Gadhafi forces strike back at Libya uprising
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AP – Libyan citizens stand atop a destroyed armored vehicle at Al-Katiba military base, in Benghazi, Libya, … BENGHAZI, Libya – Foreign mercenaries and Libyan militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi tried to roll back the uprising against his rule that has advanced closer to his stronghold in Tripoli, attacking two nearby cities in battles that killed at least 17 people. But rebels made new gains, seizing a military air base, as Gadhafi blamed Osama bin Laden for the upheaval.
The worse bloodshed was in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the capital Tripoli. An army unit loyal to Gadhafi opened fire with automatic weapons on a mosque where residents — some armed with hunting rifles for protection — have been holding a sit-in to support protesters in the capital, a witness said.
The troops blasted the mosque's minaret with an anti-aircraft gun. A doctor at a field clinic set up at the mosque said he saw the bodies of 10 dead, shot in the head and chest, as well as around 150 wounded. A Libyan news website, Qureyna, put the death toll at 23 and said many of the wounded could not reach hospitals because of shooting by "security forces and mercenaries."
A day earlier, an envoy from Gadhafi had come to the city from Tripoli and warned the protesters: "Either leave or you will see a massacre," the witness said. On Tuesday night, Gadhafi himself called on his supporters to hunt down opponents in their homes.
Zawiya, a key city close to an oil port and refineries, is the nearest population center to Tripoli to fall into the hands of the anti-Gadhafi rebellion that began Feb. 15. Hundreds have died in the unrest.
Most of the eastern half of Libya has already broken away, and diplomats, ministers and even a high-ranking cousin have abandoned Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for 41 years. He is still believed to be firmly in control only of the capital, some towns around it, the far desert south and parts of Libya's sparsely populated center.
Gadhafi's crackdown has been the harshest by any Arab leader in the wave of protests that has swept the Middle East the past month, toppling the presidents of Libya's neighbors — Egypt and Tunisia. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll in Libya at nearly 300, according to a partial count. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed were "credible."
He blamed the revolt on bin Laden and teenagers hopped up on hallucinogenic pills given to them "in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe."
"Shame on you, people of Zawiya, control your children," he said, addressing residents of the city outside Tripoli where the mosque attack took place. "They are loyal to bin Laden," he said of those involved in the uprising. "What do you have to do with bin Laden, people of Zawiya? They are exploiting young people ... I insist it is bin Laden."
Gadhafi quickly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden masterminded, saying: "We have never seen such a horrific and terrifying act performed in such a exhibitionist manner." He cracked down on his country's Muslim militants, including those linked to al-Qaida. But in 2009, he said bin Laden had shown signs that he is open to dialogue and recommended that President Barack Obama seek an opening with the terrorist leader.
Thousands massed in Zawiya's main Martyrs Square by the Souq Mosque after the attack, shouting for Gadhafi to "leave, leave," the witness said. "People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death or your bullets," he said.
In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who is one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's bloody crackdown, denouncing what he called "grave violations to human rights and human and international laws."
Gadhaf al-Dam is one of the highest level defections to hit the regime so far, after many ambassadors around the world, the justice minister and the interior minister all sided with the protesters. Gadhaf al-Dam belonged to Gadhafi's inner circle, served as his liaison with Egypt and frequently appeared by his side.
The regime's other attempt to take back lost territory came east of Tripoli. Pro-Gadhafi militiamen — a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries — assaulted a small airport outside Libya's third largest city, Misrata, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the capital.
Militiamen with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars barraged a line of government opponents who were guarding the airport, some armed with rifles, said one of the rebels who was involved in the battle.
During the fighting, the airport's defenders seized an anti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them, he said.
At the same time, officers from an air force school near the airport mutinied and, along with residents, overwhelmed an adjacent military air base where Gadhafi loyalists were holed up, a medical official at the base said. The air force personnel disabled fighter jets at the base to prevent them from being used against the uprising, he said.
The medical official said seven people were killed in the fighting at the airport — six from the opposition camp and one from the attackers — and 50 were wounded, including a six-year-old girl and her 11-year-old sister.
"Now Misrata is totally under control of the people, but we are worried because we are squeezed between Sirte and Tripoli, which are strongholds of Gadhafi," he said.
The doctor, medical officials and witnesses around Libya spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Gadhafi's crackdown has so far helped him maintain control of Tripoli, home to about a third of Libya's 6 million population. But the uprising has divided the country and raised the specter of civil war.
In cities across the east, anti-Gadhafi forces rose up and overwhelmed government buildings and army bases, joined in many cases by local army units that defected. In those cities, tribal leaders, residents and military officers have formed local administrations, passing out weapons looted from the security forces' arsenals.
They now control a swath of territory from the Egyptian border in the east, across nearly half Libya's 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) Mediterranean coast to the key oil port of Breqa, about 440 miles (710 kilometers) east of Tripoli.
