BRASILIA, Brazil – President Barack Obama authorized limited military action against Libya Saturday, saying Moammar Gadhafi's continued assault on his own people left the U.S. and its international partners with no other choice. The Pentagon said 112 cruise missiles were launched from US and UK ships and subs, hitting 20 targets.
Obama said military action was not his first choice.
"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."
A senior military official said the U.S. launched air defenses Saturday with strikes along the Libyan coast that were launched by Navy vessels in the Mediterranean. The official said the assault would unfold in stages and target air defense installations around Tripoli, the capital, and a coastal area south of Benghazi, the rebel stronghold.
Obama declared once again that the United States would not send ground forces to Libya, though he said he is "deeply aware" of the risks of taking any military action.
Earlier in the day, Obama warned that the international community was prepared to act with urgency.
"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency," Obama said.
Top officials from the U.S., Europe and the Arab world meeting in Paris, where they announced Saturday immediate military action to protect civilians caught in combat between Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters. American ships and aircraft were poised for action but weren't participating in the initial French air missions.
As the military action was announced, French fighter jets swooped over Benghazi, the opposition stronghold that was stormed by Libyan government forces earlier Saturday, in defiance of a proclaimed ceasefire
France, Britain and the United States had warned Gadhafi Friday that they would resort to military means if he ignored the U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire.
The United States has a host of forces and ships in the area, including submarines, destroyers, amphibious assault and landing ships.
The U.S. intended to limit its involvement — at least in the initial stages — to helping protect French and other air missions by taking out Libyan air defenses, but depending on the response could launch additional attacks in support of allied forces, a U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Moammar Gadhafi's forces close in on Libyan
AJDABIYA, Libya – Moammar Gadhafi's forces closed in on Libyan rebels in the east and shelled holdouts in the last western opposition stronghold Wednesday as the rebels voiced anger and frustration at the West for not coming to their aid.
Charred vehicles and bullet-riddled pickup trucks were piled on the side of the road leading from the strategic eastern cities of Brega to Ajdabiya and an Associated Press Television News cameraman counted at least three bodies, evidence of fierce fighting as the Libyan leader intensified his efforts to retake control of the country he has ruled with an iron fist for more than four decades.
The rebels lashed out at the West as the latest international effort to impose a no-fly zone over Libya faltered. Supporters in the U.N. Security Council were trying to push through a resolution to impose such a move along with other measures aimed at preventing Gadhafi from bombing his people, but Russia and Germany have expressed doubts.
"People are fed up. They are waiting impatiently for an international move," said Saadoun al-Misrati, a rebel spokesman in the city of Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the west, which came under heavy shelling Wednesday.
"What Gadhafi is doing, he is exploiting delays by international community. People are very angry that no action is being taken against Gadhafi's weaponry."
Pro-Gadhafi forces had largely gained control of Ajdabiya after two days of relentless shelling, but they acknowledged they still faced pockets of resistance in the city of 140,000 people.
Habib al-Obeidi, a doctor at Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi, said that a colleague in Ajdabiya had told him 25 people were killed when pro-Gadhafi forces opened fire on civilian cars fleeing the city. That report could not be independently confirmed.
The breakdown in rebel defenses in Ajdabiya threatened to open the gateway to the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of the opposition, including Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and and the de facto capital of the opposition.
The AP and other journalists were taken by the government from Brega to the western edge of Ajdabiya, but the convoy was then turned away because the commander said there were still pockets of resistance.
More than a dozen tanks were stationed at the arches marking the entrance to the city and a large green flag had been used to cover up the pre-Gadhafi banner that has been adopted by the rebels. Anti-Gadhafi graffiti also had been painted over.
Some buildings had bullet holes, and a bloodstained green army jacket was left on the ground along with discarded ammunition boxes.
The rebels also claimed a small victory, hijacking a Libyan tanker ship that was transporting fuel from Greece to Gadhafi's regime. Opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said fighters seized the ship on Tuesday off the Mediterranean coast and that it was carrying about 25,000 tons of fuel for Gadhafi.
The tanker, Anwaar Afriqya, was visible Wednesday in Tobruk's harbor. According to online shipping records, the Libyan-owned vessel departed several days ago from a Greek refinery port and had been due to arrive Tuesday in the western oil port of Zawiya.
Gheriani also claimed the rebels were still fighting on the outskirts of Ajdabiya and attacking regime forces with warplanes, although he was not more specific about the aircraft and that could not be verified.
Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, warned the rebels the regime was closing in on them and urged them to leave the country.
"We don't want to kill, we don't want revenge, but you, traitors, mercenaries, you have committed crimes against the Libyan people: leave, go in peace to Egypt," he said in an interview with Lyon, France-based EuroNews television. "Military operations are over. Within 48 hours everything will be finished. Our forces are almost in Benghazi. Whatever the decision, it will be too late."
