Libyan Revolution Week 29

[joshcryer]

[joshcryer]

1. Libyan Revolution Day 198 updates below, current time in Libya, 11:01am Saturday, September 3

[pinboy3niner]

2. Moussa Koussa's secret letters betray Britain's Libyan connection

Source: The Independent

Messages found in his office show how MI6 gave details of dissident exiles to Gaddafi – and how the CIA used regime for rendition

By Portia Walker and Kim Sengupta in Tripoli

Saturday, 3 September 2011


Secret files have been unearthed by The Independent in Tripoli that reveal the astonishingly close links that existed between British and American governments and Muammar Gaddafi.

...


The documents, many of them incendiary in their implications, were found at the private offices of Moussa Koussa, Col Gaddafi's right hand man, and regime security chief, who defected to Britain in the days following the February revolution.

...


The British too were dealing with the Libyans about opposition activists, passing on information to the regime. This was taking place despite the fact that Colonel Gaddafi's agents had assassinated opponents in the campaign to eliminate so-called "stray dogs" abroad, including the streets of London. The murders had, at the time, led to protests and condemnation by the UK government.


One letter dated 16th April 2004 from UK intelligence to an official at the International Affairs Department of Libyan security, says: "We wish to inform you that Ismail KAMOKA @ SUHAIB was released from detention on 18th March 2004. A panel of British judges ruled that KAMOKA was not a threat to national security in the UK and subsequently released him. We are content for you to inform of KAMOKA's release."

...


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/moussa-koussas-secret-letters-betray-britains-libyan-connection-2348394.html

[pinboy3niner]

3. Russia to discuss with Libya fate of its oil deals

Sat Sep 3, 2011 8:49am GMT


DUSHANBE, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Russia has invited members of Libya's interim government to Moscow to discuss the future of Russian energy contracts in the country stricken by six-months of civil war, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.


"We will discuss all of this," Lavrov told reporters after being asked about the fate of Russian oil contracts agreed with Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi. "They (Libya's interim government) offered to hold contacts, and we have invited their respective representatives to Moscow, at their request."

...


Aram Shegunts, director general of the Russia-Libya Business Council, told Reuters in August that Russian energy firms are likely to be barred from resuming work in Libya after NATO-backed rebels ousted Gaddaffi who has been in power since 1969.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K30L120110903

[joshcryer]

4. Journalist stranded in Libya returns to Canada

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Journalist+stranded+Libya+returns+Canada/5347020/story.html">Journalist stranded in Libya returns to Canada
Being "a citizen of the world," a Canadian freelancer who was among the dozens of journalists holed up in a Tripoli hotel says he does not regret his time in Libya, but is happy to be back home and that he kissed a Canadian flag when he landed in Montreal this week.

Mahdi Nazemroaya, who spent nearly a week in the hotel with more than 30 other journalists, said the stressful ordeal was fuelled by numerous threats, the sounds of gunfights and bombing and internal tensions within the group.

Some of the most aggressive fighting in the rebel forces' effort to strip Col. Moammar Gadhafi from power took place during Nazemroaya's time in the hotel.

"I didn't sleep. I couldn't sleep — maybe a couple of hours in the whole week," said Nazemroaya, who landed in Montreal Thursday and is preparing to work on graduate studies in Ottawa this fall. "I wasn't the only person (who couldn't sleep).

I'm glad he's home safely, but his propaganda videos were posted all over YouTube and referenced time and time again. As Tripoli fell and as the journalists were held hostage, he went out to the world via Skype and lied for the regime claiming all was calm and nothing was going on. It's been just over ten days and as the threads' picture of the day / week shows, Tripoli is now calm, and Gaddafi is ousted. Tripoli, the largest city in the country, is liberated, with relatively little bloodshed and no protracted battle.

It's always good to see a propagandist get a little slap in the face for being a full on liar. I'm glad the liar is home safe and find it amusing that the whole experience made a die hard anti-nationalist kiss his own flag. Sorry if this is overly gloaty, but this guys' interviews on RT (Russian TV News propaganda channel) were just horrible, horrible beyond words. In one of his last "YouTube interviews" he kept claiming that all was calm and that the reporters for the "mainstream" were propagandizing, it was really really bad. I watched the video of Sky News after it all unfolded, it was incredible and nothing like his propaganda.

I will not post the links to the videos, search for them yourself if you're interested in being disgusted.

[pinboy3niner]

5. Libyans return to Misrata's devastated main street

By PAUL SCHEMM - Associated Press | AP – 26 mins ago.


MISRATA, Libya (AP) — Just months after the siege of Misrata, this port city is bustling. Stores are open, water is running and there is steady electricity — a sharp contrast to Libya's recently conquered capital just 125 miles (200 kilometers) away.


But running through the heart of the city, like a raw wound, is Tripoli Street, once its commercial heart and later its main battleground.


It looks like it was lifted from a documentary about the siege of Stalingrad. Every building on the long, wide street has been marked by war, some with just a spattering of heavy machine gun fire across the facade, others with huge bites torn out by artillery.

...


Three months later, the resilience of Misrata's population is obvious, poignantly symbolized by the sight of fresh laundry fluttering from a second-story balcony above a demolished ground floor.

...


When Khaled al-Massoudi finally returned to his Tripoli Street home, it looked as if tanks had used it for target practice. The top floor was devastated, and so much of the ground floor was punched through with holes that it looked like Swiss cheese.


"The home was destroyed, so I've just been spending all my money trying to repair it — a little piece at a time," said al-Massoudi, who once ran a tire store but now makes a living painting murals of fallen rebel fighters on the city walls.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libyans-return-misratas-devastated-main-street-093311514.html

[pinboy3niner]

6. Libya's new leaders send fighters home

Source: AFP

Andrew Beatty
September 3, 2011 - 8:14PM


Libya's new leaders have moved to restore order to Tripoli, instructing fighters from the provinces to go home as they prepare to transfer to the capital from their wartime base in Benghazi.

...


"Starting Saturday, there will be a large number of security personnel and policemen who will go back to work," interim interior and security minister Ahmed Darrad told AFP on Saturday.


"Now the revolutionaries of Tripoli are able to protect their own city."


Darrad said that fighters from the provinces who were instrumental in ousting Gaddafi from the capital had orders to return home in a move aimed at defusing potential tensions with Tripoli residents who endured the ravages of the regime in its dying days.

...


http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/libyas-new-leaders-send-fighters-home-20110903-1jqy4.html

[pinboy3niner]

7. The Friends of New Libya Counted Themselves

Source: euinside (Bulgaria)

Published: 1 hour 26 min ago, Ralitsa Kovacheva, Sofia


New Libya will be a country of reconciliation, tolerance and rule of law, the head of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, promised to the international community. "The Friends of Libya", that were gathered at the Elysee Palace, in turn promised their full support for the Libyan transition but stressed that this process must be fully managed and implemented by the Libyan people.

...


Another important message from the meeting was Libya's return as a full member of the international community. “Nearly 70 countries so far have recognised the TNC, including 18 African nations, the Arab League, and now Russia. It is time for others to follow suit,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the forum. The participants called on the TNC to obtain a seat in the UN as a legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

...


Against this background, the following words of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sounded quite realistic: “We know from experience that winning a war is no guarantee of winning the peace that follows.” The references to the bitter American lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan are obvious. However, they apply not only to the US but to the entire international community. Libya and the Arab spring as a whole are a test for all - be it the people fighting for democracy to be able to build it or the West being able to comply with the principles it is proclaiming while helping.


In this sense, the Chinese stance on Libya is curious and indicative, as described by Jonas Parello-Plesner, Senior Policy Fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. On the one hand Beijing is seeking to win a place for its business in the reconstruction of Libya. On the other, however, it refrains from commenting on issues such as democratic transition and the people power in the Chinese society, and prefers to launch the thesis that overthrowing of dictators leads to chaos.


“It is becoming increasingly difficult for China to make friends abroad and protect growing commercial interests while conveying the right narrative at home,” the author commented. However, it is difficult to control “the right narrative” in the blogosphere, as shown by the Arab spring, as there can be found sarcastic comments like this: in response to official Chinese position that the Libyan people's choice should be respected, a Chinese blogger asked “When can you respect the Chinese people's choice?”

...


http://www.euinside.eu/en/news/the-friends-of-the-new-libya-counted-themselves

[Iterate]

8. Libya survivor describes 1996 prison massacre

Libya survivor describes 1996 prison massacre
Engineer held in notorious Abu Salim re-visits his cell and provides new details about one of regime's darkest chapters.
Evan Hill in Libya Last Modified: 03 Sep 2011 01:56

Anwar Haraga was 26 when men from Libya's Internal Security agency came to his door in Tripoli one night.

It was 1989. Haraga was newly married and had just returned from five years of study in England. He was heading toward a promising career in computer engineering.

But Haraga had a problem. He wore a beard and traditional Arab Islamic clothes, and he prayed regularly. In Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, that made him guilty of zindaka, or heresy, a crime prosecutred zealously by Gaddafi's internal security forces.

Haraga was taken to Abu Salim prison in southwest Tripoli, home to more than 1,000 political prisoners and fellow "heretics". He spent the next 11 years in custody.

more... http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/09/20119223521462487.html

[pinboy3niner]

9. Libyan intelligence documents show ties to CIA

AP – 21 mins ago


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan security agency documents seen by AP indicate intimate cooperation between Moammar Gadhafi's ousted regime and British and American intelligence.


While the documents provide new details, reports of such cooperation have surfaced before. Libyan Muslim extremists have tried to kill Gadhafi, and have held senior al-Qaida positions.


Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the anti-Gadhafi force that now controls Tripoli, is the former leader of an Islamic group who says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison, then sent to Libya.


Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, which found the documents in a Libyan security agency building, says they indicate American officials were sometimes present during interrogations — something the United States has denied.


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

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-intelligence-documents-show-ties-cia-102850383.html

[pinboy3niner]

10. Juan Cole: Qaddafi was a CIA Asset...

Posted in GD by pampango:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1867925

[pinboy3niner]

11. 2 killed in new Syrian raid on village

AP – 15 mins ago.


BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Syrian security forces cracking down on a growing uprising have killed two people after storming a northern village.
...

The Local Coordination Committees activist network and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two people died when troops conducting the raids opened fire.

The security raid is part of operations to crush almost six months of demonstrations against the country's authoritarian leadership. The U.N. estimates some 2,200 Syrians have been killed since March.

http://news.yahoo.com/2-killed-syrian-raid-village-110204172.html

[pinboy3niner]

12. EU sanctions target Syrian oil companies

Sat Sep 3, 2011 8:51am GMT

• EU sanctions target Syrian industry

• Western experts say EU approach needs more bite

• Russia Foreign min says sanctions 'will lead to no good'


SOPOT, Poland, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The European Union imposed a ban on purchases of Syrian oil on Saturday and targeted three Syrian firms in an expanded sanctions list meant to intensify pressure against President Bashar al-Assad's government.


The new round of sanctions against Syria marks the first time Europe has targeted Syrian industry as it seeks to cut off Assad's access to funds and force him to end a five-month-old crackdown on pro-democracy protesters which the United Nations says has killed more than 2,000 civilians.


But analysts say the sanctions, which do not go as far as the investment ban imposed by the United States last month, may have only a limited impact on Assad's access to funds.


EU governments are expected to have more discussions on such a ban, but industry experts have said the 27-member bloc will have to overcome reluctance among some capitals, given that European firms like Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and France's Total are significant investors in Syria.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE78200Y20110903?sp=true

[Iterate]

13. Gadhafi turns water project into a weapon

Gadhafi turns water project into a weapon
Published: Sept. 2, 2011 at 1:23 PM

TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Moammar Gadhafi's retreating loyalists have cut off water supplies to Tripoli, the rebel-held capital, from the Great Man-Made River, a $33 billion system he built to tap into a vast underground aquifer in the Sahara to sustain his arid country.

