
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy - once Libya's colonial ruler, then a strong Gadhafi ally and finally a somewhat reluctant participant in the NATO operation - urged the rebels "to abstain from any violence."
Frattini said there was no longer room for mediation, including allowing Gadhafi to go into exile or remain in Libya but relinquish power, as had been suggested at various points as diplomats sought ways to get out of what appeared to be a military stalemate.
South Africa - which has criticized the NATO bombing and led failed African Union efforts to mediate between the rebels and Gadhafi - insisted it had sent no planes to Libya to evacuate Gadhafi. It said it had received no request from him for asylum, and was involved in no efforts to extricate him.
"I'm quite amazed that there's even an insinuation that we are facilitating evacuation of anyone," said Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane. She said that "for sure, he will not ask to come here" and noted that South Africa is an International Criminal Court member - suggesting that South Africa would have to arrest Gadhafi if he arrived there.
The government of Malta, a tiny Mediterranean island close to north Africa, has also denied reports that Gadhafi is headed there.
On Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged Gadhafi to accept reality and relinquish power. "The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple: Moammar Gadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end," the president said.
Outside of the country, Libyan expatriates celebrated what they felt was already the end of the regime.
In Ankara, the Turkish capital, dozens of Libyans flocked to the embassy to celebrate the rebels' seizing much of Tripoli. They removed the Gadhafi regime's green flag from a mast and replaced it with the rebels' tricolor one.
Dozens of Libyans living in Greece entered the Libyan embassy, consulate and school buildings in Athens, draping a large rebel flag from the balconies of the school, and also throwing hundreds of posters of Gadhafi into the consulate courtyard and ripping them up. Similar scenes occurred in Bosnia and in Malta.
Al Jazeera has exclusive video of Libyan rebels ambushing Gaddafi loyalists at a checkpoint. According to the news outlet, "this Al Jazeera Exclusive footage gives an inside view of the struggle as the fighters push towards Sirte, the last stronghold of Gaddafi."
Video below (via Al Jazeera):
CNN reports:
Muneer Masoud Own, 33, who made a living doing manual labor, said forces loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi slaughtered nearly 150 prisoners as rebels closed in on Tripoli last week.Charred bodies littered the ground around a warehouse -- roughly 30 feet by 45 feet -- where the detainees were kept. A volunteer who helped remove them, Bashir Own, estimated that he had seen about 150 bodies. He is not related to Muneer Own, who said he barely escaped an ordeal that started about a month ago.
Dozens of Libyans perform the last late afternoon prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at Freedom Square in the eastern Libyan port city of Benghazi on August 29, 2011.
Libya rebels claim to have "almost certain information" that Gaddafi's intelligence chief was killed.
| @ Reuters : FLASH: Libya rebels have "almost certain information" that Gaddafi intelligence chief killed on Sat. -Spokesman tells al-Arabiya TV |
Al Jazeera's James Bays filed a dazzling report from Libya on the situation of African migrants in the embattled country. Migrants claim to be assaulted and are locked up in prisons until rebel fighters made sure they did not work as mercenaries for the Gaddafi regime.
Watch Bays' report here:
The rebel commander in Tripoli Al Mahdi Al Haraqi told Reuters that he had confirmation that Khamis Gaddafi has been killed in a clash near Ben Walid.
Reuters writes:
He was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds and was buried in the area, Al-Haragi said, without giving the timing. No independent confirmation of the death was available.A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the United States could not yet independently confirm Khamis' death but said similar information was being received in Washington from "reliable sources."
Rebels claimed twice before Khamis Gaddafi was killed.
Libya's National Transitional Council reacted strongly on the message that relatives of Gaddafi would have arrived in Algeria, Reuters reports.
A spokesperson for the NTC said it considers sheltering members of Gaddafi's family an act of aggression.
"We have promised to provide a just trial to all those criminals and therefore we consider this an act of aggression," spokesman Mahmoud Shamman told Reuters.
"We are warning anybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them in any place to find them and arrest them," he said.
A rebel commander in Tripoli claims Gaddafi's son Khamis has been killed in clashes in southern Libya.
Khamis was claimed killed twice before.
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| @ Reuters : FLASH: Gaddafi's son Khamis killed in clashes in southern Libya -Rebel commander in Tripoli |
AFP reports Italian energy company ENI reached an agreement with the Libyan National Transitional Council to take up gas supplies to Italy.
Libyan rebels they seek the extradition of Gaddafi's family members who fled to Algeria.
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| @ Reuters : FLASH: Libya rebels say will seek extradition of Gaddafi family from Algeria |
Rebel commanders say Khamis Gaddafi, one of Colonel Gaddafi's most feared sons, has been killed in an air strike south of Tripoli.
Algeria confirms two of Gaddafi's sons, his daughter Aicha and his wife are in the country.
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| @ Reuters : FLASH: Algeria confirms two of Gaddafi's sons, wife and daughter are in the country - Al-Jazeera TV |
Reuters reports Khamis Gaddafi, the Colonel's infamous ... son, may be next to be places on the ICC's most wanted list. The International Criminal Court earlier approved warrants for Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam.
ICC prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo told Reuters in an interview that "Khamis should also be prosecuted because Khamis was the commander of the brigade that was more active on some of the crimes."