Gheriani said rebels in Benghazi would be ready for an attack.
"A large percentage of Benghazi's population is armed. Can Gadhafi bomb the city? Sure he can. Can he go in? I don't think so," he told The Associated Press. "Also, I think it is too far for his supply lines."
Gheriani said anti-aircraft equipment has been deployed, and the army mobilized, although he didn't know where. There have been few signs in recent days of the rebels digging in defensive preparations on the city's outskirts.
An activist hiding out in Ajdabiya said rebel holdouts in the city were expecting reinforcements from Benghazi to arrive and help them regroup. He said that the shelling stopped at about 2 p.m. but clashes continued on the southern and eastern fringes of the city.
"We are optimistic," Abdel-Bari Zwei said by cell phone as he headed to a nearby mosque for night prayers. "Yes, the families left but the youths and the men are still here."
The city's loss would be a major setback to the rebels, who less than two weeks ago were poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gadhafi out of power, inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. But the regime's better armed and organized military has reversed the tide.
Gadhafi's forces also launched an attack on Misrata — which for days has been under a punishing blockade, its population running out of supplies. The barrage came a day after the government recaptured the last rebel-held city west of Tripoli, solidifying his control over the coastline from the capital to the Tunisian border.
"There is coordinated shelling by Gadhafi's brigades firing artillery and machine guns from three different city entrances," al-Misrati said, speaking by satellite phone.
Momammed Ali, an opposition activist based in Dubai, said he was in contact with people in Misrata and water, electricity and cell phone service had been cut off. At least eight people were killed and 11 injured in the attack, he said, although the toll could not be confirmed.
Charred vehicles and bullet-riddled pickup trucks were piled on the side of the road leading from the strategic eastern cities of Brega to Ajdabiya and an Associated Press Television News cameraman counted at least three bodies, evidence of fierce fighting as the Libyan leader intensified his efforts to retake control of the country he has ruled with an iron fist for more than four decades.
The rebels lashed out at the West as the latest international effort to impose a no-fly zone over Libya faltered. Supporters in the U.N. Security Council were trying to push through a resolution to impose such a move along with other measures aimed at preventing Gadhafi from bombing his people, but Russia and Germany have expressed doubts.
"People are fed up. They are waiting impatiently for an international move," said Saadoun al-Misrati, a rebel spokesman in the city of Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the west, which came under heavy shelling Wednesday.
"What Gadhafi is doing, he is exploiting delays by international community. People are very angry that no action is being taken against Gadhafi's weaponry."
Pro-Gadhafi forces had largely gained control of Ajdabiya after two days of relentless shelling, but they acknowledged they still faced pockets of resistance in the city of 140,000 people.
Habib al-Obeidi, a doctor at Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi, said that a colleague in Ajdabiya had told him 25 people were killed when pro-Gadhafi forces opened fire on civilian cars fleeing the city. That report could not be independently confirmed.
The breakdown in rebel defenses in Ajdabiya threatened to open the gateway to the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of the opposition, including Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and and the de facto capital of the opposition.
The AP and other journalists were taken by the government from Brega to the western edge of Ajdabiya, but the convoy was then turned away because the commander said there were still pockets of resistance.
More than a dozen tanks were stationed at the arches marking the entrance to the city and a large green flag had been used to cover up the pre-Gadhafi banner that has been adopted by the rebels. Anti-Gadhafi graffiti also had been painted over.
Some buildings had bullet holes, and a bloodstained green army jacket was left on the ground along with discarded ammunition boxes.
The rebels also claimed a small victory, hijacking a Libyan tanker ship that was transporting fuel from Greece to Gadhafi's regime. Opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said fighters seized the ship on Tuesday off the Mediterranean coast and that it was carrying about 25,000 tons of fuel for Gadhafi.
The tanker, Anwaar Afriqya, was visible Wednesday in Tobruk's harbor. According to online shipping records, the Libyan-owned vessel departed several days ago from a Greek refinery port and had been due to arrive Tuesday in the western oil port of Zawiya.
Gheriani also claimed the rebels were still fighting on the outskirts of Ajdabiya and attacking regime forces with warplanes, although he was not more specific about the aircraft and that could not be verified.
Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, warned the rebels the regime was closing in on them and urged them to leave the country.
"We don't want to kill, we don't want revenge, but you, traitors, mercenaries, you have committed crimes against the Libyan people: leave, go in peace to Egypt," he said in an interview with Lyon, France-based EuroNews television. "Military operations are over. Within 48 hours everything will be finished. Our forces are almost in Benghazi. Whatever the decision, it will be too late."