Libyan Parliament Speaker Mohammed Abul-Qassim al-Zwai, asked whether the government planned to send relief to the rebel-controlled east, told reporters in Tripoli: "We cannot supply these areas because they are chaotic. Police stations have been attacked."
International momentum has been building for action to punish Gadhafi's regime for the bloodshed.
The Swiss government on Thursday ordered a freeze of any assets in Switzerland belonging to Gadhafi. The European Union pushed for Libya to be suspended from the U.N.'s top human rights body over possible crimes against humanity and for the U.N. Security Council to approve a probe into "gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities."
Obama said Wednesday that the crackdown "is outrageous and it is unacceptable," and he directed his administration to prepare a full range of options, including possible sanctions that could freeze the assets and ban travel to the U.S. by Libyan officials.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the possibility of the European Union cutting off economic ties.
A number of Arab regimes, concerned about the unrest, have taken pre-emptive measures to try to head off the type of mass uprisings that swept through Egypt and Tunisia and now, Libya.
Algeria, another North African Arab state, on Thursday officially lifted a state of emergency in place for the past 19 years. The decision to do away with the restrictive measure has long been demanded by opposition parties and civil society and it comes amid a flurry of strikes and protests in a wide range of sectors — clearly a gesture aimed at restoring a measure of calm.
In Libya, Tripoli saw an outbreak of major protests against Gadhafi's rule earlier this week, met with attacks by militiamen who shot protesters on sight and killed dozens. One morning earlier in the week, residents awoke and reported bodies littering the streets in some neighborhoods.
Pro-Gadhafi militiamen — a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries — have clamped down on the city since the Libyan leader went on state TV Tuesday night and called on his supporters to take back the streets. Residents say militiamen roam Tripoli's main avenues, firing the air, while neighborhood watch groups have barricaded side streets trying to keep the fighters out and protesters lay low.
At the same time, regular security forces have launched raids on homes around the city. A resident in the Ben Ashour neighborhood said a number of SUVs full of armed men swept into his district Wednesday night, broke into his neighbor's home and dragged out a family friend as women in the house screamed. He said other similar raids had taken place on Thursday in other districts.
"Now is the time of secret terror and secret arrests. They are going to go home to home and liquidate opponents that way, and impose his (Gadhafi's) control on Tripoli," said the witness.
Another Tripoli resident said armed militiamen had entered a hospital, searching for government rivals among the injured. He said a friend's relative being treated there escaped only because doctors hid him.
A witness in Tripoli told the AP after touring the capital that security around the city has been relaxed except for two locations that are very heavily guarded. The state TV and radio building was surround by dozens of heavily armed soldiers and several vehicles with heavy machine guns as well as the road leading to Gadhafi's residence. A number of residents have reported that the army deployed tanks Wednesday in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura.
Gadhafi and his son, Seif al-Islam, have gone on state television over the past few days to try to portray the uprising as a choice between the order of the old regime or chaos, civil war and "rivers of blood" that could destroy the country's oil wealth.
In his call to state TV, Gadhafi alternated between bitterly lashing out at Zawiya's residents — and by extension others in the population — for being ungrateful and telling them to control what he depicted as an uprising by misguided teenagers.
"If you want to destroy (the country), it's your problem," he said. "If you want to live in this chaos, you are free."
"You should go out and stop the young people who are carrying RPGs and rifles," he said. "If the men are afraid let the women go out."
Earlier Thursday, Libyan TV showed Egyptian passports, CDs and cell phones purportedly belonging to detainees who had allegedly confessed to plotting "terrorist" operations against the Libyan people. Other footage showed a dozen men lying on the ground, with their faces down, blindfolded and handcuffed. Rifles and guns were laid out next to them.
Those who have joined the uprising dismissed his claim that it was led by al-Qaida.
"These are all lies," said Gadhafi's former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who has sided with the opposition. "There are no al-Qaida, no terrorist organizations."
In eastern, opposition-held Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, a prominent protest organizer who works closely with the administration now running the city, said his camp was "trying to fight the propaganda that the regime is trying to send all over the world, that we are calling an independent state in the state or that we are calling for an Islamic state."
The parliament speaker, al-Zwai, held out some concessions to the opposition, saying an investigative committee will be formed to look into the unrest and work will begin soon to draft a constitution. He also spoke about reforms such as giving salaries to the unemployed and soft loans to others.
____
El Deeb reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maggie Michael and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
THE HOUR HAS COME: LEADER GADHAFI MUST GO NOW...
The worse bloodshed was in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the capital Tripoli. An army unit loyal to Gadhafi opened fire with automatic weapons on a mosque where residents — some armed with hunting rifles for protection — have been holding a sit-in to support protesters in the capital, a witness said.