It was hailed as an engineering masterpiece when it was completed in the 1990s after more than a decade of construction.

But now the Great Leader, fighting a rearguard action against NATO-backed rebels after six months of civil conflict, has callously turned it into a weapon of war against his own people.

U.N. agencies and aid groups say Gadhafi's forces cut off water from the Great Man-Made River to western Libya, including the capital, on Aug. 21, the day after anti-Gadhafi rebels entered the city after six months of civil war.

more... http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/09/02/Gadhafi-turns-water-project-into-a-weapon/UPI-66451314984213/?spt=hs&or=er

[pinboy3niner]

14. ICRC visits Tripoli squatter camp to aid dark-skinned Libyans and migrants

Robin Waudo, the Red Cross spokesperson in Tripoli, told Al Jazeera that ICRC staff would visit a squatter camp where dark skinned Libyans and migrants are afraid to venture out for fear of reprisals and suffering in squalor as they wait for help.


Waudo will visit on Saturday to begin work on improving the migrants' water and food supplies. Both have been a concern: Camp residents draw water from local wells and streams and, perhaps because of proximity to the harbor, they say it tastes salty. They have been relying on local donations for food and cooking stews in the open with a limited ability to clean their kitchenware.


The ICRC will be working with the Janzour council and other local residents to help supply the camp, Waudo said. ICRC demining experts may also visit the camp as early as Sunday to remove multiple pieces of unexploded munitions found at the site, he added. He said he did not know what kind of munitions had been found.


The ICRC is still working to receive approval from the new government to begin the process of returning the migrants to their home countries, he said.


Al Jazeera's Evan Hill wrote a recent story about the situation of the camp. You can access it HERE.




http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-1335

[tabatha]

15. More than 9000 containers in prison of Tripoli

The First Day of September containers with more than 9,000 detainees have been foundbefor they had arrested by Battalions of Gaddafi earlier and said the source, who wishednot to report the place for organizational reasons, to a large number of them have died as a result of the liquidation or deteriorating health status which found with the detainees

http://www.libyaalhura.net/eng/?p=1867

[tabatha]

16. Washington Says It Knew of Ex-Diplomat's Libya Meet

WASHINGTON—A former senior State Department diplomat who met last month with two officials from the government of now-deposed Col. Moammar Gadhafi communicated with the Obama administration both before and after the meeting, according to U.S. officials.

Former Assistant Secretary of State David Welch met with the Libyans on Aug. 2 in Cairo and confirmed the meeting for the first time Friday. The encounter created controversy both in Washington and Libya, after the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera published minutes of the meeting as described by the two Libyan officials, Fouad Abu-Bakr Al-Zleitny and Mohammad Ismaeel Ahmad.

The minutes were obtained by Al Jazeera from the offices of the Gadhafi regime's intelligence services, which Libyan rebels overran last week. During the meeting, according to the minutes, Mr. Welch appeared advise the Libyan officials on how to withstand growing international pressure on Col. Gadhafi's regime.

The State Department initially responded to the Al Jazeera report by stressing that Mr. Welch was acting in his private capacity and wasn't "carrying any messages" for the Obama administration. But subsequently, senior U.S. officials confirmed that Mr. Welch briefed the State Department on the Libyans' request for the meeting ahead of his trip to Egypt and provided a follow-up report afterwards.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904716604576547101290553370.html?mod=WSJ_article_U.S.Headlines

google title

[tabatha]

17. Libyans focus on reconciliation and rebuilding

TRIPOLI — Libya's new leadership reaffirmed its commitment to democracy on Friday and worked on its priorities for spending billions of dollars released from the frozen assets of fugitive strongman Muammar Gaddafi.

A day after international powers met in Paris and agreed to hand over more than $15 billion to the rebels who overthrew Gaddafi the European Union rescinded a range of sanctions and officials from the National Transitional Council explained their rebuilding plans.

The NTC representative in London said that work on putting right the damage of 42 years of eccentric one-man rule and of six months of civil war should not wait until Gaddafi is found and the last bastions of armed support for him are defeated.

"As long as Tripoli, the capital, is stabilized and secure and safe, which it almost is now, and the overwhelming majority of other cities and towns, then Libyans can get on with the process of transition and stabilization and the new political process," Guma El-Gamaty told the BBC.

In the eastern city of Benghazi, seat of the uprising, an NTC official said the release of the funds meant the NTC now had to show Libyans it was capable of governing.

"Before we had the excuse that we didn't have money when things went wrong," he said. "Now we don't have the excuse."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41960775/ns/world_news-europe/t/gaddafi-said-be-desert-town-libyan-military/#.TmIajWo99I4

[pinboy3niner]

23. Reuters has a nice 17-image photo gallery to go with this:

(Includes photos from the women's rally in Martyrs' Square, Tripoli, Friday night.)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/02/us-libya-idUSTRE7810I820110902

[pinboy3niner]

18. Libya: Matouk Mohammed Matouk 'slightly frightening'

Source: The Telegraph

The former tutor of Matouk Mohammed Matouk, the man who allegedly orchestrated the murder of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, has described him as a "dark" and "slightly frightening character."


By Andrew Gilligan, Auslan Cramb, Gordon Rayner and Heidi Blake

8:00AM BST 03 Sep 2011

...


Two years later, (Matouk) was a leading member of a “students’ committee” that took over the Libyan Embassy in London before WPc Fletcher’s shooting. He was deported after an 11-day siege that followed the murder and is now suspected of directing the students to open fire.

...


Letters from his tutor, Robert Smart, were among documents abandoned by Mr Matouk, the former head of Gaddafi’s nuclear weapons programme, when he fled his home in Tripoli last month.


Speaking to The Daily Telegraph last night, Mr Smart, 74, who is now retired, said Matouk was a “dark” and a “slightly frightening character”.


He also recalled him leaving Edinburgh to see other Libyan students in other parts of the UK and said that in retrospect he appeared to be “Gaddafi’s man”.

...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8739002/Libya-Matouk-Mohammed-Matouk-slightly-frightening.html

A previous post that provides background on the murder of Yvonne Fletcher:
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1843352&mesg_id=1849317



The memorial to PC Yvonne Fletcher in London, who was shot dead
outside the Libyan embassy in 1984. Photograph: John D McHugh/AP

[tabatha]

19. Foreign oil firms working to restore ops in Libya

Five international oil companies have returned to Libya and are working on getting operations running again, the head the NTC’s stabilisation team, Aref Ali Nayed, said today.

The five companies include Italy’s Eni , Nayed told reporters at a meeting on Libya in Paris with donor groups and foreign experts.

“I think at least five companies have come back,” he said.

“The ones that have existing infrastructure … many are already back. They have sent in advanced crews and teams to re-start (for example) the refinery in Ras Lanuf or Eni’s Mellitah gas infrastructure.”

The 510 km GreenStream BV undersea pipeline between Mellitah, just west of the Libyan capital Tripoli, and Gela in Italy is 50 percent owned by Italian oil company ENI and supplied about 10 percent of Italy’s gas imports in 2010.

“The gas has been resupplied to the Mellitah project and the crude is beginning to flow back to the Zawiyah refinery,” Nayed said. “We are anticipating good functionality very soon. Things are going back to normal. ”

Libya, an OPEC member, was producing 1.6 million barrels per day of oil before an uprising began in February against leader Muammar Gaddafi. The civil war caused foreign workers to flee and some oilfields and export terminals were damaged.

http://english.libya.tv/2011/09/02/foreign-oil-firms-working-to-restore-ops-in-libya/

[tabatha]

20. Hannibal's horrors: Others tell stories similar to burned nanny's

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Shweyga Mullah gestures a greeting to her visitors at Tripoli's burn hospital. Her head wrapped in fresh bandages, her frail body under a red fleece blanket, Mullah is slowly regaining her dignity.

Tears stream down her cheeks, not of pain anymore, but relief. She is grateful for all those who have helped her in her ordeal. She prays now for God to heal her and return her to her family in Ethiopia.

Mullah worked as a nanny for two of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's grandchildren. When she couldn't keep one from crying, Aline, the wife of Gadhafi's son Hannibal, poured boiling water on her head.

CNN journalists discovered her in Hannibal Gadhafi's plush home after anti-Gadhafi forces overran Tripoli and Hannibal Gadhafi and his wife fled to Algeria.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/02/libya.abuse/

(Note - the part of her face that was not burned was the area that was covered to make sure she could not scream.)

[tabatha]

21. United Nations team arrives in Libya

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A U.N. team was on the ground in Libya to re-establish the organization's presence there amid dire water, food and fuel shortages, the United Nations said Friday.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Libya, Panos Moumtzis, arrived in Tripoli with a team of U.N. officials who hope to assess and address problems with food and water in the war-torn country.

"The humanitarian situation remains fragile," Moumtzis said in a statement. "It is critical to ensure an immediate and effective U.N. presence on the ground to help identify and assist vulnerable people who have been particularly affected by the conflict and the disruption of services."

The U.N. delegation, which arrived in Libya on Thursday, will assess and assist with water shortages, explore ways to protect civilians and investigate food shortages.

Working with the National Transitional Council, which is functioning as an interim government, UNICEF hopes to find and distribute bottled water to 500,000 people, the U.N. statement said. The World Food Programme has sent about 600 metric tons of food to help 35,500 people for one month, the statement said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/02/libya.war/index.html?eref=edition

[tabatha]

22. Libya's other wealth: Archaeological treasures

CNN) -- Before Moammar Gadhafi, there were the Phoenicians. And the Greeks. The Romans. The first Arabs. They're a reminder that no civilization -- and no leader -- is forever.

The Libyan transitional leaders have a lot to deal with once they stop being rebels, and begin shaping a new Libya: Keeping law and order, setting up a rudimentary government, dealing with money -- and oil.

But what about Libya's other wealth? Its archaeological treasures?

They are all over the country.

In the south, in Acacus, rock paintings 12,000 years old cross an entire mountain range.

In the east, the city of Cyrene holds a thousand years of history -- Roman general Mark Antony once gave it to Cleopatra.

And along the coast, the splendid ruins of Leptis Magna that were buried for centuries under the sand was said to be one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/03/libya.archaeological.sites/

[tabatha]

24. Libya rebel commander plays down Islamist past

Associated Press= TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Abdel-Hakim Belhaj is an emerging hero of the Libyan uprising, the man who led the Tripoli Brigade that swept into the capital and captured the fortified compound that was Moammar Gadhafi's seat of power. He's also the former leader of an Islamic militant group who says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison.

Belhaj, the rebels' commander in Tripoli, said Friday that the U.S. wrongly lumped him in with terrorists after Sept. 11, but that he holds no grudge. He said he shares the West's goal of a free Libya.

"We call and hope for a civil country that is ruled by the law which we were not allowed to enjoy under Gadhafi," he told The Associated Press. "The identity of the country will be left up to the people to choose."

He was not always so inclusive. In a 1996 statement he wrote as leader of the now-dissolved Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Belhaj wrote a statement vowing to fight "all the deviant groups that call for democracy or fight for the sake of it."