Gheriani said rebels in Benghazi would be ready for an attack.
"A large percentage of Benghazi's population is armed. Can Gadhafi bomb the city? Sure he can. Can he go in? I don't think so," he told The Associated Press. "Also, I think it is too far for his supply lines."
Gheriani said anti-aircraft equipment has been deployed, and the army mobilized, although he didn't know where. There have been few signs in recent days of the rebels digging in defensive preparations on the city's outskirts.
An activist hiding out in Ajdabiya said rebel holdouts in the city were expecting reinforcements from Benghazi to arrive and help them regroup. He said that the shelling stopped at about 2 p.m. but clashes continued on the southern and eastern fringes of the city.
"We are optimistic," Abdel-Bari Zwei said by cell phone as he headed to a nearby mosque for night prayers. "Yes, the families left but the youths and the men are still here."
The city's loss would be a major setback to the rebels, who less than two weeks ago were poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gadhafi out of power, inspired by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. But the regime's better armed and organized military has reversed the tide.
Gadhafi's forces also launched an attack on Misrata — which for days has been under a punishing blockade, its population running out of supplies. The barrage came a day after the government recaptured the last rebel-held city west of Tripoli, solidifying his control over the coastline from the capital to the Tunisian border.
"There is coordinated shelling by Gadhafi's brigades firing artillery and machine guns from three different city entrances," al-Misrati said, speaking by satellite phone.
Momammed Ali, an opposition activist based in Dubai, said he was in contact with people in Misrata and water, electricity and cell phone service had been cut off. At least eight people were killed and 11 injured in the attack, he said, although the toll could not be confirmed.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Egypt's new PM vows to meet protesters' demands
CAIRO – Egypt's new prime minister designate has vowed before thousands of mostly young demonstrators at a central Cairo square that he'll do everything he can to meet their demands, pleading they turn their attention to "rebuilding" the country.
Essam Sharaf was picked by Egypt's ruling military on Thursday to replace Ahmed Shafiq as prime minister.
Shafiq was the last premier to be named by Hosni Mubarak, who stepped down Feb. 11 at the end of 18 days of anti-government protests.
A former transport minister, Sharaf endeared himself to the protesters when he joined the demonstrations that forced Mubarak to resign.
He told the crowd at Tahrir Square on Friday that he gains his "legitimacy" from the demonstrators but declined to take an oath of office before them as they demanded.
Ivorian forces kill 7 Women, post-election toll hits 365
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivorian security forces shot dead seven women protestors on Thursday and the United Nations said at least 365 people had died in violence since disputed elections that have taken the country to the brink of civil war.
Many others were wounded in the attack on the all-women demonstration against incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in the northern Abidjan suburb of Abobo, two witnesses and a security source said.
The U.N. said some 200,000 people had fled their homes in Abobo, leaving it almost completely deserted after heavy fighting last week.
The power struggle between presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara and Gbagbo, who has rejected widespread calls to stand down after a November 28 election, could push the top cocoa grower back into civil war.
ICE cocoa hit a fresh 32-year peak of $3,726 a tonne in early trading on Thursday as the crisis deepened.
The incident took place as women gathered at the Anador roundabout in Abobo for a planned march to call on Gbagbo to step down, an eye witness said.
"Men in uniform drove up and started shooting randomly. Six women died on the spot. They were all shot and the other women are crying," said Idrissa Diarrassouba. A seventh woman later died in hospital.
A poll meant to reunify a country divided since its 2002-3 war has instead triggered a crisis that has seen killings and forced people from their homes in Abidjan and the west, where some 70,000 have crossed into Liberia.
Last week Abobo saw heavy clashes between pro-Gbagbo forces and gunmen who are calling themselves the "invisible commandos" and have taken control of parts of the area. Pro-Gbagbo forces remain in the area around Anador.
Another Abobo resident said that 10 women had been killed and dozens others wounded when the security forces opened fire.
"I'm standing next to a body right now, with a bullet hole in her neck," said Moussa Fofana, a teacher.
There was no official comment on the incident. A military source confirmed the shooting but said it had been an accident.
"It was a blunder that we regret," the source said, adding the security forces had opened fire due to the tension and the fact they believe rebels sometimes hide amongst civilians to attack them. "It is unfortunate that this happened," he said.
Gbagbo has retained the loyalty of much of the security forces but has been hit by a raft of sanctions. Ouattara, meanwhile has the support of the international community and is holed up in an Abidjan hotel, protected by U.N. troops.
Both men have set up their own governments but neither are functioning properly and the economy is paralyzed.
