Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Libya Live Blog - April 13 By Al Jazeera Staff in Africa on April 13th, 2011. Photo by Reuters Show oldest updates on top p. 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. B AJE Live Stream - Special Coverage: Libya Uprising - Operation Odyssey Dawn - Twitter Audio - Tweeting revolutions (All times are local in Libya GMT+2)



  • 10:20am
    British prime minister David Cameron and French president Nicolas Sarkozy will hold talks in Paris about the military operation in Libya.
    The talks come amid a public rift between with the US over the NATO-led Libya campaign, which has failed to rout Gadhafi's forces after three weeks of airstrikes.
    Sarkozy's office says in a statement that the British and French defence chiefs will also join the talks in Paris over dinner this evening.
    France says NATO is not doing enough, and British and French officials say Washington's military strength is needed to ensure the mission's success. But the Obama administration insisted Tuesday that the US will stick to its plan to remain in the back seat.
  • 10:18am
    Oil fields controlled by the rebels producing 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil but only a "minimal amount" is being exported, a rebel spokesman said.
    The rebels have managed to export some 1 million barrels of crude this month with the aid of Qatar but have not received any cash for the crude, said Mahmud Awad Shammam, press secretary for Libyan National Council.
    Meetings of the Libya Contact Group are about to start in Qatar for talks on Libya's future, and will include representatives of the Libya National Council rebel group.
    The group will ask Western governments to provide $1.5 billion in aid to help meet the needs of civilians in rebel-controlled areas and would like to arrange to receive humanitarian aid in return for oil shipments, Shammam said.
  • 10:15am
    Al Jazeera's Sonia Gallego has a preview of the international meeting in Doha on the situation in Libya:
  • 9:42am
    The opening remarks of the opposition talks in Doha are postponed until 10:30GMT. You can follow our coverage of that meeting via the Al Jazeera Live Stream
  • 9:26am
    The African Union is seeking a way to establish a ceasefire in Libya and is trying to convince rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi to join in the effort, a spokesman for the group said.
    Despite the collapse this week of an African Union-sponsored peace plan, Nouredin Mezni, spokesman for the chairman of the African Union Commission, said he hoped a ceasefire could be established "hopefully within days or hours".
    "It is up to the people of Libya when we talk about political reform, we have to let Libyan people to choose their leader," Mezni said.
    Foreign ministers are meeting in Qatar for talks on Libya's future, and are due to hear from representatives of the rebel national council based in eastern Libya.
  • 09:20am
    Libyan rebel and opposition leaders have gatheredat the Ritz Carlton in Doha. The opening remarks will begin at 8GMT. You can follow this live on Al Jazeera.
  • 08:10am
    Libyan rebels seeking international recognition are to tell world powers at a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha that Muammar Gaddafi's removal from power is the only way out of their country's deepening crisis.
    Among those expected to come to the Doha talks is Moussa Koussa, Libya's former foreign minister, who fled to Britain last month after he defected. He has reportedly arrived in Qatar to meet Libyan rebels.
    Koussa, a long-time top aide to Gaddafi, will not formally participate in the meeting but is expected to hold talks on the sidelines, British sources said.
    "He's not connected to (the rebel) Transitional National Council in any way or shape," Mustafa Gheriani, a media liaison official of the rebels, said.
    Gheriani added that he was personally surprised to learn that Koussa was leaving Britain to attend the Qatar talks, and suggested that British officials should explain why he was going and in what capacity.
  • 0:34am
    A month after his first visit, the French intellectual-activist Bernard-Henri Levy told a large crowd in Benghazi on Tuesday that "the courage of the Libyan people won my admiration."
    You have stopped the tanks of the dictator.

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