Rwanda-Drc-Burundi-Ouganda Blog: Libya conflict: As it happened

Key points

Anti-Gaddafi forces have renewed assaults on the Gaddafi strongholds of Bani Walid and Sirte
They have faced fierce resistance and retreated from Bani Walid under sniper fire
A column of some 900 vehicles is reported to have advanced on Sirte last night
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in the capital, Tripoli
He called on resident of Sirte and Bani Walid to "embrace your brothers"
All times are in BST (GMT+1)

Report

Reporters: Stephanie Holmes, Anna Jones and Susannah Cullinane

1140:
Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of events in Tripoli, where anti-Gaddafi fighters are battling loyalists for control of some of the remaining strongholds of the former regime. We'll bring you all the latest news and comment, with reports and analysis from our correspondents on the ground.
1152:
Anti-Gaddafi forces are moving on Bani Walid, 180km (110 miles) south of the capital Tripoli. Gunfire and explosions have been heard around the town's hills and valleys.
1157:
In this image a rebel fighter looks through binoculars as he stands in a convoy of revolutionary forces, moments before heading to the frontline in Bani Walid.
1159: Richard Galpin BBC News, Tripoli
The forces loyal to the interim government are saying they have lost 11 of their fighters and more than 30 have been injured in this continuing fighting. Clearly the Gaddafi loyalists inside Sirte are putting up quite a fight - they are using heavy weapons and also have snipers around buildings in the city. So it is going to be a tough fight.
1203:
On the outskirts of Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace, fighters waited for orders to advance, but also came under rocket attack.
1204:
Britain's Ministry of Defence said RAF aircraft had attacked sites in and around Sirte on Thursday, destroying a tank, four rocket launchers and four armed vehicles. The previous day the RAF attacked sites around the southern stronghold of Sabha, including buildings which "Nato had confirmed were in use as a base for those [Gaddafi] troops and mercenaries who continue to suppress the local population".
1207:
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tripoli today. He was met at the airport by the leader of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil.
1210: Richard Galpin BBC News, Tripoli
In Bani Walid we know a large number of fighters had gathered there and were planning a big assault. It seems they are attacking from two sides. They have come down from Tripoli and from the east as well, and are trying to push towards the centre of the town. We're hearing that they are coming under heavy fire from loyalists in the heart of Bani Walid.
1211: Misrata civilian council representative, Mohamed,
told the BBC, "There are vast southern areas of Libya that have not been won yet. There are thousands of square kilometres of land where Gaddafi and his murderers could set up."
1213:
There are reports that a convoy of some 900 vehicles approached Sirte on Thursday, coming from Misrata to the west. They came within 10km of the city centre before coming under heavy fire.
1215: Ian Pannell BBC News, Tripoli
The Gaddafi fighters are professional soldiers and members of the security services. In some ways, they have nothing to lose. They are the die hard loyalists and for them this is a final stand.
1217:
Some of the anti-Gaddafi forces say about half of Sirte is now under their control. "We have residential zone two and now we must take residential zones one and three," a fighter called Inneyo told the AFP news agency.
1220:
Mahmud Shammam, a spokesman for the NTC, told the AFP news agency the situation in Bani Walid "will be resolved this evening".
1231:
Fighting is also reported in Sabha, in the southern desert.
1233:
On Thursday, Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told the Syrian-based Arrai TV channel: "We are telling you that as of tomorrow there will be atrocious attacks by Nato and their agents on the ground on the resisting towns of Sirte, Bani Walid and Sabha."
1238: Richard Galpin BBC News, Tripoli
A lot of fighters around Bani Walid have been saying one of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, is possibly there, and maybe also his spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. But they are rumours and you get contradictory accounts. Other people say that they may have been there, but it is unlikely they would allow themselves to be cornered and would have left by now.
1240:
One anti-Gaddafi fighter told reporters: "We are going to Bani Walid to fight, God willing. It's not going to be peaceful since they won't allow it. The remnants of the Gaddafi forces don't want it to be peaceful, that's why we will fight.''
@libyans_revolt
tweets: #UN Security Council draft resolution suggests #NATO ends Libya operation in 3 months
Al Jazeera reporter, Hoda Abdel-Hamid,
tweets: Just met Makhlouf al Firjan spox for rev. mil council of #Sirte. Says fighters control most of west, south and north of city. He says civilians are living under dire conditions inside #Sirte due to 3 months of intense pressure by G loyalists.
1248:
The BBC's Peter Biles is about 5km from Bani Walid, he says a deadline for women and children to leave the town expired at 0500 local time. Some 1,500 NTC soldiers are attacking from the north and there is smoke rising from the town, says our correspondent.
1250:
