Libyan Revolution Week 19

[joshcryer]

Links to sites with updates: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya">AJE Libya Live Blog http://blogs.aljazeera.net/twitter-dashboard">AJE Twitter Dashboard http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/libya">The Guardian http://uk.reuters.com/places/libya">Reuters http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/">Telegraph http://feb17.info/">feb17.info http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb?utm_source=lsplayer&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=footerlinks">Libya Alhurra (live video webcast from Benghazi) http://libya-alhurra.tumblr.com/">Libya Alhurra archives and updates http://www.ustream.tv/channel/benghaziradio">Benghazi Free Radio, in Arabic (may have translators present at times) http://www.tributefm.com/">Tribute FM (English broadcast from Benghazi) http://www.libyafeb17.com/">libyafeb17.com

Twitter links: http://twitter.com/#!/aymanm">Ayman Mohyeldin, with AJE http://twitter.com/#!/bencnn">Ben Wedeman, with CNN http://twitter.com/#!/tripolitanian">tripolitanian, a Libyan from Tripoli http://twitter.com/#!/BaghdadBrian">Brian Conley, reporter in Libya http://twitter.com/#!/freelibyanyouth">FreeLibyanYouth, Libyan advocate http://twitter.com/#!/LibyaFeb17_com">LibyaFeb17.com twitter account http://twitter.com/#!/ChangeInLibya">ChangeInLibya, Libyan advocate https://twitter.com/#!/TheyCallMeSof">Sofyan Amry (arrived in Benghazi recently) http://twitter.com/#!/KiloFoot">KiloFoot (general Arab Spring news aggregation)

Useful links: http://audioboo.fm/feb17voices">feb17voices http://www.google.com/search?q=time+in+libya">Current time in Libya http://www.islamicfinder.org/cityPrayerNew.php?country=libya">Prayer times in Libya

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1347495">Week 18 part 2 here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixwx_B38678">Marching On in Libya, for the revolutionaries!

A Libyan waves a Kingdom of Libya flag during Friday prayers near the courthouse in Benghazi.

Photograph: Reuters

[pinboy3niner]

1. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 129: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:01 AM SUNDAY, JUNE 26

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

[joshcryer]

2. Ha, you're good!

Some bonus pictures for everyone (which was intended to go in the time post that pinboy3niner stole from me!):

A girl raises her hand with her fingers painted with flags of Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Libya as she marches during a demonstration to demand the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the southern city of Taiz June 22, 2011.



Photograph: Reuters


A Libyan student plays near a sign with the Kingdom of Libya flag at Fatma al-Zahraa school in Benghazi June 18, 2011.



Photograph: Reuters

I do apologize for being late today though.

Interesting tidbit, this latest update has 116 new links compiled by the posters in this thread (almost exclusively pinboy3niner, but others did contribute). That's one reason it takes so long. Also, I was kinda celebrating the NY thing (I don't believe in marriage but I appreciate and enjoy when a progressive position wins out).

[pinboy3niner]

4. :)

We were all celebrating the NY victory for marriage equality. I even stopped updating for a few hours to allow the celebratory threads to have GD without intrusion. Others must have had the same idea, as we allowed the Revo thread to sink to page 3 or 4.

Meanwhile, I rec'd a lot of NY threads while "Joy to the World" blasted on my stereo, over and over...

Nice bonus pics!


:yourock:

[joshcryer]

3. SYRIA: Security Forces Makes Mass Arrests Across Syria, Deny It, Turkey Impatient with Border Issue

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/world/middleeast/26syrians.html">Security Forces Makes Mass Arrests Across Syria
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Syrian security forces arrested scores of people across the country on Saturday as mourners took part in the funerals of six protesters killed Friday outside of Damascus, continuing a grim pattern of protest, death, mourning and repression that has been repeated week after week as the uprising in Syria enters its fourth month.

Activists said two people were killed in the security sweep on Saturday.

Syria has been gripped since mid-March by an unprecedented popular uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled with an iron fist for over four decades. The government has cracked down hard on the protests, killing more than 1,400 people and detaining more than 10,000, according to activists, who estimate that 20 were killed on Friday, 5 of them children.

Violence in the rural northwest has driven more than 11,000 refugees into neighboring Turkey, where the Red Crescent, a local version of the Red Cross, said this week that 17,000 more were waiting to cross the rugged border. Hundreds have also crossed into Lebanon, The Associated Press reported Saturday, citing a Lebanese security official.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/06/25/syria.unrest/">Syrian official: 'There is no crackdown'
Damascus, Syria (CNN) -- Syria's deputy foreign minister says the grassroots violence engulfing his country was ignited and fueled by "extremist" groups with religious affiliations.

Fayssal Mekdad, speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN's Hala Gorani in Damascus, said the people are members of "extremist religious groups" and they are "financed" outside Syria.

But, he didn't elaborate on the identities of the groups, their makeup or their backers. The majority of people in Syria are Sunni Muslims but the government is dominated by Alawites, a minority group whose faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Government media have consistently blamed the killings on extremists and armed groups without providing much context on who they are.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/25/syria-border-turkey-president-assad">Syria reinforces northern border as Turkey loses patience with Assad
Syrian officials have ordered military units to step up patrolling near the Turkish border in a warning to its increasingly irate northern neighbour not to establish a buffer zone inside Syria.

Diplomats in Ankara and Beirut believe the Syrian advance on the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz, initially portrayed as a sweep against dissidents, was a veiled threat to Turkey, which is steadily turning on President Bashar al-Assad as his regime's crackdown on dissent continues.

[pinboy3niner]

5. Libya Orders $3 Billion of Food to Last 6 Months Amid Rebellion

Source: Bloomberg

By Maher Chmaytelli - Jun 25, 2011 9:13 AM PT


The government of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, fighting a rebellion backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, ordered food supplies worth 3.6 billion dinars ($3 billion) to cover the market’s needs for more than six months, the JANA state-news agency reported.


The government signed contracts to import 600,000 metric tons of wheat as well as baby milk, pasta and tomato sauce, the agency said, citing Economy Minister Mohammed al-Huwaij. The value of the food to be imported amounts to 1.8 billion dinars, he said.

...


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-25/libya-orders-3-billion-of-food-to-last-6-months-amid-rebellion.html

[pinboy3niner]

6. Gaddafi forces adapt Grad rockets for long-range attacks on Misrata

Source: The Telegraph

Residents thought that the weeks of sustained bombardment they endured was over when rebels drove regime troops at least 20 miles beyond the city outskirts, where the front lines have since remained.


Shelling of the city began again this week, with salvos of rockets falling daily and hitting at least four residential neighbourhoods.


The Grad rockets have been adapted to have a longer range so that they may once again hit the city centre said rebel military commanders. "Gaddafi men are using long range, very accurate rockets, possibly from China or Iran. The head is modified with explosive ball bearings," said Salah Badi, commander for the Misurata military forces.


"Families in Misurata are once again living in fear of being killed as rockets rain down on their homes and it's impossible for the terrified residents to find safe shelter," said Donatella Rovera, an Amnesty International researcher. "They must realise that their actions may result in their being made to answer one day to the most serious of charges, of having perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity."


The shelling has triggered sharp criticism of Nato. "Every day they target a different area of the city. Now we are all wondering; the mission of Nato is to protect civilians. But every day they bomb, everyday there is at least one victim," said Abdulla Jawid at Misurata's main medical centre. "We are not protected. I haven't left the hospital since Feb. 19 as there are just too many casualties."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8597107/Nato-lacks-firepower-to-ensure-collapse-of-Gaddafi-regime-experts-claim.html

[ellisonz]

15. Deliberate targeting of a civilian population.

C'mon NATO.

[pinboy3niner]

7. Western Libya Earns a Taste of Freedom as Rebels Loosen Qaddafi’s Grip

Source: New York Times

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: June 25, 2011


ROGEBAN, Libya —Until a few weeks ago, the rebellious towns in the Nafusah Mountains were struggling to survive on dwindling supplies of barley, water and gas during a long siege by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s soldiers.


But after an improbable series of military victories over the past three weeks — with fewer than 100 rebel fighters killed, their military leaders say — residents of a broad area in this mountain region are celebrating virtual secession from Colonel Qaddafi’s Libya. While there have been defeats, and the Grad rockets of Colonel Qaddafi’s forces still menace the outskirts of Nalut near the Tunisian border and Yafran to the east, rebels point hopefully to the growing stability of the towns under their control as evidence of how tenuous Colonel Qaddafi’s grip may be.


“This is the new Libya,” said Anwar Fekini, a Sorbonne-educated French-Libyan lawyer, rebel organizer and local tribal leader who returned for a weekend trip to his ancestral home to strategize with local allies. “It feels good.”

...


The Nafusah Mountains have emerged as a strategically significant front in the battle for Libya, in part because the rebels there are closest to Colonel Qaddafi’s stronghold in the capital, Tripoli, and in part because they have the potential to cut off vital supply lines from the border. And though barely trained and few in number — one rebel leader estimated that there were about 2,000 armed fighters — they have used their knowledge of the terrain and the sympathies of much of the local population to expand their territory as the fighting around Benghazi to the east and Misurata on the central coast has moved toward a stalemate.

...


Standing at the last checkpoint, Hisham al-Gibali, 33, showed a bullet wound in his leg that he suffered near Yafran a few weeks ago. He said he had left a life in the Netherlands to return to Libya to join the fight, and he contended that the rebels would soon take Gharyan, despite their inferior numbers, because of the strength of their morale.


“We are fighting for truth, and they are not,” he said. “The fighters from Zintan and Jadu will come here, and we will all go together. We are all Libyans. We are not alone.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/world/africa/26libya.html

[tabatha]

8. Libyan Rebels Plan Broader Coordination

TRIPOLI, Libya—Libyan rebel representatives said their fighters were coordinating around the country for the “zero hour” when their forces would reach the capital of Tripoli.

Rebel spokesman Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga in Benghazi said his group has been informed that Col. Gadhafi is in contact with leaders in South Africa and France in an attempt to find a possible home in exile. Such claims have been filtering out for weeks, but there is no evidence that the Libyan leader is seeking a way out.

The bombing campaign led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that has boosted the rebel cause appeared to continue Saturday, with at least two explosions heard in the capital of Tripoli.

It was not immediately clear what the airstrikes hit, but Libyan government authorities accused NATO of killing 15 people in an earlier airstrike that hit a restaurant and bakery in the coastal city of Brega, a claim that NATO denied.

It was the latest outcry from Col. Gadhafi’s government blaming NATO for killing civilians amid a four-month uprising. NATO insists it does all it can to avoid such casualties.

A NATO official said alliance warplanes had hit several targets in the vicinity of Brega Friday, but dismissed claims that the attacks had resulted in civilian casualties.

“We have no indications of any civilian casualties in connection with these strikes,” said the official, who spoke on condition on anonymity. “What we know is that the buildings we hit were occupied and used by pro-Gadhafi forces to direct attacks against civilians around Ajdabiya.”

Mr. Ghoga said Col. Gadhafi was to blame for civilian casualties in the fighting because “he keeps his weapons in highly populated civilian areas.”

http://shabablibya.org/news/libyan-rebels-plan-broader-coordination

Note - there have been no civilians in Brega for quite some time.

via The North Africa Daily
http://paper.li/afelyun

[ellisonz]

12. He's going down.

Brega, Zlitan, Gharyan, Tripoli. = Victory

:fistbump:

[tabatha]

9. Heinz's comments on the fact that the war should have been over last week

(edited for spelling mistakes)
"without some political people NATO finish it last week, the original plan end on 3 July.
military daffi is beaten, even France or Britain can finish it alone in this stage with their limited resources."

So much for the analysis by Christian Lowe of Reuters.

[pinboy3niner]

10. Sky News issues FALSE report that NATO broadcast warns Gaddafi: 'We Will Kill You'

Edited to add:

As Tabatha correctly points out below, nothing in the NATO broadcast suggests that it is directed at Gaddafi. It appears to be directed instead at Libyan armed forces troops (and at one point it specifically addresses "Officers and soldiers of the Libyan Army").

Still, Sky News ran with this FALSE story:

9:02pm UK, Saturday June 25, 2011

Any forces that continue to coordinate or to command and control forces involved in combat action ... will be considered as a threat to the civilian population and will be targeted by Nato forces.

--Nato's Warning to Colonel Gaddafi's troops

Nato have told Muammar Gaddafi they are constantly watching and will kill him if he continues to endanger civilians, according to an audio file.


The recording, purported to be from a Nato PsyOps team, was posted on Saturday and warns Colonel Gaddafi that "we can strike at any time".


The audio file, which is believed to have jammed the Libyan radio airwaves, adds:

"Nato has been watching closely. Nato knows where you are and will continue to watch you.


"Nato will not tolerate hostile acts of your intent to conduct hostile acts against the civilian population.


"As you know we can strike at any time and place of your choosing if you continue to endanger our people."

...


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Nato-Tell-Libyan-Leader-Colonel-Gaddafi-That-It-Will-Kill-Him-If-He-Continues-To-Endanger-Civilians/Article/201106416018814?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_16018814_Nato_Tell_Libyan_Leader_Colonel_Gaddafi_That_It_Will_Kill_Him_If_He_Continues_To_Endanger_Civilians

[tabatha]

11. That was NOT for Gaddafi.

Listen to the tape - it states that NATO will strike military equipment that is harming civilians. It WARNS fighters to MOVE AWAY from military equipment that is harming civilians. It does not mention Gaddafi at all.

NATO PSYOPS for Gadhafi forces transmitted by USAF EC-130J June 25. 2011
http://audioboo.fm/boos/396141-nato-psyops-for-gadhafi-forces-transmitted-by-usaf-ec-130j-june-25-2011

NATO has stated that they do not target individuals.

Shame on you Sky News. Shame on you Sky News.

[inna]

25. creepy as hell.

Of course, the whole "intervention" is one giant PsyOp (and not a terribly successful one at that); it just absolutely boggles the mind that people in the US and (even more so!) Europe are not involved in mass protests against this total outrage.


:nuke:

[joshcryer]

26. Selective Outrage

http://www.juancole.com/2011/05/selective-outrage-about-war.html

[inna]

34. irrelevant and a sad testament to Mr. Cole's part in all this - nt

[joshcryer]

36. Cole has courage.

[tabatha]

38. Cole knows what he is talking about and can see two sides of the story.

He criticizes both sides.

Unlike Inna who see everything through tinted glasses.

It is creepy for NATO to warn soldiers ahead of time to get away from military equipment to be bombed.

But, it is not creepy for Gaddafi agents to travel all the way to Australia, take names of protestors and then kill any of them that return to Libya.

Gaddafi is a killer, NATO is trying to prevent killing even of those who are doing the killing of civilians.

But, even if I repeated that 1000000000 times it would not sink in.

Some comments are totally irrelevant because they are so unbelievably biased ---- and not truth-seeking at all.

[tabatha]

31. Elie Wiesel

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

[ellisonz]

54. +1000

[tabatha]

13. Mrs. Mohamed Nabbous

LibyaAlHurraTV LibyaAlHurra
Mrs. Mohamed Nabbous "THIS <@Amnesty International Report> IS A JOKE AND A VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS" #Libya #feb17
(I have not mentioned that report on this thread because I think it is an abomination.)

LibyaAlHurraTV LibyaAlHurra
@Amnesty seen the bullets,weapons,tanks&know the unarmed victims.premature report smacks of politics. Mo #Nabbous didn't lie,gave his life.

Net_Anon Anonymiss
by LibyaAlHurraTV
G spies in Perth & elsewhere giving names/photos of students to regime PRT @LibyaAlHurraTV: WA student murdered... au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa…

LibyaAlHurra
LibyaAlHurraTV LibyaAlHurra
WA student murdered by Gaddafi marksman - The West Australian au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa… via @thewest_com_au

WA student murdered by Gaddafi marksman
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/9710024/wa-student-murdered-by-gaddafi-marksman/

[pinboy3niner]

14. African Union meets to map road to peace in Libya

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 26, 2011 -- Updated 0449 GMT (1249 HKT)


Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The African Union will attempt Sunday to map a road to peace in Libya, despite a previous failed effort to end hostilities between Moammar Gadhafi's forces and rebels seeking to oust the Libyan leader.

...


The African Union's Special Committee on Libya, established in March, will convene in Pretoria, South Africa, to discuss avenues to end the months-long fighting that has gripped the nation and left tens of thousands dead.


Ahead of the meeting, human rights activists urged the African Union to prioritize the issue of the plight of civilians caught in armed conflicts, including Libya.


Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have blamed the Gadhafi regime for violations of human rights, including indiscriminate fire on civilians, the use of internationally banned cluster bombs and the torture and executions of captured fighters.

...


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/06/26/libya.war/

[pinboy3niner]

16. Heavy fighting reported Sunday in plains below Nafusa Mtns.

Libyan rebels were locked in heavy exchanges with Muammar Gaddafi's forces Sunday in the plains below their enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli.

Multiple rocket and heavy machine gunfire was heard from as far away as the hilltown of Yafren, some 15 km from the battleground, the correspondent said.

One rebel casualty from the fighting had already been brought to the town's hospital by mid-morning and an ambulance driver said more were awaiting evacuation from the front, reports AFP.

Rebel commanders said the fighting centered on Bir al-Ghanam, just north of Bir Ayad, a strategic point on the road to Tripoli, 80 km to the northeast, which the rebels seized three weeks ago.

