Thursday, March 3, 2011

Live Blog - Libya March 3


Live Blog - Libya March 3

By Al Jazeera Staff inon March 2nd, 2011.
Photo of anti-Gaddafi protesters in Benghazi [AFP]
Show oldest updates on top
As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.
  • Timestamp: 
    06:25pm
    British Foreign Minister William Hague said that France and Britain want to put "bold and ambitious measures" to next week's emergency European Union summit on the Libyan crisis.

    Following talks with French counterpart Alain Juppe on ways to stop Gaddafi suppressing a revolt against his rule, Hague said: "Today we discussed how Britain and France will do everything we can to increase the pressure.
    "We also agreed the international community including us and other partners will continue to plan for different contingencies, including a no-fly zone, to ensure that we can respond swiftly and resolutely to the events in Libya."
  • Timestamp: 
    05:24pm
    France rejected an offer by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to mediate in Libya and dismissed talk of any solution that would allow embattled leader Mouammar Gaddafi to stay in power.
    "Any mediation that allows Colonel Gaddafi to succeed himself is obviously not welcome," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in response to Chavez's proposal, speaking after talks with his British counterpart William Hague.
    Chavez and Gaddafi have discussed plans for an international peacekeeping mission to mediate the crisis in Libya, rocked by two weeks of bloody clashes with protesters seeking to topple his 41-year-old regime.
  • Timestamp: 
    4:59pm
    Guido Westerwelle, Germany's foreign minister, says that a foreign military action against Libya would be counterproductive and called for additional sanctions against Gaddafi's regime.
    He said the current sanctions are not enough and it would be a "wise proposal proposal to freeze every money flow to Libya next months."
  • Timestamp: 
    04:57pm
    Andres Izarra, the Venezuelan information minister, says that Libya and the Arab League are considering a mediation proposal by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in the North African nation.
    "We can confirm Libya's interest in accepting this proposal, as well as the Arab League's" interest, Izarra said. He added that Chavez, an ally of Gaddafi, recently spoke personally by telephone with Libya's embattled strongman to discuss the proposal.
  • Timestamp: 
    3:30pm
    Sergei Chemezov, the head of state industrial holding for Russian Technologies, says that Russia is to lose $4 billion in arms exports to Libya due to the imposition of UN sanctions against Gaddafi's regime.
  • Timestamp: 
    03:14pm
    The International Criminal Court in The Hague has opened its investigation involving Gaddafi, some of his sons and his inner circle.
    "There will be no impunity in Libya," chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.
  • Timestamp: 
    2:27pm
    Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has announced  that Muammar Gaddafi and key figures will be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity.

    Speaking at a press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Thursday, Moreno-Ocampo said he would investigate claims that peaceful forces had been attacked by forces loyal to Gaddafi.
    He added that opposition forces would also be investigated.
    Follow our correspondent @AlanFisher who is live tweeting the press conference.
  • Timestamp: 
    1:42pm
    The International Criminal Court is expected to announce a full investigation into human rights violations in Libya.
    Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said there is enough evidence to suggest crimes against humanity have been committed.
    The investigation comes after the United Nations Security Council on Saturday ordered the court to look into possible crimes in Libya.
  • Timestamp: 
    1:16pm
    Officials from the Netherlands are working to win the release of the three Dutch marines detained in Libya, our correspondent Alan Fisher reports from The Hague.
    This incident happened on Sunday but there's been a media blackout up until this point. The Dutch government believes that's allowed them to negotiate with the Libyans - thinking that more can be done the fewer people that know about this.
    "Dutch authorities believe they will be able to secure the release of these three Dutch marines."
  • Timestamp: 
    12:36pm
    In 2004, five Bulgarian nurses were found guilty by a Libyan court of deliberately infecting hundreds of children at a Benghazi hospital with HIV. 
    The nurses, who have always maintained their innocence, say they had been tortured into confessing. They spent years on death row before finally being freed and sent home in 2007. Sonia Gallego spoke with them:


