Libyan rebels advance again
Libyan rebels pushed into the strategic oil town of Brega today but came under fire from Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, as a government envoy began a diplomatic push in Europe to discuss an end to the fighting.
Brega has been the site of battles during weeks of back-and-forth battling along Libya’s eastern coast. Today the town was under rebel control although there were bursts of artillery and shelling.
“We’re advancing. By today we’ll have full control of Brega,” said Salam Idrisi, 42, a rebel fighter. “We’re more organised now, and that’s played a big role.”
An envoy of Gaddafi told Greece’s prime minister yesterday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of his country’s crisis two weeks after his government’s attacks to put down a rebellion drew international airstrikes.
Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime minister who has served as a Gaddafi envoy during the crisis, will travel next to Turkey and Malta in a sign that Gaddafi’s regime may be softening its hard line in the face of the sustained attacks.
“From the Libyan envoy’s comments it appears that the regime is seeking a solution,” Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said.
The foreign minister said the Greek side stressed the international community’s call for Libya to comply with the UN resolution that authorised the airstrikes and demanded Gaddafi and the rebels end hostilities.
The message, Mr Droutsas said, was: “Full respect and implementation of the United Nations decisions, an immediate cease-fire, an end to violence and hostilities, particularly against the civilian population of Libya.”
Gaddafi’s government has declared several cease-fires but has not abided by them.
Few other details of the Athens talks were released publicly.
On Friday, the Libyan envoy had said Gaddafi’s government was attempting to hold talks with the US, Britain and France in an effort to halt the international airstrikes that began March 19 and which have pounded Libya’s troops and armour and grounded its air force.