Heartland of the Berber minority, the Nafusa Mountains are one of two rebel-held enclaves in western Libya, along with the country's third-largest city Misurata.


http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-1530

[pinboy3niner]

17. Qaddafi revives offer of vote to end Libya conflict

By AFP / Reuters

Published: June 26, 2011


TRIPOLI / PRETORIA: The Libyan government on Sunday renewed its offer to hold a vote on whether Muammar Qaddafi should stay in power, a proposal unlikely to interest Qaddafi’s opponents but which could widen differences inside Nato.

...


Musa Ibrahim, a spokesman for Qaddafi’s administration, told reporters in Tripoli the government was proposing a period of national dialogue and an election overseen by the United Nations and the African Union.


Qaddafi has no intention of leaving power or Libya, despite rebel claims they are expecting a proposal to end the conflict from Tripoli very soon, the government spokesman said on Sunday.


“Qaddafi is here. He is staying. He is leading the country. He will not leave. He will not step down because he does not have any official position,” Musa Ibrahim said when asked about rebel reports that they expect an offer from Qaddafi very soon.

...


http://tribune.com.pk/story/196712/qaddafi-revives-offer-of-vote-to-end-libya-conflict/

[pinboy3niner]

18. "Gaddafi has agreed not to take part in negotiations to end the conflict"

Gaddafi has agreed not to take part in negotiations to end the conflict in Libyan, in a move the African Union is dressing up as major concession.

After meeting for several hours in Pretoria, the AU said in a statement that it "welcomes Gaddafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiation process".

It did not elaborate, AP said.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/26/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-13

[pinboy3niner]

19. Rebel TNC 'perplexed' by Gaddafi offer to stay out of negotiations

Libyan rebels in Benghazi have dismissed Gaddafi's apparent offer to stay out of negotiations on a settlement to the conflict. The Africa Union announced the apparent concession, which has not been confirmed by Tripoli, at the end of talks in Pretoria. Representatives refused to take questions on the offer.

Rebel spokesman Jalel el Gallal told al-Jazeera that the Transitional National Council was "perplexed" by the apparent offer. He said Gaddafi must cede power before talks can begin.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/26/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-15

[CJvR]

21. Yeah...

...it sounds so much nicer as a "major concession" rather than "he is totally ignoring us".

[pinboy3niner]

20. Libyan Banks in Misrata Open for the First Time Since February

Source: Bloomberg

June 26, 2011, 12:05 PM EDT

By Chris Stephen


June 26 (Bloomberg) -- Banks in the besieged rebel-held city of Misrata in western Libya opened today for the first time since the February uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s four-decade rule began.

“It’s a good day,” said Hussein Al Jamal, 47, as he waited for his wife to make a withdrawal at the Alwaha Bank in central Misrata. “We need the banks to start the economy. With our banks working, everything will be possible.”

The re-opening was organized by the city council, which limited cash withdrawals to 300 dinars, worth about $150 on the local black market, amid concern that larger withdrawals could trigger inflation in a city still surrounded by pro-Gaddafi forces. Many teachers, doctors and other state workers have not been paid their salaries since January.

...


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-06-26/libyan-banks-in-misrata-open-for-the-first-time-since-february.html

[joshcryer]

22. Libyan rebels would welcome Colonel Gaddafi talks to end 'bloodshed'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8599338/Libyan-rebels-would-welcome-Colonel-Gaddafi-talks-to-end-bloodshed.html">Libyan rebels would welcome Colonel Gaddafi talks to end 'bloodshed'
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, from Libya's opposition the National Transitional Council (NTC), played down media reports that there had been contact between the two warring parties.

As the death toll from the Libyan uprising reached an estimated 20,000 people, the rebels are open to discussions but have made clear that Col Gaddafi can not remain in power.

Speaking to the media in Benghazi, a rebel stronghold, Ghoga said: "I'm saying that there are not any contacts between Colonel Gaddafi's regime and the NTC but Colonel Gaddafi is trying to find a proper solution and if he offers us a proposal we will positively discuss it to stop the bloodshed.

"But the most important thing is the departure of Gaddafi and his sons. It is a point that we repeated more than a time."

[joshcryer]

23. Libya rebels 'ready to discuss peace settlement' - video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13918496">Libya rebels 'ready to discuss peace settlement'
Rebels in eastern Libya have said they are ready to discuss a political settlement with the government in Tripoli - as long as it involves Colonel Gaddafi leaving office.

The move is an apparent shift in their position and comes just a day after members of the country's national football team announced their defection to the rebel side.

Same report, though BBC's reporting.

BBC characterized the talks of a peace accord as a "brief moment of joy."

[pinboy3niner]

24. Libya guns for the right sort of gold

Source: Financial Times

June 26, 2011 10:52 am

By John Dizard


There’s been so much criticism of central bankers lately that I think it’s only fair to point out when one group of them has done the right thing, or, at least, served their client well. The Central Bank of Libya was reported to have accumulated more than 140 tonnes of gold reserves by the time the civil war/ Nato kinetic action started this year. Not remarkable in itself, but it’s all in the execution, and the CBL did it the right way.


A typical MBA-run establishment central bank will own 400 ounce (12.4 kilo) bars, held in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Bank for International Settlements, or one of the members of the European System of Central Banks. Those are difficult to get back in the event of hostilities, UN embargoes and so on. Furthermore, once you get physical possession, the “London Good Delivery” bars are, in effect, giant coins with a denomination of more than $600,000. It is difficult to use them to pay for smuggled arms shipments and gasoline, or mercenary companies. The sellers often don’t have correct change, and are hardly ever set up to accept mini-ETF shares.


The CBL, though, planned ahead. As I’ve now learned from a European refiner, “unlike other central banks, they bought kilo bars and 500 gramme bars. They also insisted on having them shipped to Tripoli. This is helpful, as the government has certain expenditures now.” Yes, and paying with $50,000 and $25,000 “coins” is much more convenient.


So as we see, those who insist on taking physical delivery of gold aren’t just lunatics with secret weapons caches. Well, maybe some are, but they are also hedging against real risks in today’s world.

...


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca11d7b4-9e30-11e0-8e61-00144feabdc0.html

[joshcryer]

27. Libya Uprising Archive

http://www.libyauprisingarchive.com/">Libya Uprising Archive
This volunteer effort is intended to show support for the Libyan People in this epic struggle to free Libya from 42 years of tyranny. It is just one small effort, facing no guns, that we undertook after Mohamed Nabbous (may he rest in peace while his family lives in peace) lit our candles and encouraged us to find some way to help.

Presently, all main sections of the the site are active except some of the Daily Archives. Many June links are not posted yet, and many more links from earlier are still not sorted. Still, a great deal of information is listed here, sorted first by place, and also often by subject into appropriate categories. You can select these subjects and their subcategories from the menu above.

Ongoing Effort:
Please be patient with us while we add more of the archive and improve the site. We have much more to come, which will be uploaded in the next few weeks. Most pages have a forum at the bottom, for the exclusive purpose of sharing your links and other relevant information about what has gone on in Libya this spring. This is just a small cross-section of the information available, and not all of it has been verified, but if we present what we can, the overall picture emerges of the struggles that so many people in Libya have undertaken since the middle of February.

Treasure trove. While this ongoing DU thread probably has as many if not more links, this is a more digestible version, sorta like the weekly thread updates.

[tabatha]

28. I just came here to post this.

(Whah - you stole it from me :-)

[joshcryer]

29. Ha, you must be lurking in Libya Alhurra again. :)

:hi: ;)

[tabatha]

32. Nope, AJE

The people who created this - at least one of them - posts on the AJE blogs.

[pinboy3niner]

30. Another good resource

Thanks for posting this, Josh.

:hi:

[joshcryer]

33. Libyan rebels make advances in western mountains

http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/f29d8dad34bd498da777a4fb9802979d/Article_2011-06-26-ML-Libya/id-d5309937e4744d4a9de6fb07d8cf3395">Libyan rebels make advances in western mountains
Rebels in Libya's western mountains say they have advanced and are battling Moammar Gadhafi's forces in a town located around 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the capital.

Gomaa Ibrahim, a rebel military spokesman in the Nafusa mountains, says opposition fighters and government troops have been fighting since early Sunday in the outskirts of the town of Bair al-Ghanam.

Guma el-Gamaty, a spokesman of the rebels' National Transitional council, said Bair al-Ghanam is significant because it is only 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of the city of Zawiya, a key western gateway to Tripoli.

[joshcryer]

35. After tasting freedom, many Libyans can't keep quiet + Reuters advisory on articles from Tripoli

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE75P00920110626">After tasting freedom, many Libyans can't keep quiet
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Standing opposite the wreckage of what used to be the Hotel Wenzrik in central Tripoli, the Libyan man spoke his mind to reporters for a good few minutes, even as their government minders began to zero in on him.

"It has been going for a long time and people are looking for a settlement," he said of the war with NATO and identifying himself as Zarroug, a self-employed trader.

"Either way, change will come."

The hotel was bombed last week during the night. No one was there at the time. The Libyan government described it as an example of NATO deliberately targeting civilians in its three-month bombing campaign to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

A local resident said the building had been frequented by government officials.

The following article is the advisory, and I will post the other articles mentioned below the advisory:

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL6E7HO1CD20110626">ADVISORY-Opposition to Gaddafi in Tripoli
The following three stories about to move from Tripoli, headlined "Tripoli opposition waits for its moment", "Tripoli activists plot revolt without Facebook" and "After tasting freedom, many Libyans can't keep quiet", are based on interviews by Reuters journalists in the Libyan capital with several people engaged in opposing Muammar Gaddafi.

The Libyan government largely controls the movements of foreign journalists in the city, making independent reporting difficult. The activists appear to represent a substantial current of opposition opinion in Tripoli, although assessing the strength of their various groups and their connections with the official rebel movement in Benghazi is problematic.

The following are the previous reports we saw posted in this thread:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-libya-tripoli-networks-idUSTRE75N3RY20110624">Tripoli activists plot revolt without Facebook
In the brief, heady period at the start of the uprising in the Libyan capital against Muammar Gaddafi, activists relied on Facebook and text messages to network, organize and express themselves.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-libya-tripoli-idUSTRE75N3SY20110624">Tripoli opposition waits for its moment
Muammar Gaddafi's fearsome security apparatus appears to be weakening in Tripoli, but it is still too powerful to risk an uprising -- that is the view of Libyans who say they are part of a burgeoning underground opposition network in the capital.

A rare moment where Reuters is being kind to the opposition. :hi:

[tabatha]

37. Libyan officers defecting to Libya describe mutinous army and climate of fear

Libyan army officers defecting to Tunisia described on Thursday a country ruled by fear in which many soldiers are trying to leave.

Dozens of members of the army have fled the country in recent weeks, officials say, including 19 officers that arrived on Thursday.

“We came here not to escape death but because of the massacre of the Libyan people. We refuse to kill the children of our country,” an officer, who refused to give his name for fear of retribution, told The Associated Press.

“Some of our colleagues just couldn’t handle it any more and turned their weapons on themselves,” the officer said. “Some died while others were severely wounded.”

He said he and his fellow officers found the pressure to be unbearable and waited two months for the opportunity to flee.

Soon after popular uprisings erupted across Libya, especially in the eastern half, many of Gadhafi’s army units fell apart, their members defecting to the rebel side or fleeing to Tunisia.

http://feb17.info/news/libyan-officers-defecting-to-libya-describe-mutinous-army-and-climate-of-fear/

[pinboy3niner]

39. Al Jazeera updates on AU 'roadmap' developments:

More on that reported agreement from Gaddafi to stay out of peace talks.

AU leaders announced the agreement in a statement on Sunday following talks in the South African capital, Pretoria, aimed at ending hostilities between pro-Gaddafi forces and opposition fighters seeking an end to his rule in battle-ravaged Libya.

"The AU High Level Ad Hoc Committee welcomes Colonel Gaddafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiation process," AU leaders said in a statement after Sunday's meeting.

"Following the suspension of hostilities ... the Libyan parties should begin the national dialogue for a comprehensive ceasefire, national reconciliation, transitional arrangements, as well as the agenda for democratic transformation."

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-1938

__________________________________________________________


Al Jazeera's Peter Greste, reporting from Pretoria, said AU leaders called for an immediate end to hostilities before anything else.

It says that will all lead to an interim government with the support of the African Union and the United Nations," he said.

"Of course, all of that is a very long way off. We have to get to those talks in the first place. But ... it does appear to be a major breakthrough."

There was no immediate confirmation from Libya that Gaddafi would step out of any negotiations - but if confirmed, the agreement would remove a major obstacle to peace.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-1951

__________________________________________________________


Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the eastern Libyan stronghold of Benghazi, said opposition leaders have dismissed the AU proposal.

"What they would like to see the starting point is for Gaddafi to pull back his forces, for his forces to return to the military barracks, as well as for Gaddafi to release the scores of prisoners that they are holding," she said.

"For them, there is no solution to this conflict unless Gaddafi actually leaves office (and) leaves power."

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-1955

__________________________________________________________


Jalal El Gallal, a spokesman for the opposition Transitional National Council in Benghazi, said opposition leaders are also unwilling to talk to anyone in Gaddafi's family or his inner circle.

"It's very difficult to speak with anybody that has blood on his hands," Gallal told Al Jazeera.

"If there's going to be any negotiations, first they have to adhere to the resolution of the United Nations by withdrawing their forces to the barracks, allowing humanitarian aid and allowing people to demonstrate."

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-1957

[tabatha]

41. Gaddafi started it. He has to stop first

and put his men under UN supervision.

[pinboy3niner]

40. Libya unveils its latest weapon against Nato: women at arms

More than 500 females of various ages armed to the teeth and swearing loyalty are paraded in front of international media


David Smith in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 June 2011 18.05 BST


Screaming and chanting his name, the 500 women and girls vowed their undying love for one man. Not a pop star or Hollywood actor, but Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

...


The event in Tripoli on Sunday was billed as a graduation ceremony for women who had been given weapons training in defence of the regime. Around 50 international journalists, invited and escorted by government minders, arrived to find them clapping, singing, ululating, punching the air and waving green flags in a tented hall set up with chandeliers and two colossal flatscreen TVs.

...


Reporters pondered whether the event had been stage managed entirely for their benefit. The Gaddafi groupies painted the first dozen rows green, but behind them were hundreds of empty seats. Outside was a rattle of gunfire as some enthusiastic graduates fired their new weapons into the air with little regard for where the ammunition might land.

...


Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, said: "Libyan women are now joining the armed forces against Nato. We are training them. Their main role is defending homes. We have no plan to send them to the front line. They are not trained for that, and our army is very effective."


But he added with a rhetorical flourish: "We are going to make sure that every mother, the symbol of love and creation, is a bomb, a killing machine."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/26/libya-weapon-nato-women

[ellisonz]

55. Moussa Ibrahim is a disgusting human being.

[tabatha]

42. Wesley Clark: NATO will not lose in Libya

Former NATO supreme commander General Wesley Clark (Ret.) spoke about the battle in Libya after the House rejected a resolution giving President Obama the authority to use U.S. troops in Libya, but a vote to stop funding the military operation failed. (June 25) (CBS News)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/wesley-clark-nato-will-not-lose-in-libya/2011/06/26/AGVsMylH_video.html

[inna]

45. ... and he explains exactly why we should NOT be there, in the first place,

from a very pragmatic/sensible point of view, too:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031103244.html

[tabatha]

47. On second thoughts, I probably should not have linked to him.

He was a cheer leader for the Iraq war before he was against it.

[On the Road]

52. Well, It is Pragmatic

in the sense that he says that "protecting access to oil supplies has become a vital interest, but Libya doesn't sell much oil to the United States." Which pretty much undercuts the argument that it's all about oil.

He also acknowledges the humanitarian angle, but apparently feels that since massacres have not been stopped in sub-Saharan Africa, we should follow the same policy in Libya.

The article was also written on March 11 -- three and a half months ago. Back then, Clark's positions was somewhat reasonable. Clark believed that ground troops would be required. This might be true if Libya represented another Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or Lebanon. However, he is slowly being proven wrong as the rebels make continuous progress without foreign boots on the ground, and the Qaddaffi side is losing more and more soldiers and supporters by way of defection. What is making this possible is the overwhelming support for the rebels among the Libyan people and the wavering loyalties of those stuck with Qaddaffi.

Clark believed that the Kosovo mission was justified on humanitarian grounds. If he believes that, then Libya is a much clearer call involving much a much smaller US air campaign.

When the TNC has so much popular support and several months in Eastern Libya to begin governing, it makes foreign occupation unecessary, and gives a good indication of what a unified national government would look like. Maybe that was unclear in March, but a lot of things have shaped up since then, most of them in a positive way for the people of Libya.

[inna]

43. ok, it is my civic duty to voice my strong opposition to this nakedly imperialist aggression against

Libya. Seriously, I don't understand why there are no mass protests all over the world over this; it's a sad indication of things to come, I suppose.


The facts are out there and they loudly speak for themselves and (gasp!) they are still publicly available via the internet (although that might not last very long, so... enjoy it while you can, lol.) Anyone who buys official propaganda is a... doesn't know any better, I suppose (and to each their own, after all).


All I can say, it's a pretty fucking scary Brave New World that we are transitioning into; and the only hope for the humanity is to stop it now, while we still can.

