Saturday, Aug 27, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai British warplanes bombed a bunker in Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte as anti-regime fighters grouped yesterday for another push on one of the last major regime holdouts, east of Tripoli.
As insurgent leaders moved from Benghazi to Tripoli to begin a political transition, the UN human rights chief warned against assassinating Gaddafi, whose whereabouts are unknown and who has a $1.7 million (Dh6.24 million) revolutionaries’ bounty on his head.
Speculation that Gaddafi might have found refuge in the town, which lies 360 kilometres east of Tripoli, has not been confirmed. Nato said yesterday that its planes had hit 29 armed vehicles and a “command and control node” in the vicinity of Sirte.
African Union snub
Meanwhile, diplomats said the African Union will not explicitly recognise Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), in a setback for Libyan revolutionaries who have already been recognised by more than 40 countries as the legitimate government.
The AU’s snub highlights the influence Gaddafi had on the AU, given that he was one of the continental group’s main bankrollers and had provided lavish sums to several African leaders.
On Thursday, the NTC moved many of its top people from their Benghazi base just days after revolutionaries overran Tripoli, going on to capture Gaddafi’s headquarters and vast swathes of the capital. NTC leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil was expected to arrive “as soon as the security situation permitted.”
Meanwhile, NTC second-in-command Mahmoud Jibril said in Istanbul yesterday that it was essential that the West release all of Libya’s frozen assets. “Salaries of civil servants need to be paid. Life needs to continue on its normal course,” Jibril said a day after senior diplomats of the Libya Contact Group met in Istanbul and agreed to speed up release of some $2.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets by the middle of this week.
At the same time, the UN Security Council released $1.5 billion of seized Libyan assets to be used for emergency aid.
Amnesty International meanwhile reported grave human rights violations, saying pro-Gaddafi forces have raped children, and revolutionaries were holding African migrant workers as prisoners.
Gulf News Report
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