Though Belhaj and many others who resisted Gadhafi for decades considered their fight an Islamic cause, both secular and religious Libyans took part in the uprising that led to Gadhafi's downfall. Secular Libyans and the West are hoping Belhaj's actions match what he told the Libyan people minutes after arriving at Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound Aug. 23.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9828678

[tabatha]

25. Bani Walid is free, without fighting.

2011feb17 Tweeting Tripoli
So Sirte and Sabha left, which I am sure under gun threat. People could be well under house arrest by thugs.
1 minute ago

Apparently, BaniWalid followed the Tripoli example. They rose from within just when FF from Benghazi and Tripoli were few Km on their way.
6 minutes ago

BaniWalid Latest: a FF 20 Km north of The city says cars of happy jubilant families who were trapped passed them by cheering via @2011feb17
10 minutes ago

BaniWalid latest: apparently same happened like in Tripoli, people rose and took to the streets before FF from outside reached them.

.@2011feb17 says it has already done so. RT @baysontheroad: #LIBYA NTC say Bani Walid may be close to surrendering.
52 minutes ago

BREAKING: Bani Walid is free. Via phone call. via @2011feb17 fb.me/vPebPQaE
1 hour ago

Mobile phones in BaniWalid not working, but landlines are OK.
1 hour ago

Warfala FF from Benghazi already stationary on the outskirt of BaniWalid. Ppl are happy they will join freedom soon. Via phone call.
2 hours ago

BaniWalid Latest: a FF from 20 Km north of The city told me cars of happy jubilant families who were trapped passed them by cheering.
14 minutes ago

Warfala FF from Tripoli en route to liberate Bani Walid as I tweet. They have already encircled it from 3 fronts.
2 hours ago

Another phone call from Bani Walid: they believe Gaddafi & Son is there. They're bound to their houses and can't leave. They live in terror.
17 hours ago

------------- Please note that the people in Bani Walid were trapped by pro-Gaddafi forces, and the FFs freed them.

[pinboy3niner]

26. Libya NTC says may have control of Gaddafi bastion (Reuters)

Sat Sep 3, 2011 8:45am EDT


TRIPOLI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Libya's provisional government said on Saturday that opponents of Muammar Gaddafi may have taken control in the town of Bani Walid, where Gaddafi loyalists had been holding out and possibly hiding the former leader.


During a news conference in Tripoli, the interim oil minister Ali Tarhouni said: "The military council in Tripoli has just informed me a few minutes ago that there's a possibility that Bani Walid will join the revolutionaries and it's under the control of the revolutionaries."


A source in Tripoli who has been in touch with people in the town, about 150 km (100 miles) southeast of the capital, told Reuters on Friday that tribal leaders there had been hoping to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the confrontation with forces loyal to the rebels who ousted Gaddafi last week.


Tarhouni gave no details of what had occurred on Saturday but said there had not been fighting at Bani Walid.

...


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/03/libya-beniwalid-tarhouni-idUSL5E7K310120110903

[pinboy3niner]

27. NTC to restart Misla, Sarir oil fields soon

Libya's National Transitional Council expects to restart oil production at the Misla and Sarir oil fields in around 10 days time, the North African country's new oil minister Ali Tarhouni said on Saturday.

When asked when Libya's oil production would restart, Tarhouni told a news conference: "I was told yesterday... that production will begin in the Sarir and Misla fields on the 12th or 13th of this month." - Reuters

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-1519

[pinboy3niner]

28. "As for Gaddafi himself...we know where he is"

--Interim oil minister Ali Tarhouni's response when asked if Gaddafi was at Bani Walid. (Reuters)

[tabatha]

29. We have arrested 1 of the #Yunis killers

dovenews Libyan™
Mustafah Abdul Jalil: We have arrested 1 of the #Yunis killers & from the initial investigation the motive of the killing was personal.
1 minute ago

[pinboy3niner]

30. Libya: Over 800 killed in battle for Gaddafi's home town of Sirte

Source: The Telegraph

Libya's transitional leaders believe hundreds of their supporters have been gunned down in Colonel Gaddafi's home town of Sirte by desperate regime loyalists, even as they try to negotiate its surrender.


By Rob Crilly, Benghazi

2:35PM BST 03 Sep 2011

...


For now opposition forces have held their positions to the east and west as they wait for tribal elders to negotiate with Gaddafi fighters.


But Shamsiddin Ben-Ali, a spokesman in the rebel city of Benghazi, said 800 people had been killed in the past three days.


"Many of the people of Sirte are on our side now and want to be part of the revolution," he said. "The people with guns though are still resisting."


The death toll raises a bloody conundrum for the country's new leaders: rushing in could spell a military disaster but waiting is costing a very high price in civilian casualties.

...


"We know that armoured columns that fought in Brega, under the command of Gaddafi's son Mutassim, and those that fought in Misurata pulled back to Sirte. So we know they have very strong defences."

...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8739349/Libya-Over-800-killed-in-battle-for-Gaddafis-home-town-of-Sirte.html

[Iterate]

31. FM John Baird said Friday Canada is prepared to help

00:37 GMT+3 - #Libya Canada's foreign minister John Baird said Friday his country was prepared to help Libya's new authorities ensure their stockpiles of weapons were not going to fall into the "wrong hands."

The North African country under strongman Muammar Gaddafi, now a fugitive, had accumulated "significant stockpiles of mustard gas and other chemical weapons that have been secure for a number of years," Baird told public broadcaster CBC.

A key concern, he said, was to ensure "the weapons of mass destruction are safeguarded and don't get into the wrong hands."

Canada, he added, was ready to work with Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) and assist in efforts to craft a new constitution Baird also said all held funds should be unfrozen by Western nations and the United Nations for the new Libyan authorities to get their country up and running: "we're urging them to do it as expeditiously as possible," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday said there would be an immediate end to Canadian sanctions imposed on Libya earlier this year under Gaddafi's rule.

Harper at the "friends of Libya" conference in Paris said Ottawa was repealing the sanctions "in support of the Libyan people and the new governing authorities." - AFP

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/crto69

A lame replacement for a duplicate, but I should have known better. :toast:

[pinboy3niner]

32. Libyan rebels to surround pro-Gadhafi cities

AP – 13 mins ago.

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya's opposition leader says rebel forces will lay siege to pro-Gadhafi cities until a deadline for their surrender expires next week.

The head of the rebels' National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, told reporters Saturday that his military forces are supplying the cities of Sirte, Bani Walid, Jufra and Sabha with humanitarian aid but will keep up a siege until the towns surrender.

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

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-rebels-surround-pro-gadhafi-cities-134718063.html

[pinboy3niner]

33. (Maltese Green Party) AD states “it is time for a rethink of Malta’s foreign policy”

Source: Gozo News (Malta)

Published on Saturday, 3, September, 2011 at 15:48





Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party, said that the Libyan experience showed that Malta needs a rethink in aspects of its foreign policy, especially in relation to human rights, social justice and environmental justice.


Michael Briguglio, AD Chairperson, said, “The Libyan experience should serve as an eye opener with regards to the servilism of the Nationalist Government and the Labour opposition towards brutal regimes. Labour, in particular, did not pronounce a word of condemnation against Gaddafi before he was clearly defeated. Whilst the Gaddafi brutal regime refused to sign the Geneva Convention and blatantly disregarded global norms regarding human rights, different Governments saw no problem in having a privileged partnership with Libya.


Whilst AD and various NGOs frequently showed their concern on the brutality of the Gaddafi regime, others frequently boasted of their good relationship with the dictator. Now that the PN and PL have joined AD in denouncing the Gaddafi regime, it is time for a rethink of Malta’s foreign policy, especially in relation to areas such as human rights, democracy, environment, peace and economic affairs. The Government should also support calls for solidarity with democratic forces of opposition to such regimes.”

...


http://gozonews.com/19177/ad-states-it-is-time-for-a-rethink-of-maltas-foreign-policy/

[pinboy3niner]

34. NTC launches institutional corruption investigations

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council, has held a press conference in Benghazi.

Jalil highlighted the "Friends of Libya Conference" Paris and was pleased to see regional attendence.

"Libyans will not forget the protection provided by NATO," Jalil said.

He discussed three key points: protecting civilians, financial support, and discussed political support for wider recognition.

Jalil added that investigations are underway to expose any institutional corruption in Libya and cities that have not joined the revolution have been given a one week notice to do so, head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC)

"At this time there has been some information on financial corruption within institutions will investigate this matter and report the names," said Jalil.

He said that cities that have not joined the revolution will be given a one week notice to do so and that the NTC has no plans to collect arms from revolutionaries Tripoli.

"There is no mandate from the NTC to collect arms," he said.


http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-1600

[pinboy3niner]

35. Bulgarian police storm Libyan Embasy to remove pro-Gaddafi diplomats

At least four loyalist diplomats and their families had refused to leave; they were placed in detention by Bulgarian police. Just reported on AJE Live Stream.

[pinboy3niner]

36. Libyans say Gaddafi bastion may have given up

(WRAPUP 1)

Sat Sep 3, 2011 2:50pm GMT


• Transitional leaders say oil output to resume at key fields

• Interim oil minister says "we know where Gaddafi is"

• Says Gaddafi redoubt of Bani Walid may have changed sides


By Mohammed Abbas and Maria Golovnina


TRIPOLI/MISRATA, Libya, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Libya's provisional government said it was closing in on bastions of support for Muammar Gaddafi on Saturday and planned to resume oil production at key fields within days.

Offering Libyans some hope of an end to conflict and a more prosperous future after 42 years of Gaddafi's personal rule, Ali Tarhouni, the interim oil minister said, during a news conference in Tripoli that he had been told by commanders that the pro-Gaddafi bastion of Bani Walid may have changed sides.

A senior military source in the forces of the National Transitional Council had told Reuters earlier that NTC leaders were close to reaching agreement with tribal leaders in Bani Walid on their imminent peaceful surrender.

Tarhouni reaffirmed assurances by the former rebels that Gaddafi's capture was near -- "we know where he is", he said.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K310E20110903?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

37. NTC: China blocking release of Libya's frozen assets

Reuters news agency has reported that China is obstructing the release of Libya's frozen assets, head of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) Mustafa Abdel Jalil said in a press conference on Saturday.

"China is obstructing the release of Libya's frozen assets," said Abdel Jalil, adding that Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril had earlier met with a representative of the Chinese government to further understand this "unexpected position".

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-1748

[pinboy3niner]

38. Libya’s Provisional Leaders Announce Supreme Security Committee

Source: VOA

Posted Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 at 10:45 am


Libya's provisional authority says it has created a supreme security committee that will protect Tripoli.

National Transitional Council member Ali Tarhouni announced the decision on Saturday. He said the committee would work to protect the capital's public and private sectors and eliminate remnants of forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi.

The announcement of the committee has come on the heels an NTC decision to move its headquarters from Benghazi to Tripoli. The provisional authority says relocation will take place within the next week.

...


http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/09/03/libyas-provisional-leaders-announce-supreme-security-committee/

[pinboy3niner]

39. NATO airstrikes conducted Friday, September 2

Key Hits 02 SEPTEMBER:


In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 Ammo Storage Facility, 11 Surface to Air Missile Canisters, 3 Tanks, 1 Training Area


In the vicinity of Bani Walid: 1 Military Vehicle Storage Facility


In the vicinity of Hun: 1 Command and Control node, 1 Military Vehicle


...


International Humanitarian Assistance Movements as recorded by NATO


Total of Humanitarian Movements: 916 (air, ground, maritime)


Ships delivering Humanitarian Assistance 02 SEPTEMBER: 1


Aircrafts delivering Humanitarian Assistance 02 SEPTEMBER: 14


**Some humanitarian movements cover several days.


http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_09/20110903_110903-oup-update.pdf

[pinboy3niner]

40. Latest developments in the Libyan conflict

Sat Sep 3, 2011 3:26pm GMT


(Reuters) - Following are the latest political and military developments in the Libyan crisis.


