Qaddafi gangs sow terror in Libyan capital
Published: Feb 27, 2011 00:14 Updated: Feb 27, 2011 01:53
TRIPOLI: Loyalists were handed guns in Tripoli Saturday as longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi made good his threat of setting Libyan against Libyan.
There were reports of fighting in some areas of Tripoli and cities around the capital, as much of the eastern part of the country remained in the hands of opposition forces. Residents said at least two more cities had fallen to opposition forces.
The UN Security Council began a meeting to consider an arms embargo on Libya and assets freeze against Qaddafi’s relatives.
A doctor in Misrata contacted by Arab News said that the city, 210 km east of Tripoli, was completely in the hands of the opposition and was now quiet. Shops and pharmacies had reopened. There was, however, shortage of medicine in the main hospital.
There had been fighting at the airport to the south of the city on Friday evening and 25 demonstrators had been killed by Qaddafi’s military but it now only held on to a small part of the airport. The runway was in the hands of the opposition but it was not being used because of the danger from the pocket of Qaddafi forces holed up in the airport.
Misrata port, the doctor said, was now under opposition control and vessels from Italy and Malta had docked and were evacuating foreigners, including Italians, Maltese and Chinese.
He also said that the city of Homs, 100 km east of Tripoli, was now under opposition control. However, the town of Zliten, half way between Misrata and Homs was still in Qaddafi’s hands.
The opposition also had complete control of Sabratha, a town west of Tripoli famed for ancient Roman ruins, with no police or any security forces associated with the Qaddafi regime, said Khalid Ahmed, a resident. He added that tribes were trying to organize a march on Tripoli.
Opposition forces captured a brigadier general and a soldier Saturday as the Libyan Army tried to retake an airbase east of Tripoli. The state-run news agency also said the opposition held an air defense commander and several other officers.
In Tripoli, residents of its eastern Tajoura district spread concrete blocks, large rocks and even chopped-down palm trees as makeshift barricades to prevent SUVs filled with young men wielding automatic weapons from entering their neighborhood.
Most residents stayed home, terrified of bands of armed men at checkpoints and patrolling the city. A 40-year-old business owner said he had seen Qaddafi supporters enter one of the regime’s Revolutionary Committee headquarters Saturday and leave with arms. He said the regime is offering a car and money to any supporter bringing three people with him to join the effort. “Someone from the old revolutionary committees will go with them so they’ll be four,” the witness said when reached by telephone.
Qaddafi’s son, Seif Al-Islam, told foreign journalists invited by the government to Tripoli that there were no casualties in Tripoli and that the capital was “calm.” “Everything is peaceful.”
He said the regime wants negotiations with the opposition and said there were “two minor problems” in Misrata and Zawiya. There, he said, “we are dealing with terrorists.” He dismissed with contempt allegations his father has deployed foreign mercenaries to fight the protesters.
The international community toughened its response to the bloodshed.
The UN Security Council began deliberations to consider an arms embargo against the Libyan government and a travel ban and asset freeze against Qaddafi, his relatives and key members of his government. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said some estimates indicate more than 1,000 people have been killed in less than two weeks since the protests broke out in Libya.
Turkey’s prime minister urged the United Nations not to impose sanctions on Libya, warning that the Libyan people would suffer most, not Qaddafi’s regime.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also suggested the international community might be acting more out of concern about Libya’s oil reserves than about the welfare of the country’s people.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday freezing assets held by Qaddafi and four of his children in the United States. The Treasury Department said the sanctions against Qaddafi, three of his sons and a daughter also apply to the Libyan government.
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Feb 27, 2011 14:53
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