AFRICOM Related News Clips March 6, 2011

8/7/2019 AFRICOM Related News Clips March 6, 2011

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United States Africa CommandPublic Affairs Office6 March 2011

USAFRICOM - related news stories

TOP NEWS RELATED TO U.S. AFRICA COMMAND AND AFRICA

Libya refugee aid operation intensifies (AFP)

TUNIS (AFP) - Libya's neighbours Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, mobilised to receive andrepatriate a tide of refugees fleeing the unrest, with help from European countries andthe United States

UN force in Ivory Coast to be reinforced: official (Reuters)

PARIS/ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in Ivory Coast will bereinforced by 2,000 soldiers and have received two combat helicopters to faceworsening violence. The 8,000-strong United Nations force is trying to keep a stand-offbetween rival presidential claimants Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara fromtipping into a civil war.

African Somalia force sees progress against rebels (Reuters)

MOGADISHU - The African Union's peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM)captured a key position from al Shabaab rebels in the capital, losing several troops inthe fighting, its force commander said on Saturday. Together with Somali governmenttroops, the 8,000-strong AMISOM force started an offensive against the hardlineinsurgent group on February 19.

US planes carrying relief supplies land in Tunisia (AFP)WASHINGTON Two US military transport planes landed in Tunisia on Friday withwater, blankets and other supplies for people who have fled the uprising in Libya, theState Department said. Two C-130 military transports have landed in Djerba, Tunisia,delivering humanitarian supplies from the United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

Intense gunfire heard in Libyan capital (MSNBC)

TRIPOLI, Libya Heavy automatic weapons fire erupted in the Libyan capital Tripolion Sunday, the first such outbreak in Muammar Gaddafi's main stronghold in a two-week-old insurrection against his 41-year-old rule. It was unclear who was doing theshooting, which started at 5:45 a.m., just before daybreak, or what had caused it.


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Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy caliber, were reverberating around centralTripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony ofcar horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.

Gunfire erupts in Tripoli as Libya battles rage (ABC News)Rebels have been quick to dismiss reports that forces loyal to Libyan leader MoamarGaddafi have recaptured a string of key towns, as heavy gunfire rocked the capitalTripoli.With battles raging east and west of Tripoli and thousands fleeing the violence,loyalist forces have been accused of a massacre during an assault on a key city.

New air strike on rebel-held Libyan oil town (AFP)

RAS LANUF A warplane struck the rebel-held Libyan oil town of Ras Lanuf Sunday,leaving two craters in the sand near a checkpoint on the eastern edge, witnesses andAFP reporters said.Thousands of Gadhafi supporters gather in Tripoli (USAToday)

TRIPOLI, Libya Libyan warplanes are launching airstrikes and engaging in heavyground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli along thecountry's Mediterranean coastline.

Rebels advancing toward capital fight Libya forces (AP)

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libyan warplanes are launching airstrikes and engaging inheavy ground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli alongthe country's Mediterranean coastline. Associated Press reporters at the scene said

forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi retook the town of Bin Jawad, about110 miles (160 kilometers) east of Gadhafi's stronghold city of Sirte. The reporterswitnessed airstrikes on the rebel forces and heavy fighting on the ground.

MuammarGaddafi's opposition: How Libya's revolt has stalled(Guardian)At the beating heart of the uprising, in Benghazi, Libya's rebels are trying to kickstart arevolution that has stalled less than halfway to the capital. Throughout the sacked citythat spawned the revolt, the euphoria of victory is steadily becoming a distant memory.Routine has set into a place that two weeks ago was flush with hope and opportunity.After ousting a dictator of 42 years in less than a weekend, anything seemed possiblehere. For a while.

Libyan battle over Zawiya becomes a test of will (Latimes)

Reporting from the outskirts of Zawiya, Libya, and Rebel fighters appeared to repelan assault by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi on a city that has become a


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crucial test of the two sides' will, as unrest inspired by the "people power" revolutionsin neighboring Tunisia and Egypt increasingly veered toward civil war.

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Libya refugee aid operation intensifies (AFP)

TUNIS (AFP) - Libya's neighbours Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, mobilised to receive andrepatriate a tide of refugees fleeing the unrest, with help from European countries andthe United States.

By Friday, the number of refugees crossing the Tunisian border with Libya sinceFebruary 20 had reached 100,000, the Tunisian civil defence agency said,

The country was waiting for a new influx of thousands of refugees, after only 3,000arrived on Friday, said the Red Crescent's Tunisian organiser Monji Slim.

"We are expecting that the normal flow of around 10,000 new arrivals a day willresume," Slim said.

