Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s forces struck at rebel control of oil export hubs in Libya’s east for a second day on Thursday as Arab states weighed a plan to end turmoil Washington said could make the nation “a giant Somalia”.
A leader of the uprising against Col. Gaddafi’s 41-year-old rule said he would reject any proposal for talks with the dictator to end the conflict in the world’s 12th largest oil exporting nation.
In The Hague, International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Col. Gaddafi, close family members and those belonging to his inner circle could be investigated for alleged crimes committed against civilians by security forces since the uprising broke out in mid-February. There were indications that international arrest warrants against Col. Gaddafi and others could follow soon.
Italy said it was preparing for a potential mass exodus of migrants escaping turmoil in North Africa after a rise in flows of illegal immigrants from Tunisia, the initial destination for tens of thousands who have fled violence in Libya.
Save The Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres said they were struggling to get medicines and care to Libya’s needy, with gunmen blocking roads and civilians too scared to seek help.
Witnesses said a warplane bombed the eastern oil terminal town of Brega, a day after troops loyal to Col. Gaddafi launched a ground and air attack on the town that was repulsed by rebels spearheading a popular revolt against his four-decade-old rule.
The rebels, armed with rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and tanks, called on Wednesday for UN-backed airstrikes on foreign mercenaries it said were fighting for Col. Gaddafi.
Opposition activists called for a no-fly zone, echoing a demand by Libya’s deputy UN envoy, who now opposes Col. Gaddafi. “Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes,” shouted soldier-turned-rebel
Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then US President George Bush.
But perhaps mindful of a warning by Col. Gaddafi that foreign intervention could cause “another Vietnam”, Western officials expressed caution about any sort of military involvement including the imposition of
a no-fly zone.
A rebel officer said government airstrikes targeted the airport of Brega and a rebel position in the nearby town of Ajdabiyah, referring to two rebel-held locations. Opposition soldiers also said troops loyal to Col. Gaddafi had been pushed back to Ras Lanuf, home to another major oil terminal and 600 km east of Tripoli. “Gaddafi’s forces are in Ras Lanuf,” said Mohammed al-Maghrabi, a rebel volunteer, echoing comments by others.
In an angry scene at al-Ugayla, east of Ras Lanuf, a rebel shouted inches from the face of a captured young African and alleged mercenary: “You were carrying guns, yes or no? You were with Gaddafi’s brigades,
yes or no?”
The silent youth was shoved onto his knees into the dirt. A man held a pistol close to the boy’s face before a reporter protested and told the man that the rebels were not judges. The uprising, the bloodiest yet against long-serving rulers in the West Asia/Arab region, is causing a humanitarian crisis, especially
on the Tunisian border where tens of thousands of foreign workers have fled to safety.
Revolt has torn through the Opec-member country and knocked out nearly 50 per cent of its 1.6 million barrels per day output, the bedrock of Libya’s economy.
As the struggle between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels who have taken swathes of Libya intensified, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said a peace plan for Libya from Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez was under consideration. “We have been informed of President Chavez’s plan but it is still
under consideration,” Mr Moussa said Thursday. “We consulted several leaders yesterday,” he said. Mr Moussa said he had not agreed to the plan and did not know whether Col. Gaddafi had accepted it.
In Caracas, however, Venezuela’s information minister Andres Izarra said he could “confirm” that Libya was had “interest in accepting this proposal”. This followed a talk on the phone between Mr Chavez and Col. Gaddafi.
Oil fell on news of the plan. Brent crude fell more than $3 to $113.09 per barrel as investors eyed a possible deal brokered by Mr Chavez, a close friend of Col. Gaddafi. Al Jazeera news said the Chavez plan would involve a commission from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East trying to reach a negotiated outcome between the Libyan leader and rebel forces.
The network said the chairman of the rebels’ National Libyan Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, rejected any talks with Col. Gaddafi.
In a push east, government troops, backed by air power, on Wednesday briefly captured Brega.
Opposition forces rapidly took back the town they had held for about a week, rebel officers said. They were ready to move west towards the capital, they said, if Col. Gaddafi refused to quit.
Basking in the adulation of loyalists in Tripoli on Wednesday, Col. Gaddafi launched into a tirade against the “armed gangsters” he said were behind the unrest, part of a conspiracy to colonise Libya and seize its oil. “We are ready to hand out weapons to a million, or two million or three million, and another Vietnam will begin,” Mr Gaddafi told Tripoli supporters at a gathering televised live.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said in Washington that one of the biggest US concerns was “Libya descending into chaos and becoming another Somalia”.
The Libyan government has tried to persuade people in Tripoli that life continues as normal, but the crisis was affecting everyday life. There were queues outside banks and residents said food prices had gone up, while the street value of the Libyan dinar had fallen dramatically against the dollar.