Libya Live Blog - April 14

Libya Live Blog - April 14

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Africa

on April 13th, 2011.

Photo: GALLO/GETTY

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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.

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(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

• 3:09pm

  AFP news agency also reports on the blasts in Tripoli, saying they took place in the al-Aziziya neighbourhood, near Gaddafi's residence. The agency reports:

  Warplanes were heard swooping at low altitude over the city centre near the hotel where most foreign journalists are based and veteran leader Gaddafi has his residence.

  Large explosions struck around 1300 GMT followed by anti-aircraft  fire and two more loud blasts less than an hour later.

• 3:53pm

  Reuters news agency reports that "four blasts" have been heard in Tripoli with "smoke seen rising."
• 2:02pm

  Italian oil firm Eni plans to fill a tanker with crude oil from its oilfields in western Libya to Venice, where it can be stored more safely, a spokesman said.

  Eni is taking measures to lift as much equity oil as possible from the terminal at Mellitah via an oil tanker which will take the oil to Venice and stock it there for safety reasons.

  Mellitah is a light, sweet crude oil grade sourced from oilfields in west Libya. An industry source on Wednesday said the firm was in talks to charter an aframax with 600,000 barrels of Libyan oil from a western port.
• 1:11pm

  Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, pledged that the United States would "strongly support" NATO-led military efforts in Libya until leader Muammer Gaddafi is ousted from power.

  "New voices from inside and outside Libya have joined the calls for Gaddafi's departure," Clinton told a NATO meeting in Berlin, according to her prepared remarks.

  For our part, the US is committed to our shared mission. We will strongly support the coalition until our work is completed.

  Clinton urged NATO to maintain unity in the face of what she said was an attempt by Gaddafi to test its resolve in a Western air campaign against his forces.

  As our mission continues, maintaining our resolve and unity only grows more important. Gaddafi is testing our determination.

• 12:36am

  Libyan rebels say that the death toll from the rocket attack by government forces on Misurata has risen to 23 people, including three Egyptians.

  
  
• 12:26am

  UN chief Ban Ki-Moon again called for a political solution to the crisis in Libya, and reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire. Ban spoke following a Libya summit of international leaders in Cairo.
• 12:16pm

  Spain will maintain its contribution to the NATO forces policing a no-fly zone and arms embargo on Libya and has no plans to change this, Trinidad Jimenez, the Spanish foreign minister  said.

  "Spain decided since the start of the mission to provide maritime and air capacities to implement the arms embargo and the no-fly zone," she said, referring to the four F-18s and another refuelling plane included in the NATO effort. 

  This is the Spanish contribution now and it will be the Spanish contribution in the future.

• 11:06am

  Italy would consider any request by Libyan rebels for its forces to open fire during NATO-backed military operations against Libya but would have to hear convincing arguments, Franco Frattini, the foreign minister said. He told the daily Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview:

  Italy has apologised to the Libyan people for the horrors committed during the period of fascist colonisation, so if civilian casualties were caused by any bombing operations it would be an extremely serious thing.

  Frattini said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel Provisional Transitional National Council, would be in Rome on Friday for a meeting with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
• 10:48am

  France is not currently in favour of arming Libyan rebels engaged in combat with troops loyal to Gaddafi, Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said.

  Asked if NATO should arm the rebels, he said "France is not currently in that frame of mind".
• 10:41am

  Libyan government forces have struck the coastal city of Misurata with dozens of Grad rockets, killing eight rebels, Abdelbasset Abu Mzereiq, a rebel spokesman told Reuters by telephone.

  They fired Grads at a residential area called Kasr Ahmad near the port this morning. They fired at least 80 rockets on that area. So far we have eight martyrs and 20 wounded.

• 9:37am

  A three-pronged push is underway to find a solution to end the fighting in Libya and halt the growing political impasse.

  The contact group which met in Doha on Wednesday discussed a "temporary financial mechanism" to channel cash into a trust fund to aid rebels fighting Gaddafi's forces.

  In Cairo, international leaders will focus on political solutions and look for ways to "reinforce co-ordination between the Arab League, UN, African Union and Organisation for the Islamic Conference".