At the northwestern border with Tunisia, refugees were reported to be waiting on theLibyan side in nearby towns, knowing that the border was jammed. Most Egyptianswere reported to have been evacuated.

At midday Saturday dozens of refugees -- Bangladeshis, Somalis, Ghanaians andVietnamese -- were crossing the border on foot.

In Algeria, officials said they were reinforcing their reception capacity for refugees fromLibya with a new facility at Ifri, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) southeast ofAlgiers.

A humanitarian convoy left Tabessa in the far east of Algeria for the border betweenLibya and Tunisia to help refugees, the Algerian news agency APS said.


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The Tabessa convoy comprised four trailer-trucks carrying 100 tonnes of food, mineralwater and blankets, a field kitchen, seven all-terrain vehicles carrying medical teamsand equipment and a refrigerated truck loaded with medical supplies.

Other convoys would deliver about 200 tonnes of food, medical supplies and blankets

to the refugees in the coming days, Mohamed-Laid Aggoun, vice-president of theAlgerian Red Crescent said.

The state oil group is helping to finance the operation.

The new camp at Ifri will have tents capable of sleeping 16 people each, and willreinforce the small campsites at the border posts of Tinalkoum, Tarat and Debdeb.

These have had 400 tents added and been assigned eight civil defence doctors, said theorganisation's director Mustapha Lahbiri, quoted by the Algerian APS news agency.

The United States contributed $3 million to the International Organization for Migration(IOM) to repatriate foreign nationals fleeing Libya, said a State Department statementSaturday.

It was part of a joint US-IOM partnership "to strengthen efforts to return homethousands of Egyptians and other nationals from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asiawho fled Libya," the statement added.

In the meantime, two US military transport planes flew a group of Egyptian refugees toCairo from Tunisia after they had fled unrest in neighbouring Libya and another two

followed suit, the State Department said.

The four C-130 aircraft were due to carry a total of 312 passengers. The first flight had67 passengers, the second had 65 while the remaining two planes still in the air werecarrying 90 each, a US official said.

Growing numbers of people desperate to escape the violence in Libya have fled overthe northwestern border into Tunisia, including Egyptians now stuck in refugee campswith little prospect of getting home.

Around 100,000 people have crossed into Tunisia since February 20, days after theuprising against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi erupted, Tunisia's regional RedCrescent representative said on Friday.

An Egyptian frigate, meanwhile, left the Tunisian port of Zarzis, near the border withLibya, Saturday with 400 refugees aboard.


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French helicopter carrier Mistral set off from the southern port of Toulon Saturdaybound for southern Tunisia from where it will help evacuate Egyptian refugees fromLibya.

Accompanied by a frigate the Mistral was due to repatriate at least 900 Egyptians from

Sarzis. The ship would arrive Monday and reach the Egyptian port of Alexandria afterthree days at sea.

And an Italian navy patrol boat also set out for Libya carrying a cargo of aid includingtents blankets and water purification kits to Benghazi.

The second largest city in Libya, it has become a stronghold for rebels fighting to unseatveteran ruler Moamer Kadhafi.

In Senegal the government said 136 of its nationals had been flown home.

UN force in Ivory Coast to be reinforced: official (Reuters)Sun Mar 6, 2011By Nicholas Vinocur and Tim Cocks

PARIS/ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers in Ivory Coast will bereinforced by 2,000 soldiers and have received two combat helicopters to faceworsening violence between rival political factions, a U.N. official said.

The 8,000-strong United Nations force is trying to keep a stand-off between rivalpresidential claimants Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara from tipping into a civilwar, as clashes between factions loyal to each side grow increasingly violent.

Gbagbo's defence minister Alain Dogou repeated calls at a press conference for all U.N.troops to leave and said it would not cooperate with them, accusing them of armingrebels. "They have become a party in Ivory Coast's conflict," he said.

Some 800 peacekeepers are stationed around a hotel in Abidjan where Ouattara, widely

recognised as the winner of an election last year, has been holed up for three monthshoping that economic sanctions will weaken Gbagbo's grip on power.

"What we are seeing is clearly an escalation of violence," Choi Young-jin, a U.N.representative in Abidjan, told the Liberation newspaper in an interview published onSaturday.


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"Since February 19, incidents have gotten more serious."

On Thursday, Ivorian security forces loyal to presidential claimant Gbagbo shot deadseven women protesters, and the U.N. said at least 365 people had been killed inviolence in the wake of a disputed general election last November 28.