Fighters told the BBC Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's personal driver was captured this morning. Soldiers at a checkpoint told our correspondent they had seen the driver being driven past towards Tajoura, a suburb in Tripoli.
1255:
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the NTC has told it to stop evacuating sub-Saharan migrants from Sabha until it can be confirmed none of them were Gaddafi mercenaries. "The NTC says they have to make sure of the migrants, to register them and to identify who is a real migrant and who is not," said an IOM spokesman.
1257:
Yusuf Wahbi, an anti-Gaddafi fighter, told AP: "We were ready to enter this morning and we all agreed to hold Friday prayers inside Bani Walid. The Gaddafi forces were patrolling the desert and fired five or six rockets here. But our forces are still at the gates of Bani Walid."
1303:
This image shows Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shortly after his arrival in Tripoli, alongside NTC leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
1314: Ian Pannell BBC News, Tripoli
We believe that fighters have gone in to Bani Walid perhaps from three directions. They had outposts on the fringes of town, but we now believe they are pushing in in a unified attempt to take the town. Although there have been a lot of skirmishes, this sounds a lot more serious. But we'll have to wait and see.
1317: Ian Pannell BBC News, Tripoli
Civilians will be in danger, undoubtedly. A lot of people have fled from Bani Walid but when we were out towards Sirte some days ago we saw a couple of cars coming from Sirte waving a white flag which were sent back and told they could not leave. It is reasonable to assume that certainly thousands, probably tens of thousands, of families are caught up in this fighting, which will be a truly terrifying experience.
Via Twitter @LibyaalhuraNet
tweets: "Libyan National Army is inside Bani Walid, its forces are combing its streets" (English translation)
1320:
Heavy fighting has been reported around the airport some 10 km (6 miles) from Sirte. Reuters says the site has been captured from the Gaddafi loyalists.
1321:
The Associated Press says Nato warplanes have been flying over Sirte.
1322:
A senior NTC commander tells AFP fighters are nearing the centre of the city of Sirte. "Our forces retreated strategically during the night but are now speeding towards the centre and some have already entered."
Abigail Hauslohner, in Tripoli,
writes on the Time blog that the Libyan revolt is creating a new hybrid of pro-western Islamists. "Across rebel-controlled territory, Libyans are becoming more expressively religious; holding Islamist group meetings and discussions on the management of mosque funding even as they verbalize an enthusiasm for NATO - rare in the Arab world."
Libya Freedom Fighters,
tweets: PM Erdogan now giving a speech following Friday Prayers in Martyr's Square.(English translation)
1333: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
Some NTC positions we passed on the road to Bani Walid that had been manned were today deserted, suggesting the fighters had pushed forward. As we caught sight of the first buildings in Bani Walid, artillery and mortars standing landing nearby. It is clear that the pro-Gaddafi forces still have the capacity to respond.
1335:
We now have a gallery of some of the latest images of fighting in Libya, as the NTC fighters advance on Gaddafi loyalists.
1345: A Free Libyan,
tweets: The fronts are heating up, progress being made on all of them, especially #Sirte. Pray for the FF & people in those cities. #Libya
1347: Richard Galpin BBC News, Tripoli
An official from the interim government says 4,000 fighters are involved in the assault on Sirte.
1352:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan tells cheering Libyans in Tripoli that they have shown why repression of unrest in Syria will not work. "You are the ones who showed the whole world that no administration can stand in the way of the might and will of the people," he says.
1356:
NTC fighters take cover from sniper fire by pro-Gaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid.
1408: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
There's been a lot of rebel activity on the road to Bani Walid today, vehicles taking ammunition and supplies to the front and a number of ambulances coming back - although there's been no word on the number of casualties.
1416:
NTC field commander Hadi Saleq tells Agence France Presse there have been skirmishes on three fronts in Sirte. "The fighting is concentrated on September 1 Street, residential zone 2 in the city centre and around the airport," he says.
1420: Hugo Camden,
emails: "Gaddafi needs to come out of hiding and deal with the results."
Mary Fitzgerald, Irish Times foreign affairs correspondent
tweets: Mustafa Abdel Jalil talking about lessons offered by Turkish model during press conf w/ Erdogan. Many Libyan Islamists also look to Turkey
1431:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gives a news conference in Tripoli, broadcast and translated on al-Jazeera television. "It is impossible for a resistance to succeed that is against the will and the wishes of the people in general. Right now Libyan people have expressed their will," he says. Mr Erdogan says the people of Sirte must also support the movement for change. "Libya belongs to the people of Libya," he says - adding it must never turn into Iraq.
1441:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) spoke to reporters at a joint conference with NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil (C).