• Russia has invited members of Libya's interim government to Moscow to discuss the future of Russian energy contracts in the country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

...


• Britain will ship the remainder of $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan funds to Benghazi within a week, a senior official in the rebel government said on Friday.


• Libya's new leadership reaffirmed its commitment to democracy on Friday and worked on its priorities for spending billions of dollars released from the frozen assets of fugitive strongman Muammar Gaddafi.


• A shortage of water in Tripoli and surrounding areas remains a serious problem as the U.N. continues to put in place stop-gap solutions.

• Bulgarian police stormed the Libyan embassy in Sofia on Friday and forced out diplomats of Muammar Gaddafi's regime after a new ambassador appointed by Libya's interim authority arrived in the Balkan country, the foreign ministry said.


• Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam has been travelling around close to Tripoli, meeting tribal leaders and preparing to retake the Libyan capital, his spokesman said on Friday.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE77U0QI20110903?sp=true

Sounds like Tripoli Tom is working for Saif now... :rofl:

[pinboy3niner]

41. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports from Bani Walid:

(Length: 3:31)
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-1910

[tabatha]

42. Gaddafi's troops, tribes turning on him: military chief

Saturday, September 3, 2011, 16:50

Fugitive Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi is quickly losing fighters, with many of his new recruits simply handing over their weapons to his foes, a military commander of the new leadership said today.

"Gaddafi is recruiting young men as volunteers but these young men are handing over their weapons to the revolutionaries," said Abdelhakim Belhaj, head of the Tripoli military council.

He claimed that forces loyal to the National Transitional Council control "90 percent" of Libya and that even in areas still held by pro-Gaddafi forces the majority of the population is with the revolution at heart.

Gaddafi forces, numbering no more than "a couple of thousand, still hold Sirte, on the coast, and Sabha in the south, Belhaj said. There are also a "few" loyalist fighters in Bani Walid, southeast of the capital, and the outskirts of Zuwarah, west of Tripoli.

"They are not a big force and they are demotivated," he added.

Even some members of Gaddafi 's tribes, Belhaj said, have made contact with rebel forces well ahead of a deadline to surrender which expires Saturday.

"They said they will side with the Libyan people," the commander said.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110903/world/gaddafi-s-troops-tribes-turning-on-him-military-chief.383088


@ShababLibya
LibyanYouthMovement Freedom Fighters are supplying Sirte, Bani Walid, Jufra and Sabha with humanitarian aid #Libya #AJE


The battle of Sirte is no real Battle
Town people defending them self against gangs that go from door to door killing every man between 17 and 60
At least one G son there
This would explain a lot

[pinboy3niner]

44. So much for the rebel 'crimes against humanity' envisioned by some in advance

If another nugget isn't available to broad-brush the rebels, there's always imagining what will happen--and condemning them for what they've done in one's imagination--before events unfold in reality.

[Iterate]

48. Video of 9/1 celebration in Sirte

shows 1500-2000 fighting age males with a few women and children pushed front and center. It's somewhat surreal, not really enthusiastic. Plenty of men with folded arms looking around at the crowd. The date was confirmed by someone holding up a sign that said "2011-9-1".

The production was not the usual state-tv style or quality, but not quite amateurish either. Spooky. It's on one of the pro-g channels.

ETA: Now that I think about it, I'd always had a suspicion that the banners used were shipped from demo to demo and not locally made or even locally stored. In this one there were very few of them. That's not typical.

[pinboy3niner]

43. Libya: Gaddafi sons and loyalist convoys 'have fled strongholds'

Rebel leaders in town of Tahouna say convoys seen leaving military bases ahead of assault on town expected in days

Martin Chulov in Tripoli guardian.co.uk, Saturday 3 September 2011 17.11 BST


Members of the Gaddafi family were believed to have fled the town of Bani Walid on Saturday after residents raised rebel flags in a show of defiance.


Rebel leaders in the nearby town of Tahouna said loyalist convoys had been seen leaving military bases ahead of an assault on the town, expected within days.


Some were believed to be the remnants of the Khamis Brigades, which were controlled by Muammar Gaddafi's son Khamis until he was apparently killed in a rebel ambush nine days ago.


"There was a surprise movement this afternoon," Tripoli's rebel military commander, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, said. "The Gaddafi brigades appear to have abandoned their checkpoints."


"The radio station is under the control of the revolutionary people, and flags have been put up on a lot of the high buildings in Bani Walid."


Belhaj said the approaches to the town were not yet fully secure, but estimated that 90% of Bani Walid was now backing the rebels.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/03/libya-gaddafi-sons-rebel-convoys

[pinboy3niner]

45. Libyans stress harmony to avoid Iraq-style chaos

Sat Sep 3, 2011 4:52pm GMT


• Libyans stress post-Gaddafi reconciliation, not revenge

• Stabilisation team headed by Muslim theologian

• Libyans abroad networked to produce transition plan


By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor


PARIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - When the officials guiding Libya's post-Gaddafi transition list their most urgent tasks, they talk about supplying water, paying salaries or exporting oil, and then add something quite different -- fostering reconciliation.


The focus on forgiveness might have seemed out of place at meetings in Paris on Thursday and Friday where world leaders and Libya's new administration discussed problems of democracy, investment and the unblocking of Libyan funds held abroad.


But the example of Iraq, which plunged into chaos and bloody strife after the United States-led invasion in 2003, convinced the Libyans planning the transition from dictatorship and war that the country's needs were more than just material.


"You cannot build a country if you don't have reconciliation and forgiveness," said Aref Ali Nayed, head of the stabilisation team of the National Transitional Council (NTC).


"Reconciliation has been a consistent message from our president and prime minister on, down to our religious leaders and local councils," he told Reuters in an interview.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE7810KM20110903?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

46. Rebels moving closer to Gadhafi bastion: official

AP – 14 mins ago


TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Rebel fighters have started closing in on one of Moammar Gadhafi's last strongholds, the town of Bani Walid, without encountering resistance.

Despite Saturday's push forward, rebel officials say they're still trying to persuade tribal elders in Bani Walid to surrender without a fight.

Associated Press reporters traveling with the rebels approaching from the north advanced to within 10 kilometers (six miles) of the town, which sits between Tripoli and Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

A local rebel official, Abdel-Baset Naama, says rebels also moved closer to the town from the west. Naama says forces from various area towns are gathering along the approaches to Bani Walid.

...


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

...


http://news.yahoo.com/rebels-moving-closer-gadhafi-bastion-official-170811806.html

[tabatha]

47. Libya will only become inclusive when women are given a say in its future

At this week's conference on Libya in Paris, the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and the international community talk about "inclusiveness" in the new country's future. It seems strange, then, that half of the population - women - seem to be excluded from the discussions on the future of their country.

It is not commonly known, but Libyan women started the revolution when the mothers, sisters and widows of prisoners killed in the 1996 Abu Salim massacre took to the streets in Benghazi on 15 February to protest outside the courthouse after their lawyer was arrested.

Since then Libyan women at home and abroad have protested, smuggled arms beneath their clothing, founded countless civil society groups, tweeted, blogged, fed, nursed, mourned, mothered, raised funds and awareness, and sent in humanitarian aid and medical staff for the cause. Women have taken a central role alongside men and it has united us.

Libyan women may not have been visible on the streets with guns, but they have played an equally important role, displaying courage and strength that has been invaluable to the success of the country's revolution. Only now are some of the harrowing stories starting to emerge. We have seen the iconic images of Iman al-Obeidi, who spoke out about the sexual violence inflicted on so many who have otherwise suffered in silence; the elderly lady praising rebels at a lay-by and giving them her blessing; and Malak, the five-year-old amputee from Misrata – to name a few.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/sep/02/libya-inclusive-women-future

[pinboy3niner]

49. CIA, MI6 helped Gaddafi on dissidents-HRW

Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:37pm GMT


• Britain's MI6 also worked closely with Gaddafi

• Now NTC official among those captured by CIA

• Gaddafi asked for 10,000 Somalis to defend him


By Yvonne Bell


TRIPOLI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Documents found in the abandoned Tripoli office of Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief indicate the U.S. and British spy agencies helped the fallen strongman persecute Libyan dissidents, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

...


Bouckaert showed Reuters photos of several documents on his computer and also photos of letters he said were from the CIA to Koussa and were signed, "Steve". He also displayed photographs he said were of letters from MI6 giving Libyan intelligence information on Libyan dissidents in Britain.


"Our concern is that when these people were handed over to the Libyan security they were tortured and the CIA knew what would happen when they sent people like Abdel Hakim into the hands of the Libyan security services," Bouckaert said.


More recent documents showed that after the war broke out six months ago, Libya reached out to a former rebel group in the breakaway Somali state of Puntland, the Somali Salvation Front, asking them to send 10,000 fighters to Tripoli to help defend Gaddafi.


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K315A20110903?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

50. Libya's revolutionary fighters prepare for a push towards Sirte

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Sep 3, 2011


NTC fighters have gathered in Nawfaliya for a push towards Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.

One of the biggest challenges for the fighters is the lack of drinking water, food, and fuel.

Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Nawfaliya on the Eastern Libyan front line (1:25).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU-GqTe1Rig&feature=player_embedded

[tabatha]

51. The Song of Libya's Revolution: A Bombmaking Businessman Comes Up with a Hit Read more: http://www.

He made bombs that the rebels used in their six-month revolution against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He helped defuse explosives the deposed leader's loyalists planned to plant in civilian areas of the capital of Tripoli after his fall. But Masoud Bwisir may be most loved by his people for his guitar-playing skills. He penned the song "My Nation Will Remain Strong," which has become the national anthem for a people who have searched for new national symbols to propel their cause.

On Monday night, Tripoli residents gathered in Martyr's Square, just outside the slanting brick walls of its medieval city. It was the first time since the collapse of the Gaddafi regime that many had ventured to the large concrete lot. Tens of thousands of parents and their children waved the country's new flag and held up signs reading: "Libya Is Free of the Tyrant" and "Democracy Belongs to the People." Among the revelers were Bwisir and his comrades. The 38-year-old moved through the crowd with his guitar in one hand and his Kalashnikov in the other. Soon he was on a plywood stage as young girls in colorful headscarves were jumping and cheering. "My nation will remain strong, my nation will remain lofty, my nation will remain free," Bwisir sang as the crowd roared. "I love this man!" screamed Nusayba Sa'idi. "I heard his song on the Internet for months. Now I get to see him in front of me!" Stringing his guitar to the slow sways of the crowd, Bwisir moved into the song's English stanzas: "We don't have to fight. We know how to make freedom."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2091497,00.html#ixzz1Wuo7HPEE

http://youtu.be/mPO5hd_Hvb8

[tabatha]

52. HOW #BaniWalid FELL: "There was a surprise movement this afternoon,"

"There was a surprise movement this afternoon," #Tripoli 's rebel military commander, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, said. "The #Gaddafi brigades appear to have abandoned their checkpoints."

"The radio station is under the control of the revolutionary people, and flags have been put up on a lot of the high buildings in Bani Walid."

Belhaj said the approaches to the town were not yet fully secure, but estimated that 90% of Bani Walid was now backing the rebels.

Three of Gaddafi's sons – Mutassim, #Saif al-Islam and Saadi – are believed to have been staying in the military bases, while the Warfalla tribe, which controls Bani Walid, debated their future. Rebel officials in #Tahouna and #Tripoli had told tribal leaders that the town would soon be attacked if the tribe did not surrender the Gaddafis.

The impetus for the apparent departure seemed to be a local uprising, which saw green loyalist flags torn down and regime checkpoints on Bani Walid's outskirts evacuated. It was not immediately clear whether the uprising was localised to one area, or had spread to other parts of Bani Walid.