Video footage of the all-women protest in the northern Abidjan suburb of Abobo,broadcast on I>tele news channel, shows women screaming after gunshots are heardand at least two bloodied bodies on the road. An armoured vehicle marked "police" isvisible driving towards them in the background.

Gbagbo's interior minister Emile Guirieoulou, in the same press conference, denied thatany Ivorian security forces had fired on the women's protest and he denounced theinternational media for spreading lies and "intoxication".

When told about the video, he said he had not seen it.

International cocoa futures regularly have been breaking new 32-year highs on supplyfears due to the violence.

Young-jin said he was sending frequent patrols through the Abobo suburb. "We need todo everything we can to stop someone who wants to massacre civilians from making ithappen," he said.

As the conflict grows more entrenched, Young-jin said he had not yet called on a French

military unit stationed nearby.

But he did need to beef up his force: "We are waiting on reinforcements of 2,000 bluehelmets, and two of the three armed helicopters that we ordered have arrived," he said.

Staying in control of the skies above Abidjan through air power was crucial to ensuringthat the fragile situation did not degenerate into bloodshed, he added.

DEEP DIFFERENCES

When asked if he thought a political outcome to the crisis was possible, Young-jin waspessimistic: "Since the beginning we've noted deep differences between the two parties.It will be very difficult to find common ground between the rivals."

In the northern Ivory Coast stronghold of Bouake, power and water service wasrestored on Saturday, after being cut for a week during clashes, witnesses and residentssaid.


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Gbagbo's government did not officially comment on the power cuts to the north, but histroops seized the electric distribution company last month and a U.N. source said theyhad ordered power to be cut to the north during the fighting.

Running water was cut because the pumps are electric.

African leaders had been due to arrive in the world's top cocoa grower to propose asolution to the standoff, but called it off on Friday. They instead invited Ouattara andGbagbo to the next African Union summit, where a solution to the crisis would beproposed. Expectations for success are not high.

African Union president Jean Ping was in Abidjan on Saturday, where he met withGbagbo and Ouattara.

"He's carrying a message to them. It's not yet public," an AU official in Ivory Coast, who

asked not to be named, said.

African Somalia force sees progress against rebels (Reuters)

Sat Mar 5, 2011By Mohamed Ahmed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The African Union's peacekeeping force in Somalia(AMISOM) captured a key position from al Shabaab rebels in the capital, losing several

troops in the fighting, its force commander said on Saturday.

Together with Somali government troops, the 8,000-strong AMISOM force started anoffensive against the hardline insurgent group on February 19 as a step towardsreturning the Horn of Africa country to stability after two decades of conflict.

Major General Nathan Mugisha said the force captured the former ministry of defencebuilding in the north of the city, gaining control of a major al Shabaab base.

"By taking these positions we have effectively reduced their freedom of manoeuvre inthat sector," Mugisha told a news conference in Nairobi.

"This peace in Mogadishu comes at a price, and this burden has fallen heavily onAMISOM and government forces," he added.

Casualty figures could not be revealed for security reasons, Mugisha said, adding theyhad been forwarded to the countries contributing troops to the force.


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He said the offensive had increased the number of districts in the capital under theforce's control to seven, leaving six contested and three under control of the rebels.

Al Shabaab said it had brought in reinforcements from other regions to help in thebattle for Mogadishu.

"All these new fighters will help us in the fight against the so-called AU andgovernment forces," Abu Abdirahman, al Shabaab's governor for Mogadishu, toldreporters.

CROSSFIRE

In the south of the country where al Shabaab controls vast areas, Somali troops andgovernment-friendly militia took control of the border town of Beledhawo from therebels after fighting which killed more than 15 people.

Located a stone's throw from the Kenyan town of Mandera and also the border withEthiopia, Beledhawo has been the southern front in the offensive by the government.

"Beledhawo town is now under our control after heavy fighting. I see more than 20bodies of al Shabaab," Colonel Mohamud Ali Shire told Reuters by telephone from thetown.

He said government forces will continue fighting until they sweep the insurgents fromthe region. The government later confirmed the seizure of the town.

"Our national troops have completely seized Beledhawo district today," DefenceMinister Abdihakim Haji Fiqi said in a statement.

Residents said they were woken up by the sound of artillery fire early on Saturday,prompting them to flee their homes.

Kenya, which has been training Somali government troops, has looked on warily at thefighting in Beledhawo, at one time contemplating an attack on Shabaab to secure itsborder.

In Mogadishu, Burundian troops from AMISOM said they stopped a suicide car bombattack in the early hours of Saturday.


