Libyan rebels take Ajdabiya ,Libya Revolution 2011
Libyan rebels take Ajdabiya ,Libya Revolution 2011
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| The rebels are now advancing toward the key oil town of Brega to launch a new offensive [AFP] |
Libyan rebels have taken the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya from government control, our correspondent there reported.
"There is no doubt about it, you can probably hear some of the celebrations behind me, Ajdabiya is in opposition hands," Al Jazeera's James Bays said from the city on Saturday.
"Gaddafi forces have been controlling the ring road that goes around Ajdabiya ... that has been the situation for six days, but they have now been cleared from that position."
"The opposition forces tell me there may be some pro-Gaddafi forces hiding, snipers possibly on buildings, they are telling us to take care," he said, but he added that Ajdabiya was "firmly back under the control of opposition fighters".
Rebel fighters were now reportedly on their way to the key oil port town of Brega, where Gaddafi forces have retreated, witnesses said.
"The road is open beyond Ajdabiya, and [the rebels] are heading, streaming along that road ... they are on the road and they are moving forward," Bays reported.
On Friday, western warplanes bombed Gaddafi's tanks and artillery outside the town to break the battlefield stalemate and help rebels retake the town.
Many fighters belonging to forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi were also taken hostage by rebels.
Misurata fighting
Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled an area on the outskirts of the city of Misurata on Friday, killing six people including three children, a rebel said.
The port city has experienced some of the heaviest fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi since the uprising began on February 16.
Officials and rebels said aid organisations were able to deliver some supplies to Misurata.
"There is a fairly regular supply going into Misurata," Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross operations in eastern Libya, told Reuters.
"But we are deeply concerned about the reports we are receiving about fighting in the city."
Casualties have overwhelmed the local medical clinic and prompted international concern about the safety of civilians.
Residents say electricity, water and regular land and cell phone service to Misurata are not functioning. Reports from the city cannot be verified independently because Libyan authorities have prevented journalists from going there.
'Focused mission'
Meanwhile, Barack Obama, the US president has said the military mission in Libya is clear, focused and limited.
"Because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians - innocent men, women and children - have been saved," he said in a radio address on Saturday.
The African Union on its part said it plans to facilitate talks to help end the conflict.
"The AU action is ... aiming at facilitating dialogue between the Libyan parties on reforms to be launched to
eliminate the root causes of the conflict," the union's commission chairman Jean Ping told a meeting on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He said that the process should end with democratic elections in Libya.
It was the first statement by the AU, which had rejected any form of foreign intervention in the Libya crisis, since the UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone last week and a Western coalition began air strikes on Libyan military targets.
Libya's delegation to the meeting, at which the rebels were not represented, called for an end to air strikes and said the government was committed to upholding a ceasefire it declared on Sunday.
The delegation said Tripoli is ready to implement an AU roadmap to resolve the Libyan crisis, while also demanding a halt to the Western-led coalition's military intervention.
The AU roadmap calls for an immediate end to all hostilities, "cooperation on the part of the relevant Libyan authorities to facilitate humanitarian aid," and "protection for all foreign nationals, including African migrant workers."
'Freelance foreign policy'
Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, said it was not the first time that a Libyan delegation "conducted a little freelance foreign policy on the sideline" and that there was no way of telling if the offer was sincere.
"In much the same way we had the foreign ministry go out on a limb a few days ago and say that they declared a ceasefire," she said.
"That was in complete contradiction of the facts on the ground and also the rhetoric coming from Colonel Gaddafi himself who wasn’t saying anything to do with a ceasefire.
"He was saying: We'll fight to the death; we'll chase you into your homes. We'll pursue this war to the end."
A rebel spokesman in Benghazi said they weren't consulted in this initiative. Some reports say they were not even invited to the meeting, while others say they were but refused to go. Some others are saying there are no opening for negotiations and that they simply want the bombing to stop and Gaddafi and his family to leave.
However, diplomatic efforts may be sidelined, if a Washington Post report with respect to US and NATO considering arming the Libyan opposition is confirmed.
The newspaper, citing unamed US and European officials, said that the Obama administration believes the UN resolution that authorised international intervention in Libya has the "flexibility" to allow such assistance.
According to it, Gene Cretz, the recently withdrawn US ambassador to Libya, said administration officials were having "the full gamut" of discussions on "potential assistance we might offer, both on the non-lethal and the lethal side".
Libya Revolution 2011,Libya rebels recapture key town
Libya Revolution 2011,Libya rebels recapture key town
Libyan rebels backed by extensive allied air raids have seized control of the frontline oil town of Ajdabiya from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Insurgents have been celebrating amid the ruins of tanks and artillery pieces left behind after air strikes.Gaddafi loyalists seized the town last week as they advanced east to quell an uprising which began in mid-February.
A Libyan minister said the army had left the town after the "heavy involvement" of western forces.
Saturday's breakthrough came after a seventh night of bombardment by allies enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone.
British RAF Tornado aircraft have been firing Brimstone guided missiles at Gaddafi forces in recent days around Ajdabiya, a town of about 100,000 people.
The BBC's Ben Brown, in Ajdabiya, says those strikes seemed to be even heavier overnight.
Gaddafi 'promotes everyone' He counted about two dozen Libyan government tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces which have been either abandoned or destroyed at the eastern gate of the town.
There is even more wrecked weaponry at the western gate and lots of bodies of Gaddafi fighters, our correspondent has been told.
