By Samia Nakhoul and Mohammed Abbas
Libyan rebels claimed to be close to capturing Muammar
Gaddafi on Friday as their NATO backers bombed diehard loyalists in his tribal
bastion, but there was no sign of an end to the war, or to international
wrangling over Libya's riches.
Leaders of the National
Transitional Council, which has Western support, pressed foreign governments to
release Libyan funds frozen abroad, warning of its urgent need to impose order
and provide services to a population traumatized by six months of conflict and
42 years of eccentric, personal rule.
But Gaddafi's long-time allies
in Africa, beneficiaries of his oil-fueled largesse and sympathizers with a
foreign policy he called anti-colonial, offered the fugitive strongman a grain
of comfort and irked the rebels by refusing to follow Arab and Western powers
in recognizing the NTC as the legal government.
Combined with the reluctance
of major powers like China, Russia and Brazil, to see Europeans and Americans
dominate a nation with Africa's biggest oil reserves, the African Union's
resistance may slow the pace at which funds are released.
Mahmoud Jibril, head of the
government in waiting, said time was short. Visiting NATO member Turkey, he
said: "We have to establish an army, strong police force to be able meet
the needs of the people and we need capital and we need the assets.
"All our friends in the
international community speak of stability and security. We need that
too."
While many African states have
recognized the NTC, the AU would not do so as long as fighting continued, South
African President Jacob Zuma, a vocal advocate for Gaddafi, said after a
meeting in Addis Ababa at which the AU called for all sides in the conflict to
negotiate a peace and work for democracy.
"If there is fighting,
there is fighting," Zuma said. "The process is fluid. That's part of
what we inform countries -- whether there is an authority to recognize."
Rebel leaders are determined
to show they are in charge, though estimates vary of when the TNC will move
formally from its Benghazi base in the east to the war zone that is Tripoli.
"We have come to operate
the country. We are now the legal authority," declared Mohammed al-Alagi,
a lawyer who has been the TNC's justice minister for some months, as he met
foreign journalists in the capital wearing a rebel flag as a bandana.
GADDAFI "UNDER
SIEGE"
Other TNC leaders, who stress
they want to work with other rebel groups which sprang up later in the west as
well with those who have previously supported Gaddafi, say the war will only be
over once the fallen leader is caught, "dead or alive."
Alagi voiced confidence that
Gaddafi and his entourage of sons and aides was surrounded and would soon be
captured: "The area where he is now is under siege," he told Reuters,
while declining to say where in Tripoli he thought Gaddafi was. "The
rebels are monitoring the area and they are dealing with it."
Similar confidence has proved
misplaced since the irregular armies overran Gaddafi's compound on Tuesday,
however, and analysts do not rule out that the 69-year-old, a veteran master of
surprise, might have slipped away to rally supporters for an insurgency. He has
not been seen in public for two months, but made a defiant audio broadcast on
Thursday.
Colonel Hisham Buhagiar of
the rebel force in the capital said Libyan commandos were targeting several
areas: "We are sending special forces every day to hunt down Gaddafi. We
have one unit that does intelligence and other units that hunt him."
NATO forces, notably from
France and Britain, are helping the rebels. Many analysts assume they are
giving intelligence and may have their own special forces troops on the ground.
Despite sporadic gunfire as
rebel fighters tried to take pockets of loyalist resistance, Tripoli was
quieter than in recent days. Dead bodies, the stench of rotting garbage in the
oppressive summer heat, wrecked cars and the other detritus of war were
evidence of frantic battles and wildly erratic firing.
Some of Tripoli's two million
people, suffering from power cuts, dwindling supplies and a critical shortage
of medical supplies and healthcare, ventured out to local mosques, some praying
Gaddafi can be found by Monday, when Muslims mark the end of the fasting month
of Ramadan with the festival of Eid.
"Gaddafi is the biggest
criminal and dictator and we hope we will find him before the end of
Ramadan," said Milad Abu Aisha, a 60-year-old pensioner who joined friends
at his local mosque for traditional worship on the last Friday of Ramadan.
"It will be the happiest
Eid in 42 years," said Mohammed al-Misrati, a 52-year-old office worker
who was among hundreds streaming toward the mosque under the protection of
armed local men who have formed ad hoc security units across the capital.
"We have a taste of
freedom after 42 years of repression."
BUNKER BOMBED
British aircraft fired cruise
missiles at a headquarters bunker overnight in Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.
A city beyond rebel control,
on the Mediterranean coast 450 km (300 miles) east of Tripoli, some believe he
might seek refuge there among his tribesmen. Loyalist forces also still hold
positions deep in the Sahara desert.
"Sirte remains an
operating base from which pro-Gaddafi troops project hostile forces against
Misrata and Tripoli," a NATO official said, adding that its forces had
also acted to stop a column of 29 vehicles heading west toward Misrata.
In Benghazi, rebel military
spokesman Ahmed Bani said the bombing in Sirte was aimed at ammunition stores
and depots for Scud missiles. "Maybe the mercenaries will run away,"
he said, referring to suggestions Gaddafi's forces include hired fighters from
Chad and other sub-Saharan African countries.
"After this bombing,
maybe the people there will try to rise up." he added, saying TNC
commanders were also in contact with tribal chiefs in Sirte, hoping to avoid
bloodshed.
Such negotiations will be a
major challenge across the country for Libya's new rulers as they try to meet
expectations of young men now bearing arms and to heal ethnic, tribal and other
divisions that have been exacerbated by civil war.
(Reporting by Peter Graff, Ulf Laessing, Mohammed Abbas, and Samia Nakhoul
in Tripoli; Robert Birsel, Emma Farge and Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi, Barry
Malone in Addis Ababa, Hamid Ould Ahmed and Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Algiers,
Giles Elgood, Christian Lowe, Tarek Amara and Richard Valdmanis in Tunis,; Ibon
Villelabeitia in Ankara, Jon Hemming in London, Arshad Mohammed in Washington
and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Alastair Macdonald)
Source : Reuters
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