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US planes carrying relief supplies land in Tunisia (AFP)

WASHINGTON Two US military transport planes landed in Tunisia on Friday withwater, blankets and other supplies for people who have fled the uprising in Libya, theState Department said.

Two C-130 military transports have landed in Djerba, Tunisia, delivering humanitariansupplies from the United States Agency for International Development, StateDepartment spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

Each aircraft carried three palettes of aid supplies, including blankets, rolls of plasticsheeting and water containers, Crowley said.

Those supplies have been offloaded and are now heading for the border betweenLibya and Tunisia, he said.

He added that he expects that on Saturday the planes will participate in the flow ofmigrants from Tunisia back to Egypt.

Fleeing the unrest in Libya, growing numbers of people have fled over thenorthwestern border into Tunisia, including Egyptians now stuck in refugee campswith little prospect of getting home.

Around 100,000 people have crossed the border into Tunisia since February 20, daysafter the uprising against Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi erupted, Tunisias regionalRed Crescent representative said on Friday.

Britain is sending several planes to airlift thousands of Egyptians stuck in refugeecamps, while France said it was sending a helicopter carrier to waters off Libya to helpevacuate civilians.

Sweden said Friday it was contributing a C-130 Hercules military plane and 33 millionkronor (3.7 million euros, $5.2 million) to the United Nations efforts to evacuaterefugees from Libya.

Intense gunfire heard in Libyan capital (MSNBC)

TRIPOLI, Libya Heavy automatic weapons fire erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli

on Sunday, the first such outbreak in Muammar Gaddafi's main stronghold in a two-

week-old insurrection against his 41-year-old rule.

It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started at 5:45 a.m., just before

daybreak, or what had caused it. Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy caliber,


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were reverberating around central Tripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi

chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.

A government spokesman denied any fighting was under way in Tripoli. "I assure you,

I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli," saidMussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman.

"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control. What you are hearing is

celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square." He warned,

however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety.

A government spokesman, Abdel-Majid al-Dursi, told the AP that the gunfire was

celebratory, claiming that government forces had retaken the oil port of Ras Lanouf, in

central Libya. But residents of Ras Lanouf said Sunday that the opposition remained in

control of the port.

Tripoli is the main stronghold of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who said in a

French newspaper interview released on Sunday that he was embroiled in a fight

against terrorism and expressed dismay at the absence of support from abroad.

"I am surprised that nobody understands that this is a fight against terrorism," the

longtime autocrat of the North African oil-producing state told the Journal duDimanche in excerpts of an interview due to be published later on Sunday.

Gunfire erupts in Tripoli as Libya battles rage (ABC News)

Rebels have been quick to dismiss reports that forces loyal to Libyan leader MoamarGaddafi have recaptured a string of key towns, as heavy gunfire rocked the capitalTripoli.

With battles raging east and west of Tripoli and thousands fleeing the violence, loyalistforces have been accused of a massacre during an assault on a key city.

Meanwhile, Britian's Sunday Times newspaper is reporting that British special forcesunit is being held by rebels in Benghazi.

There are conflicting reports coming from Libya surrounding intense gunfire that hasbeen heard in Tripoli.


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As dawn broke over the capital, machine gunfire and the sound of heavy weaponrycould be heard, the first such outbreak in Mr Gaddafi's main stronghold.

Ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns asvehicles sped through the vicinity could also be heard.

The Libyan government says the gunfire heard in Tripoli is in celebration of theadvance by government forces.

"I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on inTripoli," said spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.

"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 per cent under control. What you are hearing iscelebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square."

He warned, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety."

Rawad, a resident of Tripoli, says the gunfire is constant.

"I hear a lot of gunshots. It's been three hours now... constantly, constantly shooting,irrationally," he said.

"It is a sort of mess at the moment here in the capital. It's very crazy, very crazy."

Battles rage

State television says pro-Gaddafi forces have recaptured the key oil towns of Tobrukand Ras Lanuf and are headed toward the biggest rebel stronghold, the city ofBenghazi.

But rebels in the area say they remain in full control and report no such offensive byLibyan forces.

"It's not true. The region is under control from Ajdabiya to the Egyptian border," saidFateh Faraj, a member of the rebel-appointed council in Tobruk.

He says the situation is calm and that "absolutely nothing" is happening.

A British special forces unit reportedly captured by rebels in the east of the country isbelieved to have been taken to Benghazi and hauled up before a senior figure.

The group of eight soldiers were apparently on a secret diplomatic mission to makecontact with opposition leaders.


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The Sunday Times says the team were intercepted as they escorted a junior diplomatthrough rebel-held territory.

The uninvited appearance of special forces alongside the diplomat "angered Libyanopposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base," the

newspaper said.