Rebels were planning to send forays into town to test the mood of the people, who had largely been loyal to the ousted Gaddafi regime since the fall of Tripoli. They had expected to confront 500-600 loyalist soldiers with about 2,000 rebels.

Residents had, in recent days, given the leaders of Tahouna's rebel brigade regular updates on the whereabouts of Saif al-Islam and Mutassim, suggesting cracks in tribal solidarity. Tribal leaders had earlier told rebels they felt bound by custom to protect their guests.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/cs2sdq

[pinboy3niner]

53. Libya govt forces say to enter Gaddafi bastion

Sat Sep 3, 2011 6:25pm GMT


NEAR TARHOUNA, Libya, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The forces of Libya's interim government plan to move in the coming hours into the town of Bani Walid, a bastion of support for Muammar Gaddafi, a spokesman for the fighters said on Saturday.

"In a few hours we will enter, we will be in Bani Walid," Mahmoud Abdul Aziz told Reuters at a military checkpoint some 60 km (40 miles) north of Bani Walid, a town where commanders for the National Transitional Council said this week they believe Gaddafi himself may have taken refuge.

Abdul Aziz said NTC forces had been trying to negotiate the surrender of the town, 150 km (100 miles) south of Tripoli, but had lost patience: "Some people have asked for more time. But we gave them enough time," he said. "We've lost patience."

"They have no forces and our morale is high. Today at night, or tomorrow morning, we're going to open Bani Walid, we're going to attack."

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K316H20110903

[pinboy3niner]

54. Libya rebels push toward a Gadhafi stronghold

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI - Associated Press | AP – 45 mins ago.


TARHOUNA, Libya (AP) — Rebel fighters closed in Saturday on one of Moammar Gadhafi's last strongholds, the remote desert town of Bani Walid, but were trying to persuade tribal elders there to surrender without a fight.


A rebel commander said the town has been given until Sunday to surrender. "If they don't raise the rebel flag tomorrow, we will enter with force," said Abdel Razak al-Nathori, who commands one of the brigades advancing on Bani Walid.


Al-Nathori said one of Gadhafi's sons, Muatassim, was in Bani Walid on Saturday, apparently to persuade tribal leaders to stick with the crumbling regime. Another Gadhafi son, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid at some point but fled, said al-Nathori, speaking in the town of Tarhouna, about halfway between Tripoli and Bani Walid.

...


Abdel-Baset Naama, another rebel official from the area, said forces from various rebel-controlled towns were gathering along the approaches to Bani Walid. They have cut off access to the town from three directions, he said.


Rebels approached from the north to within 10 kilometers (six miles) of the loyalist town, about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. Rebel commanders said they would go no further, to avoid being accidentally targeted in NATO airstrikes.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libya-rebels-push-toward-gadhafi-stronghold-181204295.html

[pinboy3niner]

55. The hunt for Gaddafi: 'even if he is in hell, we will chase him there and fight'

Source: The Telegraph

Libya's rebels know that the war will not really be over until the Brother Leader himself is in their hands. And he has had 42 years to prepare hide-outs in the Sahara.


By Richard Spencer, and Ruth Sherlock in Tarhouna

7:51PM BST 03 Sep 2011



In the huge expanse of Libya, the search for the Colonel was always likely to come to this. A dusty plain stretches out into the distance, scrub and dirt giving way to desert, and a single road disappearing over the horizon in an early September heat-haze.


The rebel convoy is gung-ho. They will, they say, soon take the town ahead - Bani Walid, the last known address of Saif al-Islam and Mutassim Gaddafi, perhaps of their father too. After that, his capture will not be far off, they claim.


"I cannot tell you how many we are, but we are enough, believe me," says a rebel commander who hails from Bani Walid himself, and is now 40 miles from re-entering it. "Even if Gaddafi is in hell, we will chase him there to fight him."


Will this be it, the last stand of the man who has promised that he will never surrender, that he will retake his country or die trying? The man who still maintains that his people "love him all"? The desert, though, is large, and Bani Walid is just on its edge. Beyond lies far more desert and far more towns.


...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8739748/The-hunt-for-Gaddafi-even-if-he-is-in-hell-we-will-chase-him-there-and-fight.html

[pinboy3niner]

56. Libya's lost immigrant souls with nowhere to go

Source: The Telegraph

Colonel Gaddafi threatened to flood Europe with African immigrants unless they paid him to keep the tide at bay. Nick Meo talks to some of those swept up in his cynical plan.


By Nick Meo, Tripoli

7:30PM BST 03 Sep 2011



With the blue of the Mediterranean stretching far to the horizon and a spectacular mosque perched on a hillside above, the fishing port at Zanzour is one of the jewels of the coastline around Tripoli.


It is also the scene of one of Muammar Gaddafi's most bizarre and cynical plans; an operation to flood Europe with black African illegal immigrants in revenge for Nato's bombing campaign.


For months until the uprising in Tripoli two weeks ago, men in uniform were seen around the port directing the loading of immigrants onto leaky boats bound for Italy.


Africans who landed this summer on the tiny island of Lampedusa – a speck of rock south of Sicily – said they had paid nothing for their passage, in contrast to the $1,000 fee usually demanded by people smugglers.


No boats have left since the rebels drove Gaddafi's men out, but the human cargo is still stranded there; a thousand desperate black African men, women and children, clustered in the dirt under beached boats in utter squalor, hungry, scared, penniless, and desperate to escape.

...


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8739774/Libyas-lost-immigrant-souls-with-nowhere-to-go.html

[pinboy3niner]

57. Libyan team wins in 1st game since fall of Gadhafi

The Associated Press

Published: Saturday, Sep. 3, 2011 - 12:11 pm


CAIRO -- Playing its first game since the fall of Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's national soccer team beat Mozambique 1-0 Saturday in an African Cup of Nations qualifier.

The Libyan players wore a new white jersey with the three colors of the pre-Gadhafi flag used by the rebels. Most of Libya's players were from Benghazi, which fell to the rebels early in the uprising that began in February.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/03/3882759/libyan-team-wins-in-1st-game-since.html

[pinboy3niner]

58. Libya’s Interim Leaders Aim to Harness Rebel Fighters

Source: New York Times

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: September 3, 2011


TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s interim government plans to begin bringing irregular rebel militias under government control, either disbanding them or incorporating them into regular police and military forces, said Ali Tarhouni, the deputy chairman of the rebels’ executive board, speaking at a news conference here on Saturday.


Mr. Tarhouni, the highest-ranking rebel official in Tripoli, the capital, so far, announced the formation of a Supreme Security Committee of civilian officials and militia leaders, which would take control of all security matters in Tripoli. He said he had been appointed its chairman.


“We agreed in principle that the protection of the capital will be assigned mainly to the Ministry of the Interior, and particularly the police forces,” he said, summarizing the results of the committee’s first meeting.


However, rebel leaders have not yet announced a schedule for disbanding irregular militias, and no training programs have yet been established for them. It is also unclear if all of the armed rebels will agree to put down their weapons when told to do so.


Forming the Supreme Security Committee seemed to be a move to consolidate control of the capital under civilian leadership, but Mr. Tarhouni said it would not replace the Tripoli Military Council, a grouping of rebel militias that had participated in ousting the forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from the capital.

...


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/world/middleeast/04libya.html

[tabatha]

59. Botswana urges Gaddafi followers to surrender

Gabarone - Botswana called on diehard followers of Muammar Gaddafi to surrender on Saturday as it became the latest country to grant recognition to Libya's transitional rulers.

“The government of Botswana calls upon Gaddafi's forces to lay down their arms to avoid a further loss of human lives,” said a government statement.

The statement also appealed to followers of the deposed strongman to become “part of the construction and reconciliation process led by the National Transition Council (NTC).”

Botswana was one of the first African countries to break with the Gaddafi regime, severing diplomatic ties in February in protest at his forces crackdown on anti-government protests.

However the diamond-rich southern African nation said it was time for diplomatic ties to be restored with the NTC, the former rebel movement which has been granted widespread international recognition since toppling Gaddafi.

“To this end, the government of Botswana will invite the NTC to open the Libyan embassy in Gaborone,” it said.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/botswana-urges-gaddafi-followers-to-surrender-1.1130710

[Iterate]

60. Khamis Gaddafi and the mystery of Jeremy Bowen's notebook

Khamis Gaddafi and the mystery of Jeremy Bowen's notebook
By Andrew Gilligan, Tripoli 8:11PM BST 03 Sep 2011

Khamis Gaddafi, or one of his close military aides, wrote reminders to himself in the black-covered, A5-sized book as he planned what seem to be the final battles, earlier this month, for towns near the city of Zliten.

"Make defence lines around Kiam, Majr, and Edwaw. Put attack force on the bridge in the city centre. Communicate to Majr's camp and secure it," the notes, in Arabic, say.

Khamis, 28, Gaddafi's youngest son, was commander of the 32nd "Khamis" Brigade, one of the best-equipped and trained Libyan military units, and the fact that such a feared and senior military commander should write his strategy inside a British journalist's notebook has opened him to derision.

In February, it was this brigade that crushed the revolt in Zawiyah, west of the capital, firing heavy artillery at mosques, hospitals and civilian areas and killing dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people. It has also been implicated in the massacre of more than 150 prisoners.

more... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8739830/Khamis-Gaddafi-and-the-mystery-of-Jeremy-Bowens-notebook.html

[pinboy3niner]

61. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 199: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1:16 AM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

Libya time = EDT +6 hours, PDT +9 hours, UTC +1 hour, GMT +2 hours










Inside one of Gaddafi's torture cells
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030931/Libya-Inside-Gaddafis-torture-

chamber-The-bloodstained-cells-inside-primary-school-used-brutalise-enemies.htm

[pinboy3niner]

62. Gaddafi spokesman says Bani Walid will hold out

Sat Sep 3, 2011 8:35pm GMT


TUNIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's spokesman dismissed suggestions on Saturday that one of his last bastions of support, Bani Walid, was about to surrender to his enemies and insisted that tribal leaders there were still loyal.


"Bani Walid is a major city hosting one of the biggest tribes in Libya who have declared their allegiance to the leader and they refused all approaches for negotiation with the Transitional Council," Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters.

...


Independent accounts of conditions in Bani Walid have been sparse, though a Libyan in touch with people in the town told Reuters on Friday that its leaders were discussing terms that would allow some anti-Gaddafi fighters to enter.


Ibrahim, who called Reuters in Tunisia to make a statement accusing the Gulf Arab state of Qatar of promoting Islamist rule in Libya, declined to say where he was speaking from.


But asked about a demand from the new ruling council urging a surrender, he said: "The transitional council's messages to Bani Walid are not being heeded here in Bani Walid."

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K317820110903?sp=true

"I can't tell you where I'm speaking from, but here in Bani Walid...oops!"

Gotta love that Tripoli Tom--always 3 chess moves ahead. :rofl:

[tabatha]

63. Libya vs Mozambique

Libya vs Mozambique ||1-0|| مباراة ليبيا و موزمبيق || GOAL by Rabie Allafi || HD

http://youtu.be/MnNrGSa9Ppg

Some of these guys were on the front lines fighting recently.

[pinboy3niner]

66. Fans watch the Libyan team win...

(Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

[pinboy3niner]

64. Revolutionary fighters gather outside Bani Walid

Libyan fighters have gathered outside Bani Walid one of the last strong holds of pro-Gaddafi forces.

Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from Tripoli (1:49):

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-3-2011-2244

[tabatha]

65. Gaddafi kept the corpse in cold storage for over 30 years

1980 killed several people by Muammar Gaddafi and his forces.

Cells was never found.