[tabatha]

46. What you see as naked imperialism

others see as humanitarian action.

The numbers speak for themselves - Gaddafi has killed thousands, tortured thousands, taken thousands of kids off the street and put them in inhumane conditions where many are living among dead and dying prisoners without help. The facts are there and speak loudly for themselves. I see it daily. In report after report. This is the latest pronouncement from that sick regime: "Moussa Ibrahim: "We are going to make sure that every mother, the symbol of love and creation, is a bomb, a killing machine.""

In all of my visits to various websites since the uprising started, I have not seen evidence of "nakedly imperialist aggression".

If you can provide links, I am open-minded enough to read them.

BTW, I am also against imperialism. Iraq and Afghanistan were imperialistic undertakings. British imperialism created havoc throughout the world, especially in Africa - where I saw it first hand. My first reaction to Mugabe's land grab was one of understanding, because Rhodes had basically cheated the Matabele out of their land. However, he has since degenerated into something that was worse than even what was under Ian Smith, whom I despised.

Unlike other Whites who could not understand why the Blacks in South Africa were revolting (they have it better in SA than anywhere in Africa, same crap that is coming out of Gaddafi's mouth) and why were they burning their schools, etc - I understood.

I see the Libyan and South African struggles as very similar - and support the underdogs in both cases. In both cases, there was/is a brutal government killing and torturing.

You are seeing the Libyan conflict through a completely different lens. Mine may be colored as well, but it is colored by the South Africa story and what I am seeing in Libya.

In Iraq, the invading forces spread carnage and destruction. In Libya, NATO is destroying military targets and Gaddafi is spreading carnage and destruction among civilians. Gaddafi has killed and maimed thousands of civilians. NATO has killed very few civilians, maybe < 30. And those were as a result of attacks on military installation.

Heinz: "I have seen the video from state tv from the brega bakery. its very clear a amu storage you can see even the spezial clothes for people working in this one of the daffi goons pull out of the scrap."

[inna]

49. Since you're bringing South Africa into it.... I'm very happy and relieved that your heart is in

the right place about it! I take it what you wrote was in good faith, and then the only resulting conclusion is that you are sadly completely misinformed (disinformed?) about Gaddafi with regard to that whole issue (concerning imperialism/racism in general, but more specifically, his direct and widely acknowledged role in ending South African apartheid and promoting Pan-Africanism).

And look, I'll be more than happy to provide links, if you're asking in good faith.

Unlike you guys though, I do NOT have 3000 links at my fingertips, and my internet (let alone, DU) use is quite sporadic... - sorry, very busy job and quite a few issues to deal with... :shrug:

I would definitely like to continue this discussion at some point though, as long as it's in good faith.

[pinboy3niner]

44. The Road Into Libya Clogged With Challenges

Source: NPR

June 26, 2011


In Libya, the area controlled by Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi is showing the strains caused by NATO's embargo and bombing campaign. The once-prosperous oil-producing country is importing food and even fuel from neighboring Tunisia. NPR's Corey Flintoff reports from western Libya that Gadhafi's government is also cracking down harder on foreign journalists who are covering the situation.


AUDIO report (3:30):
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/26/137429505/the-road-into-libya-gets-clogged

[pinboy3niner]

48. Tripoli activists plot revolt without Facebook

• Gaddafi government switched off Internet, text messaging

• Activists struggle to organise without Facebook, Twitter

• Social media helped toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia

By Nick Carey and Mussab Al-Khairallah



TRIPOLI, June 24 (Reuters) -

...


Niz said that he was in direct contact with four other groups in Tripoli, three of them in neighbourhoods known for their opposition to the regime, and knows the names of five others. Too much information could be bad for him, and them.


Other groups prefer to remain under the radar entirely from each other and do their own thing. Some groups are peaceful, others attack government checkpoints at night, he said.


Niz said his group had just around 20 members at the moment but was working to expand through the same laborious, face-to-face methods. "It's a crude way of expanding and everything takes longer," Niz said. "But we are growing."


Activists say the Gaddafi regime has tightened security in Tripoli, making opposition to the government difficult.

...


"The regime has done things to slow us down," Niz said. "But banning the internet will not stop us. Stopping SMS will not stop us."


"They can delay us but they cannot stop the inevitable collapse of the regime."


http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE75M0TJ20110626?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

50. Two Libyan ministers have crossed into Tunisia, reportedly to join FM in seeking solution

The AP reports: Two Libyan ministers have crossed into Tunisia to join the foreign minister reportedly seeking a solution to the Libyan crisis.

The official TAP news agency says that Health Minister Mohamed Al-Hijazi and Social Affairs Minister Ibrahim Cherif crossed into southern Tunisia on Sunday, the AP reported.

TAP says Al-Obeidi has met "several foreign parties" there, part of an effort to find a solution to a civil war in the north African country.

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-26-2011-2203

[pinboy3niner]

51. Libyans look back fondly to monarchy before Gaddafi coup

Source: Financial Times

June 26, 2011 6:56 pm

By Neil MacDonald in Tobruk



Above the facades around Tobruq’s harbour, the flag of the Kingdom of Libya flutters again. Portraits of Idris I, the king ousted nearly 42 years ago, sit in shop windows next to those of Omar al-Mukhtar, an earlier anti-colonial warrior.


“Every Libyan loves King Idris. Every Libyan loves Omar al-Mukhtar. And every Libyan hates Muammer Gaddafi,” says Adel Aroud, a watchman in the eastern port town.


Affection for the king is more a rejection of the detour the country took under Colonel Gaddafi, the leader still clinging to power in central and western Libya, than a sign that Libyans pine for a return to monarchical rule. “We remember the king as good. Having a king again now is not important,” says Moussa Saad, a tourist policeman who grew up on a British base 25km south of Tobruk, near King Idris’s favourite palace.

...


In Tobruq’s main square, the colonial-era Catholic church, as well as the former king’s mosque, stir up nostalgia. “These fine buildings are all from the king’s time,” says a man sipping tea under a neo-Romanesque arch. “Gaddafi built nothing good, especially here in the east.”

...


http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b0d8b2d6-a01a-11e0-a115-00144feabdc0.html

[pinboy3niner]

53. Libya: Fierce fighting near to Tripoli

Source: BBC

26 June 2011 Last updated at 14:13 ET


Rebels have been engaged in fierce firefights with government forces around mountain plains about 80km (50 miles) south-west of Tripoli.

...


The BBC's Mark Doyle, who is in the village of Bir Ayad, a strategic point on the road to the capital, Tripoli, says Sunday's fighting began when government forces tried to cut off the rebels by attacking from behind.

...


He says that although it is a shifting front line, the rebels appear to be gradually consolidating their position in the western mountains.


The front line is now thought to have moved just north of Bir Ayad to near the town of Bir al-Ghanam.

...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13921665

[Iterate]

56. Muhammad Bujunah A Sacrifice For Freedom

Muhammad was planning to go out even before the revolution started. He was inspired by the mass, successful revolutions of Tunisia & Egypt. Despite the lack of faith others had on the ability & willingness to revolt, Muhammad kept that hope alive & was sure of the greatness and determination of the Libyan people.

When he went out, he knew he wasn’t coming back. His friends tried painting the reality of merciless shooting & convince him to stay home, but he refused. He said “No, this is my place. If I died, put me on Facebook, and put my pictures up.” Alas, Muhammad joined the mass peaceful protests that were met with live ammunition. Muhammad received a bullet to the abdomen and chest that claimed his life.

MUST WATCH-Very moving documentary about Muhammad- “A Sacrifice For Freedom”
http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en-gb/videos/hxHYAkrUmB2j/en/126458/

http://feb17martyrs.com/?p=490

[pinboy3niner]

57. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 130: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1 AM MONDAY, JUNE 27

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

[Iterate]

58. Forensic Investigations and New Methods and Technologies

Forensic Investigations and New Methods and Technologies
The Human Rights Center UC Berkeley

Summary
Recent innovations in science and technology have provided human rights advocates, journalists, and scientists with new tools to expose war crimes and other serious violations of human rights and to disseminate this information in real time throughout the world.

The Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley is pleased to showcase these recent developments and push new frontiers of applied research.

Partner: Human Rights Center UC Berkeley
Location: Human Rights Center Berkeley, CA
Event Date: 05.05.09 01:41:38
Speakers: Luis Fondebrider, Lance Gima, Ute Hofmeister, Thomas Parsons, Eric Stover

http://fora.tv/2009/05/05/Forensic_Investigations_and_New_Methods_and_Technologies#fullprogram

As the pro-Gaddafi, anti-UN-protection, and anti-intervention argument has evolved over the past few months, one of the recent developments has been increasing atrocity denial. It's the work of groups like this who struggle to make sure the historical record remains accurately remembered, as well as to provide evidence for prosecution and truth commissions.

[pinboy3niner]

59. International Criminal Court to seek Gadafy arrest

Source: The Irish Times

Monday, June 27, 2011


PETER CLUSKEY in The Hague

JUDGES AT the International Criminal Court (ICC) are expected today to give the go-ahead for the issuing of arrest warrants for Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadafy and two of his most trusted lieutenants for crimes against humanity.

...


The United Nations Security Council had asked the ICC to launch an investigation into the actions of the Gadafy regime following anti-Government protests in Libya on February 15th, the start of the bloodiest revolt of the so-called Arab Spring.


More than 700 people are believed to have been killed during the month of February alone, and the death toll since then is believed to have run into the thousands.

...


The judges are expected to issue their decision on the prosecutor’s request for warrants at about lunchtime today.


Mr Moreno-Ocampo has already scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at which he is expected to give details of how the ICC will proceed once the warrants have been authorised.

...


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0627/1224299634377.html

[pinboy3niner]

60. Gaddafi's future not up for debate: Libyan government (elections not offered, after all)

By Nick Carey

TRIPOLI | Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:34am BST


TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi is the historical choice of the Libyan people and cannot be moved aside, his government said on Sunday, stepping back from earlier statements offering an election on his future role.


"Muammar Gaddafi is Libya's historical symbol, and he is above all political actions, above all political and tactical games," government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said in a statement issued late on Sunday.


"In this current stage and in the future, Gaddafi is the historical choice which we cannot drop."


"As for the current and future Libya, it is up to the people and the leadership to decide it, and it is not up to the armed groups, nor up to NATO to decide it," the statement said.

...


http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/26/uk-libya-idUKTRE75O1ER20110626

[pinboy3niner]

61. Fighting rages in western Libya

Source: Los Angeles Times

Rebels clash with Kadafi's forces as NATO warplanes strike government positions near the rebel-controlled Nafusa Mountain range.


By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times

June 27, 2011


Reporting from Kikla, Libya— Rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi exchanged ferocious barrages of antiaircraft and machine-gun fire Sunday as NATO warplanes pounded government-held areas on the edge of the rebel-controlled Nafusa Mountain range, ending a relative lull in combat in western Libya.


Fighting also erupted near the mountain town of Bir Ghanam on the southern edge of Zawiya province, whose main city of the same name was briefly under rebel control.


The latest round of clashes began after Kadafi's forces fired Russian-made Grad rockets at rebel positions in key highland areas. At least one rebel was killed and two injured, but the insurgents held their ground, said one of their commanders, who requested anonymity because he has family in Tripoli, the capital and Kadafi's stronghold.


Rebels in the Nafusa Mountains, a 90-mile range near the Tunisian border with sparsely populated villages and towns, rose up against Kadafi's four-decade rule in February, taking up arms when confronted with his military force.

...


NATO jets circled overhead for hours Sunday as rebels armed with assault rifles in Kikla, a front-line mountain town captured by insurgents a month ago, faced off against Kadafi's forces. In the afternoon, planes began striking the nearby town of Qawalish, where rebels say Libyan forces store arms. The fighting continued into the night with ground-shaking thuds. Tracer fire from government antiaircraft weapons could be seen in the distance.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-rebels-20110627,0,3634474.story

[pinboy3niner]

62. Tripoli Running Out of Gas as Qaddafi Pins Hopes on NATO Schism

Source: Bloomberg

June 26, 2011, 5:16 PM EDT

By Maher Chmaytelli


June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mohammed leans his bicycle against the wall of a café on Tripoli’s Green Square, opposite the city’s red-stone museum and Roman walls. Six months ago, he would have left his Volkswagen Passat for valet parking.


“The boys would take it and wash it while I was here,” he says. The oil-company engineer asked to be identified by one name because of the security situation.


Libyans in the capital are getting on their bikes to avoid the hundred-meter lines and weeklong waits at gas pumps -- evidence that the rebellion against Muammar Qaddafi, backed by NATO warplanes and international sanctions, is applying a squeeze on the territory that remains under his control.


The U.S. and its European allies say the leader’s four- decade grip on the country that holds Africa’s biggest oil reserves is nearing its end, as economic pressure and strikes on troops and communication centers erode his capacity to resist a spreading insurgency. Qaddafi is betting that he can survive longer than the coalition against him can stay united.

...


There are signs of opposition to Qaddafi even within the zone he controls. Drivers in Azzawiya, 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Tripoli, are stopped by soldiers every five minutes at checkpoints amid searches for rebel weapons.

...


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-06-26/tripoli-running-out-of-gas-as-qaddafi-pins-hopes-on-nato-schism.html

[Iterate]

63. ICC livestream

http://livestream.xs4all.nl/icc1.asx

http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/
Court 1

I think it's on a time delay, so the issuance could come before the stream.

[joshcryer]

64. This is going to give the worlds tyrants pause, the last thing they need is an international...

...criminal court watching over the people of the world.

Without the UNSC being involved in any way whatsoever.

Thanks for the link, watching, but I have to leave soon, and I will probably miss the actual announcement of the warrants. They're being extremely thorough.

[joshcryer]

65. BOOM. WARRENTS FOR ALL THREE ISSUED.

It felt good to hear that. Thanks so much Iterate. My week is starting off good already.

[pinboy3niner]

79. VIDEO: Al Jazeera correspondents report live on reactions (3:23)

Al Jazeera correspondents Sonia Gallego and Zeina Khodr report live from, respectively, The Hague, the Netherlands and Benghazi, Libya, on reactions to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi (3:23):

Watch on AJE...

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-27-2011-2323


...or on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1YzDEZoVzQ&feature=player_embedded

[joshcryer]

66. International criminal court issues arrest warrant for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi

@Reuters
Reuters Top News
International criminal court issues arrest warrant for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi
1 minute ago via web

http://twitter.com/#!/Reuters/status/85308882477522944

[Iterate]

67. ICC Press Release: 27.06.2011

Press Release: 27.06.2011

Pre-Trial Chamber I issues three warrants of arrest for Muammar Gaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdualla Al-Senussi

ICC-CPI-20110627-PR689

Today, 27 June 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued three warrants of arrest respectively for Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar Gaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi for crimes against humanity (murder and persecution) allegedly committed across Libya from 15 February 2011 until at least 28 February 2011, through the State apparatus and Security Forces.

The Chamber, composed of Judges Sanji Mmasenono Monageng (Presiding), Sylvia Steiner and Cuno Tarfusser, considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the three suspects committed the alleged crimes and that their arrests appear necessary in order to ensure their appearances before the Court; to ensure that they do not continue to obstruct and endanger the Court’s investigations; and to prevent them from using their powers to continue the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.

The situation in Libya was referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council, through the unanimous adoption of Resolution 1970 on 26 February 2011. The Security Council decided, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, that “the Libyan authorities shall cooperate fully with and provide any necessary assistance to the Court and the Prosecutor pursuant to this resolution” and, while recognizing that States not party to the Rome Statute have no obligations under the Statute, the Security Council urged all States and concerned regional and other international organisations to cooperate fully with the Court and the Prosecutor.

On 3 March 2011, the ICC Prosecutor decided to open an investigation and requested, on 16 May 2011, the issuance of the arrest warrants.

More information on this case is available here.
(PDF) http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/CIS-Gaddafi-Eng.pdf

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Associate Legal Outreach Officer, on [phone] or at [e-mail]

http://www.icc-cpi.int/menus/icc/press%20and%20media/press%20releases/pre_trial%20chamber%20i%20issues%20three%20warrants%20of%20arrest%20against%20muammar%20gaddafi_%20saif%20al-islam%20gaddafi%20a

[pinboy3niner]

68. Libya: Warrants Send Strong Message to Abusive Leaders--Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch says the warrants issued by the ICC have sent a strong message to abusive leaders. The group also says that concerns the warrant against Gaddafi will act as an obstacle to finding a solution to the conflict in Libya are misguided as it is unlikely that there is a connection between the ICC investigation and Gaddafi's refusal to step down.


International justice director, Richard Dicker, said:

Muammar Gaddafi already made clear he intended to stay until the bitter end before the ICC process was set in motion, and his son's February vow to 'live and die in Libya' speaks for itself. It beggars belief that a dictator who has gripped power for over 40 years would be frozen in place by this arrest warrant ...


As a judicial undertaking, the court's work is distinct from the military and diplomatic initiatives unfolding in Libya and it would be a mistake to conflate them. Justice, to be credible, must run its independent course."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/27/libya-syria-middle-east-unrest#block-17

The HRW press release is here:

Libya: Warrants Send Strong Message to Abusive Leaders
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/06/27/libya-warrants-send-strong-message-abusive-leaders

[pinboy3niner]

69. Gaddafi arrest warrant sparks celebrations in Libya

Jubilation in rebel-held city of Misrata after international criminal court issues warrant for the Libyan leader


Chris Stephen in Misrata
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011 16.10 BST



Libyans celebrate at the courthouse in Benghazi after receiving the
news of an arrest warrant issued against Muammar Gaddafi.
Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters


Wild celebrations erupted in Libya's besieged rebel-held city of Misrata as the news that the international criminal court had issued an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi spread through the city.