British defence secretary Liam Fox declined to comment on the report but confirmedthere is a "small diplomatic team" in Benghazi.

"I can confirm that a small British diplomatic team is in Benghazi.We are in touch withthem, but it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on that," he told theBBC.

Mr Fox also says there is no plan to use British military ground forces in Libya.

'Real massacre'

Two air strikes have now hit the rebel-held oil port town of Ras Lanuf, triggering anti-aircraft fire from near a checkpoint on the eastern edge.

A journalist saw two craters in the sand near the checkpoint and smoke rising into theair in the eastern town.

"There were two rockets. There are no injuries, no damage," said Abdal Sharif, one ofthe rebels fighting the regime of Mr Gaddafi.

Libyan rebels are advancing from the east on Mr Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, around 500kilometres from Tripoli.

Rebels say forces loyal to Mr Gaddafi have attacked rebels in Bin Jawad, a townbetween Ras Lanuf and Sirte on the coast.

One fighter, returning wounded from Bin Jawad, said the Gaddafi loyalists hadattacked with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Asked what he had seen, he replied: "Death." He was too distraught to say any more.

Rebel fighters in Ras Lanuf said they had received news of the attack by phone from thefrontline.

"People tell us in Bin Jawad there are Gaddafi forces. Some rebels have been hit bysnipers," Khamis al-Libi, a rebel fighter, said.


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A doctor in Zawiya, some 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, says at least 30 people, mostlycivilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raisingto at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.

The doctor accused Gaddafi loyalists of committing a massacre by raining tank shells

and machine gun fire on residents.

"This was a real massacre. The situation is catastrophic. They killed many people. Theykilled my daughter," he said.

"What happened this morning is horrible. The mercenaries opened fire on anyone whodared go outdoors, even on children."

There were reports that tanks manned by Mr Gaddafi's forces had fired on houses whenthey launched a fresh assault to capture the city.

The rebels say they are bracing for another tank and artillery attack by the governmenton Sunday.

New air strike on rebel-held Libyan oil town (AFP)

RAS LANUF A warplane struck the rebel-held Libyan oil town of Ras Lanuf Sunday,leaving two craters in the sand near a checkpoint on the eastern edge, witnesses andAFP reporters said.

"There were two rockets. There are no injuries, no damage," said Abdal Sharif, one ofthe rebels fighting the regime of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

Anti-aircraft guns at the checkpoint opened fire and people ran out into the street nearthe oil compound, an AFP reporter said.

AFP reporters saw two craters measuring two meters (six feet) across about 20 metersfrom the road and 50 meters from the checkpoint.

Thousands of Gadhafi supporters gather in Tripoli (USAToday)

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) Libyan warplanes are launching airstrikes and engaging inheavy ground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli alongthe country's Mediterranean coastline.


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Associated Press reporters at the scene said forces loyal to Libyan leader MoammarGadhafi retook the town of Bin Jawad, about 110 miles (160 kilometers) east ofGadhafi's stronghold city of Sirte. The reporters witnessed airstrikes on the rebel forcesand heavy fighting on the ground.

The rebels have been moving west toward Tripoli, and gaining ground over the pastfew days. They captured the key oil port of Ras Lanouf on Saturday and by Sundaythey were moving toward Sirte, which could prove to be a decisive battleground.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP'searlier story is below.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) Libyan warplanes are launching airstrikes and engaging inheavy ground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli alongthe country's Mediterranean coastline.

Associated Press reporters at the scene said forces loyal to Libyan leader MoammarGadhafi retook the town of Bin Jawad, about 110 miles (160 kilometers) east ofGadhafi's stronghold city of Sirte. The reporters witnessed airstrikes on the rebel forcesand heavy fighting on the ground.

The rebels have been moving west toward Tripoli, and gaining ground over the pastfew days. They captured the key oil port of Ras Lanouf on Saturday and by Sundaythey were moving toward Sirte, which could prove to be a decisive battleground.

MuammarGaddafi's opposition: How Libya's revolt has stalled(Guardian)

At the beating heart of the uprising, in Benghazi, Libya's rebels are trying to kickstart arevolution that has stalled less than halfway to the capital. Throughout the sacked citythat spawned the revolt, the euphoria of victory is steadily becoming a distant memory.Routine has set into a place that two weeks ago was flush with hope and opportunity.After ousting a dictator of 42 years in less than a weekend, anything seemed possiblehere. For a while.

Shops are now open, streets are teeming and people are again talking about the grind ofdaily life. Heady predictions of a glorious march to Tripoli have been silenced.