The troops blasted the mosque's minaret with an anti-aircraft gun. A doctor at a field clinic set up at the mosque said he saw the bodies of 10 dead, shot in the head and chest, as well as around 150 wounded. A Libyan news website, Qureyna, put the death toll at 23 and said many of the wounded could not reach hospitals because of shooting by "security forces and mercenaries."
A day earlier, an envoy from Gadhafi had come to the city from Tripoli and warned the protesters: "Either leave or you will see a massacre," the witness said. On Tuesday night, Gadhafi himself called on his supporters to hunt down opponents in their homes.
Zawiya, a key city close to an oil port and refineries, is the nearest population center to Tripoli to fall into the hands of the anti-Gadhafi rebellion that began Feb. 15. Hundreds have died in the unrest.
Most of the eastern half of Libya has already broken away, and diplomats, ministers and even a high-ranking cousin have abandoned Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for 41 years. He is still believed to be firmly in control only of the capital, some towns around it, the far desert south and parts of Libya's sparsely populated center.
Gadhafi's crackdown has been the harshest by any Arab leader in the wave of protests that has swept the Middle East the past month, toppling the presidents of Libya's neighbors — Egypt and Tunisia. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll in Libya at nearly 300, according to a partial count. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed were "credible."
The upheaval in the OPEC nation has taken most of Libya's oil production of 1.6 million barrels a day off the market, and crude prices have jumped 20 percent to two-year highs in just a week — reaching $99.77 per barrel in afternoon trading in New York and $114.20 in London on Thursday. Most of the oil goes to Europe.
Hours after the attack in Zawiya, Gadhafi called in to state TV and in a rambling speech expressed condolences for the dead but then angrily scolded the city's residents for siding with the uprising.
He blamed the revolt on bin Laden and teenagers hopped up on hallucinogenic pills given to them "in their coffee with milk, like Nescafe."
"Shame on you, people of Zawiya, control your children," he said, addressing residents of the city outside Tripoli where the mosque attack took place. "They are loyal to bin Laden," he said of those involved in the uprising. "What do you have to do with bin Laden, people of Zawiya? They are exploiting young people ... I insist it is bin Laden."
Gadhafi quickly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks that bin Laden masterminded, saying: "We have never seen such a horrific and terrifying act performed in such a exhibitionist manner." He cracked down on his country's Muslim militants, including those linked to al-Qaida. But in 2009, he said bin Laden had shown signs that he is open to dialogue and recommended that President Barack Obama seek an opening with the terrorist leader.
Thousands massed in Zawiya's main Martyrs Square by the Souq Mosque after the attack, shouting for Gadhafi to "leave, leave," the witness said. "People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death or your bullets," he said.
In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who is one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's bloody crackdown, denouncing what he called "grave violations to human rights and human and international laws."
Gadhaf al-Dam is one of the highest level defections to hit the regime so far, after many ambassadors around the world, the justice minister and the interior minister all sided with the protesters. Gadhaf al-Dam belonged to Gadhafi's inner circle, served as his liaison with Egypt and frequently appeared by his side.
The regime's other attempt to take back lost territory came east of Tripoli. Pro-Gadhafi militiamen — a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries — assaulted a small airport outside Libya's third largest city, Misrata, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the capital.
Militiamen with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars barraged a line of government opponents who were guarding the airport, some armed with rifles, said one of the rebels who was involved in the battle.
During the fighting, the airport's defenders seized an anti-aircraft gun used by the militias and turned it against them, he said.
At the same time, officers from an air force school near the airport mutinied and, along with residents, overwhelmed an adjacent military air base where Gadhafi loyalists were holed up, a medical official at the base said. The air force personnel disabled fighter jets at the base to prevent them from being used against the uprising, he said.
The medical official said seven people were killed in the fighting at the airport — six from the opposition camp and one from the attackers — and 50 were wounded, including a six-year-old girl and her 11-year-old sister.
"Now Misrata is totally under control of the people, but we are worried because we are squeezed between Sirte and Tripoli, which are strongholds of Gadhafi," he said.
The doctor, medical officials and witnesses around Libya spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Gadhafi's crackdown has so far helped him maintain control of Tripoli, home to about a third of Libya's 6 million population. But the uprising has divided the country and raised the specter of civil war.
In cities across the east, anti-Gadhafi forces rose up and overwhelmed government buildings and army bases, joined in many cases by local army units that defected. In those cities, tribal leaders, residents and military officers have formed local administrations, passing out weapons looted from the security forces' arsenals.
They now control a swath of territory from the Egyptian border in the east, across nearly half Libya's 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) Mediterranean coast to the key oil port of Breqa, about 440 miles (710 kilometers) east of Tripoli.