...


Thousands of citizens bearing the Libyan rebel tricolour streamed into the central Liberation Square, while surrounding roads were jammed with cars and pickup trucks hooting their horns. Fighters fired volleys of machine-gun fire in the air in streets surrounding the square.


"I'm happy, more than happy," said Ahmed Badi, a Misrata businessman. "We knew he was a criminal, now all the world knows he is a criminal."


Sheikh Khalifa Zuwawi, chair of Misrata council, said: "This shows we have the right to make this revolution. We hope now all the world will work together to catch Gaddafi."


For a besieged city which has endured more than four months of fighting and suffers a daily pounding of grad missiles fired from government forces, Monday's celebrations were a moment of rare relief.


"Now the world sees that the people here do not want Gaddafi, the world stands with us," said Sanussi Abdulrahman, a banker.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/27/gaddafi-arrest-warrant-celebrations-libya

[pinboy3niner]

77. Benghazi celebrates after ICC announces arrest warrants

2:40pm: Via @Shabablibya

http://feb17.info/

[pinboy3niner]

70. Reaction in Tripoli to reports rebels have advanced to just 50 miles away

The Guardian's David Smith has been on the streets of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, trying to gauge the mood after reports that rebels have advanced to just 50 miles away.

A man who gave his name as Zaruogh Ab Salam, an oil company employee, told David:

I'm happy the fighting is close. It might put more pressure on to get rid of Gaddafi and his relatives. A lot of people in Tripoli agree with me. I can say 80%, maybe more ...

Nobody is happy. Everybody is afraid because the government side has weapons. There could be an uprising in Tripoli, but there are a lot of people in jail. A lot have been killed.

Another oil worker sympathetic to the rebels, who did not wish to be named, said Tripoli is now plagued by uncertainty.

You can't imagine what's going to happen. Maybe it will be OK, maybe not. Who knows?

I think there are many people in Tripoli against Gaddafi, but I don't think there will be an uprising. It's too dangerous.

Asked for his opinion of the leader, the 42-year-old replied: "It's difficult to say, but I think you know what I mean."

A man in a white T-shirt came running up the street towards me with an over-effusive greeting, David writes. He gave his name as Kareem, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, and declared:

I care about this country. Me join this rebellion? There's no cause for it. I love Gaddafi because he created peace in Libya. Tripoli is very safe. No worries about Tripoli. Mark my words, remember my face. Tripoli is standing still, even if the whole world is against us. Benghazi has crumbled in a second, Misrata has crumbled in a second, but Tripoli never, because of the will of the people.

His friend, Ismail Masoud, 31, a shopkeeper whose family live in Benghazi, added:

These rebels close to Tripoli, what do they want exactly, what are they planning to do? Are they aiming to persuade us by guns? Is that liberating the country? ...

Gaddafi is going to stay. There's no chance in hell he will leave the country. The rebels will be defeated for one reason: they have no cause. They are a bunch of thieves, like wolves who want to eat people alive and the economy of this country.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/27/libya-syria-middle-east-unrest#block-20

[pinboy3niner]

71. Libya rebels believe tide turning against Gaddafi

27 June 2011 Last updated at 12:38 ET

By Bridget Kendall
BBC News, Benghazi

...


Many in the rebels' eastern stronghold seem impatient to see their former leader brought to justice, not just for his attempts to crush their uprising in February, but also for what they remember as brutal oppression by his regime for more than 40 years.

...


Meanwhile, their own forces are moving towards Tripoli from the south. And out of the besieged capital is streaming a steady flow of high level defectors.


The rebel leadership says there is still a plan to advance on Tripoli from all sides, squeeze Col Gaddafi's supporters, and undermine him through uprisings from within the city.


But they also seem to be hoping they can avoid a final military showdown, and instead force the Libyan leader out of office without more bloodshed.

...


Others fear he has ordered diehard loyalists to organise the sort of devastation on the city's infrastructure as he apparently planned - but failed to carry out - in Benghazi.

...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13932821

[Yosarian71]

85. I can not figure out

what is holding Gadhafi's army together. Fear is the obvious answer, but you think the soldiers realize they have more to fear from the rebels and NATO than Gadhafi. The officers who stay with Gadhafi to the end will never be safe in Libya.

Usually with tyrants, when the tide turns, it turns quickly and decisively. Misurata threw Gadhafi's troops out of the city proper in April. I thought it would be a couple of weeks before the entire military turned on him, as did many experts. Tyrants do not survive military defeat particularly well, yet Gadhafi has hung on.

Even now, as the rebels are but an hour's drive from the outskirts of Tripoli, Gadhafi's troops continue to resist. Even as the troops in Brega are starving and fighting with each other, they continue to resist. Even after an entire brigade of mercenaries was wiped out in the Western Mountains in April into May, another one appeared, and then also was defeated. Zliten has been pounded for weeks, yet holds up against NATO air attacks and daily rebel raids. Tyrants around the world are taking note.

[CJvR]

96. There are....

...many Libyans with alot to lose if Gaddafi falls, there are many Libyans with everything to lose - including their heads. As for Mercenaries, as long as they get payed and the situation isn't totally hopeless they really don't care. The big weakness of the rebellion is that it has not inflicted a clear and effective defeat on any of Gaddafi's main troop concentrations. The NATO bombings take out material but not people so troops can be recycled back to the frontlines. I have said it for a long time, the rebels need a big victory - they need to capture Brega and the entire loyalist force there.
Also never underestimate the effect of force and intimidation. Once it breaks it tends to shatter hard but it can carry an unwilling army a long way before that happens.

[meow mix]

72. k&r

go rebels

[pinboy3niner]

73. In Pictures: Battle for Libya

A cartoon in Benghazi depicts Muammar Gaddafi, who, despite his own occasional claims to the contrary, has ruled Libya since his own revolution of 1969. Today's revolutionaries portray their hitherto leader as a crazy, blood thirsty individual determined to take the country down with him.


George Henton provides Al Jazeera with a closer look at the many aspects of the war in Libya.
http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/africa/201162614570980285.html

[pinboy3niner]

74. This arrest warrant could make Gaddafi more dangerous

The international criminal court's decision to charge the Libyan leader means he has nowhere to go. He may simply dig in

Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011 18.30 BST


The Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has been charged with crimes
against humanity. Photograph: Mohamed Messara/EPA

...


The ICC's action will be applauded by advocates of universal justice and humanitarian law and by supporters of UN notions of the international community's responsibility to protect. It will also be welcomed by the British and French governments, prime movers in the Libyan military intervention, as further evidence that their parallel, non-military campaign to isolate, ostracise, delegitimise and undermine Gaddafi is working, even if Nato bombing is not.


"The warrants demonstrate why Gaddafi has lost all legitimacy and why he should go immediately," said the British foreign secretary, William Hague. He went on to urge Gaddafi supporters to consider their own positions in the light of the ICC ruling. "People at all levels of seniority should think carefully about the consequences of what they do," Hague warned. Those involved in continuing regime attacks on civilians would be held responsible.


It's an obvious divide-and-rule tactic, but it may slowly be having a cumulative effect. Reports this week of secret talks in Tunisia involving senior Libyan cabinet members, high-profile defections and a renewed offer by the regime spokesman (later partially withdrawn) to put Gaddafi's continued tenure to a popular vote have encouraged those looking for fatal cracks in the Tripoli edifice. Welcoming the warrants, a rebel spokesman suggested they meant Gaddafi was finished and there was no longer any point in even trying to negotiate with a "war criminal" regime.

...


On his refusal to budge, Gaddafi has been entirely consistent from the outset and, because he has nowhere to go and because the ICC has effectively branded him an international outlaw, it seems implausible to believe he will change his mind now. The ICC has added its weight to attempts to corner Gaddafi. But cornered, he is rendered all the more dangerous.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/27/gaddafi-international-criminal-court-arrest-warrant

[pinboy3niner]

75. Libya is not ready for a political solution

Any ceasefire must give no reason for Gaddafi to believe the international resolve for defeating him is diminishing


Ranj Alaaldin
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011 13.37 BST


Muammar Gaddafi's foreign minister is in Tunisia today to discuss a possible settlement to the ongoing conflict in Libya. A settlement should be welcomed, but it has to begin with the departure of Gaddafi and his inner circle from Libya.


The problem is that there can be no way forward with Gaddafi still in place – which is why South African president Jacob Zuma has already failed twice to end the conflict through a political settlement. There have been similar difficulties in Yemen where Arab Gulf states have sought – and so far failed – to implement a "transition" plan that does not require President Saleh's immediate resignation.

...


.... But there is something abhorrent about encouraging power-sharing between a dictator and a democratic, revolutionary force just when the former, an established force for instability that has proven it cannot be trusted, is gradually being defeated by the military, and while defections from inside the regime are continuing.


It is vitally important that any ceasefire or political settlement gives no reason for Gaddafi to believe the international resolve for defeating him is diminishing. Equally, there must be no reason for the people of Libya to fear that the vicious dictator will ever be in a position to exact revenge upon them.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/27/libya-gaddafi-political-solution?CMP=twt_gu

[pinboy3niner]

76. As some Libyan children return to school, effects of war evident

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Public schools are still closed, but an ad hoc group has started classes in Misrata

• Schoolchildren describe gunfire and violence after months out of school

• Many of the city's male teachers have taken up arms against the Gadhafi regime

• Save the Children: Some parents worry about sending kids to school amid violence

From Ben Wedeman, CNN

June 27, 2011 -- Updated 1023 GMT (1823 HKT)


Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- After months of being holed up as the war in Libya continues, some children in the besieged city of Misrata have returned to class.


The schoolchildren are full of pent-up energy. Not far beneath the excitement, perhaps, lies a life's worth of trauma.


Eight-year old Abdel Aziz unleashed his emotions in a speech to his classmates.


"People died," he tells them. "They shot children. They shot families. They shot girls."

...


http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/06/27/libya.school.children/

[pinboy3niner]

78. Rebels welcome ICC warrants

Libyan rebels welcomed the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi, saying they will hasten the leader’s departure.


“We are extremely happy that the whole world has united in prosecuting Gaddafi for the crimes he has committed,” rebel council spokesman Jalal al-Galal said by telephone from Benghazi. “The people feel vindicated by such a response.”


The rebels, backed by NATO air support, have been battling Gaddafi’s forces since late February when the east of the country rose up against his 41-year rule.


The revolt has turned into the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the Middle East.


The rebel leadership in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi has rejected attempts to negotiate an end to the fighting if Gaddafi is allowed to stay in power, saying crackdowns by his security forces and militias had stripped him of legitimacy.


Asked if the ICC arrest warrant would make it less likely that Gaddafi would step down and leave the country, Galal said:

“Gaddafi was never inclined to leave Libya in the first place. He’s buying time and holding out in his territory for as long as he can. This will only hasten the departure of Gaddafi and his regime”.

He said talk of negotiation was now beside the point.

“After this warrant, it is all irrelevant,” said Galal. “We cannot negotiate with war criminals. The world has confirmed what we have been saying all along. He’s a war criminal and he should be tried for it.”

3:30pm:
http://feb17.info/

[pinboy3niner]

80. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 131: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:01 AM TUESDAY, JUNE 28

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

[Iterate]

81. Video: Misrata celebrates as the ICC issue arrest warrants

Misrata celebrates as the ICC issue arrest warrants on Gaddafi, Saif and Abdullah Sanussi

http://youtu.be/IimEQxbl-NY

I noticed some districts in the background that haven't been on video for quite some time - it was just too dangerous.

Here's a piece slightly OT, but really not:

Everything You Think You Know About the Collapse of the Soviet Union Is Wrong
*And why it matters today in a new age of revolution.
BY LEON ARON | JULY/AUGUST 2011

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/20/everything_you_think_you_know_about_the_collapse_of_the_soviet_union_is_wrong?page=full

It's not that I agree completely with the analysis, I think its value is in pointing out that the causes of large scale social and political change sometimes elude conventional wisdom and can be found in the much deeper but more mundane reactions against corruption and mass rejection of political lies that have outlived their usefulness. In that sense the Arab Spring is much like the fall of the Soviet Union.

[joshcryer]

86. I'm extremely teary eyed watching that video, knowing what the people of Misrata went through.

:cry: :hug:

Thanks Iterate.

[Iterate]

103. Some of the video looked like the southern and western gate,

areas that were not as heavily damaged because it was a definite no-go zone. Even now I felt that bit of fear for them --as "ah, don't go near the bridge".

It's only been six weeks.

The past few weeks I've been scouting around for different stories, looking in places I shouldn't go; atrocity deniers, conspiracy theorists, isolationists, anti-nato-at-any-cost, that sort of thing. It was a chance to see how that kind of thinking is constructed, almost in real time.

Having done that, I've found I don't even want to talk about it, let alone write.

I did though find stories that no one has written. Here's a partial list:

Nuclear reactors in conflict zones. Seems obvious, doesn't it? Everyone from Soviets to Bush to Obama tried to get a deal going to build a reactor for Gaddafi, usually at Sirte or Misrata. None of them got off the ground, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Depleted Uranium. This one is about to crop again I think. So far it has no merit whatsoever, but I did find a path by which bogus claims are spread and amplified through websites and news sources, with dates and timestamps. In one case there were four websites with all of them citing each other as the source and no evidence of the original source that google could find. It's that bad.

Statistics of supposed Nato-caused casualties. I'm looking for a site that has day-to-day claims by JANA of casualties of Nato attacks, in a format that can be compiled and analyzed. The pattern of numbers seems immediately strange to me. As most people know, made-up numbers don't have the same statistical pattern as real ones, and it's not so easy to fake the statistical profile of numbers associated with real events. Besides that, JANA is bad at it.

Gaddafi family wealth. This story needs to be updated. Somehow it's been forgotten that the Gaddafi family is one of the wealthiest on earth, and it needs to be explained why no one knows the real number, which could be anywhere from 25 to 80 billion.

The direct linguistic translation of the word "mercenary" doesn't always have the same cultural and contextual meaning when used by Libyan speakers. Sometime close listening reveals that they are referring to any paid soldier, sometimes it's any paid non-Libyan, sometimes it's a paid non-Libyan who's been offered citizenship. And it's often close to our understanding of an imported paid professional non-national, but there are a dozen more variants as well. And there are times when it might just be disbelief that their countrymen are doing this to them. I think this is worth an article, but I doubt it can be disentangled from the raw partisanship and pain of the moment.

Atrocity denial. These are the lowest. Official investigations will probably not silence them, but it wouldn't hurt if a major news outlet put a light on them.

Untangling the alliances and war-factions in Saharan Africa. That's not just an article, it's a career.

Finally (for the moment), I'd love to see an article detailing a list of enemies and alliances that Gaddafi has accumulated over the past 42 years. I think just about everyone on the political landscape over that time could be found on both sides of the ledger.

Anyway, time to post what can be found rather that mousing around for what can't.

[pinboy3niner]

82. U.N. panel approves travel ban for Gaddafi's wife

• Finance minister, oil firm also hit with sanctions

• Russia, China still prevent sanctioning of others

Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:48pm GMT
By Louis Charbonneau


UNITED NATIONS, June 27 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council sanctions committee has banned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's wife from traveling outside Libya and ordered any of her foreign assets seized, Western diplomats said on Monday.


Although Gaddafi and other members of his family have been on a U.N. blacklist since February, Russia had blocked for months the inclusion of Gaddafi's wife Safia and Planning and Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni on the list of individuals facing a travel ban and asset freeze until last week.

...


Although Cabral did not state the names of the individuals and firm newly sanctioned by the committee, Council diplomats told Reuters they were Gaddafi's wife Safia, Zlitni and the Zueitina Oil Company, which they said was linked to the already-blacklisted Libyan National Oil Corporation.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1E75Q1C720110627?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

83. Gadhafi, wanted at last

Toronto Star Editorial

Published 48 minutes ago


When the Arab Awakening challenged his autocratic regime, Moammar Gadhafi threatened to “sanitize Libya an inch at a time, a home at a time, a house at a time, an alley at a time” until dissent was crushed. He and his cronies reviled democracy activists as stray dogs, rats and filth. Then they reached for their guns.


They turned helicopter gunships, armoured cars, anti-aircraft guns and other weapons on unarmed crowds and on rebellious towns. They used clubs, swords, acid and electroshock on activists. They mercilessly hunted down the injured in hospital beds.


That’s the grisly gist of the International Criminal Court’s case for issuing arrest warrants on Monday for Gadhafi, his son Seif and his intelligence chief. Whatever effect this may have on the Gadhafi regime, it invites critics of the United Nations-sanctioned military action to think again before denouncing it as unwarranted, or as an oil grab. The UN Security Council had ample reason to authorize Canada and its allies to “take all necessary measures to protect civilians.” If Gadhafi’s war machine had not been blunted, there’s no telling how many he would have slaughtered in the past 100 days.

...


While Gadhafi and some around him may be tempted to dig in their heels rather than face a UN court, they have more to fear from their countrymen. The UN system has no death penalty.

