Live Blog Libya - March 27

Live Blog Libya - March 27

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Africa

on March 26th, 2011.

EPA

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.

 

• 6:30pm

  A convoy of 20 military vehicles have reportedly left Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte and moving towards the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Dozens of cars crammed with families and belongings were seen along the coastal road heading towards the capital.
• 5:15pm

  Libyan rebels have said they plan to start exporting oil from fields in their territory "in less than a week", and said the Gulf nation of Qatar will market the crude.

  A rebel representative, Ali Tarhoni, said he signed a contract with Qatar recently and the deal will ensure "access to liquidity in terms of foreign denominated currency".

  We are producing about 100,000 to 130,000 barrels a day, we can easily up that to about 300,000 a day.

  We contacted the oil company of Qatar and they agreed to take all the oil we export and market that oil for us. We have an escrow account ... and the money will be deposited in this account, and this way there is no middle man and we know where the money is going.

• 4:30pm

  Head of the Catholic church Pope Benedict XVI in expressing concern about the fighting in Libya has urged diplomats to work for immediate dialogue and to "suspend the use of arms". He said in St Peter's Square on Sunday:

  In moments of great tension, the need becomes ever more urgent to turn to every means which diplomatic action can use to sustain even the weakest sign of opening and the willingness for reconciliation among all sides involved, in the search for peaceful and lasting solutions.

  In this perspective ... I make a heartfelt appeal to international bodies, and to those who have political and military responsibilities, to immediately start dialogue to suspend the use of arms.

• 4:05pm

  Eyewitnesses say pro-Gaddafi forces have resumed shelling the rebel-held city of Misurata, ending a brief lull in fighting following air raids by international forces.

  A resident, Saadoun, told Reuters by phone:

  Misurata is under attack, the city and the port area where thousands of workers are. We don't know whether it's artillery or mortars.

  
  
• 3:30pm

  Fuel and food are running short in Tripoli, with long queues forming in front of petrol stations as residents rush to stock up on supplies on Sunday.

  A resident, Radwan, told Reuters news agency after waiting 90 minutes for petrol:

  It is not easy to get fuel, to get bread, to get anything, food for example. It is hard to get these things and stock for us.

  Are they trying to free us or are they trying to get something from Libya? I don't know exactly.

  
  [Photo: EPA]
• 3:00pm

  US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told a CBS programme aired on Sunday that the US will not get involved in Syria in the same way it has in Libya because she said each case was unique.

  According to Reuters news agency, US defence secretary Robert Gates told the same programme the US had seen signs that Gaddafi's forces were retreating to the west following US air strikes.

  
  [Photo: EPA]
• 2:51pm

  There are reports Libyan rebels have taken back control of the town of Bin Jawad, about 525km east of Tripoli, as they push forward towards Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte on Sunday, according to Reuters.

  The latest advance puts pro-democracy fighters firmly in control of all oil terminals in eastern Libya - Es Sider, Ras Lanuf, Brega, Zueitina, Ajdabiya and Tobruk.

  Al Jazeera's James Bays reporting from the outskirts of Bin Jawad said rebels are in control of the town and there has not been any fighting, with most of Gaddafi's fighters having fled or surrendered.

  It seems there has a been withdrawal and a surrender of Gaddafi forces, not a battle. They removed some of their vehicles that were not bombed further up the road but they removed these vehicles in haste.
  
  There is only one plan. That is to head on, head west up this road. There really is only one coastal road and that is the road to Tripoli. The problem they are going to face is the huge roadblock ahead of us and that's Sirte. A Gaddafi stronghold where many of his troops are based.

• 1:40pm

  Al Jazeera's James Bays reported from Ras Lanuf, saying that the rebel fighters did not encounter much opposition on the road towards the key oil town:

  We have traveled along the road all the way in the last few hours, down from Benghazi and the scene is pretty similar all the way along the road. 

  It is an open road through the desert and there is no sign of any Gaddafi forces apart from at one point in about the last 20 kilometres where there was a group of opposition fighters on the side of the road and they said they had come under fire. 

  They believe that somewhere in the desert there was one of Gaddafi's solidiers who had fled his position when the opposition advanced along the road. and he was taking pot shots at them, as they advanced down the road and tried to chase him.

  
  [Photo: EPA]
• 1:30pm

  Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays reports from Ras Lanuf, which has just fallen into rebel hands. 

  It is pretty clear to me, and I am at the main refinery in Ras Lanuf, that here it is the opposition who are in control. No signs of Gaddafi's forces here, what they left behind is here, some of their weaponry is here, some of their armourments are here, but they have not left their tanks behind or any of their heavy armour, just some of the ammunition has been left behind, suggesting it was a pretty speedy retreat. 

• 1:14pm

  Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays confirms that rebel opposition fighters are in control of the major oil exporting town of Ras Lanuf.

  Since Saturday, rebels have also retaken Ajdabiya, Brega and Uqayla from Gaddafi forces.
• 12:40pm

  Ambassadors from the 28-nation alliance NATO will meet on Sunday.