  While in Berlin, Libya will be on the top of the agenda for NATO's foreign ministers As their military strategy in the conflict comes under the spotlight.
• 8:58am

  The Guardian reports on the limited press freedom for journalists who cover the war from Tripoli: No freedom for foreign press at Tripoli's Rixos hotel
• 8:48am

  A rebel fighter sits on the main highway awaiting a rumored Libyan Army advance between the crucial towns of Ajdabiyah and Brega, earlier this week. The rebels continued to hold Ajdabiyah a day after NATO air power struck army troops loyal to Gaddafi nearby, helping the rebels secure the city.[Photo by Getty]
• 8:31am

  NATO foreign ministers will hold meetings in Berlin today and tomorrow, hosted by the German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle. Libya is expected to be on the top of the agenda. 
• 7:26am

  Libya is accusing the West of "financial piracy". Sanctions against the nation have frozen assets estimated by the country to be over $120bn. The Libyan government said there are no "legal grounds" in diverting Libyan assets to rebels.

  Abdulhafid Zlitni, the Libyan planning and finance minister said: "That is financial piracy, period, they have no right to do that, unless they have a clear mandate from the United Nations Security Council with all the members available, it is theft."

  A final statement seen by Reuters from the International "contact group" in Qatar, gave stronger backing to insurgents fighting to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule. The group consists of European and Middle Eastern nations, the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union. They also agreed to provide "material support" for rebels though did not elaborate further.
• 7:54am

  Leaders from the five so-called "BRICS" emerging powers joined in criticising the air campaign in Libya, a government source at the summit said, when Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met in southern China.

  "They all condemned the bombings," said a government source who participated in the meeting of the BRICS country leaders.

  The source said the leaders voiced concern about the effects of the air strikes on Libyan civilians. The source spoke on condition that his country not be identified. He said that South Africa, which voted for the United Nations Security Council resolution authorising the "no fly" zone over Libya was among the countries that joined in the criticism.
• 5:35am

  In recent field developments in Libya, pro-democracy rebels in Jebel-al-Gharbi district, have repelled Gaddafi troops in al-Haraba district, west of Rihaibat after clashes that broke out there.

  The rebel fighters were able to seize a number of military vehicles and had captured some elements of Gaddafi troops as prisoners of war, rebel sources said.

  In Zawiya, the siege imposed by Gaddfi troops on the town has continued, while residents continued to face food and fuel shortages. In west Misrata, rebel fighters have set an ambush for two Gaddafi vehicles in Zawiyat-al-Mahjoub and had captured a number of Gaddafi elements, local source have said.

  In Ajdabiya, popular protest rallies have denounced ongoing bombardment by Gaddafi troops from where they were stationed, around 40km away from Ajdabiya, after they were repelled from the town by rebel fighters.

  Meanwhile, rebel fighters have launched a search campaign for Dr. Ridha al-Mazagri, a US-educated neurology specialist surgeon, as rebel fighters believe  that Gaddafi troops had abducted him and his team near Ajdabiya, then transferred him to Tripoli, around a month ago.

  As for Misrata and Jebel-al-Gharbi towns, they remained targeted by Gaddafi troops which kept bombarding and besieging the towns for weeks. Rebel fighter have stated that the death toll since the breakout of the uprising, have exceeded 10.000, while more than 30.000 other people were injured.

  The rebels say despite their determination to keep to their positions in Misrata, long-range rockets used by Gaddafi troops have deprived them of finding a safe spot in Misrata, including  Misrata port, the sole vital inlet of incoming meager food and medical supplies.  

  The Libyan national humanitarian aid rebel committee has managed to operate fishing boats from Benghazi to Misrata, in coordination with NATO, for transporting aid supplies in a 40-hour-long trip between the two towns.
• 4:48am

  The missing

  People in Benghazi look at images of those who have gone missing or been killed during the fighting [Photo by Reuters].

  
• 4:37am

  In contrast with its usual allies (namely, Britain, France and the US), Germany is breaking the mould on Libya by taking a pacifist stance on intervention. See this report from our Berlin correspondent:
• 3:36am

  Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez's supporters in Venezuela wave a sign saying "Murderers of the people of Libya," condemning the Obama Administration:

  
• 1:31am

  Pentagon officials disclosed that American fighter jets have continued airstrikes in Libya even after the US turned over the mission to NATO last week.
  
  The revelation that Americans have flown 35 per cent of all air missions over the past 10 days came even as their allies complain that the US military should be doing more.
• 0:42am

  General Khalifa Hefner, once a top commander in Gaddafi's army and now a rebel leader, sits down with Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hoda Abdel Hamid in Benghazi, telling her that what his forces need is arms.