  • Timestamp: 
    12:05pm
    More on the Dutch marines detained in Libya - Reuters cites a defence ministry spokesman as saying the three marines were detained after being captured by forces loyal to Gaddafi while trying to rescue two Europeans.
    The men were captured on Sunday by armed men after they had gone ashore at Sirte with a helicopter from a Dutch naval ship stationed off the coast of Libya to help with evacuations from the North African country, ministry spokesman Otte Beeksma said.
    Dutch authorities are in "intensive diplomatic negotiations" with Gaddafi's government to secure the release of the marines, Beeksma said.
  • Timestamp: 
    11:50am
    Witnesses in Ajdabiyah and the oil port town of Brega report fresh fighting today, a day after clashes between anti- and pro-Gaddafi forces left at least 10 civilians dead, residents said.
    "Around two hours ago, warplanes dropped a bomb in the area between the oil company and the residential area," Fattah al-Moghrabi, director of supplies for  Brega hospital, told the AFP news agency.
    "As far as I know, there was no casualties," he said.
  • Timestamp: 
    11:14am
    Al Jazeera's web producer in Libya, Evan Hill, reports:
    Three Dutch soldiers have been captured by Gaddafi loyalists in a failed attempt to rescue two Dutch citizens from Sirte by helicopter.
  • Timestamp: 
    10:09am
    Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the eastern city of Benghazi on how the offer of mediation from Venezuela will be received by the opposition in Libya, says:
    The only mediation they will consider is to find an exit strategy for Gaddafi and his family and all his close aides. They said there is no time anymore for dialogue. Mediation, unless it's with an exit strategy, will be quite difficult.
  • Timestamp: 
    8:53am
    Al Jazeera has learned that Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has offered to mediate a solution to the crisis in Libya, and in the last few hours, Colonel Gaddafi accepted the offer.
    Gaddafi spoke to Chavez and agreed in principle to a mediation plan. We've also learned that the Arab League has welcomed the offer.
  • Timestamp: 
    8:35am
    Some of the fiercest fighting since the uprising in Libya began last month has taken place in Brega, one of many town controlled by the opposition in the east of the country.
    About 300 men loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked Brega early on Wednesday morning. Later, an airforce bomber circled the town, and Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley was about 70 metres from where a missile hit:
  • Timestamp: 
    7:30am
    As the wave of popular uprisings sweeps the Middle East, Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera's director-general, shares his optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond in the first TED talk of 2011 to be posted online:

  • Timestamp: 
    6:00am
    Amid our coverage of the unrest in Libya and other parts of Africa and the Middle East, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has apparently plugged Al Jazeera, saying:
    "Al Jazeera has been the leader in that are literally changing people’s minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective," she said.
    "In fact viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it’s real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials..."
  • Timestamp: 
    5:04am
    Venezuela aims to make these 'talks about talks' turn into a concrete proposal, resulting in a commission being deputed to go to Libya and mediate between the government and the opposition forces.
    Venezeula has also been in touch with several South American countries, including members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) alliance, our correspondent reports.
  • Timestamp: 
    4:33am
    Dima Khatib, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Venezuela, reports that having spoken to members of President Hugo Chavez's camp, she was told that Gaddafi spoke with Chavez on Wednesday, when he agreed "in principle" to accept Venezuela's proposed mediation efforts.
    Meanwhile, Nicolas Maduro, the Venezeulan foreign minister, also spoke with Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Wednesday, when Moussa told him that the league would be happy to go along with such a mediation effort.
    The Arab League's endorsement of the talks could be announced in Cairo later today.
  • Timestamp: 
    3:47am
    Evan Hill (@evanchill),  Al Jazeera's online producer, was on a road near the port town of Brega earlier today when a fighter jet fired a missile that impacted metres away. The town saw intense fighting throughout Wednesday between pro- and anti-government forces. The jet was piloted by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. The video below was taken moments after the missile impact.
  • Timestamp: 
    3:35am
    A "distress call" from the port town of Brega, which anti-government forces defended against an attack from government troops earlier today, appears to be circulating online.
    The veracity of this report cannot be verified, but we reproduce it here verbatim. It says:
    O Almanara Media! O free men of Libya! O honourable daughters of Libya! An URGENT URGENT distress call from the city of Brega. In the city of Hrawah which is situated between Raas Lanuf and Sirt, 70 cars full of mercenaries have just arrived to support the battalion which is present there. They plan to attack the city of Brega, occupy it and control its airport. I appeal to God! Please deliver my call of distress! Please! The people of Brega are distressed and the revolutionary youth plan to resist this battalion. By God I fear there may be a massacre tonight, help us help us help us!
  • Timestamp: 
    3:33am
    Some disturbing reports emerging from Tripoli, where a doctor has told Al Jazeera that government security forces have been "throwing patients from windows" into trucks at Tajura Hospital, starving prisoners to death, kidnapping children and detaining activists.
    According to the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, a 12-year-old boy, on his way to school in a neighbourhood near Gaddafi's Bab Aziz palace, was stripped naked, searched and then kidnapped.
    Reproduced below is an excerpt from a chat conversation between the doctor in Libya (named 'Contact' in this transcript) and another London-based colleague (named 'London' in the transcript).
    Contact: how they stripped down at 12 year old going from school
    Contact: jeehit elkeyada [near where Gaddafi's residence is "bab azezeya"]
    Contact: naked
    Contact: and opened his school bag
    Contact: and then kidnapped him
    Contact: and ppl inside the houses were watching
    Contact: and could do nothing
    Contact: and tajora hospitals
    Contact: where they were throwing patients
    Contact: thrwoing patients from windows
    Contact: hit and miss
    Contact: in a big truck
    Contact: and hauled them away
    Contact: this is doctor eyewitness
    Contact: m3ash nigdir [I can't take it anymore]
    London: Throwing patients out of hospital windows
    London: Oh my god
    Contact: and how they're starving the people in jail
    Contact: so if they don't die from bullets
    Contact: they'll die from thirst
    Contact: and hunger
    Contact: nass mgawma ya [these are good people]
    Contact: hikee yideeroo feehum [how could they do this to them]
    The Libya-based doctor also told his friend about a mutual friend, a poet and activist, who was "kidnapped" by pro-Gaddafi forces, who also searched his house and took his laptop. He has not been seen since.
  • Timestamp: 
    3:13am
    As the opposition vows to take the fight to Gaddafi if need be, and his forces position themselves to take on anti-government protesters, it is worth asking just what kind of military capabilities Gaddafi's troops have. Al Jazeera's Tim Friend filed this report.
  • Timestamp: 
    3:11am
    Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, reiterates to Al Jazeera the need for a no-fly zone to be established over Libya in order to protect anti-government forces. He indicates that even the "threat sometimes is enough". While welcoming possible African Union moral support on the issue, he says the AU does not likely have the "capability to impose the no-fly zone".  
  • Timestamp: 
    1:56am
    Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's foreign minister, calls for the formation of a bloc of "friendly countries" to begin a process of dialogue with Gaddafi's government as well as the opposition. Once again, the South American country has alleged that the US is searching for pretexts to invade Libya to take control of its energy resources.