Now they have found - in a cold room in Tripoli.

- I was really hard to believe that it was true, says Al-Mahdi El Harati, leader of the opposition's strength in Tripoli to Aftenposten.

Remains of the killed men were found in the cold room at a morgue during the rebels' systematic searches of Tripolis all public buildings. The morgue is located in relation to another building used by Gaddafi's security forces.

- Document that we found with the remains of the cold room shows that it is about people who were killed in 1980, says El Harati to Aftenposten.

El Harati says that the body is yet another proof of the Gaddafi regime's cruelty.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article13571360.ab

[tabatha]

67. A Libyan Prisoner Lives to Tell His Story

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF (does it again)
Published: September 3, 2011

HE was my confidential source in the Libyan military this spring, an officer who passed on secret information about disaffection in the ranks of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. And then as the Libyan revolution spread, he made bombs and smuggled weapons into Tripoli to help overthrow the Qaddafi government.

But then Salem al-Madhoun, 47, was arrested three weeks ago, captured after the Qaddafi forces detected his Thuraya satellite telephone transmissions. I received an urgent message about his capture, and I assumed that by now he must have been tortured and executed. On arriving here in Libya, I set out to comfort his widow.

That proved unnecessary.

When rebels liberated the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, they found Madhoun: skeletal and tortured, but alive. Now he is the hero of Tajoura, the suburb outside the capital where he lives, and in long conversations in his office and home he recounted the full story of how he came to help overthrow the government.

Madhoun studied electrical engineering in France, and as an engineer he rose in the ranks of the navy. When the Libyan revolution began in February, his ship was ordered to attack Benghazi, but he, instead, plotted to defect and sail his ship to Malta. Through an intermediary at that time, he asked me whether he could get American protection while the ship was at sea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/opinion/sunday/kristof-a-libyan-prisoner-lives-to-tell-his-story.html?_r=1

[tabatha]

68. anti-imperialists

malvernchela Suzanne
The "anti-imperialists" who saw #Gaddafi as anti-US hero must feel pretty stupid after revelations of CIA links! j.st/Tcp #Libya
34 minutes ago

[ellisonz]

73. “My death was inevitable,” he said, “but I am alive thanks to God and NATO.”

[tabatha]

69. How did a Scotland-supporting son of Wester Hailes join Libya's rebels?

Published Date: 04 September 2011
By Emma Cowing
RAGAB BALLALI is talking about the scariest moment of his life. "There was one time, just before we took Brega, where we could see these troops in front of us," he says in his broad Edinburgh accent.
"They were firing at us, and suddenly this rocket-propelled grenade came ricocheting past between me and the guy next to me and exploded right above us."

He laughs. "There have been quite a few times like that when I've thought 'ok, this is gettin
ADVERTISEMENT
g a bit dodgy now'. It's squeaky bum time if you know what I mean."

Ballali is 36 and far from home. He is speaking to Scotland on Sunday from the Libyan town of Ajdabiya, where his unit of rebel fighters have pitched up for a couple of days' R&R before heading back to the front near Sirte to take part in the dying embers of the bloody, seven-month war against Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi and his troops. But what makes Ballali's story extraordinary is that he is a Scot who grew up in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, who supports Scotland's football team and, as the son of a Libyan father and an Egyptian mother, describes himself as "definitively Scottish".

His decision to leave his life as a nightclub doorman to join the rebels and fight Gaddafi's regime in the harsh desert is one that surprised his family and friends. But despite the difficulties of life on the front, he says he knows he has done the right thing.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/news/How-did-a-Scotlandsupporting-son.6830492.jp

[pinboy3niner]

70. Libya uprising: Gaddafi 'must surrender or die'

Source: BBC

2 September 2011 Last updated at 13:48 ET

Col Gaddafi will get a fair trial if he surrenders but will be killed if not, the commander of Tripoli's new military headquarters, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, has said.

But the fugitive former Libyan leader remains defiant. He broadcast an audio message on a loyalist TV channel on Thursday in which he vowed never to surrender.

Jeremy Bowen reports (2:25):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14770770

[tabatha]

71. Ex-Gaddafi ‘Nun’ Reveals Perverse Regime Secrets

An ex-Gaddafi Revolutionary Committee member, or what he likes to call “nun,” speaks out of the disturbing, sick and ruthless behavior Muammer Gaddafi has committed in the last four decades. Gaddafi called many of his female personal guards or members nuns because he usually refused for them to get married and have children. Her stories are extremely disturbing, but shed a necessary light on what this evil demon has done for years from raping young boys and girls to kidnappings and murders. Must watch from start to finish.

http://feb17.info/media/ex-gaddafi-nun-reveals-perverse-regime-secrets/

[pinboy3niner]

72. Libya power struggle blacks out embassy (Canberra, Australia)

Source: Canberra Times

BY PHILLIP THOMSON

04 Sep, 2011 12:00 AM


THE Libyan embassy in Canberra has survived death threats and the loss of its government, but it might be the electricity bill that finally breaks it.


The embassy can only operate for another two months before the money runs out to pay the bills, according to one of its senior staff.

...


The official revealed threatening emails had been sent to the embassy by pro-Gaddafi supporters after the staff publicly backed the revolution and withdrew their support for the embattled dictator.


According to Mr Zwed, the anonymous emails warned staff, "you'll pay the price".


"We know how Gaddafi (and his regime) define paying the price," Mr Zwed said. "We passed this onto the police."

...


http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/libya-power-struggle-blacks-out-embassy/2280120.aspx

[tabatha]

74. Oil firms weigh sabotage and boobytrap risks in Libya

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Benghazi's hotel lobbies are filled with bustling reporters and diplomats -- but there is no sign of the blackberry-wielding oil executives that big oil cities attract.

Posh restaurants are few and far between and trash is piling up on the streets of the city, Libya's de-facto oil capital while violence and shortages still plague Tripoli.

So far they have mostly stayed away and have not instructed site workers to return, settling instead for very fleeting visits on private jets to meet and greet Libya's new leaders.

But a careful study of the hotel lobbies also reveals private security workers hired as scouts for oil companies which are dithering over whether to return to the oil-rich North African state.

They are from private companies hired by oil firms to make a safety assessment in a city where battlewagons mounted with anti-aircraft guns still roam the streets and the sound of machinegun fire is regularly heard in the night.

Beyond Benghazi, one of the main concerns for international firms is damage to the oil terminals during the back-and-forth fighting along the Mediterranean coast over the last six months.

The front line has now moved beyond the major export terminals of Brega, Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider toward Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, possibly within the range of a scud missile.

But perhaps even more worrying for international firms with is the risk of further sabotage attacks on facilities deep in the desert.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE78033O20110901?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

75. Secret files: Labour lied over Gaddafi... who warned of a holy war if Megrahi died in Scotland

Source: Daily Mail

• Devastating stash of documents left in British Ambassador's residence

• Britain gave Libyan secret police questions to interrogate dissidents

• We even informed Gaddafi how Cobra works and MI6 budget


By Ian Birrell

Last updated at 1:17 AM on 4th September 2011


The startling extent to which Labour misled the world over the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber is exposed today in top-secret documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday.


In public, senior Ministers from the last Labour Government and the Scottish First Minister have repeatedly insisted that terminally ill Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds in a decision taken by Scottish Ministers alone.


But the confidential papers show that Westminster buckled under pressure from Colonel Gaddafi, who threatened to ignite a 'holy war' if Megrahi died in his Scottish cell.


And despite repeated denials, the Labour Government worked frantically behind the scenes to appease Gaddafi's 'unpredictable nature'.

...


The notes show how:

• Tony Blair helped Colonel Gaddafi’s playboy son Saif with his ‘dodgy’ PhD thesis while he was Prime Minister.


• British Special Forces were offered to train the Khamis Brigade, Gaddafi’s most vicious military unit.


• MI6 was apparently willing to trace phone numbers for Libyan intelligence.


• Gordon Brown wrote warmly to Gaddafi in 2007 expressing the hope that the dictator would be able to meet Prince Andrew when he visited Tripoli.


• MI6’s budget (£150 million in 2002) was readily disclosed to Libyan officials, along with details of how Britain’s Downing Street emergency committee Cobra operates.


• Britain’s intelligence services forged close links with Gaddafi’s brutal security units.

...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033460/Secret-files-Labour-lied-Gaddafi--warned-holy-war-Megrahi-died-Scotland.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[pinboy3niner]

76. Gaddafi warned UK over plane bomber

Source: Australian Associated Press

September 4, 2011 - 8:34AM


The Gaddafi regime warned British officials that there would be "dire consequences" for relations between the UK and Libya if Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi died in his Scottish jail cell.


The extent of lobbying by the Libyan government leading up to Megrahi's release in August 2009 is laid bare in documents discovered by reporters in the abandoned British embassy building in Tripoli.


In one, seen by The Mail on Sunday, senior Foreign Office official Robert Dixon wrote to Foreign Secretary David Miliband in January 2009 that Muammar Gaddafi wanted Megrahi to return to Libya "at all costs".


"Libyan officials and ministers have warned of dire consequences for the UK-Libya relationship and UK commercial operations in Libya in the event of Megrahi's death in custody," he wrote.


He added: "We believe Libya might seek to exact vengeance."

...


http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/gaddafi-warned-uk-over-plane-bomber-20110904-1js0w.html

[joshcryer]

77. Incredible. Gaddafi threatens terrorism, we side with him.

And people are saying that we're siding with terrorists when we side with the rebels. I think the intelligence gatherers knew which side was the real terrorist, damn.

[pinboy3niner]

78. Where ya been, Josh? (lol)

Never mind--I know. :)


:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

79. MI5 spied on Libyan torture victims, documents reveal

Miles Amoore and David Leppard

From: The Sunday Times
September 04, 20111:13PM


BRITAIN'S security service MI5 asked Muammar Gaddafi's secret services for regular updates on what terrorist suspects were revealing under interrogation in Libyan prisons, where torture was routine.


MI5 also agreed to trade information with Libyan spymasters on 50 British-based Libyans judged to be a threat to Gaddafi's regime.

...


They include an MI5 paper marked “UK/Libya Eyes Only Secret", which shows that the service provided Gaddafi's spies with a trove of intelligence about Libyan dissidents in London, Cardiff, Birmingham and Manchester.

...


Some of those named in the documents found in Tripoli are thought to have been arrested subsequently in Britain and placed on control orders, a form of house arrest that is due to be debated in parliament this week.

...

“The thought that people (who were) discussed with Gadaffi's henchmen may have been placed on control orders as a result of 'detainee debriefs' should prey on the mind of every MP who votes on the new control order regime tomorrow.”

--Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty

...


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/documents-reveal-western-spy-agencies-ties-to-libyan-regime-of-muammar-gaddafi/story-e6frg6so-1226129116104

[pinboy3niner]

80. Libyans adjust to new liberties as ruling council takes control

By Betsy Hiel, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 4, 2011


TRIPOLI --

...


Each day, a little more life returns to this war-torn capital: More shops open, fuel trickles into gas stations, water trucks relieve dry neighborhoods.


Exhilarated by Gadhafi's ouster after nearly 42 years, more Libyans, including growing numbers of women and children, appear in public waving flags, listening to revolutionary music or honking car horns.


The ruling Transitional National Council also is taking on more governing of the capital.

...


At another checkpoint with colorful nationalistic graffiti, Ismail Rahman, 34, lists his hopes for Libya: "Freedom of press and expression, fixing the unemployment problem, and taking care of education and health care."

...


http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_755027.html

[joshcryer]

81. As one poster said (I think it was MeledyMisty), Libya will get Uni. Health Care before we do.

[pinboy3niner]

83. I hope they do get it

A lot of Libyans will need care for a long time for war injuries/war trauma alone.