People have been standing on abandoned Gaddafi tanks, firing guns into air, dancing in the streets and blaring car horns, he adds.Some of them chanted "Thank you, Obama", "Thank you, Cameron" - references to the US president and British prime minister.
The rebels say they are going through the town street by street trying to make sure there are no Gaddafi fighters or snipers left.
Reuters news agency, which earlier said the town's western gate was still in the hands of Gaddafi forces, later quoted a Libyan government official as admitting they had abandoned the town.
"They [Western forces] were heavily involved, so the Libyan armed forces decided to leave Ajdabiya this morning," Khaled Kaim, a deputy foreign minister, told reporters.
Large explosions were also heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Saturday morning.
Witnesses said a military radar site was set on fire in that city's suburb of Tajura, a previous target of the air raids.
In his weekly address, US President Barack Obama said that the "clear and focused" military mission in Libya was succeeding.
"Make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians - innocent men, women and children - have been saved," he said.
Col Gaddafi is meanwhile said to have ordered a universal promotion for everyone in the army and police, and proposed arming civilian volunteers.
The BBC's Kevin Connolly in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi says the administration's latest move smacks of desperation.
Pro-Gaddafi forces are still trying to recapture Misrata, the last major western Libyan town in rebel hands, and residents reported shelling continuing there late on Friday.
Yemen news, Yemen Revolution, Thousands in Yemen march against Saleh
Yemen news, Yemen Revolution, Thousands in Yemen march against Saleh
Addressing a large rally of his own supporters in a speech carried on state TV earlier on Friday, Saleh said he was ready to meet with protesters, but warned that those demanding his resignation had been influenced by the Houthis - an armed Shia Zaidi group demanding autonomy in the country's north - and "drug dealers".
Saleh was president of North Yemen until its 1990 unification with the south - and has ruled the country since.
But Al Jazeera's special correspondent, reporting from the capital's Change (Taghyir) Square - where 52 protesters were killed last Friday - said little new was offered in the speech; on one hand, warning and threatening those standing against him, and on the other, promising reforms and saying he would listen to the demands of the people.
Soldiers who have abandoned the president and were deployed to protect protesters in the square shot in the air to disperse groups of Saleh supporters who were attempting to reach the protest after the president's speech.
Our correspondent added that protesters said a sniper had shot and injured one of the soldiers guarding the square.
'Peace, stability and security'
Saleh said the gathered crowds before him came "under no orders from any political party or any leader, you came of your own free will, based on your patriotic responsibility, from all corners of the country, on this great day – the Friday of peace, stability and security".
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Criticising the media, the Houthis and other political parties, Saleh said protest organisers were "adventurous conspirators" who were "acting out of malice".
But he added to those taking part in demonstrations: "My fellow citizens, those holding the sit-ins, I am prepared to sit with you and to respond to each one of your demands. You should not be a vehicle for the malicious to ruin every great aspect of life ... the country is a trust and responsibility for you.
"We need to hand over the banner of rule to honest hands, capable hands - not malicious hands. We are prepared to give up power, but only to good people, after elections. We are against chaos and mayhem. The demonstrators in [Change] Square are targeted by the Houthis and drug traffickers."
Protesters undeterred
But, at the protesters' rally across the city, where tens of thousands of people gathered for Friday prayers in front of Sanaa university, the positive mood remained unchanged, said our correspondent.
"In some way, he is playing to some peoples' fears, that, after Saleh leaves, there will be some kind of military rule and that there are political aspirations behind the defections from the army - despite the fact that Ali Mohsen, the key general who defected earlier this week, has said very clearly that if he wanted to take power, he would have done so decades ago - and that he has no political aspirations," said Al Jazeera's reporter in Sanaa.
"What the people really want to see is for a five-man presidential council to take control in the interim period, until elections can be held - because they simply don't believe that if elections are held under the current regime that they will be free and fair."
Earlier in the day, the city had split, with water cannon reportedly mounted on the side of the dividing line that holds the presidential palace - itself surrounded by Saleh's republican guard. It threatened to be a flashpoint for violence if protesters attempted to march, as many expected they would, the 5km to the palace.
Defecting general
General Ali Mohsen has thrown his weight behind the protesters and sent troops to protect pro-democracy protesters in Sanaa. He said the options before Saleh were now few, and criticised what he described as Saleh's "stubbornness", but said the armed forces were committed to protecting protesters.
He also said military rule in Arab countries was outdated and that the people would decide who would govern them in the framework of a modern, civilian state.
Mohsen, commander of the northwest military zone and Saleh's kinsman from the al-Ahmar clan, is the most senior military officer to back the protests, and his move on Monday triggered a stream of defections in the military and government, adding momentum to the opposition movement.
Previous offer rejected
On Thursday night, opposition groups dismissed Saleh's offer to stand down after a presidential election at the end of the year, stepping up efforts to remove him from power.
Yassin Noman, head of Yemen's opposition coalition, dismissed Saleh's earlier offer as "empty words" and a spokesman said the umbrella coalition would not respond.
"No dialogue and no initiatives for this dead regime," opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Sabry said on Thursday.
Protesters are demanding a new constitution and the dissolution of parliament, local councils and the notorious state security agencies - as well as the immediate resignation of President Saleh.
Saleh offered amnesty to defecting troops, calling their decisions "foolish acts", taken in reaction to last Friday's deaths.
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