Libyan forces have massed outside a pro-Gaddafi desert town
that has refused to surrender, building a field hospital in preparation for a
possible last stand.
On-off talks involving tribal
elders from Bani Walid, south of Tripoli, and a fog of contradictory messages
in recent days, reflect the complexities of dismantling the remnants of
Gaddafi's 42-year rule and building a new political system.
At a military checkpoint some
60 km (40 miles) north of the town on the road to the capital, Abdallah
Kanshil, who is running talks for the interim government, told journalists a
peaceful handover was coming soon. Nevertheless, a dozen vehicles carrying NTC
fighters arrived at the checkpoint.
"The surrender of the
city is imminent," he said on Monday. "It is a matter of avoiding
civilian casualties. Some snipers have surrendered their weapons ... Our forces
are ready."
Similar statements have been
made for days, however. With communications cut, there was no word from inside
Bani Walid.
But 20 km closer to the town,
NTC forces built a field hospital and installed 10 volunteer doctors to prepare
for the possibility that Gaddafi loyalists would not give up.
"The presence of pro-Gaddafi
forces in Bani Walid is the main problem. This is their last fight," said
Mohamed Bin Dalla, one of the doctors. "If Bani Walid is resolved
peacefully then other remaining conflicts will be also be resolved
peacefully."
Forces loyal to the National
Transitional Council (NTC) are also trying to squeeze Gaddafi loyalists out of
his home town of Sirte, on the coast, and a swathe of territory in the desert.
GADDAFI IN "GOOD
SPIRITS"
Moussa Ibrahim -- believed by
the NTC to be in Bani Walid -- said the deposed leader was in good health and
good spirits somewhere in Libya in remarks broadcast on Monday.
"Muammar Gaddafi is in
excellent health and in very, very high spirits," Ibrahim said.
"He is in a place that
will not be reached by those fractious groups, and he is in Libya,"
Ibrahim told the Syrian-owned Arrai TV in response to a question on the
whereabouts of Gaddafi.
Last week, a senior NTC
military commander said he believed Gaddafi was in Bani Walid, 150 km south of
Tripoli, along with his son Saif al-Islam, his former heir apparent.
"We will prevail in this
struggle until victory," Ibrahim said. "We are still strong, and we
can turn the tables over against those traitors and NATO allies."
Some NTC officials said they
had information that Saif al-Islam had fled Bani Walid on Saturday for the
southern deserts.
Al Arabiya television
reported that a senior former official, Mansour Dhao, had turned up in Niger to
the south, beyond Libya's deserts. Niger officials described him as the head of
Gaddafi's security brigades.
Bani Walid is the main
stronghold of the Warfalla tribe, a diffuse group of up to a million people,
and its fate may be decided in talks between tribal leaders in the town who
remain loyal to Gaddafi and others in cities such as Misrata and Tripoli who
have joined the revolt.
"They are now talking
cousin to cousin," said one Warfalla man who spoke to Reuters near Bani
Walid. "But as you can see, it is still not going well."
Even as tribal elders in
flowing white robes squatted in the shade on Sunday for talks with NTC fighters
in T-shirts and jeans, some homes in the nearby town of Tarhouna were still
flying Gaddafi's all-green Libyan flag, while others had raised the red, green
and black flag revived by the revolution.
CHINESE ARMS
At the same time as it is
grappling with the problem of rooting out the final remnants of a fallen
dictatorship, the NTC is facing its first teething problems as a government.
In Tripoli, two weeks after
the Western-backed rebels overran the city, there are still water shortages,
but other supplies are improving.
Ahmad Darat, the interim
interior minister, said about half the police force had returned to work in the
capital.
"As the days go by, they
are coming back to work," he said.
The NTC announced a plan on Sunday
to offer work in the police and elsewhere to disbanded rebel fighters -- a move
of a kind recommended by the United Nations, which is concerned about the large
numbers of disorganized armed men in Libya.
The NTC is keen not to
demonize those who served the old regime, to avoid what it sees as an error
that contributed to Iraq's descent into bloody anarchy after Saddam Hussein's
fall.
"The vast majority of
the policemen are serving the people and as the days go by we expect them to
come back," Darat said.
Asked about complaints about
the conditions of people being held by the new authorities for questioning,
Darat acknowledged there were problems in prisons but said they would improve
as resources became available.
Ian Martin, a United Nations
adviser in Tripoli, said after a meeting at the Interior Ministry that the NTC
should ensure that rights were respected.
"One of the most
important challenges is the restoration of public security in the hands of a
system which will respect human rights rather than the previous system which
violated human rights," he said.
China, which has been concerned it might
lose out commercially to Western powers in the new Libya, said it had not been
aware of offers of arms to Gaddafi apparently made by Chinese companies in
recent months.
Documents found in Tripoli
and published by a Canadian newspaper indicated officials from Gaddafi's
administration had sought to circumvent a U.N. arms embargo and believed they
had assurances from Chinese firms that they could supply weapons.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas, Christian Lowe and Alex Dziadosz in Tripoli, Sherine
El Madany in Ras Lanuff, Emma Farge in Benghazi, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Barry Malone and Alastair Macdonald in Tunis, Sami Aboudi, Amena Bakr and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Writing by
Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Alastair Macdonald and Barry Malone; Editing by
Michael Roddy)
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Source : Reuters
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