...


As well, Harper should use our leverage to press Libya’s reformers to step up contacts of their own with Gadhafi’s crumbling regime, with a view to ending this war. As Baird rightly noted, Ottawa “would welcome a political settlement.” Council leaders say they won’t “negotiate with war criminals.” But Gadhafi’s departure may well have to be negotiated, and they will have to make peace with elements of the old regime. Reconciliation, too, must be on the agenda.


http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1015775--gadhafi-wanted-at-last

[lib2DaBone]

84. Did Obama get approval yet under the War Powers Act?

What about the U.S. War in Yemen? What about the attack on Pakistan? What about the attack on Syria? What about an attack on Iran?

HOw many wars does the USA have going on now?

I thought we wanted to cut the budget? Gasoline delivered to these war fronts cost $400 a gallon. Air conditioning for troops more tha the budget for NASA....

Ya.. we'll bring Grandma to her knees here in the U.S. We'll cut off her SS, cut her heating, cut her medicare and we'll show her the TRUE meaning of AUSTERITY...!

[joshcryer]

87. Libyan score: Rebels 17, Gaddafi 0

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libyan-score-rebels-17-gaddafi-0-2302865.html">Libyan score: Rebels 17, Gaddafi 0
Seventeen of Libya's top football figures, including its national team's goalkeeper Juma Gtat, have defected to the rebels in an attempt to destabilise Colonel Gaddafi's regime.

The defection, which comes in the wake of a similar switching of support by parts of the country's military, will be seen as a propaganda blow for Col Gaddafi in an area that has a significant football following. Three other national team players and Adel bin Issa, the coach of Tripoli's top club, al-Ahly, have also defected. Libya's team is ranked 58th in the world.

[pinboy3niner]

88. Bulgarian Foreign Minister to visit Benghazi

Source: The Sofia Echo

Tue, Jun 28 2011 10:09 CET


Bulgarian Foreign minister Nikolai Mladenov will undertake a one-day visit to the city of Benghazi in Libya, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported on June 28 2011.

Mladenov will be in Benghazi, the city that has become the capital of Gaddafi's opposition, to meet representatives of the Transitional National Council.

...


http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/06/28/1113619_bulgarian-foreign-minister-to-visit-benghazi

Will Bulgaria be next to recognize the TNC?

[pinboy3niner]

89. Rebels are best hope for justice: Baird (Canadian Foreign Minister)

Foreign affairs minister meets Gadhafi foes

By Jordan Press, Postmedia News June 27, 2011


Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird travelled to Libya to meet with the rebels who have been fighting to oust long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi, completing his first major overseas trip Monday.


As part of his visit, Baird delivered a planeload of trauma kits to help the anti-Gadhafi cause.


He landed in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and met the leadership of the National Transitional Council, the rebels' government-in-waiting.


Baird said he wanted to assess how prepared the rebels were to govern should Gadhafi be removed from power. In comments to reporters, Baird said he felt the NTC offered the "best hope" to bring a democratic government to Libya.

...


"I think we need to be realistic. We're not going to move from Gadhafi to (Thomas) Jefferson overnight. They offer the best future for Libya in my judgment," Baird said.

...


http://www.vancouversun.com/Rebels+best+hope+justice+Baird/5015632/story.html

[pinboy3niner]

90. AU summit to grapple with Libya conflict

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

BORIS BACHORZ NAIROBI, KENYA - Jun 28 2011 10:57


The African Union meets in a summit this week that will try to show a united front on Libya, even though calls are mounting within the grouping for Muammar Gaddafi to leave -- once a taboo topic.

...


Gaddafi "is finished", said a South African official who was part of a team that travelled to Tripoli last month in a failed bid to launch peace talks to end the conflict that erupted in February.


The departure of continent's longest-serving leader, as demanded by the West, was long avoided by Gaddafi's African peers, many of whom have benefited from his funding or support and also object to international interference in their affairs.


That was until early June when Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, head of the AU panel on Libya, said Gaddafi "can no longer lead Libya" and "his departure has become necessary".

...


The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that despite public statements, all players in the African Union "want the departure of Gaddafi".

...


The summit would also try to do this "while protecting the image of the AU, which cannot (be seen to) change its positions and criticisms of Nato too quickly", he said.

...


http://mg.co.za/article/2011-06-28-au-summit-to-grapple-with-libya-conflict/

[pinboy3niner]

91. FACTBOX-Latest developments in Libyan conflict

Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:46am GMT


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

...


• Libya's rebels, with support from NATO, now have a tentative upper hand in the fight against forces loyal to Gaddafi, the top U.N. political affairs official said.

...


• Germany will supply bomb components and other ordnance to help NATO in Libya in a concession to allies after Berlin's controversial opposition to flying air strikes, Spiegel Online reported. A Defence Ministry spokesman said a request for supplies came from the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency, but declined to give more details.


• NATO said it conducted 142 air sorties on Monday, 66 of them strike sorties that aim to identify and hit targets but do not always deploy munitions.


NATO said key targets hit on Monday included:

-- One command-and-control node in Brega

-- One tank in the vicinity of Brega

-- One tank in the vicinity of Ras Lanuf

-- Six armoured personnel carriers and three tanks in the vicinity of Zintan

-- Three fire-control radars in vicinity of Zuwarah

-- One command-and-control node in Tripoli

-- One command-and-control vehicle in the vicinity of Tripoli


...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE75R0LZ20110628?sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

92. Senate weighs in on Obama Libya policy, offering limited OK for 1 year only, no ground troops

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, June 28, 12:08 AM


WASHINGTON — Senators will have their say on President Barack Obama’s decision to involve U.S. forces in the military operation against Libya.

...


Later in the day, the committee is to consider a resolution by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., to give Obama limited authority of one year for the mission while prohibiting U.S. ground troops. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., plans five amendments to the measure that would further restrict Obama’s authority.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-weighs-in-on-obama-libya-policy-offering-limited-ok-for-1-year-only-no-ground-troops/2011/06/28/AG5ObjoH_story.html

[pinboy3niner]

93. International court prosecutor calls for Gadhafi arrest--by his own aides

June 28, 2011 06:51 AM EST |

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is urging Moammar Gadhafi's own aides to arrest the Libyan leader and turn him over for trial on murder and persecution charges.


Luis Moreno-Ocampo says Gadhafi's inner circle has to decide whether to be part of the problem or part of the solution in Libya.


http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=hts&oq=&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAG_enUS431US431&q=Int%27l+court+prosecutor+calls+for+Gadhafi+arrest

[pinboy3niner]

94. Arab Spring: Nature of armies decisive in revolutions

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:05 ET

TBy Shashank Joshi
Royal United Services Institute


In the wave of dissent sweeping over the Arab world, an old lesson is being re-learnt: that armies are the key to unlocking a revolution's potential.


After the ignominious fall of Presidents Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, it was widely noted that these events disproved the 'Arab exception' - the belief, held in the face of mountains of contradictory evidence, that Arabs did not want democracy.


But the overwhelming focus on the "demand-side" of an uprising lost sight of something more important: that the "market for revolution" cannot clear if the army is both able and willing to use overwhelming force. In other words, armies control the "supply-side" of revolution.

...


The answer lies in civil-military dynamics. Armies that have their own identity, that possess a corporate existence separate from their political masters, often choose to manage political transition rather than simply squelch it. They see a future beyond the regime.

...


...(A)rmies...like Bahrain's security forces and Libya's elite brigades - may be disciplined and cohesive, but they are not professional. Since their fate is bound up with that of the regimes, they have little compunction in unleashing violence.

...


In Libya, eastern units peeled away from Gaddafi at the outset of the conflict, sowing the seeds of a civil war. What could have been another Hama - the 1982 massacre perpetrated by an earlier incarnation of the Assad regime in Syria - became something much less simple.

...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13941523

[pinboy3niner]

95. Bulgaria and Croatia recognise Libya's Transitional National Council

Source: Sofia Echo

Tue, Jun 28 2011 14:41 CET


Bulgaria and Croatia have officially recognised the Transitional National Council as legitimate representatives of the Libyan people, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said in a media statement on June 28 2011.


Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov paid a one-day visit on June 28 to the city of Benghazi in Libya. In a joint statement, Mladenov and his Croatian counterpart Gordan Jandrokovic said that the people of Libya had been fighting for freedom for more than three months but their legitimate demands had been met with force by Muammar Gaddafi.


"Brutally assaulting his own people, Colonel Gaddafi has irreversibly lost all claims to legitimacy," the statement said.


"As Nato allies, Bulgaria and Croatia support irrefutably the international coalition and its mission in Libya."

...


http://www.sofiaecho.com/2011/06/28/1113888_bulgaria-and-croatia-recognise-libyas-transitional-national-council

[pinboy3niner]

97. United in the face of adversity

Source: Deutsche Welle

After centuries of voluntary segregation in the Libyan mountains, Arabs and Berbers are forced today to live together in refugee camps in the Tunisian desert. The fight against Gadhafi could bring them closer together.


28.06.2011


Libyans have basically two ways to cross the southeastern Tunisian desert these days; either crammed into rusty and overloaded cars, or wounded in ambulances racing toward Tataouine, the remote capital city of the eponymous province.


But several of them will remain in the Dehiba refugee camp, the first stop in Tunisia, just a stone's throw from the volatile border between the two countries - disputed daily between troops loyal to Tripoli and rebels since the conflict between the two sides began in February.


Raised and managed by the United Arab Emirates, the camp in Dehiba hosts Libyan refugees who have arrived from the Nafusa mountain range in the last four months.

...


"Here our tents are together but that is not such a big thing for us. The most important thing is that after centuries turning our backs to each other, we are finally doing something together. We're all struggling against the tyrant," (an English teacher from Zintan) said.


Author: Karlos Zurutuza, Tataouine, Tunisia
Editor: Rob Mudge


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15192096,00.html

[pinboy3niner]

98. Britain to announce findings of Libya response team 'shortly'--The Guardian

No sooner has an arrest warrant gone out for Muammar Gaddafi than detailed plans are being unveiled for life in Libya after he has gone, writes our Middle East editor Ian Black.

Britain's department for international development is shortly to announce the findings of the international stabilisation response team, which has been looking at how the international community can help with security, infrastructure, oil exports and basic services such as education, water and health.


The UK-led mission includes representatives from the US, Denmark, Italy and Australia. British officials have been keen to emphasise close consultation with the "more mature and capable" national transitional council that represents the Benghazi-based opposition.


The assumption is that the UN would be involved in any monitoring of a ceasefire between the Libyan government and the rebels. But the report does not look at one key issue — the deployment of an international peacekeeping force which is likely to be necessary to secure critical infrastructure and maintain law and order. But watch out for a role for Turkey, Nato's only Muslim member.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/28/libya-syria-middle-east-unrest-live#block-15

[pinboy3niner]

111. See #110 nt

[pinboy3niner]

99. Libya: The Road Not Taken

Source: Daily Independent (Lagos)

EDITORIAL


...


Gaddafi's determination to remain in power whatever the cost in human life, to say nothing of the future unity of a country now looking more and more to be the next Somalia, is of course tragically familiar within the African context. Not so long ago, we were all witness to the murderous intention of Laurent Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire to defy the people's will and cling on to power, in the course of which he received support from Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, whose own megalomania has destroyed what used to be one of the continent's more stable economies. ....



Given the deep divisions within the continent, it is unsurprising that the AU is unable to speak with one voice, which is why Zuma has been able to thrust himself forward as its unofficial spokesperson, at least as far as the ongoing Libyan crisis is concerned. There is nothing inherently wrong or even sinister in this, especially given South Africa's economic muscle and democratic credentials, the problem being that it only serves to make Nigeria's continuing silence all the more deafening. ....



Unfortunately, this was only to be expected of a country that also dithered over Gbagbo not so long ago, in the process giving the erstwhile strongman of a neighbouring country the fillip he needed to defy the rest of the world. Successive Nigerian leaders have talked endlessly about the 'giant of Africa' as the continent's natural leader and then sit back and do nothing to prove the claim. Given this, it is hardly surprising that there is no evidence that Zuma even bothered to consult his Nigerian counterpart before jetting off to Libya on two separate occasions for the photo opportunities that keep his country in the public glare, the irony being that Zuma himself is not particularly well regarded in foreign capitals. The same cannot be said of the Nigerian president, whose electoral victory was hailed by the international community but who is busy demonstrating to all and sundry why he shouldn't be taken seriously even in matters African.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201106280849.html

[pinboy3niner]

100. Rebels report taking a barracks in western mountains today

Rebel spokesman Guma el-Gamaty claims rebel fighters have taken a barracks in the Western Mountains today.

Libya Breaking news FF took Alqaa barrack 30km south Zintan with huge ammunition depos this is a decisive victory against G in west mountain

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/28/libya-syria-middle-east-unrest-live#block-17


The Guardian also has posted a video purportedly showing a rebel attack on Gaddafi's forces on Sunday in Bir al-Ghanam, south west of Tripoli:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-Acfj_5ys&feature=player_embedded

[pinboy3niner]

101. Unlucky camel finds Libya's largest minefield

Source: Al Jazeera

A civilian team with pool cues and little training unearths more than 500 mines laid by Gaddafi's forces near Misurata.

Ruth Sherlock
Last Modified: 28 Jun 2011 13:00


Libyan rebels located hundreds of anti-personnel landmines buried by Gaddafi forces by using billiard cues to gently probe the ground where they were buried.


Around 550 mines were dug up in a suburb of Misurata in what is believed to be the biggest minefield found so far in the four-month conflict, discovered when an unlucky farmer's camel wandered into a field and was blown up. Landmines are banned in most countries but Colonel Gaddafi's forces have repeatedly planted them in areas where rebels were attacking.

...


Residents said they found a string of Grad rocket launchers stationed behind the field. From here the regime forces pounded the port side, and the residential area of Qasr Ahmed. In early April, up to eighty rockets hit the neighbourhood in one hour.


"They laid the mine field to prevent the rebels from reaching the rocket launchers," said resident Mohammed Turgomen, 54.

...


"Just the other day a child was admitted to hospital after picking up a live cluster bomb. She lost her hand," said Dr Khaled Abufalghan, spokesperson for Misurata healthy committee. "The bombs have ribbons on them and are attractive to children."


http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201162892022264206.html

[pinboy3niner]

102. Libya plans call for security forces to return quickly to duties after Gadhafi's ouster

By: The Associated Press

Posted: 06/28/2011 10:24 AM


LONDON - Britain's international development secretary says Libya's security forces will be asked to quickly return to work following Moammar Gadhafi's removal from power.


Andrew Mitchell said Tuesday that newly drafted plans for Libya's future had considered mistakes made in Iraq — including the need to turn to existing police and army personnel to maintain law and order.

...


Mitchell told reporters one of the first tasks would be to "get on the phone to the former Tripoli chief of police."


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/124649784.html

[Iterate]

104. Libya: Hospitals in rebel-held Benghazi 'face crisis'

Libya: Hospitals in rebel-held Benghazi 'face crisis'
28 June 2011 Last updated at 04:51 GMT
By Bridget Kendall BBC News, Benghazi

A medical crisis is looming in eastern Libya with hospitals in Benghazi running short of supplies, the rebels' health minister says.

Stocks of drugs and other items such as surgical gloves are said to be running out.

Dr Nagi Barakat told the BBC that most emergency aid donated from abroad went straight to the front line.

He said that if a new offensive broke out, hospitals would face a major crisis.

more... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13937817

[al bupp]

105. The situation in Nafusa Mountains as of Jun 28th, 2011

http://twitpic.com/5i939q/full

It's PNG file, so you'll have to browse to the link to see it.

[Iterate]

106. Nafusa rebels capture major munitions dump

Libyan rebels find major munitions dump
Hochgeladen von AlJazeeraEnglish am 28.06.2011

Opposition fighters in Libya have captured a munitions dump from Gaddafi forces in the West of the country, near the town of Zintan.

Finding the collection of weapons depots there is being seen as a major victory for the rebels as they edge closer to the capital, Tripoli.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports from the nearby town of Jadu.
http://youtu.be/mDfpNbazfvs

This appears to be the site of the Al-Qa'aa weapons depot that had a 1.5 kiloton secondary explosion when it was a attacked previously by Nato.
Another short video is even more dramatic:
Revolutionaries storming the hall stores of ammunition and weapons 28 611
http://youtu.be/JB2jO5PM9k4

And here is a 19 minute video of the raid that led to the weapons capture. It's also why I object to the AJE title of rebels "finding" the munitions dump.
Alzentan rebels raiding armories Hall
http://youtu.be/SkfAGWGzc9I

BBC's Mark Doyle reports from Yefren: Nafusa FF's move closer to Tripoli. 6/28/11
http://youtu.be/NUJ0qooNCBk
A front line report from near Bir Ayyid.

[pinboy3niner]

113. More details; site captured in rebel attack called 'largest arms depot in Africa'

Rebels, who were equipped with small arms and high-caliber artillery guns mounted on pickup trucks, said they began approaching the site at midnight and then staged a double-pronged attack. One group of fighters was assigned to attack the base while the other cut off reinforcements.


The attack ended in less than half an hour, with about five dozen government soldiers fleeing to the nearby base at Twama. Some of the rebels began heading toward Twama, but appeared to be repelled by barrages of Grad and Katyusha rocket fire that shook the desert.