"We didn't ask to be in this position," said Salwa Bugaigis, a leading member ofBenghazi's organising committee, now trying to run the town's civil affairs. "I've saidthat since the beginning. I was one of the first protesters outside the courthouse. Thenthey attacked us. And then the revolution came. We are running something that wewere not prepared for."


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Benghazi's rebels were clearly not prepared for another surprise Colonel MuammarGaddafi's ability to rally his supporters and mount an effective rear-guard action thathas stopped the revolution in its tracks, at least for now.

They had witnessed the speed with which his power base crumbled in the east. They

had seen loyalists of more than four decades flee within hours, leaving behind theirspoils of power and patronage. They could have been forgiven for thinking that the restwas going to be easy.

But the 1,000km road running flat from Benghazi to Tripoli reveals stark realities. Pro-regime figures have used the coastal city of Sirte, roughly halfway between the twocities, to regroup and plot how they can square their ledger with the rebels.

Sirte is to Gaddafi what Tikrit was to Saddam Hussein, an almost impenetrable powerbase, whose well-to-do residents owe their comfortable lives to their patron.

Gaddafi's family tribe is stronger in Sirte than perhaps anywhere else in Libya. As such,Sirte's inhabitants stand to lose almost as much as their most famous son if the west ofLibya goes the way of the east.

Along the highway to Sirte, charred ruins from the two battles fought last week for thestrategically vital oil towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf could clearly be seen. Burned 4x4slittered parts of the highway, and several large craters were testament to the fighting.Gaddafi's forces left both towns after occupying them for several days and engagingrebels who moved south to take them back. But few of Gaddafi's enemies doubt theirshas been a total victory.

At the gates of an industrial area in Benghazi, one fighter warned that the pro-government forces would soon be back. "This is them testing us," he said. "We have tobe wise. This will get much worse, very soon. They didn't run away because they weredefeated. They had learned enough about us and they left."

A week is a long time in Libya's revolution. Seven days ago the narrative was of a rebeladvance almost to Colonel Gaddafi's doorstep. The town of Zawiyah reached byjournalists last Sunday was in the hands of the opposition, which had little more thantwo ancient tanks, a handful of armoured cars and a pair of anti-aircraft guns.

In reality, the story of "the advance" was always something of an illusion, more real onpaper than on the ground. True, the opposition holds much of the east, but the townsthat have been ticked off one by one in the country's west and around the capital havebeen a very different issue Zawiyah foremost among them.

For these are places that have not so much been captured by an opposition motoring onTripoli but have fallen to the part of the population opposing Gaddafi.


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And while they have been presented as part of a joined-up whole, in the west theseopposition centres have been largely isolated from events in the east, unable to bereinforced or resupplied from the main effort in and around Benghazi.

Closer to Gaddafi's centre of power and with support less unanimous the

opposition's grip in these places has sometimes seemed tenuous at best.

Passing through Zawiyah in the middle of last week, it was clear a new balance ofpower was emerging. While last Sunday the checkpoints leading towards the city hadbeen armoured cars and pickups, by Wednesday modern tanks, a dozen belonging tothe Khamis brigade commanded by Gaddafi's son of the same name, were sitting atjunctions outside the town.

Ten kilometres or so behind them was another worrying development for the 200 or sofighters within Zawiyah. First six, then eight, BM-21 missile launchers appeared in a

tree-fringed meadow, their rockets pointing towards the town.

When the battle did come in earnest, it appears that those in the town were caught bysurprise. For instead of attacking along the main road from the roundabout, close to thetown's Martyrs Square, the government forces came from the west, through theoutlying area of Harsha, catching the rebels by surprise and killing their commanderearly on in the fighting.

A teacher in the town said that Zawiyah was now under siege from pro-Gaddafi forces."The square is surrounded. There is smoke and many fires. They are firing at the housesaround the square. Snipers are firing at anyone who moves. My friends and cousins are

in the square fighting. There are explosions. Anyone who tries to go to the square isbeing killed."

Libyan rebels said yesterday afternoon that they had repelled the initial attack byGaddafi's forces. "They entered Zawiyah at six in the morning with heavy forces,hundreds of soldiers with tanks. Our people fought back We have won for now andcivilians are gathering in the square," said Youssef Shagan, the rebel force spokesman inZawiyah.

However, another rebel fighter said that Gaddafi's forces were regrouping at the town's

entrance. "Gaddafi will never enter this city," said the rebel, who gave his name asIbrahim. "He will never set foot here. The only way for him to enter the city is when weare all dead. He has to kill us all to control the city."