Libyan Parliament Speaker Mohammed Abul-Qassim al-Zwai, asked whether the government planned to send relief to the rebel-controlled east, told reporters in Tripoli: "We cannot supply these areas because they are chaotic. Police stations have been attacked."
International momentum has been building for action to punish Gadhafi's regime for the bloodshed.
The Swiss government on Thursday ordered a freeze of any assets in Switzerland belonging to Gadhafi. The European Union pushed for Libya to be suspended from the U.N.'s top human rights body over possible crimes against humanity and for the U.N. Security Council to approve a probe into "gross and systematic violations of human rights by the Libyan authorities."
Obama said Wednesday that the crackdown "is outrageous and it is unacceptable," and he directed his administration to prepare a full range of options, including possible sanctions that could freeze the assets and ban travel to the U.S. by Libyan officials.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy raised the possibility of the European Union cutting off economic ties.
A number of Arab regimes, concerned about the unrest, have taken pre-emptive measures to try to head off the type of mass uprisings that swept through Egypt and Tunisia and now, Libya.
Algeria, another North African Arab state, on Thursday officially lifted a state of emergency in place for the past 19 years. The decision to do away with the restrictive measure has long been demanded by opposition parties and civil society and it comes amid a flurry of strikes and protests in a wide range of sectors — clearly a gesture aimed at restoring a measure of calm.
In Libya, Tripoli saw an outbreak of major protests against Gadhafi's rule earlier this week, met with attacks by militiamen who shot protesters on sight and killed dozens. One morning earlier in the week, residents awoke and reported bodies littering the streets in some neighborhoods.
Pro-Gadhafi militiamen — a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries — have clamped down on the city since the Libyan leader went on state TV Tuesday night and called on his supporters to take back the streets. Residents say militiamen roam Tripoli's main avenues, firing the air, while neighborhood watch groups have barricaded side streets trying to keep the fighters out and protesters lay low.
At the same time, regular security forces have launched raids on homes around the city. A resident in the Ben Ashour neighborhood said a number of SUVs full of armed men swept into his district Wednesday night, broke into his neighbor's home and dragged out a family friend as women in the house screamed. He said other similar raids had taken place on Thursday in other districts.
"Now is the time of secret terror and secret arrests. They are going to go home to home and liquidate opponents that way, and impose his (Gadhafi's) control on Tripoli," said the witness.
Another Tripoli resident said armed militiamen had entered a hospital, searching for government rivals among the injured. He said a friend's relative being treated there escaped only because doctors hid him.
A witness in Tripoli told the AP after touring the capital that security around the city has been relaxed except for two locations that are very heavily guarded. The state TV and radio building was surround by dozens of heavily armed soldiers and several vehicles with heavy machine guns as well as the road leading to Gadhafi's residence. A number of residents have reported that the army deployed tanks Wednesday in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura.
Gadhafi and his son, Seif al-Islam, have gone on state television over the past few days to try to portray the uprising as a choice between the order of the old regime or chaos, civil war and "rivers of blood" that could destroy the country's oil wealth.
In his call to state TV, Gadhafi alternated between bitterly lashing out at Zawiya's residents — and by extension others in the population — for being ungrateful and telling them to control what he depicted as an uprising by misguided teenagers.
"If you want to destroy (the country), it's your problem," he said. "If you want to live in this chaos, you are free."
"You should go out and stop the young people who are carrying RPGs and rifles," he said. "If the men are afraid let the women go out."
Earlier Thursday, Libyan TV showed Egyptian passports, CDs and cell phones purportedly belonging to detainees who had allegedly confessed to plotting "terrorist" operations against the Libyan people. Other footage showed a dozen men lying on the ground, with their faces down, blindfolded and handcuffed. Rifles and guns were laid out next to them.
Those who have joined the uprising dismissed his claim that it was led by al-Qaida.
"These are all lies," said Gadhafi's former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who has sided with the opposition. "There are no al-Qaida, no terrorist organizations."
In eastern, opposition-held Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, a prominent protest organizer who works closely with the administration now running the city, said his camp was "trying to fight the propaganda that the regime is trying to send all over the world, that we are calling an independent state in the state or that we are calling for an Islamic state."
The parliament speaker, al-Zwai, held out some concessions to the opposition, saying an investigative committee will be formed to look into the unrest and work will begin soon to draft a constitution. He also spoke about reforms such as giving salaries to the unemployed and soft loans to others.
____
El Deeb reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maggie Michael and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
THE HOUR HAS COME: LEADER GADHAFI MUST GO NOW...
EN DIRECT: L'insurrection se poursuit en Libye
TRIPOLI (AFP) - 24.02.2011 20:46
Les opposants à Kadhafi, déjà maîtres de l'est de la Libye, gagnent aussi du terrain à l'ouest : Zouara (120 kms à l'ouest de Tripoli) est désertée par la police et les militaires, selon des réfugiés arrivés à la frontière tunisienne.