Some analysts on Arab television networks described the Ghaaa military base as the largest arms depot in Africa. Many of the weapons date back decades, some to 1972. But they were stored meticulously inside dozens of huge hangar-like concrete bunkers covered with dirt.

...


"Let's go to Bab Aziziya," said one rebel fighter, referring to Gadhafi's residential compound in the capital, Tripoli.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-weapons-20110629,0,2814730.story

[ellisonz]

117. Libyan rebels need to get more of these sites.

[Iterate]

107. Turkey’s irrational rations in Libya

Turkey’s irrational rations in Libya
Published on 28 Jun 2011 by Sharif Nashashibi

The Turkish government’s immediate dismissal of revelations by Al Jazeera that Turkish food rations are feeding Gaddafi forces is an inadequate response to a very serious allegation.

At three abandoned bases, Al Jazeera found food rations that were produced by Unifo, a Turkish company which specialises in portable rations and ready-to-eat meals. The broadcaster reported that labels on Unifo bread packets showed that they were produced in March this year, after the imposition of UN sanctions against the Gaddafi regime. This would be a breach of those sanctions.

As such, it is not good enough for the Turkish foreign ministry to simply say it has no knowledge of any Turkish company exporting food rations or any other supplies to Gaddafi’s regime since the sanctions were imposed on 17 March.

There is no evidence that these rations were supplied with the approval or knowledge of the Turkish government, but a responsible course of action would be to conduct an official investigation into whether Unifo directly supplied Gaddafi’s forces.

more... http://english.libya.tv/?p=5840
Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi is chairman and co-founder of Arab Media Watch, an independent, non-profit watchdog set up in the UK in 2000 to strive for objective coverage of Arab issues in the British media. He is the recipient of an award from the International Media Council "for both facilitating and producing consistently balanced reporting on the highly emotive and polarized arena that is the Middle East."

[pinboy3niner]

108. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 132: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1 AM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29

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

[pinboy3niner]

109. Senate Committee Passes Resolution Backing Obama On Libya

Source: HuffPo

Jennifer Bendery

Posted: 06/28/11 05:18 PM ET


WASHINGTON -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution backing President Barack Obama on Libya, despite Republicans laying into an administration official hours earlier for engaging the U.S. in military action without Congressional approval.


The resolution, authored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), authorizes the White House to proceed in Libya with limited American forces in a supporting role. Specifically, it bars the use of ground troops and expires in a year. It cleared the committee on a 14-5 vote; all five nays were Republicans.


The measure still has to pass the full Senate and comes just days after the House handily rejected a similar measure. But it delivers the White House a desperately needed show of support from Congress, where many lawmakers are somewhere between frustrated and outraged over Obama's decision to bypass their authorization on Libya.

...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/senate-republicans-clash-with-obama-on-libya_n_886222.html

[pinboy3niner]

110. Planning Begins for Gadhafi's Fall

Source: Wall Street Journal

JUNE 29, 2011

By ALISTAIR MACDONALD in London and SAM DAGHER in Misrata, Libya


A U.K.-led report laying out an international road map for post-conflict Libya envisions using Col. Moammar Gadhafi's army and police force to keep the peace if he is ousted, drawing on lessons learned from post-invasion Iraq, a British government minister said.


United Nations officials, meanwhile, are preparing contingency plans for Col. Gadhafi's fall, including the proposed early deployment of 200 unarmed U.N. observers to oversee a cease-fire, according to a Security Council diplomat who was present at a briefing to the council by a U.N. official.


According to these plans, the Security Council would later be asked to approve the deployment of an armed, multinational force, to be followed by a U.N. peacekeeping force, which takes longer to put together, the diplomat said.


The multinational force would likely be comprised of troops from regional nations such as Turkey, Jordan and perhaps from African Union nations, he said.

...


Various countries, including Turkey, have talked about the possibility of providing troops, but none has yet made any offers. The U.S. and the U.K. have ruled out contributing ground troops.

...


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303627104576413932753215522.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[pinboy3niner]

112. 'Game over' for Gaddafi in months: prosecutor

Posted at 06/29/2011 7:32 AM | Updated as of 06/29/2011 7:35 AM


TRIPOLI/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Libya's Moammar Gaddafi could fall within two to three months, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said on Tuesday, as rebels sought to build on a gradual advance toward Tripoli.


The ICC's Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who on Monday announced an arrest warrant for Gaddafi on charges of crimes against humanity, is the latest international official to say the Libyan leader would soon capitulate to a NATO-backed revolt.


"It is a matter of time ... Gaddafi will face charges," Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, where the warrants were approved for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.


He added: "I don't think we will have to wait for long...In two or three months it is game over."

...


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/06/28/11/game-over-gaddafi-months-prosecutor

[pinboy3niner]

114. Libyan Base Falls to a Rebel Ambush in the West

Source: New York Times

Rebel soldiers swarmed a military compound in western Libya on Tuesday after driving
out its garrison of about 100 soldiers. The rebels found plenty of ammunition, but no
rifles. Photo: Samuel Aranda for The New York Times



By KAREEM FAHIM

Published: June 28, 2011


EL GA’A, Libya — In darkness on Monday night and Tuesday morning, rebel soldiers from towns throughout the Nafusah Mountain region gathered to put the finishing touches on a bold mission: they planned to capture a sprawling military base controlled by government soldiers that was still stocked, they believed, with the kinds of weapons and ammunition that would help level their fight against the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.


A group of the fighters spent the night at a safe house, and as the sun rose on Tuesday here in the mountains of western Libya, hundreds of other fighters joined them in positions around the base. By midday, the rebels had routed 100 or so of Colonel Qaddafi’s soldiers who had been guarding the base and had left their potatoes, trash and crumpled green uniforms behind.


The soldiers also left a dubious bounty for the rebels, who carried off crates of outdated and aging ammunition and weapons parts, including components for heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles that security experts worry about falling into the hands of terrorists.


There was no sight of the rifles they desperately needed. But that could not diminish the glow of a hard-fought victory, and the fighters fired in celebration as they drove from the base in trucks packed with olive-colored crates.

...


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/world/africa/29libya.html

[pinboy3niner]

115. UPDATED list of nations recognizing the Libyan National Transitional Council

Source: Reuters

RECOGNITION OF NTC AS REPRESENTING LIBYAN PEOPLE


United States*

Croatia

Bulgaria

France

Britain

Italy

Spain

Turkey**

Qatar

Maldives

Kuwait

Gambia

Jordan

Senegal

Australia

Germany

United Arab Emirates

Canada

Panama

Austria

Latvia

RECOGNITION AS OF NTC LEGITIMATE POLITICAL FORCE

China***

Russia****

Malta

Sources: Reuters, official government websites

Notes:

* A May 23 State Department note called the NTC "a credible and legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people." In June 9 comments to journalists in Abu Dhabi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the Council as "the legitimate interlocutor for the Libyan people during this interim period."

** The Turkish Foreign Ministry says that while it sees the NTC as "a legal and credible representative" of the Libyan people, it does not see it as the sole representative.

*** Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi described the NTC diplomatic chief Mahmoud Jibril as an "important dialogue partner" during Jibril's trip to Beijing in June.

**** Mikhail Margelov, President Dmitry Medvedev's special representative for Africa, met Libyan rebel leaders in Benghazi in June.

(Compiled by Mark John; Additional writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-libya-rebels-recognition-fb-idUSTRE75R37F20110628

[pinboy3niner]

116. Muammar Gaddafi’s ‘reign of terror’

Opinion article in the Times of Malta:

Wednesday, June 29, 2011
by Simon Busuttil


I cannot understand what is keeping the Libyan Ambassador in Malta from denouncing the Gaddafi regime once and for all and switching allegiance to the National Transitional Council in Libya. Several of his colleagues in other EU countries have already done so. What is he waiting for?

...


.... The number of people who have been killed so far has spiralled to over 15,000. Another 45,000 people are estimated to have been injured. This is genocide pure and simple.


Terror. The terror is unbelievable. People are holed up in their houses or, worse, in uninhabitable crowded hideouts wherever they manage to seek shelter. If they leave their house, even in the capital Tripoli, they risk being shot on suspicion of being friendly to the rebels.


On countless occasions, Col Gaddafi’s men are forcing their way into private dwellings onto unsuspecting families wreaking havoc onto their lives with insane shootings and indiscriminate rape.

...


Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.



http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110629/opinion/Muammar-Gaddafi-s-reign-of-terror-.372967

[pinboy3niner]

118. Post-Gaddafi Libya 'must learn from mistakes made in Iraq'

Libya stabilisation report submitted by UK to Benghazi opposition outlines priorities after ceasefire

Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 June 2011 19.17 BST



Britain is calling for a "politically inclusive settlement" in post-Gaddafi Libya that will take heed of the mistakes made in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.


A detailed "stabilisation document", overseen by the Department for International Development, has been submitted to the Benghazi-based Libyan opposition and sets out priorities after a ceasefire between the regime and rebels.


It assumes that Gaddafi – wanted by the international criminal court for alleged crimes against humanity – will leave or be forced from power, but it does not predict when that will happen. "It (the stabilisation process) must be Libyan-owned and United Nations-led," Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary, said on Tuesday. "The work seeks to ensure that the international community learns the lessons of what happened in Iraq."


Issues range from preventing looting and revenge attacks to providing basic services, and ensuring effective communications to ensure Libyan citizens know what is happening at a time of uncertainty. Unarmed UN monitors would most likely police a ceasefire if the environment was "benign" but there are discussions about a heavier peacekeeping force. Turkey, Nato's only Muslim member, is expected to play a key part.


Britain, playing a leading role in Nato's bombing campaign, has ruled out contributing to any peacekeeping force on the principle that it will not put "boots on the ground", insisted Mitchell.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/28/gaddafi-libya-report-benghazi-opposition

[pinboy3niner]

119. FB page set up for memorial service for photographer Anton Hammerl, killed in Libya

A Facebook page is set up for the Memorial service of the South African photographer Anton Hammerl who was killed in Libya.

A memorial service will be held for Anton Hammerl at His People church, 20 Seventh Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg on 2 July 2011. The service will start at 11am and will be followed by a wake. Further details about the wake will follow – please keep checking the Free Photographer Anton Hammerl facebook page for updates. For directions to His People visit http://www.hispeoplejoburg.org/contact-us/map Please RSVP if you wish to attend the Johannesburg memorial. The London memorial will take place at “The Journalists’ Church” St Brides, Fleet Street, EC4Y 8AU, in early September. Further details to follow. Contact: Bronwyn Friedlander, [e-mail]

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/liveblog/libya-jun-29-2011-1221

[pinboy3niner]

120. Czech ForMin visits Libya to meet NTC members, hand over aid

Source: Czech Happenings

published: 29.06.2011, 09:27 | updated: 29.06.2011 09:39:43

Author: ČTK


Prague/Benghazi - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will meet representatives of the National Transition Council (NTC), political body of the Libyan rebels opposed to Muammar Gaddafi´s regime, during his visit to Libya today, the ministry´s press department has told CTK.


The plane with Schwarzenberg (TOP 09) has also brought Czech humanitarian aid to Libya, for which the Czech government earmarked 2 million crowns and 550,000 crowns was provided by the People in Need humanitarian organisation.

...


During a visit by Mohamed Allagi, the NTC´s minister of justice and human rights, in Prague on June 14, Vodrazka (Civic Democrats, ODS) said the NTC, seated in Benghazi, is "the only alternative to the Gaddafi regime. As we maintain that the dictator has lost legitimacy, it is necessary for us to start intensively communicate with the rebels."


Before, Czech PM Petr Necas (ODS) said the Czech Republic is considering establishing contacts with the NTC representatives.


http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-formin-visits-libya-to-meet-ntc-members-hand-over-aid/657326

[pinboy3niner]

121. France providing weapons to Libya rebels: report

PARIS | Wed Jun 29, 2011 6:48am EDT


(Reuters) - France is providing weapons to Libyan rebels in the Western Mountains in an effort to help them push on to Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Wednesday.


Citing unidentified sources, Le Figaro said France had parachuted "large amounts" of weapons, including rocket launchers, assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles into the Jebel Nafusa region.


The decision to send arms without consulting its NATO partners was "because there was no other way to proceed," a senior source was quoted as saying.

...


Le Figaro said it had seen a confidential map stamped by French intelligence services showing various areas in the mountains including Yafran and Nalut under the control of rebels where weapons could be sent.

...


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/29/us-libya-france-weapons-idUSTRE75S22P20110629

[pinboy3niner]

125. France Admits to Arming Libyan Rebels

By DAVID JOLLY and KAREEM FAHIM

Published: June 29, 2011


PARIS — France confirmed on Wednesday that it has provided weapons to the Libyan rebels, the first instance of a NATO country providing direct military aid to the forces seeking to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.


Col. Thierry Burkhard, a spokesman for the French military, said France responded in early June to a United Nations request, made in May, for a “humanitarian pause” to allow the delivery of essential medical supplies and other relief items to Libyan civilians in the besieged city of Misurata and in the towns and cities of the western mountain region, also under attack from loyalist forces.


“The U.N. request never actually took effect,” he said. “So we airdropped water, food and medical supplies” to Misurata and to the Nafusah Mountains south of Tripoli.


“During this operation troops also airdropped arms and ammunition several times, including assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and launchers,” he said.

...


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/europe/30france.html?_r=1

[Iterate]

122. Confessions of a Briber

Confessions of a Briber
Published on 25 Jun 2011 by Fatima Swehli

According to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perception Index, Libya received a humiliating score of 2.2 of out 10. This score placed Libya in 146th place (along with Yemen) out of the 178 countries examined, and bettering only Iraq (1.5) out of all the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. But even without such a result we know that corruption has been unavoidable in Libya. All of us have contributed to Libya’s result on the corruption index.

We have read and heard about government officials who filched billions of dinars from the nation’s treasury and who derived benefits from contracts signed on behalf of the country. Many of our businessmen received tenders on the condition that the officials granting the contract benefit from them. Yet, this is not the only contribution to corruption in Libya. Of vital importance has been the average citizens’ (like you and I) participation, which has integrated corruption into our dealings.

The first advice I received upon acquiring my driving license was to place a twenty dinar bill between my driving documents whenever I was stopped by the police. (I say “acquired” rather than “received” the license because I took no test, and all I had to do was pay a “thank you” fee to someone who helped me avoid the test). On the numerous times I was stopped by the police while driving, not one officer chose to refuse the money and deal with offence according to law instead.

Wherever we go, and whatever we do in Libya, we are expected to pay such fees to have any chance of completing our daily business. We have preferred to pay a “sweetener” rather than to go back and forth with our documents for months only to learn the requirements have been changed and we need to start the process afresh.

more... http://english.libya.tv/2011/06/25/confessions-of-a-briber/

Edit to add:

UPDATE 1-Libyan rebels would review Gaddafi contracts
Wed Jun 29, 2011 5:09pm GMT

By John Irish

PARIS, June 29 (Reuters) - Libya's rebel council said on Wednesday it would review all contracts, including lucrative oil deals, signed under Muammar Gaddafi's government were it to come to power and axe any where it found signs of corruption.

Speaking in Paris after rebel chief Mahmoud Jibril and his defence attache met French officials including President Nicolas Sarkozy, Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam also told reporters the rebels had received their first funds pledged internationally -- a $100-million loan from Qatar.

"With regards to the future, contracts agreed by Libya will be put under review and if there appears to be proof of commissions or financial corruption we will consider ourselves free from them," Shammam told reporters.

Companies with contracts in Libya include oil companies Total , Eni , BP Plc and Conocophillips , and some Turkish and Brazilian construction firms.

more... http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE75S1L520110629?sp=true

[Iterate]

123. Thousands of Chadian Migrants Stranded in Southern Libyan Desert

Thousands of Chadian Migrants Stranded in Southern Libyan Desert
Kim Lewis June 28, 2011

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says it is racing against time trying to save the lives of about 2,000 Chadian migrants in southern Libya. It says they’re mostly women, children and the elderly in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical aid.

They have been stranded in the towns of Sebha and Gatroun for the past five to seven weeks because of clashes between government and rebel forces. They’re prey to bandits and have no way to get out of the area.

“They’ve been living in very difficult conditions outdoors,” said Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the IOM in Geneva. “During the day the temperature is very, very hot. It is cold at night. Those migrants have little to no access to food, water, sanitation, medical assistance,” which he said is why there is a sense of urgency.

They are desperate to get home, said Chauzy, but have not been able to because of conditions between Gatroun and the Chadian border. As a result the IOM has been working to return the group to Chad.

more... http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/lewis-libya-migrants-28jun11-124652944.html
Includes audio report(VOA).

Race against time to save lives of thousands of migrants stranded in southern Libya
Report— International Organization for Migration

Thousands of stranded migrants, including large numbers of women and children, are in desperate need of immediate food, water, shelter and medical assistance after having spent many weeks living in the open in the southern Libyan desert, an IOM assessment team has found as the Organization looks into ways to evacuate them to safety.

So far, more than 2,000 Chadian migrants have been discovered by IOM in Gatroun and Sebha, though these figures could grow as the team continues with its assessment in the area.

"Time is of the essence," says IOM's Dr. Qasim Sufi, leading the assessment mission to Southern Libya which began late last week. "The migrants are in a very bad state after having existed so long like this. Conditions for them are brutal in the desert heat with no protection from the sun, wind or sand and no access to water, food or sanitation."