Some loyalists say Gaddafi instituted a great health care system--but I keep reading about Libyans going to Tunisia for health care during his reign.

[joshcryer]

82. Five international oil firms back on ground in Libya

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=112510">Five international oil firms back on ground in Libya
Paris—At least five foreign oil and gas companies are back in Libya to work on resuscitating production, a Libyan official said, as the country’s interim leadership sought guidance from UN and other experts on stabilizing the nation following strongman Muammar Qaddafi’s ouster. Libya’s economic future could hinge on the performance of its lucrative oil and gas sectors, whose production ground to a halt during this year’s insurgency against Qaddafi.

Critics of NATO’s airstrike campaign that helped the rebels say its primary purpose was securing oil and gas contracts for the West — not protecting Libyan civilians, as the UN mandate for the operation outlined. Advance teams from oil and gas companies that had infrastructure in Libya “are already back” to assess damage and restart facilities, said Aref Ali Nayed, a member of the rebel-led government’s so-called stabilization team. He spoke in Paris after talks with UN and other international officials.

Nayed, who also is Libya’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, insisted that Libya’s rebel-led National Transitional Council would respect past contracts and not rush into any new deals. “At least five companies are back,” he said. “We are seeing these companies as full partners whose interests coincide with the interests of the people.”

[Iterate]

84. AJE: Cuba has announced the withdrawal of its ambassador and diplomatic mission in Libya

7 min ago - Libya

Cuba has announced the withdrawal of its ambassador and diplomatic mission in Libya and reiterated that it does not recognise the transitional government.

It also has denounced the NATO military intervention that helped drive fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi into hiding, saying the bombing killed "thousands" of civilians, and said it "will only recognise a government established in Libya in a legitimate manner, without foreign intervention, through the free, sovereign, and common will of the brother people of Libya."

The announcement from the Cuban foreign ministry on Saturday continued:

"Under the grotesque pretense of protecting civilians, the NATO has murdered thousands of them, disregarded the constructive initiatives of the African Union and other countries, and even violated the questionable resolutions imposed at the Security Council, in particular by its attacks on civilian targets, by its financing and arming of one side, and by its deployment of diplomatic and operational personnel on the ground."

It warned that NATO's conduct could create similar conditions for an outside military intervention in Syria, which has been roiled by popular protests as well.

"Cuba calls upon the international community to prevent a new war, urges the United Nations to abide by its duty to safeguard peace, and supports the right of the Syrian people to full sovereignty and self-determination."

Cuba is a longtime ally of Libya, and former President Fidel Castro was outspoken in his criticism of the uprising against Gaddafi in the early days of the conflict. He has not commented publicly on Gaddafi's fall. - Agencies

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-4-2011-1155

The word "short-sighted" comes to mind.

[pinboy3niner]

85. Libyans say about to take Gaddafi bastion

(WRAPUP 1)

Sun Sep 4, 2011 9:28am GMT


By Maria Golovnina and Mohammed Abbas


NORTH OF BANI WALID/TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Libya's interim council said it hoped to seize one of Muammar Gaddafi's last strongholds without resistance on Sunday as it pursues its drive to assert control over the whole country.


Outside the pro-Gaddafi town of Bani Walid, a National Transitional Council (NTC) negotiator said talks were over.


"Everything was done yesterday, they asked us for more time and we gave them some more hours," Mahmoud Abdul Azil told Reuters, at a checkpoint 40 km (25 miles) from the desert town.


"Today, God willing, we will go in. There was some fighting overnight. They fired at us first."


Abdul Azil said NATO-backed NTC forces were just 10 km from Bani Walid and inching forward, ready to attack what he said were an estimated 100 pro-Gaddafi fighters there if necessary.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K409D20110904?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

86. Libya rebels poised to attack Gadhafi stronghold

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI - Associated Press | AP – 4 mins 24 secs ago.


TARHOUNA, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels are poised to attack one of Moammar Gadhafi's remaining strongholds, but their military spokesman said Sunday he expected the town's tribal leaders to surrender rather than see their divided followers fight one another.

...


Col. Ahmed Bani, the rebel's military spokesman based in Benghazi, said members of the tribe that dominates Bani Walid, the Warfala, are divided over whether to join the rebels. He said the Warfala to surrender to avoid fighting among one another.


"They will give up at the end because they are cousins and they don't want to spill each other's blood," he said.

...


Al-Fassi said more Gadhafi loyalists have moved into Bani Walid from the south, but did not know how many.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/libya-rebels-poised-attack-gadhafi-stronghold-070603894.html

[pinboy3niner]

88. "The push is going to happen in the next 24 hours"

From AJE Live Blog:

Libyan fighters who said they had tried to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power of Bani Walid, a key city still controlled by supporters of fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi, have told Al Jazeera that talks had reached a stalemate and that the final push is going to happen in the next 24 hours.

According to members of the National Transitional Council, the talks failed mid-day on Sunday after numerous attempts to move forward with a bloodless handover of control.

"Their time is over," said Mahmoud Abdul Aziz, a political analyst and one of those on the negotiation team. "The push is going to happen in the next 24 hours."


Video report from Sue Turton outside Bani Walid (3:41):
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-4-2011-1238

[pinboy3niner]

87. The heat is on for Gaddafi’s Malta spies

Source: Times of Malta (Sunday Times)

Sunday, September 4, 2011 , by Mark Micallef, Sarah Carabott

Agents not perceived as high risk


The authorities are monitoring three Libyan diplomats suspected to be intelligence operatives working for Muammar Gaddafi, The Sunday Times has learnt.


No official confirmation could be obtained about the men, whose names are not being published for security reasons. However, sources said the security service has been monitoring them for some months.


Members of the Libyan community in Malta have also flagged their presence on the island and requested their expulsion. However, although the authorities are on the alert, the agents are not percieved to be a high risk threat.

...


Other Libyans believed to be agents who were sent in the past months were denied visas after being flagged by the security service. The agents in Malta are believed to have been gathering intelligence about humanitarian shipments leaving Malta for rebel held areas and trying to coordinate fuel and supplies shipments to the regime during the height of the conflict.

...


http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110904/local/The-heat-is-on-for-Gaddafi-s-Malta-spies.383092

[pinboy3niner]

89. Hope in UK: Libyan exiles expect better days

By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press – 1 hour ago


MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Clean new clinics staffed with top doctors and nurses. A properly equipped school system with teachers who care. A political model that works, where citizens' views are represented and compromise is seen as not only possible, but honorable.


These are some of the high hopes held by Libyan exiles and their supporters in Manchester — home of the U.K.'s largest Libyan community — and in other English cities now that dictator Moammar Gadhafi is on the run, his power gone.


Many in Manchester's community of about 5,000 exiles have sent aid, or seen their husbands and brothers go back to join the uprising, and now some are making plans to go back and help directly in what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse decades of decay in their oil-rich, underdeveloped homeland.


Dentist Monder Zbaeda wants to start a health clinic in Libya with his brother and father, both doctors. Teacher Sondes Abdul-Malek wants to raise her 8-month-old son Bilal there, if possible. British-born Lucinda Lavelle hopes to join her husband — who is founding a new political party in Libya — to try and shape a new Libya.


"Those of us who have been blessed by being abroad and having education and opportunities have a duty to go back and help," said Zbaeda, 28, who hopes to help influence the new government's health care policies. "We want to forget the past as best we can and concentrate on the future."

...


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gemlm43ZI8Kpx1GpzhWRSYT8dx0g?docId=db73a6c258894285acb341072bc5a505

[Iterate]

90. "pictures of the dead and missing in a damaged garage"

A resident looked at pictures of the dead and missing in a damaged garage on Tripoli Street in Misurata.

Battle for Libya | September 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/09/04/world/africa/20110904_LIBYA-5.html
Credit: Bryan Denton for The New York Times

[pinboy3niner]

91. The hunt for Gaddafi – and his victims – goes on

Source: The Independent

Samia Nakhoul and Mohammed Abbas in Tripoli and David Randall report on the search for the former dictator and for the disappeared

Sunday, 4 September 2011


There are two desperate searches going on in Libya this weekend. One is the hunt for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the other for tens of thousands of his victims. Many of these victims will be dead, some may be wounded but alive; but their relatives won't know which until they can trace them or their bodies. And so, across the country, at hospitals and burial grounds, relatives arrive to ask questions, show photographs, and hope for answers. Many will never be given them.

...


The plight of the Abu Naama family is pitifully typical. Five sons of Abdel Salam Abu Naama and his wife Wasfiya vanished at a checkpoint manned by Gaddafi loyalists on 22 August. Since then, a small army of friends and relatives has fanned out across Tripoli, searching hospitals and mortuaries, travelling to nearby farming areas in case the men were taken out of the city, and talking to both rebels and Gaddafi supporters. They have found no sign of the men, who are aged between 21 and 31.


"It's hard... five children," Mr Abu Naama said quietly, pulling his sons' passport photographs from his pocket, and laying them out on a cushion in his living room, as friends and relatives gathered around. He carefully arranged them according to age: Mohammed, 31, a mechanical engineer; Ali, 29, also a mechanical engineer; Abu Bakr, 26, an aviation engineer; Ahmed, 23, another mechanical engineer; and Faisal, 21, a geography student.

...


...(The mother of the five brothers) received a phone call from Ahmed, who said he had been in an accident and that his brothers should come and get him. Mrs Abu Naama believes that Gaddafi soldiers forced him to make the call to lure in his brothers. So Ali, Faisal and Abu Bakr went to find Ahmed. When she didn't hear from them, Mohammed – who was still in the house with her – called Ahmed's number. A soldier answered and told Mohammed to come to the checkpoint.

...


The relative, a soldier in the Libyan army, said he watched as Mohammed, Faisal and Abu Bakr were shot near the gate of the (Bab al-Aziziya) compound. He saw them drop to the ground. Three boys among tens of thousands whose fate may never be known.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-hunt-for-gaddafi-ndash-and-his-victims-ndash-goes-on-2348919.html

[pinboy3niner]

92. Tripoli: after the fall … the fear ‘The jailers brought in a bulldozer and dug a big hole ...

... and started filling it with the dead’

Source: Herald Scotland

As the true horrors of Gaddafi’s brutal regime are revealed, Libyans will not rest until the toppled tyrant is captured – or dead

Eyewitness by David Pratt

4 Sep 2011


ALONG Tripoli’s baking hot streets it drifts on the breeze and creeps up unexpectedly.


In the city’s notorious Abu Salim prison it lingers eerily behind its concrete walls and heavy steel gates. So overpowering is its presence at one of the killing grounds used by the Libyan Army’s dreaded Khamis Brigade, that it makes you gag with nausea.


They say that of all the senses, smell can trigger recognition, emotion, fear, like no other, and that is certainly true when it comes to the odour of death.


Tripoli has been no stranger to death these last months. The corpses that carry the city’s ominous stench have been found in warehouses, back streets, and in the liberated detention centres of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s secret police and military. This is the real and grotesque cost of the people’s revolution that overthrew his dictatorship.


Libyans, of course, are no strangers to the brutal excesses of Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. Hussein Elshafa spent 12 of those years in a cell at Abu Salim. His crime, way back in January 1989, was to talk of political reform to his fellow college students and be found reading a book on humanism.

...


In the bombed-out rooms off the balcony (from which Gaddafi frequently spoke at his Bab al-Aziziya compound) lay some almost surreal clues to the character of the man who brought so much suffering and terror to his people: a book on witchcraft; bathroom tiles decorated with Disney characters including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; ostentatious furniture. And all this within a few miles of places like Abu Salim and other secret police jails where unspeakable things happened. Gaddafi may have gone but many Libyans will not rest easy or believe they are truly free of his grotesque legacy until he is either killed or captured.