Des habitants de Benghazi, deuxième ville de Libye, aux mains des insurgés, font le V de la victoire, le 24 février 2011
Les opposants à Kadhafi, déjà maîtres de l'est de la Libye, gagnent aussi du terrain à l'ouest : Zouara (120 kms à l'ouest de Tripoli) est désertée par la police et les militaires, selon des réfugiés arrivés à la frontière tunisienne.
AFP - Gianluigi Guercia
Des Libyens devant le tribunal de Tobrouk, ville de l'est du pays tombée aux mains des opposants à Kadhafi, le 24 février 2011
EN DIRECT: Le dirigeant libyen Mouammar Kadhafi a accusé jeudi les insurgés, maîtres de l'est de la Libye, d'être des "drogués" et de servir les intérêts d'Al-Qaïda, alors que la communauté internationale craint une catastrophe humanitaire dans la foulée de l'exode des Libyens.
AFP - Gianluigi Guercia
Capture d'écran lors d'un discours de Mouammar Kadhafi à la télévision officielle libyenne, le 22 février 2011
Le colonel Kadhafi affirme de nouveau que les manifestants impliqués dans les violences prennent de la drogue distribuée par des "agents de l'étranger". La télévision indique dans un bandeau que "le Guide de la révolution parle aux famille de Zawiyah", une ville située à l'ouest de Tripoli. Kadhafi présente ses "condoléances aux familles de quatre membres des forces de sécurité tuées" à Zawiyah.
LIBYAN TV/AFP PHOTO -
Des manifestants brandissent une caricature de Mouammar Kadhafi, à Tobrouk le 24 février 2011
Mouammar Kadhafi accuse les manifestants de servir les intérêts de Ben Laden. "Ces gens n'ont pas de vraies revendications, leurs revendications sont celles de Ben Laden".
AFP - Patrick Baz
De jeunes hommes font flotter au-dessus d'un poste de police incendié de Tobrouk l'ancien drapeau de la Libye, devenu un des symboles de la contestation, le 24 février 2011
Le ministre français de la Défense Alain Juppé, souhaite "de tout coeur" que Mouammar Kadhafi "vive ses derniers moments de chef d'Etat". "Ce qu'il a fait, ce qu'il a décidé de faire, c'est-à-dire tirer à l'arme lourde sur sa population, est naturellement inacceptable", dit-il sur France Inter.
AFP - Patrick Baz
Les opposants à Kadhafi, déjà maîtres de l'est de la Libye, gagnent aussi du terrain à l'ouest : Zouara (120 kms à l'ouest de Tripoli) est désertée par la police et les militaires, selon des réfugiés arrivés à la frontière tunisienne.
De plus en plus isolé, Mouammar Kadhafi a accusé Al Qaïda de manipuler les jeunes manifestants, dans une conversation téléphonique diffusée à la télévision depuis un endroit non idenfifié.
La communauté internationale accentue ses pressions sur le dirigeant libyen, et s'inquiète de la catastrophe humanitaire que pourrait entraîner l'exode de dizaines de milliers de personnes. Depuis lundi, plus de 30.000 Tunisiens et Egyptiens ont fui la Libye, selon l'Organisation internationale des migrations.
FIN DE NOTRE DIRECT.
20H35 - Pétrole: pas d'affolement - "Nous sommes en contact avec l'Agence internationale de l'énergie et nous avons la capacité de réagir en cas de rupture d'approvisionnement" en pétrole liée à la crise en Libye, déclare le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche Jay Carney.
20H30- "Apocalyptique" - Le 19 février a été une journée "apocalyptique" à Benghazi, racontre Gérard Buffet, médecin français dans cette ville, rapatrié à Paris. "Des avions sont passés sur Benghazi et ont tiré dans les rues, à l'arme lourde. Ils envoyaient même des roquettes. C'était un carnage".
20H15 - "Négligence" - Des Tunisiens ont bloqué jeudi pendant une demi-heure le principal poste frontalier tuniso-libyen de Ras Jedir pour protester contre la "négligence" du gouvernement de transition face à l'afflux de réfugiés venant de Libye, indique à l'AFP une source syndicale.
20H10 - Appel franco-américain - Barack Obama a appelé Nicolas Sarkozy à propos de la Libye et les deux présidents ont de nouveau exigé ensemble "un arrêt immédiat de l'usage de la force", annonce l'Elysée, ajoutant que la France souhaitait une nouvelle réunion urgente du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU.
19H58 - Commande controversée- La commande d'un paquebot par la compagnie libyenne GNMTC aux chantiers navals de Saint-Nazaire "est toujours en vigueur", assure leur directeur général. L'un des fils de Mouammar Kadhafi, Hannibal, est l'un des principaux dirigeants de la GNMTC. Selon la section syndicale FO, "l'intervention de l'Etat a été fortement déterminante pour l'obtention de cette commande par la société GNMTC". La CGT navale se dit préoccupé par cette commande "à risques".