Up until now, the migrants' survival has been largely due to whatever supplies other Chadian migrants passing through have been able to spare.
Report
—
International Organization for Migration

Thousands of stranded migrants, including large numbers of women and children, are in desperate need of immediate food, water, shelter and medical assistance after having spent many weeks living in the open in the southern Libyan desert, an IOM assessment team has found as the Organization looks into ways to evacuate them to safety.

So far, more than 2,000 Chadian migrants have been discovered by IOM in Gatroun and Sebha, though these figures could grow as the team continues with its assessment in the area.

"Time is of the essence," says IOM's Dr. Qasim Sufi, leading the assessment mission to Southern Libya which began late last week. "The migrants are in a very bad state after having existed so long like this. Conditions for them are brutal in the desert heat with no protection from the sun, wind or sand and no access to water, food or sanitation."

Up until now, the migrants' survival has been largely due to whatever supplies other Chadian migrants passing through have been able to spare.

more... http://reliefweb.int/node/422670

emmaomo2011: #Gatroun: Some of the regime troops tried to smuggle 3 launchers and 70 pommels to Gatroun region and were caught. via sabha17feb #libya
3 days ago via web
@RRowleyTucson: Large protests in #Sebha In the district of #Manshya happening now. Large independence Flag in the square. #Libya #feb17”
2 days ago
@thanku4theanger: SABHA: Heavy celebration gunfire following ICC arrest warrant announced with Zaghareed : ) #feb17 #Libya
1 day ago

Somewhere here I saw a report that the remaining Gaddafi forces were concentrated at one of the two main airports nearby, so it's not clear how that would effect relief and evacuation flights, if at all.

[pinboy3niner]

124. Reuters news agency expelled from Tripoli by Gaddafi regime

The Reuters news agency has been expelled from Tripoli in the latest crackdown on media by the Libyan government, writes David Smith in Tripoli.

Correspondent Nick Carey was this morning ordered to pack his bags and check out of the Rixos hotel, where foreign journalists are based, and to catch a bus out of the country.


Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told me: "They have been very unprofessional in their reporting. It is not just one story. They have been indecent in their reporting."


He accused Reuters of imbalanced coverage. "When someone calls from some remote area and says Gaddafi has killed someone, they report it so passionately. When they see children killed, the bodies of dead girls, from Nato bombs in Tripoli, they report is to coldly and dispassionately."


Asked if a replacement for Carey would be allowed into the country, Ibrahim replied: "Reuters has to change its ways and it has to be expelled. They way they report is deliberately unprofessional. We've talked to them about this. We have been following them for a month and a half."


The Guardian's Xan Rice was also given his marching orders earlier this month.


International media have been told they can only leave the Rixos hotel when accompanied by a government 'minder'. The journalists have a fractious relationship with Ibrahim and his aides and tempers are often frayed; this week I witnessed a shouting match between a reporter and a Libyan official. A popular Libyan TV presenter regularly accuses the media of being western spies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jun/29/egypt-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-10#block-17#block-20

[pinboy3niner]

132. Libya expels Reuters journalist, accuses news agency of deliberate anti-government bias

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, June 29, 11:54 AM


TRIPOLI, Libya — A government spokesman says Libya has expelled a Reuters journalist because of what he says is anti-government bias by the international news agency.


Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim says the British correspondent, Nick Carey, was asked to leave Wednesday. Ibrahim says the reason was that the agency has been “deliberately anti-Libyan government” in its reporting.

...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/libya-expels-reuters-journalist-accuses-news-agency-of-deliberate-anti-government-bias/2011/06/29/AGTry0qH_story.html

[pinboy3niner]

126. Syrian army 'kills four in Idlib province'

Source: Al Jazeera

Troops kill at least four people in village of Rameh, as Syrian forces press on in a tank-led assault, activists say.


Last Modified: 29 Jun 2011 18:27


Syrian troops have killed at least four people as army tanks and helicopters attacked a village in the northwestern province of Idlib, activists have said.


"The four died in random firing on the village of Rameh from tank machine guns, which has become customary in these unjustified assaults.


The tanks started firing on surrounding woods then directed their fire on the village," Ammar Qarabi, president of the Syrian National Human Rights Organisation, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday, from exile in Cairo.


Hundreds of other residents fled the village, an activist said by telephone from the area.


"The army is entering village after village," he told the AP news agency, asking that his name not be used out of fear for his safety.

...


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/06/201162916103730548.html

[pinboy3niner]

127. Nato reviews Libya campaign after France admits arming rebels

French defence chiefs admit providing weapons for push on Tripoli in apparent defiance of UN mandate


Nick Hopkins
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 June 2011 19.24 BST


Nato was today urgently reviewing the conduct of its military campaign in Libya after France admitted arming rebel fighters in apparent defiance of the UN mandate.


The revelation surprised officials in Nato's headquarters in Brussels and raised awkward questions about whether the French had broken international law – UN resolution 1973 specifically allows Nato nations to protect civilians in Libya, but appears to stop short of permitting the provision of weapons.


Nato has consistently said it would not provide arms to rebel commanders, saying it was beyond its remit. But that pledge came under scrutiny after military chiefs in Paris confirmed that French planes had dropped machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles to rebels in the western Nafusa mountains.

...


It appears France did not inform any of its Nato allies about the weapons drop, or Nato headquarters, where officials were today desperately seeking clarification from Paris about exactly what it had done and why.


Nato was also trying to establish what legal basis France had for taking this apparently unilateral action. Officials expressed surprise over what had happened and insisted its military approach had not changed.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/nato-review-libya-france-arming-rebels

[pinboy3niner]

128. Libya: Gaddafi Forces Occupy Hospital, Terrify Patients and Staff

Source: Human Rights Watch

Medical Workers in Western Town Detained, Abused


June 29, 2011



(Tunis) - Libyan government forces mistreated medical staff and patients during an unlawful six-week occupation of a hospital in Yafran, a town in Libya's western mountains, Human Rights Watch said today.


Government forces placed about 30 staff and three patients at grave risk by preventing them from leaving and deploying military weapons in the hospital compound, Human Rights Watch said. The failure to respect and protect the hospital violated international humanitarian law.

...


Government forces occupied Yafran General Hospital from April 19, 2011, until the beginning of June. By then most Yafran residents had fled the town, following at least two weeks of government shelling. The approximately 30 doctors and nurses at the hospital, most of them Bangladeshi or Ukrainian, remained largely because they did not feel safe enough to leave. Three patients were also unable to leave due to their medical conditions.


Hospital staff told Human Rights Watch that the hospital was initially occupied by a paramilitary group known as Haras al-Shabi (the Civil Guard), which had engaged in looting after it captured Yafran on April 18. A doctor told Human Rights Watch that the Civil Guard aggressively entered the hospital and broke down locked doors in a fruitless search for rebel fighters. He said he saw the soldiers beat a wounded Egyptian worker they had found in the intensive care unit. "We were astonished how they dealt with him," the doctor said.


The Civil Guard refused to let the hospital staff leave, the hospital workers said. Over the course of six weeks, the hospital staff primarily treated injured Libyan government forces. Hospital workers described a climate of fear from abuses and threats by the Civil Guard.


One of the patients who was getting medical care at the hospital when the Civil Guard arrived said the fighters entered his room and threatened to torture him and shoot him if he left the hospital. "They did that all the time," he said. "I was scared that one of them would come back at nighttime and shoot me, so sometimes I would change which bed I slept in."


In May, the Civil Guard arrested a nurse, who was then detained for more than three weeks, including time in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison, and on occasion was tortured. "They told me they captured me because I had treated rebel fighters at the hospital," the nurse told Human Rights Watch.


Witnesses said the Civil Guard moved military weapons into the hospital compound, including automatic weapons, machine guns, and anti-aircraft weapons. One doctor said that three large-caliber weapons were positioned in the compound: one at the front gate, one next to the kitchen, and one near the main entrance. Human Rights Watch viewed a video filmed by a medical worker on his cell phone in late April that showed a high-caliber machine gun mounted on a jeep in the hospital compound.

...


http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/06/29/libya-gaddafi-forces-occupy-hospital-terrify-patients-and-staff

[pinboy3niner]

129. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 133: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 12:01 AM THURSDAY, JUNE 30

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

[pinboy3niner]

130. NATO said it conducted 148 air sorties on Tuesday, 58 of them strike sorties

NATO said key targets hit on Tuesday included:


• Two command and control nodes, one command and control facility, one armored vehicle, one artillery piece, 12 armed vehicles, five armed pick-up trucks, three trucks, three military hangars in Brega


• One multiple rocket launcher, one mortar, one armed vehicle, one command-and-control facility in the vicinity of Zlitan


• One anti-aircraft missile launcher and 2 radars in the vicinity of Tripoli


• One military compound in Gharyan


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE75S1RN20110629?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

131. Donors transfer $100mn to Libya rebels

LONDON (AFP) — Libya's cash-strapped rebels have received the first $100 million (£62.2 million) from a fund set up by international donors, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday.

The National Transitional Council (NTC), the rebel leadership based in the eastern city of Benghazi, received the money in the past week to pay salaries and buy fuel, Hague told MPs in parliament.

"In the last week, they received the first $100 million of international funding through the temporary financing mechanism set up by the contact group for vital fuel and salaries," he said.

...


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gvRObmlQieVzOd-yoXvQg9NMQ0Ug?docId=CNG.cb452d879856dbf1e9cc1fc0ef0c3989.9a1

[pinboy3niner]

133. Present at the birth of Libya's civil society

June 29, 2011 9:32 AM

ByManal Omar


(CBS News) There is a lot unknown in Benghazi today. Nobody knows for sure how long Benghazi can function without paid salaries. Nobody knows how temporary the transitional national council will be. And nobody knows what a post-Qaddafi Libya will look like.


My first day in Benghazi it became clear that for activists here there were two solid knowns that trumped all the unknowns. First, Qaddafi's days were numbered. Graffiti on concrete walls sprayed in red paint read "game over." People repeatedly explained to me that there was no half revolution, and the only successful ending was one without Qaddafi or his loyalists. This was about life and death, they emphasized. If Qaddafi were to stay, then Benghazi would share the same fate as Al Zawiyah.


Second, the key for Libyan success was the development of a third sector - civil society. The one thing that everyone seems to know is for Libya to develop a sustainable model for democracy, civil society needs to be ready to step up. There was an unprecedented confidence in the transitional governance to develop a transparent and open process that would lead to a democratic government. There was no doubt that companies would be eager to invest in Libya and develop a strong private sector. It was the development of a civil society that made people anxious.


The anxiety did not come from absence of individuals ready to play the role. It is only a few months after the start of the revolution and a network of NGOs has already formed with over seventy active organizations. Although no formal registration process is required, the NGOs are coordinated through the Public Engagement Committee (PEC).

...


Manal Omar is Director of Iraq, Iran, and North Africa programs at the United States Institute of Peace. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/29/opinion/main20075348.shtml

[pinboy3niner]

134. African Union Officials Agree on Libya Transition, U.K. Says

Source: Bloomberg

By Franz Wild - Jun 29, 2011 4:55 AM PT


Most African officials meeting at a regional summit in Equatorial Guinea agree that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi must leave power for a democratic transition to take place, a U.K. government minister said.


An exit strategy for the conflict in the North African country will be discussed by heads of state at the African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea’s capital, Malabo, tomorrow. Foreign ministers from the continent have been meeting in the city since yesterday.


“Most of those AU foreign ministers have been telling me privately that they feel that Qaddafi must go, that there’s no future for Qaddafi in Libya,” U.K. Minister for the United Nations and Africa Henry Bellingham said in an interview yesterday in Malabo.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-29/african-union-officials-agree-on-libya-transition-u-k-says.html

[pinboy3niner]

138. African mediators fine-tune Libyan peace roadmap

MALABO (AFP) — African leaders mediating the Libyan conflict adopted proposals for a political solution to the crisis that are based on a roadmap drawn up in March and to be presented to Thursday's summit, they said.


The committee of five presidents, including Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, reviewed late Wednesday developments in Libya since the panel's last meeting last week, a statement said.

...


Components of the roadmap included humanitarian aspects, a ceasefire, an inclusive and consensual transition and "political reforms necessary to eliminate the causes of the current crisis," he said.

African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping said the grouping stood by its roadmap released March 10.

...


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXh14c3DMTAM8Poo_EvvkyMreyMA?docId=CNG.7377148835dacd5239bbd9c00a6fcc81.ad1

[pinboy3niner]

135. How to depose Kadafi

Editorial


Arrest warrants issued against Moammar Kadafi and two of his relatives by the International Criminal Court may make it harder to get rid of the Libyan strongman.


June 30, 2011


Moammar Kadafi is a fitting target for the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. Whatever one's opinion of the court — and The Times' editorial board has been divided on the subject — the charges lodged against the Libyan strongman and two relatives dramatize the worldwide condemnation of Kadafi's war against his own people. He is now formally what he has been in fact since the Arab Spring came to Libya: an outlaw.


The grounds for the warrant, according to the court, are that Kadafi allegedly committed crimes against humanity — specifically murder and persecution. Judges said there was sufficient evidence that he, his son and his brother-in-law ordered the killing and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians in February.


But although the charges against Kadafi bring moral clarity to the discussion of his conduct, we're sorry the court went through with them. We take this view not because of any particular doubts about Kadafi's guilt but because the warrants against him and his relatives could complicate efforts to reach a political solution under which he would step down. The International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization that aims to resolve international conflicts, stated the problem clearly: "To insist that he both leave the country and face trial in the International Criminal Court is virtually to ensure that he will stay in Libya to the bitter end and go down fighting."

...


How to deal with dictators guilty of human rights abuses is a familiar dilemma, pitting those who prize justice above all against pragmatists who believe that exile for a despicable leader — even exile in comfort — is preferable to continued oppression and violence. There is no single right answer, but in the case of Libya, a political settlement that ensured the departure of Kadafi — international outlaw or not — would be justified.


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-kadafi-20110630,0,4577264.story

[pinboy3niner]

136. Asia and the responsibility to protect

Opinion article, Jakarta Post

Thursday, June 30, 2011 09:49 AM

Pierre P. Lizée, Ontario, Canada | Thu, 06/30/2011 7:00 AM



The ongoing international operation in Libya has set in motion a global debate about the rationale for that operation: The notion of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), and the idea that the international community must respond when national governments threaten their own people with egregious violence. This debate has underscored areas of certainty, but also areas of great ambiguity.


One key point is that the international community has now committed itself to an overriding principle: when populations are at risk of being massacred by their governments, it will no longer remain idle the way it did for instance in Rwanda.

...


Most notably, the UN has now established the Joint Office of the Special Advisors to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and the RtoP. There should be a sustained dialogue between regional governments and this Office, with the goal of setting up the frameworks of consultation and cooperation which could kick in if the risk of mass violence flares up in the region.


Such recommendations are modest and realistic. And yet, moving in that direction would place Asia at the center of debates about the RtoP which the region cannot bypass. If only for that, the time to act is now.


The writer is a Canadian academic. He co-chaired the CSCAP Study Group on Asia and the Responsibility to Protect

[pinboy3niner]

137. EU, Algeria back 'political solution' to Libya crisis

Source: Magharebia

By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 29/06/11


Algeria's position on Libya is inextricably linked with its security concerns, officials said at a just-concluded EU-Algeria Association Council session in Luxembourg.


"Algeria has scrupulously implemented the Security Council resolutions," Foreign Affairs Minister Mourad Medelci said on an Algerian radio. "We have no qualms on that score; we also think the situation is unacceptable."


"When it comes to whether a particular leader must or not lose his legitimacy, whether in Syria or Libya, those who are primarily responsible for answering this question are the peoples themselves," Medelci said at the June 19th-20th meeting.


For his part, Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, who represented the EU, said that Kadhafi had "lost his legitimacy and political solution presupposes the departure of the dictator and his family".

...


http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/06/29/feature-02

[pinboy3niner]

139. African Leaders to Snub NATO’s Libya Campaign From Qaddafi’s Luxury Resort

Source: Bloomberg

By Franz Wild - Jun 30, 2011 1:12 AM PT


African leaders will probably scorn the international campaign against Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi today from the luxury of an Equatorial Guinea resort built by a leader who has imprisoned critics in the run up to the summit.


Equatorial Guinea’s leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, will oversee the African Union meeting at a purpose-built 580 million-euro ($837-million) resort near the capital of an oil- rich nation where three quarters of the population earn less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.


Obiang, who came to power after overthrowing his uncle in 1979, now presides over an organization that is taking the moral high ground as it looks for a peaceful end to Qaddafi’s rule. Leaders are demanding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization halt its bombing campaign in Libya and accuse the International Criminal Court of pouring “oil on the fire” by issuing an arrest warrant for Qaddafi.


“You see a lack of consistency and a bit of betrayal in what the AU espouses toward governance,” said Festus Aboagye, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. “We see the AU paying lip service” to human rights.

...


“When the population doesn’t have water and electricity, this kind of extravaganza is political exhibitionism,” Fabian Nsue Nguema, a human rights lawyer, said in an interview in his Malabo flat, where the lack of running water forces him to line up buckets to clean himself. “To us, he looks like just another Qaddafi.”


Political activists, students and migrants have been detained ahead of the summit, Human Rights Watch said in a June 22 statement, citing local monitors and opposition groups.