Earlier, the Libyan leader's forces had fired high-explosive rounds in central streets anddragged people from their homes. There were reports of many casualties amongcivilians, rebels and soldiers.


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The fluctuating fortunes of the two sides, typified in the bloody fights for Zawiyah andthe sharp, chaotic battles for towns such as Misrata and Brega, suggest Libya's conflictmay endure for weeks, or even months, as neither side is able to muster enoughmilitary power to decisively defeat the other.

The opposition, despite its early, bullish pronouncements about marching on Tripoli,lacks any effective air cover, leaving it vulnerable to those in the Libyan air force stillloyal to Gaddafi.

Gaddafi's difficulties are no less intense. Opponents, mobilising in the capital, wereprevented from demonstrating on Friday by the deployment of dozens of tanks andsecurity cars filled with armed men. It may have been a massive show of strength but italso revealed Gaddafi's inherent weakness. Any weakening of the ring of steel he hasplaced around the capital threatens to leave him vulnerable.

Amid the bloody impasse, diplomats shuttle behind the scenes, but with little outwardsuccess. A group of mostly Latin American states, mobilised by the Venezuelanpresident, Hugo Chvez, a Gaddafi ally, are pushing for an international mediatingmission to Libya. But this looks unlikely now the rebels have ruled out talks unless theylead to Gaddafi's resignation or exile, outcomes he has refused to acknowledge.

Western leaders, meanwhile, look increasingly moribund. Having unsuccessfully urgedGaddafi to go, they are left considering various options, including the imposition of ano-fly zone, but are wary about involving more troops, given the wars in Afghanistanand Iraq.

The upheaval has caused a humanitarian emergency on the Tunisian border, where tensof thousands of foreign workers have fled. An international airlift is under way,reducing the number of refugees stranded in tented camps.

A detachment of British troops has been placed on stand-by to go to Libya forhumanitarian and evacuation purposes. The Ministry of Defence said the Black Watch,3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, has been ready to deploy at 24 hours'notice for the past 10 days.

A spokeswoman said that the 200 troops would provide only humanitarian assistance

and would not engage in any combat or intervene militarily.

Meanwhile, the fortunes of the opposing forces fluctuated as battles raged elsewhere inLibya. After a day of fierce fighting, the oil port of Ras Lanuf was taken by the rebelsyesterday. But veterans who know Gaddafi and his tactics are cautious.


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"He is trying to trick us," said Colonel Ahmed Belkhair, the commander of rebel forcesin Benghazi. "We cannot charge along blindly, especially with his air force controllingthe skies. If we do that and we get beaten back, we lose everything."

On Friday, Gaddafi's forces are believed to have blown up an arms store on the eastern

edge of the town where the uprising began just under a month ago. Journalists whoarrived at the site of the explosion saw entire buildings, cars and trees flattened andsmouldering as a result of the blast.

It was not immediately clear how the depot blew up, but suspicion immediately fell onGaddafi's agents seeking to deny the rebels the arms and ammunition they need tocontinue their fight westwards toward Sirte.

As the fighting intensified, Benghazi's new leaders predicted that their allies in thecapital will join them soon. "Gaddafi made sure no one had anything functioning but

his own people," said Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the civilian council inBenghazi.

"But the people in Tripoli will break the chains soon. The people there will rise up."

Yesterday much of what was on show in Benghazi still spoke of revolution and victory.Stirring hymns, recorded in the wake of the fall of the city, blared out on constantrotation.

Independence flags that were last flown in the city 42 years ago are flying again, andlocal children shout their defiance as they run traffic intersections that not long ago

were the sole domain of Gaddafi loyalists.

But noticeably absent was the gung-ho talk evident further along the highway wherethe fighting has been at its most intense. Instead people were focusing on moremundane things, like establishing a functional society and finding food. They anticipatebeing in for the long haul. Locals were pragmatic, not revolutionary.

"We have a lot to do here," said Fatima Marouf, as she bought meat, the first time shehad left her house in a fortnight. "If we get this city working, then the rest may happenitself."

Libyan battle over Zawiya becomes a test of will (Latimes)

Reporting from the outskirts of Zawiya, Libya, and Rebel fighters appeared to repelan assault by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi on a city that has become acrucial test of the two sides' will, as unrest inspired by the "people power" revolutions


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in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt increasingly veered toward civil war.

Throughout the day, government-allied commandos with hooded faces and assaultrifles could be seen driving toward the western city of Zawiya in pickup trucks.Checkpoints manned by soldiers and irregulars in civilian clothes surrounded both

main and secondary roadways into the city center. Bursts of automatic-weapons firecould be heard from the direction of downtown.