19H41 - Coordination - Barack Obama va appeller Nicolas Sarkozy et le Premier ministre britannique David Cameron. Objectif: coordonner leurs actions pour mettre fin à la répression en Libye.
19H32 - Expulsion - Les Etats-Unis "souhaitent l'expulsion de la Libye du Conseil des droits de l'homme de l'ONU", déclare le porte-parole du département d'Etat.
19H20 - Char abandonné - A Benghazi, épicentre de la contestation, un millier de manifestants sont rassemblés devant le tribunal local, devenu quartier général de l'insurrection. Certains d'entre eux campent dans des tentes, pendant que des enfants jouent dans un char abandonné.
19H05 - Prisonniers - Dans un école de la localité "libérée" d'al Baida, à 1.300 km à l'est de Tripoli, les opposants à Kadhafi détiennent environ 200 de ses partisans. Parmi les détenus se trouvent des Tchadiens. Selon des journalistes étrangers, les captifs seraient bien traités, les rebelles leur ayant fourni des couvertures et des cigarettes. Auparavant, des habitants avaient raconté comment des miliciens avaient été exécutés, après de violents combats dans la ville.
18H57 - Avoirs gelés - La Suisse bloque "avec effet immédiat" les avoirs que Mouammar Kadhafi et son entourage pourraient détenir dans la Confédération.
18h22 - Au menu - Les ministres de la Défense de l'Union européenne vont évoquer ce soir la crise libyenne lors d'un dîner de travail près de Budapest, qui devait être consacré aux opérations européennes en Somalie et dans les Balkans. Ils en parleront à nouveau demain matin avec le secrétaire général de l'Otan, le Danois Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
A l'Ouest du pays
18H05 - Aux mains du peuple - La ville de Zouara, dans l'ouest de la Libye, aurait été désertée par la police et les militaires. "C'est le peuple qui tient la ville" témoigne un ouvrier. Mais une fois le soleil couché, dans les rues, les combats continuent entre opposants et partisans de Kadhafi. Femmes et enfants restent terrés à la maison. Les magasins sont fermés. Des banques incendiées.
17H55 - Crimes contre l'humanité - L'ambassadeur français chargé des droits de l'homme fait état d'"élements précis et concordants pour une enquête pour crimes contre l'humanité". Il évoque un bilan supérieur à 1.000 morts.
17H32 - "Sans pitié" - Mouammar Kadhafi est "sans pitié", titre l'Osservatore Romano, le quotidien du Vatican. Le journal recense des "informations dramatiques qui, si elles étaient confirmées, offriraient le tableau épouvantable de massacres contre la population civile" perpétrés par les forces armées, y compris l'aviation. Il juge "préoccupant que les terroristes d'Al-Qaïda pour le Maghreb islamiste s'infiltrent dans la révolte en Libye".
17H07 - Exécutions sommaires - La Ligue libyenne des droits de l'Homme accuse les comités révolutionnaires de Kadhafi d'avoir exécuté des blessés dans les hôpitaux de Tripoli. "Ils ont tué des blessés qui avaient manifesté contre le régime. Ils ont emporté les cadavres pour les faire disparaître, peut-être les faire brûler, parce qu'ils savent que les journalistes étrangers se rapprochent".
16H53 - Afrikiyah Airways sur la sellette - Un groupe d'une vingtaine de Libyens manifeste à l'aéroport de Malte pour exiger l'arrestation du président de la compagnie aérienne libyenne Afrikiyah Airways, contrôlée par le gouvernement. Ils l'accusent d'avoir acheminé des mercenaires en Libye et le traitent de "criminel". De légères échauffourées avec les forces de l'ordre se sont produites.
16H35 - Exténués - Des salariés d'entreprises françaises qui étaient en poste à Tripoli et viennent d'atterrir à Roissy racontent leurs dernières journées sur place. "Je suis très fatigué, soulagé mais très fatigué", explique Christian Lainé, employé "dans le BTP". Les yeux rougis, il décrit un "sentiment total d'isolement". "La nuit, on entendait des +boum+ mais je n'ai rien vu, même si j'ai été arrêté plusieurs fois à des checkpoints par des gens armés jusqu'aux dents". "On ne pouvait plus communiquer, ni en France, ni à Tripoli. J'ai eu peur de ne pas pouvoir rentrer".
16H30 - Assaut sanglant contre Zawiyah - L'assaut des forces de sécurité libyennes contre la ville de Zawiyah aurait coûté la vie à 10 personnes et fait des dizaines de blessés, selon le bilan provisoire tiré par un journal libyen.
