Rebel leader urges Libya no-fly zone

"If there is no no-fly zone imposed on Gaddafi's regime, and if his ships are not checked then we will have a catastrophe in Libya," Abdul-Jalil said at the Omar Mukhtar University in Bayda, where he is also head of the city council.

His comments came as the Arab League held an emergency meeting to discuss the possibility of imposing no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population from Gaddafi regime's fighter jets.

But the Arab League's member states are divided over how to deal with the Libyan crisis, signalling it would be a tough debate.

The European Union, which has said any such decision would need sufficient diplomatic backing from the Arab League and other regional organisations, sent its foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to Cairo for the meeting.

Another rebel commander, meanwhile, conceded defeat after pro-Gaddafi forces drove out pockets of fighters who had maintained a tenuous hold around oil facilities in Ras Lanouf, 380 miles south-east of the capital, Tripoli.

General Abdel-Fattah Younis, who was the country's interior minister before he defected to the rebel side, acknowledged that Gaddafi's forces now control both the town and the oil refinery in Ras Lanouf.

The rebels had captured the city a week ago in a major victory as they pushed westward along the Mediterranean coastline toward Tripoli. Their retreat from the city reverses that advance and threatens other rebel positions in their eastern stronghold.

President Barack Obama yesterday said the US and the world community are "slowly tightening the noose" on the Libyan leader and will keep up the pressure. He would not, however, commit to intervening at any cost, warning of potential perils in military action.

The US and other Western powers have instituted sanctions, frozen assets and provided humanitarian aid.

The Obama administration has said a no-fly zone may have limited impact, and there is far from international agreement on it.

It would require US and possibly allies' aircraft to first attack Libya's anti-aircraft defences, a move tantamount to starting war.

Gaddafi has warned the US and other Western powers not to intervene, saying thousands in his country would die and "we will turn Libya into another Vietnam".

Asked whether the rebels were disappointed by the lack of action, Abdul-Jalil said: "Of course we're disappointed because every day that passes, civilian people are either killed or injured and Gaddafi is bombing them with all kinds of weaponry."

He said the rebels were urging the international community to impose a no-fly zone and restrictions on Gaddafi so he cannot bring more weapons or foreign mercenaries into the country by sea or by air.

Abdul-Jalil was Gaddafi's justice minister but resigned to protest “excessive use of force” against unarmed demonstrators after protests erupted in mid-February.

After defecting, Abdul-Jalil claimed that Gaddafi had personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.

He is head of the Benghazi-based transitional council that has been set up by the rebels to run day-to-day affairs in the eastern part of the country under their control. It’s the first attempt to create a leadership body that could eventually form an alternative to Gaddafi’s regime, although the rebels themselves are far from unified over who is in charge.

Abdul-Jalil also ruled out the possibility about a negotiated agreement with Gaddafi to resolve the crisis.

“No. All the people around the country want Gaddafi to leave and there is no way we can negotiate another option,” he said.

“We let the international community face its responsibilities. The people don’t want him to rule them any more. They are between two choices, either to be killed or to fight to the end.”