Opposition supporters in the city said Kadafi's forces began the assault before dawnSaturday with tanks, mortars and automatic weapons.

By the end of the day, rebel spokesman Mohammed Ali said, fighters opposed toKadafi's 41-year rule had pushed the government forces out of Zawiya. A giant flagfrom Libya's pre-Kadafi era remained displayed downtown, witnesses said.

"Our supplies are running low and it is an unequal fight," Ali said. "The war machine ofKadafi is quite diverse and quite ruthless."

The fighting in Libya is part of a wave of popular unrest shaking the Arab world. Butunlike the two uprisings that ousted leaders on its borders, oil-rich Libya's tribal andregional differences are transforming the conflict into a potential civil war. In recentdays, rebel forces have captured two key oil complexes in the country's east.

And just before dawn Sunday, machine-gun fire rattled the center of Tripoli. It wasunclear who was shooting or why. Reporters also heard car horns blaring. News

services quoted a regime official as saying the fusillade was celebratory gunfire and notthe sound of fighting.

The shift toward a military confrontation may give Kadafi an advantage. For now, hehas access to better and more hardware than the rebels as well as a functioning air force.A battle against an armed force also allows Kadafi to assert a moral equivalency withhis opponents that he would not have if he were confronting only peaceful protesters.

But Kadafi is under enormous international pressure, with two U.S. warships off theLibyan coast and world leaders including heads of Arab states calling for hisdeparture.Waging an all-out battle against rebels might escalate the internationalconfrontation as well as make it all the more difficult to reunify the country.

Paul Sullivan, a Libya expert at Georgetown University, said that since the country splitinto east and west early in the rebellion, the battles have been relatively small andaimed at psychological victories.

"This is likely to go on for some time and is a matter of who holds out the longest in an


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environment when everyone is trying to cut off supplies for the opponent," Sullivansaid.

The rebels are constricted by the limited supply of trained fighters and munitionsobtained as members of Kadafi's famously fractious military break away to join them.

They suffered a blow Friday when a massive explosion destroyed a munitions base nearBenghazi, the eastern cradle of the rebellion, leaving several craters 50 feet deep, acresof scorched earth and shattered windows miles away.

There were conflicting reports about the cause of the explosions in the town of Rajmeh,with some saying a plane fired two rockets at the depot, but it appeared to be the firstsuccessful attack by pro-Kadafi forces against the rebels' largest stockpiles.

Another armory, in Ajdabiya, about 100 miles south, has been attacked with missiles at

least three times since the beginning of the uprising, but each time the strikes missedthe more than a dozen buildings full of weapons.

Kadafi's forces have their own limitations: the frequently shaky loyalty of the fightersand challenges replenishing supplies.

"Despite the regime's financial resources, it is very difficult to bring things from Egyptoverland," which would entail crossing into eastern Libya, Sullivan said. "If someone isthinking about bringing them over the southern desert, there are about 2 million landmines waiting for them from WorldWar II.

"Algeria doesn't like Kadafi, so you can't bring anything from there. The only way to bereplenished is by sea, and the international community is watching that very closely."

According to figures announced by the government Friday, 374 people had been killedin the conflict. Independent observers have put the death toll in the thousands. Thefighting has contributed to regional jitters that have driven oil prices above $100 abarrel.

Libyan officials dismiss the rebels as Islamist radicals tied to Al Qaeda. "They are likethe Taliban," said one Libyan security official in the town of Nasriyah, south of Zawiya.The opposition claims that Kadafi's forces are bolstered by African mercenaries, anassertion denied by Libyan officials.

In Zawiya, Arab journalists and residents reached by telephone said dozens of people,mostly civilians, had been killed in two days of fighting that at times had escalated intohouse-by-house warfare. Unconfirmed reports cited sniper fire directed at terrifiedcivilians.


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Witnesses reached by phone and cited by Arab television channels said the governmentadvance started at dawn after authorities shut off electricity to major parts of the city.

Rebel organizer Salem Salem said the rebels were able to hold the city but were

anticipating more waves of attacks.

"There are bodies everywhere. We have no ability to collect them," Salem said.

A pro-opposition journalist in Zawiya reached by telephone Saturday said rebel controlwas incomplete and pro-government forces stormed a hospital used to treat woundedrebels and civilians, injuring dozens.

It was impossible to verify all the accounts. Western journalists approaching the citywere turned back or detained by security forces. Access to the Internet was severed for

a second day throughout much of the nation.

Documents

AFRICOM Related News Clips March 6, 2011