1449: Al Arabiya English
tweets: Al Arabiya correspondent: NTC flags are raised on the governmental headquarters in Sirte #alarabiya #Libya #Qa
1454: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
We don't know how many people are inside Bani Walid. It's a town that did have a population of around 100,000 but the fate of many of those people is unknown. No-one's had a clear picture of what's been going on deep inside the town over the past few weeks.
1458:
NTC fighter Hisham Nseir tells Associated Press that the front line in Bani Walid is "very heated and chaotic" and his troops have been meeting heavy resistance from pro-Gaddafi forces.
1501:
In Sirte, NTC commander Hadi Farjani tells AP: "There are lots of snipers on rooftops and mosque minarets."
1508:
A pro-Gaddafi radio station in Bani Walid has been appealing to residents to fight and demonising NTC forces, Associated Press reports. "Run from Bani Walid and you run straight to your graves," one announcer is quoted as saying. Another says revolutionaries are trampling Muslim values. "These revolutionaries are fighting to drink and do drugs all the time and be like the West, dance all night."
1516: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
We've heard consistently reports that Sabha - a town or city deep in the Sahara much further south in Libya - is in Gaddafi loyalist hands. But whether there is a contest for that town is still unknown at this stage.
1531:
An AFP photographer inside Bani Walid tells the news agency that around 12 ambulances have left the town carrying NTC casualties, although it is unclear how many have been killed or injured.
1533:
An NTC fighter says there is fierce fighting around the market in Bani Walid, involving rocket fire. He tells AFP that pro-Gaddafi forces are concentrated in just one area of the town - Dawim.
1536:
President Barack Obama will meet the NTC chairman, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, AFP quotes the White House as saying.
1552:
A brief update for those of you just joining us. NTC forces have launched assaults on the town of Bani Walid and Col Gaddafi's birthplace - Sirte. They have been meeting fierce resistance from pro-Gaddafi fighters in both places. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been in Tripoli where he met NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil. Mr Erdogan praised Libyans for the example they were setting in throwing off oppression.
1559: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
The NTC forces are on the move again. They claim to have gone into northern areas of Bani Walid, although one fighter said they had not yet reached the centre. He reported seeing few civilians and described one district as a ghost-town.
1606:
US deputy security adviser Ben Rhodes said President Obama's planned meeting with the NTC leader would allow him to "congratulate chairman Jalil on the success of the Libyan people of ending the Gaddafi". He said Mr Obama would also discuss the NTC's plans for the post-Gaddafi era with Mr Jalil.
1612:
US officials have said they are taking an increasingly active role in tracking down weapons and ammunition which once belonged to the Gaddafi regime, including an estimated 20,000 shoulder-launched missiles which can shoot down helicopters or planes, AP reports.
1613:
Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said this task was his team's top priority. "We are utilising every possible tool to reduce the availability of loose missiles from Libya," AP quotes him as saying.
1622:
Earlier, we referred to a Reuters report which said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had been told to stop evacuating sub-Saharan migrants so the NTC could check whether they had been mercenaries. Reuters now says this story was based on incorrect information from the IOM so has been withdrawn.
1627:
A correspondent for BBC Arabic has been injured in Libya. He and his team came under sniper fire as they were about to go on air. His condition is not life-threatening, says the BBC's Director of Global News, Peter Horrocks.
1632:
The president of Guinea Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanha, has said he is "concerned" by Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior's comments that Col Gaddafi would be welcomed "with open arms" if he sought exile there. "The presidency is not going in the same direction as this declaration," AFP quoted Mr Sanha's office as saying.
1642:
Guma el-Gamaty, the NTC's UK-based spokesman, says people in Bani Walid and Sirte have lacked essential supplies for three months. "I think there will be a huge relief that the two towns will be liberated," he said.
1644:
"The local populations are just as eager as the freedom fighters to get the two towns liberated," said Mr Gamaty. "In both towns the only obstacles left now are the snipers. They pose a threat and I think they are being dealt with carefully."
1645:
Abusif Ghnyah, a spokesman for the NTC forces at Bani Walid, said they were facing "strong resistance" from the town. "The most difficult part is the central market, that is where they are firing from," he told reporters.
Barbara Plett BBC UN correspondent
tweets: GA [General Assembly] is voting on whether to defer consideration of giving #NTC #Libya seat
1701:
The UN General Assembly has voted by 144 votes 17 to give Libya's seat to the NTC after rejecting a motion to delay the move.
1702:
The UN vote went ahead despite opposition from some Latin American and African countries who said they did not want the seat to be occupied by a "faction or illigitimate transitory authority imposed by foreign intervention".