...


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/african-leaders-to-snub-nato-s-libya-campaign-from-qaddafi-s-luxury-resort.html

[Iterate]

140. Libyan man shares proof of violence in Tripoli

Libyan man shares proof of violence in Tripoli
Ali, who has returned to his hometown of Misurata, narrates horror that he faced in Libyan capital.
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2011 03:39

As the pro-democracy fighters advance in Libya, news of what has been going on in Gaddafi-held areas is being revealed.

Al Jazeera's Sue Turton has met one man who has managed to escape Tripoli, carrying extraordinary pictures of violence in the capital in his back pocket.

Here is her report on Ali's return to Misurata.

Ali's face is concealed in this report for the protection of his family members who are still in Tripoli.

http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/06/2011629231512936499.html
or
http://youtu.be/5KCClPHqArY

[pinboy3niner]

141. UK sends body armor, police uniforms to Libya

LONDON (AP) – Britain said Thursday it is providing body armor, police uniforms and communications equipment to help Libya's opposition protect rebel leaders and international officials based in the country's eastern cities.


Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the U.K. was offering 5,000 sets of body armor, 6,650 uniforms, 5,000 high-visibility vests and communications equipment for police loyal to Libya's opposition.


"This equipment will enable the civilian police to carry out their functions more securely and better protect National Transitional Council representatives and the significant international and NGO communities in Benghazi, Misrata and other areas of Libya" under opposition control, Hague said.


As Britain announced the assistance, Libya's opposition leader said rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi need more and better weapons to win their conflict and spare more bloodshed.

...


http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110630/ap_on_re_eu/libya_opposition

[pinboy3niner]

142. Commander refutes report that France supplied weapons to Libya's rebel forces

By Borzou Daragahi
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 30, 2011, 4:27 a.m.


Reporting from Zintan, Libya— Reports that France has been secretly supplying weapons to rebels engaged in daily battles with Moammar Kadafi's forces in the Nafusa Mountain range stunned the world. It also surprised the overall commander of the rebel forces, who said Thursday that his men had never received any such weapons.


"Whoever gave us these arms should come here and tell us where he put them," said Col. Mokhtar Milad Fernana, overall commander of the rebel fighting forces.


While the front in eastern Libya has grounded to a stalemate, rebels in the mountainous region in the west appear to be gaining momentum in their fight against Kadafi, as they regularly capture towns and villages under Kadafi's control.


Earlier in the week rebel forces captured a massive desert arms depot filled with military vehicles, ammunition for rockets and large-caliber weapons they have used to fend off Kadafi. Rebels are attempting to push against Kadafi's forces east toward the town of Gharyan and northward toward the coastal areas near Zawiyah.

...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-refutes-france-weapon-supply-20110630,0,7205368.story

:rofl:

[pinboy3niner]

143. Memorial Service and Wake for Anton Hammerl

Johannesburg : South Africa | Jun 30, 2011

By Brigid Jean Primrose


The family of South African, international photographer Anton Hammerl who was shot and killed on 5 April by Gaddafi forces in Libya will be holding a Memorial Service and Wake for Anton on 2 July.


It must be with great sadness that the family have decided to do this now when the remains of this talented man are still lying somewhere in Libya and there seems no news of whether they will ever be returned to his family in South Africa.


The South African public along with the rest of the world can only send their blessings and well wishes to the Hammerl family at this time of great sadness and keep praying that one day soon Anton will be returned to them.

...


http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/9545123-memorial-service-and-wake-for-anton-hammerl

R.I.P. :patriot:

[pinboy3niner]

144. The latest delusion of 'Tripoli Bob'

This was posted on AJE's Libya Live Blog (posted here for amusement value only):

Government spokesperson Mousaa Ibrahim told reporters on Wednesday:

"Now we are fighting with ordinary civilians who have joined the battle against NATO. Now we have thousands upon thousands of tribes, of tribal individuals who have joined the armed forces and these volunteers constitute a huge number of fighting force at the front line at Brega, Misrata and in the Western Mountains as well. The war now against NATO is led now by the tribes of Libya."

[Iterate]

149. Cleansing Misrata 101

septimius_sever: BeniWalid college, "all who join Gaddafi army will pass the year without exams"

Elleebi: BaniWalid students have been told they will pass all their subjects if they volunteer to help "cleanse" #Misrata http://t.co/Ag2LlJX #Libya
39 minutes ago via web·

@EndTyranny101: Al Baghdadi Al Mahmoudi Gaddafi's PM has claimed that the #Nafousa Mountains are completely under their control & No advances from FF #Libya
about 3 hours ago

@4Adam: Defection of 70 of Gaddafi officers and joining #feb17 revolutionaries in #Nafusa Mtns 6/29-28/11 http://t.co/MPRSJj2 #Libya #ArRujban

@libyanproud: #Nafusa : #Ghiryan : Defections of officers/soldiers in the Sahban brigade . Ghiryan FF predict revolt in days . #Feb17 #Libya
about 22 hours ago
@libyanproud: #Nafusa : #Ghiryan : Sahban brigade is reportedly low on ammo, vehicles were on their way to #AlQaa when #Nafusa FF took it. 1 day ago

I saw the Ibrahim pronouncement but had no idea what to do with it. You got it right and a few ideas came together.

Entombing ones view of history in ideology or a few simple abstractions is to be forever doomed to search for weak links, conspiracy, and nefarious actors. It's a fundamentally undemocratic view, always focused on the people at the top, always trying to redefine events and history that don't follow the ideological narrative. It never allows for stupidity, accidents, or just plain pigheadedness. As long as those things stay on our radar, we'll know we have the history just about right, and that's just what you did.

That last bit probably belongs on another thread, but I can't be bothered. Thanks cuz.

[pinboy3niner]

145. FACTBOX-Latest developments in Libyan conflict 1400 GMT

June 30 (Reuters) - Following are the latest political and military developments in the Libyan crisis.

...


• In the rebel-held city of Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, six rockets landed early on Thursday in the Habara district, near the city's oil refinery and port. A Reuters journalist in Misrata said there were no casualties.

...


• NATO said key targets hit on Wednesday included:

-- Twelve military vehicles, one military truck, one armoured personnel carrier, one ammunition storage, one military compound and one military checkpoint in Brega;


-- One multiple rocket launcher, five battle tanks, two artillery pieces, three military vehicles near Misrata;


-- One self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, one military technical vehicle, two multiple rocket launchers and one military equipment storage facility near Tripoli;


-- Four battle tanks, one military technical vehicle, one heavy equipment transport near Gharyan;


-- One battle tank, one military technical vehicle near Sirte;


-- One ammunition storage facility in Waddan;


-- One military technical vehicle near Nalut.

...


http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE75T15K20110630?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

[pinboy3niner]

146. OT--A message from Tabatha

Noting her absence, I PM'd her and received this reply:

I am completely swamped with work. Just too much. There is a very important demo next week that has significant implications - and I just cannot post anymore, or read anymore either for a while. I do click on tweets now and then during compiles.

Here is stuff to counter the pro-daffis
http://youtu.be/bcce4SCHhpc
http://shabablibya.org/news/leaving-libya-how-i-learned...

and something for Iterate:
http://phoenicia.org/berber.html

Hopefully Libya will be free soon.
Regards to all.

(You can post the entire contents if you wish)

[pinboy3niner]

147. In the Brother Leader's bunker

Source: The Economist

On the surface, life goes on. Beneath it, Libyans nervously watch and wait

Jun 30th 2011 | TRIPOLI | from the print edition


HOURS after Colonel Muammar Qaddafi was indicted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague on June 27th, a rebel group calling itself the Free Generation Movement furtively torched a billboard in the heart of Tripoli, Libya’s capital, showing him in dress uniform. The impoverished residents of Souk al-Juma, one of Tripoli’s rubbish-strewn suburbs, quietly cheered the news of the arrest warrant. “I saw it on a television,” whispers a delighted video-games salesman. “He’s finished—game over, Qaddafi.”


Maybe so. But his security service is still cracking down on Tripoli’s restive suburbs. Every night armed checkpoints ensure that whole districts are locked down. Plain-clothes policemen still go from house to house, taking away suspected rebels or their sympathisers. “Some never come back,” says a young man who was detained for three days.


Fear stalks the capital. If you ask people about politics, they tend to flee into the city’s ill-stocked shops and unpaved alleys to escape the eyes of informers. “Neighbours are always watching,” says a resident, playing loud music to avoid being overheard. He turns it up even louder at night to drown out the sound of police guns. “They shoot for hours,” he says. “Often we cannot sleep.”


Pictures of the colonel and the plain green flag that symbolises his rule are less common than before. Some brave residents are so keen to speak out that they accost strangers, asking if they are journalists. Some shopkeepers quietly insist on pressing gifts on foreigners or refuse payment for goods. “Thank you, America” and “Obama good”, say others.

...


.... Sympathisers in Tripoli are generally lying low. Some of them attack checkpoints or provocatively paint cats and dogs the colours of the revolution (red, green and black), which the police then shoot. The opposition is hampered by the blockage of internet access and text-messaging facilities. Yet protest networks such as the Free Generation Movement still hope to prepare the ground for a post-Qaddafi transition. “We have many allies, even in the government,” claims one of the group’s leaders, who says he knows of ten other secret protest groups.

...


http://www.economist.com/node/18897605?story_id=18897605

[Iterate]

148. Nafusa photo diary

Curious about the facts and the people behind worldwide headlines, young Norwegian-American photographer Ivan LaBianca travelled to the Nafusa Mountains. LaBianca came back with a very personal photo diary which portrays both the war and the determination of the people of the Mountains. “It was only later, while reviewing my pictures, that I was able to allow myself to see the true magnitude of the tragedy.”



The list of hope and broken dreams
With the battlefields just a few kilometers away from Zintan, many of the soldiers fighting have families in town waiting for their safe return every night. Outside the hospital, a list is posted with the names of those recently killed or wounded. It’s an emotional place, with family members on edge reading over the names again and again, praying that their loved one made it through another day of fighting. (Ivan LaBianca)

http://english.libya.tv/2011/06/27/nafusa-photo-diary/

There are ten photographs in total, and oddly, as Ivan LaBianca says it took some time to see the magnitude, even if only to select one photograph to post.

[pinboy3niner]

150. LIBYAN REVOLUTION DAY 134: CURRENT TIME IN LIBYA = 1 AM FRIDAY, JULY 1

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

[Iterate]

151. The Amazigh

The Berbers have never experienced a unified political identity, which makes a review of the "history of the Berbers" somewhat problematic. There have been many strong Berber-led and Berber-populated kingdoms and cultures - often warring among themselves - existing in parallel in various regions of North Africa and Spain, but never a unified "Berber empire". Nor have these cultures used any written Berber language - there are almost no written records in Berber, except for short inscriptions on a few monuments and buildings. Instead, the Berbers have tended to assimilate the culture and adopt the written language of their conquerors - initially Phoenician, Greek and Latin, later Arabic - while continuing to speak spoken Berber among themselves.

A chronology of some historical events in the Berber area:

ca 3000 BC - first Egyptian references to the people who are now called Berber
ca 1100 BC - Phoenicians establish trade centers
ca 800 BC - Carthage is founded
146 BC - Romans destroy Carthage and establish the province Mauritania Tingitana (the origin of the word Moor) in North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya --
ca 200 - Berbers become Christians
ca 350 - North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya -- becomes a hotbed for "heretic" Christian cults in the Christian Roman Empire
ca 400 - St. Augustine
429 - Vandals invade North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya --
533 - Byzantine Empire drives out the Vandals and takes control - religious conflicts between Berber Christian "heretics" and Byzantine church
674-700 - Muslim Arabs drive out the Byzantines and conquer North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya --. Conversion to Islam begins
711-713 - Spain conquered by Moslem Arabs and Berbers. Al-Andalus established in Spain
1085-1258 - Berber Almoravid and Almohad dynasties rule Al-Andalus and North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya --
1492 - Moors driven out of Al-Andalus
1900 - French and Spanish colonial aspirations in North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya --, leading to colonization
1956-1963 - Independence for North Africa/Tamazgha -- Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya -- states

-- montecarlo

Read more: Amazigh, (Berber) the Indigenous Non-Arab Population of North Africa, and Their language. http://phoenicia.org/berber.html#ixzz1Qnqf6gqk
http://phoenicia.org/berber.html

I spent so much time there I thought it deserves a post in it's own right. It's a privilege to learn about (and learn from) some amazing people along the way. Thanks tabatha. You are missed, but we all must must must take care to keep ourselves intact and in order. Libya will be free. Now if I can only learn to write that in Tamazight...

[pinboy3niner]

152. Rebels in Libya's west gain ground

Aided by NATO airstrikes, they move within 50 miles of the capital. But they sense a bloodbath coming, with civilians caught in the crossfire.


By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times

July 1, 2011


Reporting from outside Bir Ghanam, Libya— Rebels in Libya's western Nafusa mountain range were less than 50 miles from the nation's capital Thursday and edging closer to their first significant victory outside their mountain stronghold, pounding the small town of Bir Ghanam with artillery and rockets.


Rebels were firing on government positions from a cement factory in the foothills of the mountains as NATO warplanes, including at least one Apache helicopter, aided in the battle by striking government troops at least three times.

...


Although the fighting on the front in eastern Libya has ground to a stalemate, rebels in the mountainous region in the west appear to be gaining momentum.


Those rebels say they are using fresh recruits, many from other parts of the country, and weapons they've captured to fight Kadafi's forces. They say they are attacking on three fronts: Bir Ghanam, which lies on flatlands at the northern edge of rebel territory; to the west beyond the town of Kikla toward Gharyan; and to the south toward the military base at Tawama.

...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-libya-rebels-20110701,0,3175715.story

[pinboy3niner]

153. Muammar Gaddafi is negotiating with Libya rebels, his daughter says

From: AFP
July 01, 20119:35AM


MUAMMAR Gaddafi's daughter says that her father's regime is in "direct and indirect" contact with the Libyan rebels, during an interview with the France 2 news channel.


"At the moment there are direct and indirect negotiations. We are working to stop the flow of Libyan blood and for that we are ready to deal with the devil," the 35-year-old Aisha Gaddafi said.


She insisted, during the interview in Tripoli, that the ongoing conflict had "strengthened" her family, and denied reports of "divisions" or "disputes".


She refused to directly answer questions as to whether her father would consider leaving power, saying only that he remained an important figure to the Libyan people.


"Where would you like him to? Here, this is his country, his land, his people (...) Where is he going to go? There is one thing that you will never understand, it's that my father is a symbol ... a guide," she said.

...


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/muammar-gaddafi-is-negotiating-with-libya-rebels-his-daughter-says/story-e6frg6so-1226085399209

[pinboy3niner]

154. Libyan rebels hope French weapons will break Misrata stalemate

Lack of artillery, mortars and tanks are frustrating efforts to expand pocket around enclave, rebels say

Chris Stephen in Misrata
The Guardian, Friday 1 July 2011


Libyan rebels in Misrata said on Thursday night that they are in discussions with France to supply weapons and ammunition to fighters in the besieged coastal enclave.


The frontlines have remained in stalemate for more than a month, with the city enduring nightly bombardments from rockets, and rebel fighters saying they lack the heavy weapons to break the ring of government forces around the city.


"We are in discussion with France to supply us with the guns," said rebel military spokesman Ibrahim Betalmal. "We are trying to do our best to get ammunition and guns from France and inshallah (God willing) we are going to get those guns. These are negotiations with France, not with Nato."

...


French military spokesman Colonel Thierry Burkhard said on Wednesday that France had airlifted weapons to Libyan civilians in a mountain region south of Tripoli. The deliveries of guns, rocket-propelled grenades and munitions took place in early June in the western Nafusa mountains, when Gaddafi's troops had encircled civilians.

...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/01/libyan-rebels-french-weapons-misrata

[pinboy3niner]

155. US Senate to take up Libya measure next week

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate next week will take up a resolution authorizing limited US strikes on Libya as part of NATO-led operations, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.


"We are going to spend some time next week on the Libyan resolution," Reid told reporters.


Reid's announcement came a day after President Barack Obama, under heavy fire for not securing congressional permission to attack Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces, insisted the US military's role was limited and legal.


The resolution, which cleared the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, restates Obama's goal of toppling Kadhafi and greenlights the US role for one year or for the duration of NATO operations.

...


http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hBM-_S-QI0R21krgcF2ZIsKL3pxQ?docId=CNG.d86ceec20706af0a574a3d87e2ba3a1c.491

[pinboy3niner]

156. NYT Editorial: The Libya Campaign

Editorial

Published: June 30, 2011

...


President Obama was wrong to ignore the War Powers Act, but that should not stop the House and Senate from adopting the Kerry-McCain resolution authorizing the mission to continue for another year.


NATO must help, but the Libyan people are the only ones who can bring the regime down.


The rebels need more military advisers and weapons and access to $30 billion in frozen Qaddafi government funds. The United States and other countries need to remove the legal obstacles to getting that money.

...


There has been recent talk by all sides about a possible deal between the rebels and the government. We are eager to see an end to the fighting. But Washington and the NATO alliance must stand firmly with the rebels and reject any solution that does not involve the swift ouster of Colonel Qaddafi and real freedom for Libyans.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/opinion/01fri2.html

[joshcryer]

157. Week 19 part 2 here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1395775