  • Timestamp: 
    1:35am
    Clovis Maksoud, the former Arab League ambassador to the United Nations, tells Al Jazeera that the Arab League should take the lead in attempting to set up a no-fly zone over Libya.
    He also thinks the Arab League is no longer as "fragmented" as it has been in the past, and that it has taken clear action so far on the situation in Libya.
  • Timestamp: 
    1:17am
    An audio update from Az Zawiyah has been posted by the Voices of Feb 17. A anti-government protester there says a burial was held on Wednesday for a man who was injured last week, but who died because sufficient medical care was not available.
    He says a pro-Gaddafi battalion has shut down the border with Tunisia, disallowing Libyans from leaving the country.
  • Timestamp: 
    1:03am
    Sybella Wilkes, another spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), says there are "acres of people, as far as you can see", waiting to cross into Tunisia.
    "They are outdoors in the freezing cold, under the rain, many of them have spent three or four nights outside already," she said, appealing for "tens if not hundreds of planes" to help evacuate those fleeing the violence.
  • Timestamp: 
    12:56am
    The United Nations refugee agency says over 180,000 people have reached land border crossings, with over 77,300 crossing into Egypt (most of them Egyptians) and a similar number in Tunisia. About 30,000 are still waiting at the Libya-Tunisia border, waiting to cross over.
    Camps have been set up for refugees, but are facing overwhelming numbers. Moreover, Melissa Fleming, the UN refugee agency's spokesperson, says many people are too "terrified" to move out of Tripoli, for fear that they will be targetted by Gaddafi's forces and killed.
    She also said that some Somali and Eritrean workers from Benghazi said they felt "hunted", after being mistaken for mercenaries by opposition forces.
  • Timestamp: 
    12:45am
    Libya isn't the only country where it's difficult to access media that are reporting on events in the country. In Equatorial Guinea, a state radio presenter was abruptly forced off the air after he made reference to events in Libya.
    According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Federico Abaga Ondo, the secretary of state for information and press, "stormed into the studios of government-controlled national broadcaster RTVGE and ordered producers to kill the microphone" of Juan Pedro Mendene, the presenter. Mendene has now been handed an indefinite suspension.
    Equatorial Guinea has imposed a total news blackout on events in North Africa and the Middle East.
  • Timestamp: 
    12:36am
    Speaking of the opposition in Benghazi, they say they are not just calling for a no-fly zone, but for UN forces to conduct airstrikes on forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
    The city is tense, as volunteers continue to sign up for ad-hoc military training ahead of an expected counteroffensive. 
    Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid filed this report from the opposition stronghold.

  • Timestamp: 
    12:32am
    Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the UN, says the international body may consider setting up the much-debated no-fly zone over the country if the interim National Council formed by the opposition in Benghazi submits a formal written request for one.
    What is needed at this time is that such decision be made officially and that we, in New York, are notified of it so that we make a formal request to the United Nations."
  • Timestamp: 
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