...


(Regwall--registration is free)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/world-news/tripoli-after-the-fall-the-fear-the-jailers-brought-in-a-bulldozer-and-dug-a-big-hole-and-started-filling-it-with-the-dead-1.1121603?localLinksEnabled=false

[joshcryer]

94. Turning off javascript works just as well. :D

Fascinating article. I'll never forget (typed 'forgive') the Abu Salim prison massacre justifications here. :cry:

I'm working on the new thread, takes me a minute to compile the last few days' links... sorry for being neglectful this weekend, yet again. I got my buttons pushed, Juan Cole is really an amazing person, he's opened my eyes so much to the middle east.

[pinboy3niner]

96. Thanks--I didn't know that

The story looked like it was worth registering for, so I did, and it was. I didn't even pause to try any google tricks for full access. :)

You're doing the new thread and I didn't even get to pull out the Jimmypic?

'Scuse me while I whip this out...



:rofl:

[pinboy3niner]

93. Report on Bani Walid from Guardian correspondent at Om El Rashrash rebel checkpoint, Tarhouna

Hannah Godfrey posts at The Guardian's Middle East Live Blog:


I just spoke to Guardian reporter David Smith, who is at the Om El Rashrash rebel checkpoint at Tarhouna, about 70 km to the West of Bani Walid. An assault on the town, which is one of Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds, is expected within days. (David reports: )

From what I hear rebel forces are advancing on Bani Walid from two directions - Tarhouna and Misrata. We have been told that some troops have already gone through this checkpoint, but I - along with other journalists - am being held back, so it is difficult to get a broad picture of what is going on. There are some vehicles coming from the Bani Walid direction - they look like average citizens, who may be fleeing from fighting, it is difficult to tell.


Three of Gaddafi's sons - including Saif and Saadi - are thought to have been in Bani Walid very recently, though they may well have fled by now. There were rumours yesterday that rebel flags were flying in the town, and that the tribes were ready to surrender, but that Gaddafi's troops were not. The Observer is reporting today that a rebel commander has announced that the rebels have taken over the town's radio stations.


Some of the rebels at this checkpoint claim that they were responsible for killing Gaddafi's son Khamis, who was reported to have been killed a few days ago. They are currently standing at the checkpoint in a pick-up, with a big mounted anti-aircraft gun on the back. They say Khamis is buried in Bani Walid, and that his brother Saif was seen sobbing at his funeral. The wreck of his car - which was apparently ambushed - is just up the road from where I am standing.


Nothing I've seen implies a big gathering of forces ready for an almighty battle, but I would caution that I haven't seen everything, and that there is also another approach to Bani Walid from Misrata. The troops that are around me seem to be more enthusiastic about fighting than are the commanders in Benghazi. I asked them whether no one wants to be the last casualty of the war - as was the case on Armistice day in 1918 in Europe - but they seemed to be keen to get stuck in. One of them told me, "I always expected to die" It feels like they are being held back by the rebel authorities, who are urging caution and negotiation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/04/libya-live-blog-gaddafi-lockerbie#block-4

[pinboy3niner]

95. NATO airstrikes conducted Saturday, September 3

Key Hits 03 SEPTEMBER:


In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 military barracks, 1 ammunition storage facility, 1 military police camp, 1 command and control node, 7 surface-to-air missile canisters, 1 surface-to-air missile system, 1 self-propelled artillery piece


In the vicinity of Bani Walid: 1 ammunition storage facility


In the vicinity of Hun: 1 command and control node, 4 anti aircraft guns


In the vicinity of Buwayrat: 1 command and control node, 6 armed vehicles, 2 military barracks, 3 military supply vehicles, 2 engineer support vehicles, 1 multiple rocket launcher.


...


International Humanitarian Assistance Movements as recorded by NATO


Total of Humanitarian Movements: 927 (air, ground, maritime)


Ships delivering Humanitarian Assistance 03 SEPTEMBER: 2


Aircrafts delivering Humanitarian Assistance 03 SEPTEMBER: 9


**Some humanitarian movements cover several days.


http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_09/20110904_110904-oup-update.pdf

[pinboy3niner]

97. Fewer than 100 Gaddafi troops estimated at Bani Walid, augmented by some loyalist civilians--Al Jaz

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton said that NTC fighters outside of Bani Walid have estimated Gaddafi troops remaining in Bani Walid number less than 100.

"This is aside from the Gaddafi loyalists who we've heard have come out, who are manning checkpoints... civilians who have weapons," she said. "But actual Gaddafi troops - they're saying no more than 100."


Sue Turton's video report (2:54) at link:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-sep-4-2011-1448

[pinboy3niner]

98. I wish Qaddafi was more like the Deadly Authoritarian (of 'The Mountains of Flint')

Source: Al Arabiya

SUNDAY, 4 September 2011

By Pierre Ghanem


When I heard Colonel Qaddafi impelling his supporters to resist and fight, him saying, “Even if you no longer hear my voice, you shall continue fighting,” I felt a deep sorrow rooted not only in my professional experience, but also in my personal experience with the colonel.

...


I wish the colonel had heard the Rahbani Brothers’ musical “The Mountains of Flint.” In this wonderful work, the Deadly Authoritarian is besieging the Mountains of Flint,” whose residents are bravely resisting and fighting, led by their local leader, Medlej.

...


In the final scene, the Deadly Authoritarian says to the commander of his forces: “Deebo, take the soldiers and run, they are coming to get us”. He knows that the residents are seeking revenge for long years of injustice and tyranny.


Indeed, I wish Muammar Al-Gaddafi was like the Deadly Authoritarian and would have mercy on his own people.


http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2011/09/04/165364.html

[pinboy3niner]

99. EXCLUSIVE - Abandoned Libyan missile: a gift to militants?

Sun Sep 4, 2011 1:07pm GMT


• Scud missile battery sits unguarded outside Tripoli

• West, neighbours fear weapons may be bounty for al Qaeda

• Missile crews, hit by NATO, made hasty departure


By Christian Lowe


TAJOURA, Libya, Sept 4 (Reuters) - When Muammar Gaddafi's soldiers fled this corner of a field outside Tripoli where they were camped, they left behind their army fatigues, a can of Brut deodorant -- and a Scud tactical missile.


Days later, the Soviet-made rocket, loaded on its launch truck and pointing towards the Libyan capital, is still sitting under the eucalyptus trees where they left it. The motley rebel forces who overthrew Gaddafi two weeks ago have set up no guard to prevent anyone taking it away or looting it for parts.


Western powers and Libya's neighbours fear that the power vacuum could allow huge quantities of unsecured weapons left over from the civil war to end up in the hands of Islamist militants, in particular the North African branch of al Qaeda.


Officials with Libya's interim government, the National Transitional Council, say they are trying to secure these weapons. But there was little evidence of that at the Scud site, in farmland about 25 km (15 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K40G220110904?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

100. Libya NTC to offer fighters police jobs

Sun Sep 4, 2011 1:24pm GMT

By Mohammed Abbas


TRIPOLI Sep 4 (Reuters) - Libya's interim government moved to calm its anxious fighters and offer stability on Sunday, announcing plans to draft thousands of the men who ousted Muammar Gaddafi into the police and find other jobs for the rest.


Though Tripoli has become noticeably calmer in recent days, with people drifting back to work, cars back on the roads and cafes and restaurants starting to do business again, there are still large numbers of armed men on the streets. Many more are still in brigades in other parts of the country.


National Transitional Council (NTC) officials on Sunday announced plans to train 3,000 of demobilised rebel fighters as police and national security officers and to set up training schemes and scholarships for others.


The NTC, anxious at all times to encourage national reconciliation, said the plans would also be open to those who fought to defend Gaddafi.


"They are coming from a hot environment," Faraje Sayeh, whose title is interim minister for capacity building, told Reuters. "Now we will calm them down and try and find ways to reintegrate them into civil society."

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL5E7K40FK20110904?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

101. Wave of deaths, arrests as ICRC visits Syria

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY - Associated Press | AP – 32 mins ago.


BEIRUT (AP) — Syria saw a wave of violence and arrests Sunday as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross visited Damascus to address issues including caring for the wounded and access to detainees during the government's crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising.


Activists reported military operations and sweeping arrests in flash point areas including Idlib near the Turkish border and the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.


The state-run news agency reported that nine people were killed in central Syria in an ambush by armed groups in central Syria. The report, which could not be confirmed, said the victims were six soldiers and three civilians.

...


The U.N. estimates some 2,200 people have been killed since March as protesters take to the streets every week, despite the near-certainty that they will face a barrage of bullets and sniper fire by security forces. The regime is in no imminent danger of collapse, leading to concerns violence will escalate in coming weeks and months.

...


http://news.yahoo.com/wave-deaths-arrests-icrc-visits-syria-133128323.html

[pinboy3niner]

103. SYRIA: Tweet reports 16 deaths today

The Guardian's Live Blog cites AP's story of no reports of deaths or injuries "for the moment" and updates with the following, posted by Hannah Godfrey:

However, on Twitter, ZainSyr says:

This day Sunday: 14 martyrs until now in each of Idlib, Homs, Hama and Damascus Suburb. the butcher is not getting enough!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/sep/04/libya-live-blog-gaddafi-lockerbie#block-7


ETA: AP has updated its report to read: "There were reports of deaths, but numbers were unclear."

[pinboy3niner]

102. Libyan fighters target Gaddafi stronghold

Source: AFP

Andrew Beatty
September 4, 2011 - 9:59PM


Fighters loyal to Libya's new rulers advanced on one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining bastions on Sunday, as secret files shed light on his regime's links to US and British spy agencies.


A commander of the fighters said talks aimed at securing the peaceful surrender of Gaddafi's forces in Bani Walid had been scrapped and an assault on the oasis town southeast of Tripoli was imminent.


"We are getting ready," said Mohamed al-Fassi, checkpoint commander in the village of Shishan, 70km north of Bani Walid.


"Negotiations between Gaddafi's men and our forces have ended. These people aren't serious. Twice they promised to surrender only to go back on their word.


"In reality they have just been taking advantage of the situation to try to save their skins."

...


http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/libyan-fighters-target-gaddafi-stronghold-20110904-1jsk2.html

[pinboy3niner]

104. Al Jaz says NTC identifies Gaddafi location, but Al Jaz doesn't share

A Reuters report less than 10 minutes ago says, "The reporter quoted the head of the military council in Tripoli, Abdul Hakim Belhadj, but Al Jazeera did not identify the location."

[pinboy3niner]

105. BREAKING: NTC reps enroute to meet Bani Walid tribal elders for 1 last try at negotiated surrender

Breaking in live report from Sue Turton on Al Jazeera Live Stream. NTC reps are enroute to meeting, which is expected to take place very soon.

[pinboy3niner]

106. Somali immigrants in Libya helped by UN

Source: The Telegraph

Previously threatened with being shipped to Europe by Gaddafi, Somali immigrants in Libya are helped by the United Nations.

3:03PM BST 04 Sep 2011


The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is helping Libya's new National Transitional Government (NTC) to deal with illegal immigrants from Somalia who were put into a camp by the Gaddafi regime.


Colonel Gaddafi had threatened to flood the European Union with illegal immigrants in retaliation for any punitive action taken against him.


The NTC says there are thousands of such immigrants spread across Libya.


Video report (0:57):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8740351/Somali-immigrants-in-Libya-helped-by-UN.html

[joshcryer]

107. Week 29 part 2 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1874312