  They look set to agree to take command of military operations against Muammar Gaddafi as France fights to keep political control in the hands of the US-led "coalition of the willing", the AFP news agency reported.

  At present, the transatlantic organisation is manning naval operations to enforce an arms embargo against the Tripoli regime, and has agreed to take to the air to enforce a no-fly zone to protect civilians against bombings.
• 12:13pm

  Pope Benedict has called for the "suspension of the use of arms" in the Libya crisis, an appeal that appeared to include the use of outside force.

  "I appeal to international organisations and those with political and military responsibilities to immediately launch a dialogue to suspend the use of arms," he told pilgrims in the Vatican.
• 12:01pm

  Al Jazeera's James Bays reported from Uqayla, where opposition rebels had taken control. He said the recent advances made by anti-Gaddafi fighters could prove problematic for western coalition forces.

  The coalition forces can say everything they are doing is aimed at protecting civilians. But now it's not Gaddafi forces who are advancing, it's opposition forces advancing. The next big place on the map after Ras Lanuf is Sirte. Now that is a big city, it's Gaddafi's stronghold. If opposition fighters start advancing on that, how can you say it's Gaddafi's forces who are threatening civilians? Gaddafi's forces will be the ones holding the ground, and those that are advancing would be the opposition fighters. [It will be] much harder I think for the coalition then to act in favour of the opposition in the terms of that UN resolution.

• 11:50am

  Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from near Uqayla, where opposition forces had reportedly reached:

  The opposition forces have certainly pushed forward since they took control of Ajdabiya, after those air strikes on Ajdabiya, pushing along the coast heading westward towards Tripoli.

• 11:40am

  Rebels fighting forces loyal to Gaddafi were in control of the key eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf on Sunday, AFP correspondents reported.

  Since retaking Ajdabiya on Saturday, opposition rebels now also claim control of Brega and Uqayla. 
• 11:00am

  In this photograph, Indonesian children hold posters during a rally in Jakarta on Sunday.

  The rally was to protest against both the United Nations sanctioned military action in Libya and the dictatorship of President Muammar Gaddafi. 

  

  Image by AFP.
• 10:38am

  Libyan rebel fighters have pushed west to Uqayla after they routed Muammar Gaddafi's forces from the strategic town of Ajdabiya, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents reported.
• 10:11am

  Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, in an interview with the local La Repubblica  daily on Sunday, set out the broad outlines of a diplomatic plan to resolve the crisis in Libya that could include exile for Gaddafi.

  "After the whole of Europe and the United Nations have said that the colonel is no longer an acceptable interlocutor, we cannot envisage a solution in which he would stay in power," he said.

  Frattini said the plan would include a UN-monitored ceasefire, wide consultations with Libya's many tribal groups and "a permanent humanitarian corridor which we are already working on with the Turkish government."
• 9:40am

  Libyan rebels are advancing westwards, and claim to have taken complete control of the eastern oil port town of Brega. "Reports from rebels say that in Brega,  the anti-government forces have now taken control of that entire town," Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reported from Benghazi on Sunday.
• 8:20am

  Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been spent and much more is committed to the military mission in Libya. And some in the US are questioning whether it's worth it.

  Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett has this report:
• 7:55am

  If you missed this on our Live Blog yesterday, Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught in Tripoli reports on the woman who told journalists in the Libyan capital that she was allegedly raped by government troops.
• 6:11am

  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, said of the rebel forces taking the town of Ajdabiya and pushing westwards towards Brega:

  Certainly the momentum yesterday was in the favour of anti-government forces .. the pro-government forces were pushed back to Brega, and even though we still can't confirm that they were pushed out of Brega, the momentum certainly from what we are hearing is from the anti-government favour.

  Talking about air strikes by western coalition forces on the area surrounding Ajdabiya on Friday and Saturday, Turton said:

  ...If it wasn't for the coalition forces striking, they [the rebels] wouldn't be in this position. .. if it wasnt for that attack, those forces would not have been able to get as far as they did yesterday.

• 4:15am

  US intelligence reports suggest that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces have placed the bodies of people they have killed at the sites of coalition air strikes so they can blame the West for the deaths, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a television interview on Saturday, according to Reuters.
• 4:03am

  Video circulating online showing the dramatic scenes from a Tripoli hotel where a woman came into the restaurant and told journalists she had been beaten and raped by Gaddafi officers. She was promptly bundled into a car and driven off.
• 2:17am

  Coalition forces were carrying out intensive air strikes on pro-Gaddafi forces on the 400 km long road between Ajdabiya and Sirte, in the east, a government spokesman said Saturday.
• 1:30am

  The Obama administration says the Libyan government's claims of civilians killed in airstrikes are unproven.

  Defense Secretary Robert Gates says "the truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for"
• 1:15am

  Local residents fight to put out a fire, the cause not yet established, that broke out in a building in Ajdabiya, Eastern Libya yesterday via EPA
  
   
• 1:01am

  Western air strikes have targeted military and civilian areas in the town of Sabha, Libyan state television reported on Saturday, quoting a military source. It gave no further details. Sabha lies south of the capital Tripoli, in central Libya.