Barbara Plett BBC UN correspondent
tweets: "Egypt: don't think any other legitmate option that could be considered to represent #Libya at #UN other than #NTC."
1711:
Abdel al-Mutaly, a resident of Sirte, said he had only learned today that Tripoli had fallen to the anti-Gaddafi forces last month. "There is no food, no money, no petrol, not information in Sirte", he told the AFP news agency. "How could I have known that had taken Tripoli?"
1717:
The NTC taking over Libya's seat at the UN means Mustafa Abdul Jalil will be able to take part in the world leader's meeting in New York next week. He is already scheduled to have a meeting there with US President Barack Obama.
1729:
NTC forces have retreated from Bani Walid under heavy fire, Reuters reports.
1733:
The military council in Misrata has accused the national army of not supporting them in the assault on Sirte. The Voice of Free Libya radio station says the council claimed that "Misrata's crowds carried out the operation alone and that the army had let Misrata's rebels down and left them to face the battle alone".
1736:
Reuters says the NTC fighters are withdrawing from Bani Walid in a chaotic manner. One fighter said they were waiting for orders to go back in. "We need to reorganise troops and stock up on ammunition," he said.
1741:
The BBC Arabic correspondent who was hit by sniper fire in Bani Walid is Mohammad Ballout. He is being looked after by medical teams.
1742:
A BBC spokesperson said the incident was "another reminder of our journalists' bravery and commitment to inform audiences about events as they happen, even from the most dangerous zones and situations".
1743:
Portugal has become the latest country to reopen its embassy in Tripoli, AFP reports. A foreign ministry spokesman said Ambassador Rui Lopes Aleixo was back at his desk, although the building is still undergoing repairs.
1747: Barbara Plett BBC UN correspondent
Western diplomats had hoped for a consensus decision to give Libya's seat to the rebel National Transitional Council. But a group of Latin American countries raised objections and forced a vote: they argued that the UN would be accrediting a Libyan faction imposed by foreign intervention, noting that the rebels had ousted the Gaddafi regime with Nato support.
1748: Barbara Plett BBC UN correspondent
Some African nations also expressed unease, saying the NTC was not a government and trying to defer the vote on procedural grounds. But their objections were overruled, clearing the way for rebel leaders to represent Libya at next week's annual general debate of world leaders.
1757:
The Associated Press confirms that NTC fighters are pulling out of Bani Walid after coming under heavy sniper fire and are regrouping on the outskirts of town.
1802:
An image from the frontline of Bani Walid as fighters loyal to Libya's new leaders fire their artillery during clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces.
1806:
One National Transitional Council (NTC) fighter has told Reuters they have received orders to retreat. "We have been hit by many rockets. We will come back later," said Assad al-Hamuri as he fled from Bani Walid.
1809:
NTC fighters have surged into Col Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, sparking battles with loyalists in three sectors, including the airport, according to commanders quoted by Agence France Presse.
1812:
According to one fighter quoted by AFP, the fighting in Sirte is concentrated on September 1 Street, residential zone 2 in the city centre and around the airport.
1816: Hanan in the UK
emails: Libyans around the world are indebted to the courageous journalists who enabled the eyes of the world to follow events in Libya minute-by-minute. At huge risk to their own personal safety, these journalists have taken international reporting to a new level. We Libyans aspire to have our own free press one day too.
1822:
Col Gaddafi is the latest in a string of former leaders to face an indictment from the international criminal court. Critics argue that the threat of prosecution leads dictators like Col Gaddafi, of Libya, and Omar Hassan al-Bashir, of Sudan, to entrench themselves in power rather than negotiate a transition to democracy, writes Kathryn Sikkink in the New York Times.
1830: Peter Biles BBC News, outside Bani Walid
All day, armed pickup trucks have been racing up and down the main road to the north of Bani Walid. Anti-Gaddafi forces wave and shout as they drive past. But there's also been a regular flow of ambulances speeding in both directions, to and from the town.
1839:
Face of a fighter: a NTC fighter stands guard with his rocket-propelled grenade at a checkpoint east of Sirte
1847:
Libya's al-Hurra television is reporting that two areas of Sirte are now under NTC fighter control. "The area of Bu-Nujaym and Wadi al-Lawz have been liberated and the independence flag hoisted," the TV network is reporting, according to the BBC's Monitoring Service.
1851:
"This battle is really crazy" - the words of one 28-year-old NTC fighter called Maab Fatel, on the frontline near Bani Walid. "The Gaddafi loyalists have so many weapons," he told AP.
1857:
That ends our coverage for today. Thanks for staying with us. To follow the latest updates, read our main news story.
Source: BBC News,

Rwanda-Drc-Burundi-Ouganda Blog

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Libya conflict: As it happened

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