Official reportedly confirm three of Gaddafi's sons, his daughter and wife have arrived in Algeria.
From the Associated Press:
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The chairman of the African Union says Libyan rebels may be indiscriminately killing black people in Libya because they have confused innocent migrant workers with mercenaries.Chairman Jean Ping told reporters Monday that this is one of the reasons the AU is refusing to recognize the National Transitional Council as the country's interim government.
He said "We need clarification because the NTC seems to confuse black people with mercenaries .... They are killing normal workers."
Libya's rebel National Transitional Council appears to have secured Libya's capital after a week of fierce fighting with loyalists to Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
He said there was no doubt the council now controlled the capital city and called on both sides to "stop the killing."
Libyan rebels captured Gaddafi's personal 'Afriqiyah Airbus' in Tripoli.
Libyan rebels leave Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's 'Afriqiyah One' Airbus A340 plane at Tripoli airport on August 29, 2011.
The tribe of Abdel Fattah Younes said it will take justice into their own hands if rebel leaders do not identify the commander's killers, Reuters reports. "After Eid, that is the final deadline," Tarek, one of Younes' sons said in an interview with Reuters.
Abdel Fattah Younes was killed on July 28 after he was summoned by rebel leaders for questioning. Libyan authorities identified two people who allegedly carried out the assassination, but head of the NTC Mustafa Abdel Jalil had told reporters on Wednesday the suspected killers would be arrested "when the higher interests of this revolution will not be damaged."
Al Jazeera reporters in Tripoli said rebels have surrounded Gaddafi's hometown Sirte. The main push in the battle for Sirte is expected to come from the east, the channel reports.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reported from the eastern front near Sirte that rebels are holding off attacks, as they want to give tribal leaders in the city time to negotiations.
Andrew Simons, on the western front near the city, reported small fights between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists.
On Monday, NATO intensified airstrikes on Sirte.
The rebel flag waving over the Libyan embassy in Moscow.
A leaked United Nations report proposes elections in Libya within nine months, Al Jazeera reports. The UN would be looking to send a small contingent of 'Blue Barrets' to the country, if requested by the Libyan authorities and authorized by the Security Council.
"If requested by the Libyans and authorized by the Council, the UN could contribute to confidence-building and to the implementation of agreed military tasks, through unarmed UN military observer (UNMOs)," Al Jazeera quotes the document.
Read more on Al Jazeera.
France reopened its embassy in Libya, a spokesperson for the French foreign ministry said. France had closed the embassy six months ago.
Libyan rebels asked NATO to keep up pressure on the Gaddafi regime. The Associated Press reports NTC head Mustafa Abdul Jalil told a NATO delegation that former regime supporters who are now in hiding could still cause trouble.
"Gaddafi is still capable is doing something awful in the last moments," Abdul-Jalil said.
Tyler Hicks, photographer for the New York Times, found what seems to be a photo album from the Gaddafi family.
Watch the album on the NYTimes Lens Blog Website
Internet has returned in many areas in Tripoli.
| @ feb17voices : LPC #Tripoli: Internet has returned in many areas of the city. #Libya |
CNN correspondent in Libya Nic Robertson reports the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al Megrahi, is comatose and nearing death.
Read Robertson's full report on the CNN website.
The National Transitional Council announced earlier it will not extradite the Libyan.
CNN's report contradicts statements made earlier by a cancer specialist, who said Abdel Basset al Megrahi was in good health and could live for years.
Libya's National Transitional Council will not extradite the Lockerbie bomber
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| @ Reuters : Minister in National Transitional Council says Libya will not extradite Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi |
An Iranian newspaper wrote on Sunday that foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi claimed Iran "discreetly" provided humanitarian aid to rebels in Libya.
According to AFP the minister told the newspaper that Iran was "in touch with many of the rebel groups in Libya before the fall of (Moamer) Gaddafi, and discreetly dispatched three or four food and medical consignments to Benghazi."
The minister also said the head of the NTC sent a letter to Teheran, thanking Iranian president Ahmedinejad for his help.
AFP reports Libyan rebels have freed more than 10,000 prisoners since they captured Tripoli. 50,000 prisoners would still be missing.
Ahmed Omar Bani, a spokesperson for the rebels, told reporters during a press conference that between 57,000 and 60,000 people have been arrested over the past months.
Libyan rebels declined an offer by Muammar Gaddafi to negotiate, saying they do not recognize him and are looking for Gaddafi as a criminal.
On Saturday, a spokesman for Gaddafi had offered the rebels by phone to start talks lead by Gaddafi's son Saadi.
Mahmoud Shamman, the NTC's information minister said in a news conference:
"I would like to state very clearly, we don't recognize them. We are looking at them as criminals. We are going to arrest them very soon .. Talking about negotiations is a daydream for what remains of the dictatorship."
Al Jazeera English has more on the latest overtures from the Gaddafi camp:
Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesperson for Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly told the Associated Press news agency that the Libyan leader is ready to negotiate with the rebels to form a transitional government.Ibrahim called AP headquarters in New York late on Saturday, and told them he was calling from Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and that Gaddafi was still in Libya.
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AP/The Huffington Post GREG KELLER and ALESSANDRA RIZZO First Posted: 08/22/11 08:01 AM ET Updated: 10/22/11 06:12 AM ET