15H35 - Manifestants "drogués" - Le colonel Kadhafi affirme de nouveau que les manifestants impliqués dans les violences prennent de la drogue distribuée par des "agents de l'étranger". La télévision indique dans un bandeau que "le Guide de la révolution parle aux famille de Zawiyah", une ville située à l'ouest de Tripoli. Kadhafi présente ses "condoléances aux familles de quatre membres des forces de sécurité tuées" à Zawiyah.
15H31 - Navires de guerre allemands - L'Allemagne annonce qu'elle a envoyé deux frégates et un navire d'appui tactique pour évacuer ses ressortissants.
Kadhafi et Ben Laden
15H23 - Agents de Ben Laden ? - Mouammar Kadhafi accuse les manifestants de servir les intérêts de Ben Laden. "Ces gens n'ont pas de vraies revendications, leurs revendications sont celles de Ben Laden".
15H15 - MOUAMMAR KADHAFI S'EXPRIME DANS UN MESSAGE AUDIO A LA TELEVISION LIBYENNE.
14H40 - On s'organise - Au poste-frontière tunisien de Ras Jdir, on répartit les arrivants. Les Tunisiens rentrent chez eux, les Egyptiens se rendent à l'aéroport de Djerba pour prendre un vol, les Marocains sont envoyés dans leur consulat, à Tunis. Plus de 800 Chinois attendent toujours de l'autre côté de la frontière pour des raisons administratives, explique le président du comité régional du Croissant-Rouge.
14H26 - Plus de vols réguliers - La première compagnie aérienne allemande, Lufthansa, suspend ses vols vers Tripoli, au moins jusqu'à dimanche inclus. Ce matin, Alitalia faisait une annonce similaire.
14H19 - Le baril flambe - Les cours du pétrole poursuivent leur envolée, toujours poussés par les troubles en Libye et la crainte d'un "effet domino" dans le monde arabe. Ce matin, le baril de Brent de la mer du Nord a frôlé les 120 dollars le baril. Vers 13H30, il s'échangeait à 114,79 dollars. our Vladimir Poutine, cette envolée des prix constitue une "menace grave" pour la croissance économique dans le monde.
14H09 - L'Otan n'interviendra pas - L'Otan n'a pas l'intention d'intervenir en Libye, prévient son secrétaire général, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
14H00 - Témoigner - "Nous étions submergés", explique un médecin français de Benghazi lors d'un bref passage à Paris. "On recevait essentiellement des blessés par balles ou des gens écrasés par des voitures de miliciens qui jetaient leur véhicule dans la foule", raconte Naceur Benarab. "Quand j'étais dans l'avion qui me ramenait en France, des amis libyens m'ont appelé, m'ont supplié de dire au monde ce qui se passait".
13H56 - "Inacceptable" - La Russie et l'Union européenne jugent "inacceptable" le recours à la force contre les civils manifestants pacifiques en Libye, déclare le président de la Commmission européenne José Manuel Barroso, à l'issue d'une réunion avec Vladimir Poutine.
13H40 - Des milliers de Chinois - Les premiers Chinois évacués de Libye sont arrivés en Crète, rapporte un photographe de l'AFP. Pékin organise l'évacuation de quelque 15.000 de ses ressortissants. Plus de 30.000 Chinois travaillent en Libye dans la construction de chemins de fer, le pétrole et les télécommunications. Ils doivent être hébergés temporairement dans des hôtels.
13H30 - Prêter main forte - La Grèce est prête à examiner un appui naval militaire à des évacuations de Libye, comme l'a souhaité l'Union Européenne. Athènes a déjà dépêché une frégate au large de la Libye.
13H09 - Et les infirmières bulgares dans tout ça ? - "Kadhafi est perdu, un rétablissement durable de son pouvoir n'est pas possible", se félicite Snejana Dimitrova. Nassia Nenova est à l'unisson: "J'espère très fort que Kadhafi soit renversé". Boucs émissaires d'une affaire de contamination par le virus du sida en Libye, les cinq infirmières bulgares ont passé plus de huit ans en prison, avant d'être libérées en 2007
13H05 - Rentrés chez eux - Plus de 30.000 Tunisiens et Égyptiens ont fui la Libye depuis lundi pour rentrer chez eux, selon l'Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM).
13H00 - Ouvert aux journalistes - Le pays est désormais accessible aux journalistes "du monde entier", affirme Seif Al-Islam, fils de Kadhafi. Mercredi, le vice-ministre aux Affaires étrangères avait expliqué que les journalistes entrés illégalement en Libye étaient considérés "comme s'ils collaboraient avec Al-Qaïda".
12H42 - Dépassé par les événements - "Ils ont besoin de médicaments, le système de santé est dépassé", s'inquiète la commissaire européenne à l'Aide humanitaire. A l'exception de la section locale du Croissant rouge, qui est débordée et ne dispense pas suffisamment de soins médicaux, il n'y a aucune structure.
12H35 - Évacuation - L'Union européenne cherche un appui naval militaire pour évacuer ses quelque 6.000 ressortissants qui sont toujours en Libye.
12H22 - Les blessés racontent - "Ils tiraient dans tous les sens dans le centre de la ville. Ils tiraient même sur ceux qui nous donnaient les premiers soins", témoigne un blessé à l'hôpital d'Al-Baïda.
12H10 - KADHAFI VA S'EXPRIMER SOUS PEU, ANNONCE LA TV LIBYENNE - Mouammar Kadhafi va s'adresser sous peu aux habitants de la ville de Zawiyah, située à l'ouest de Tripoli. Mardi, dans son premier discours depuis le début de l'insurrection, il avait juré de réprimer dans le sang les protestataires qu'il a qualifiés de "rats".
12H02 - Objectif: libérer Tripoli - Réunion de protestataires à Al-Baïda, ville côtière à l'est de Benghazi. "Notre objectif est Tripoli, si Tripoli n'arrive pas à se libérer par lui-même", lance un homme. "On ne peut plus faire marche arrière. Même si nous mourrons tous, au moins nos enfants n'auront pas à vivre avec lui", Mouammar Kadhafi, lance un autre.
11H57 - PARIS EVOQUE DES "CRIMES CONTRE L'HUMANITE" ET LA SAISINE DE LA JUSTICE INTERNATIONALE - La France estime que les violences perpétrées par le pouvoir en Libye "pourraient constituer des crimes contre l'Humanité" et que "la saisine de la justice internationale" doit être envisagée.
Une autre ville tombe
11H55 - Une autre ville tombe - A Zouara, à 120 km à l'ouest de Tripoli, c'est "le peuple qui tient la ville", racontent quatre témoins venant d'arriver en Tunisie. La police et les militaires ont déserté les rues.
11H47 - Tour de vis en Corée du Nord - Le régime stalinien de Kim Jong-Il tente de rendre encore plus hermétique l'accès aux informations étrangères. Des équipes de policiers anti-émeutes ont également été créées pour répondre à une éventuelle rébellion inspirée par le Moyen-Orient, selon le Daily NK, journal en ligne basé à Séoul .
11H39 - Le pétrole touché - La production d'hydrocarbures de l'italien ENI, premier producteur étranger en Libye, a été diminuée de plus de 50% à la suite de l'arrêt de certaines activités à cause des violences.
11H24 - Fuite - "Environ 5.000 Tunisiens, 171 Libyens, 22 Algériens, 28 Marocains" sont arrivés mercredi en Tunisie via le principal poste frontalier, rapporte le président du comité régional du Croissant-Rouge.
11H12 - Enlèvements - Deux filles de l'ex-chef du protocole de Kadhafi, Nouri El-Mismari, exilé en France, ont été enlevées à Tripoli. Elles ont été emmenées de force à la télévision pour démentir les propos de leur père qui s'est exprimé dans les médias notamment français, selon l'avocat de Nouri El-Mismari.
11H05 - Nouvel appel de l'UE - "Nous appelons à un arrêt immédiat de l'usage de la force contre les manifestants en Libye", demande le président de l'Union européenne, Herman Van Rompuy.
10H57 - Tripoli déserté - Les rues de la capitale sont quasi-désertes après une nuit troublée par des tirs nourris. A Al-Baïda, dans la région orientale riche en pétrole, tombée aux mains des opposants, les murs sont criblés de balles, stigmates de la violence des combats entre opposants et "mercenaires" à la solde du dirigeant libyen.
10H50 - Vols suspendus - La compagnie aérienne italienne Alitalia suspend tous ses vols réguliers à destination de Tripoli, en raison de "l'aggravation de la situation".
10H30 - "Catastrophique" - Le ministre italien de l'Intérieur Roberto Maroni exhorte l'Europe à aider son pays à faire face à un risque de crise humanitaire "catastrophique" en Libye.
10H00 - "Derniers moments" - Le ministre français de la Défense Alain Juppé, souhaite "de tout coeur" que Mouammar Kadhafi "vive ses derniers moments de chef d'Etat". "Ce qu'il a fait, ce qu'il a décidé de faire, c'est-à-dire tirer à l'arme lourde sur sa population, est naturellement inacceptable", dit-il sur France Inter.
EN DIRECT : La côte Est de la Libye serait "tombée" aux mains des opposants au régime. Le président américain Barack Obama a jugé "scandaleux" la répression armée et le bain de sang en cours. Les évacuations de ressortissants se sont accélérées, tandis que de nouveaux bilans ont fait état de plus de 600 morts en Libye, voire 2000 selon une source médicale.
© 2011 AFP
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