MOUNTING TOLLS
U.N. mission spokesman Hamadoun Toure said the official confirmed death toll from violence since the election was 365, but diplomats believe the real figure to be far higher because the Ivorian military rarely discloses casualties of its own or civilians killed by its troops.
Toure said at least 26 civilians were killed and more than 200,000 displaced from Abobo since fighting flared up.
The International Crisis Group think tank warned Gbagbo was ready to fight to the end "even if it meant throwing Ivory Coast into anarchy and economic disaster," and said Ouattara should seek to form a national unity government to heal divisions.
"The most likely scenario in the coming months is armed conflict involving massive violence against civilians, Ivorian and foreign alike, that could provoke unilateral military intervention by neighbors, starting with Burkina Faso," ICG said in a report "Is War the Only Option?."
Scores of gunmen and civilians are believed to have been killed in fighting in the past week, residents say.
Toure told journalists negotiations were ongoing with both sides to open up a humanitarian corridor into Abobo in order to bring in food aid and medicine.
He was concerned by reports the "invisible commandos" were preventing some civilians from leaving the areas they control and by attacks against U.N. staff by Gbagbo's youth supporters, who have set up road blocks all over Abidjan to search vehicles of suspected rebels or U.N. staff Gbagbo accuses of aiding them.
Many others were wounded in the attack on the all-women demonstration against incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in the northern Abidjan suburb of Abobo, two witnesses and a security source said.
The U.N. said some 200,000 people had fled their homes in Abobo, leaving it almost completely deserted after heavy fighting last week.
The power struggle between presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara and Gbagbo, who has rejected widespread calls to stand down after a November 28 election, could push the top cocoa grower back into civil war.
ICE cocoa hit a fresh 32-year peak of $3,726 a tonne in early trading on Thursday as the crisis deepened.
The incident took place as women gathered at the Anador roundabout in Abobo for a planned march to call on Gbagbo to step down, an eye witness said.
"Men in uniform drove up and started shooting randomly. Six women died on the spot. They were all shot and the other women are crying," said Idrissa Diarrassouba. A seventh woman later died in hospital.
A poll meant to reunify a country divided since its 2002-3 war has instead triggered a crisis that has seen killings and forced people from their homes in Abidjan and the west, where some 70,000 have crossed into Liberia.
Last week Abobo saw heavy clashes between pro-Gbagbo forces and gunmen who are calling themselves the "invisible commandos" and have taken control of parts of the area. Pro-Gbagbo forces remain in the area around Anador.
Another Abobo resident said that 10 women had been killed and dozens others wounded when the security forces opened fire.
"I'm standing next to a body right now, with a bullet hole in her neck," said Moussa Fofana, a teacher.
There was no official comment on the incident. A military source confirmed the shooting but said it had been an accident.
"It was a blunder that we regret," the source said, adding the security forces had opened fire due to the tension and the fact they believe rebels sometimes hide amongst civilians to attack them. "It is unfortunate that this happened," he said.
Gbagbo has retained the loyalty of much of the security forces but has been hit by a raft of sanctions. Ouattara, meanwhile has the support of the international community and is holed up in an Abidjan hotel, protected by U.N. troops.
Both men have set up their own governments but neither are functioning properly and the economy is paralyzed.
MOUNTING TOLLS
U.N. mission spokesman Hamadoun Toure said the official confirmed death toll from violence since the election was 365, but diplomats believe the real figure to be far higher because the Ivorian military rarely discloses casualties of its own or civilians killed by its troops.
Toure said at least 26 civilians were killed and more than 200,000 displaced from Abobo since fighting flared up.
The International Crisis Group think tank warned Gbagbo was ready to fight to the end "even if it meant throwing Ivory Coast into anarchy and economic disaster," and said Ouattara should seek to form a national unity government to heal divisions.
"The most likely scenario in the coming months is armed conflict involving massive violence against civilians, Ivorian and foreign alike, that could provoke unilateral military intervention by neighbors, starting with Burkina Faso," ICG said in a report "Is War the Only Option?."
Scores of gunmen and civilians are believed to have been killed in fighting in the past week, residents say.
Toure told journalists negotiations were ongoing with both sides to open up a humanitarian corridor into Abobo in order to bring in food aid and medicine.
He was concerned by reports the "invisible commandos" were preventing some civilians from leaving the areas they control and by attacks against U.N. staff by Gbagbo's youth supporters, who have set up road blocks all over Abidjan to search vehicles of suspected rebels or U.N. staff Gbagbo accuses of aiding them.
Gadhafi troops deploy ahead of Tripoli protests
TRIPOLI, Libya – Fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi set up checkpoints in Tripoli, searching cars, ahead of planned anti-government protests Friday, raising fears of new bloodshed in the Libyan capital where a heavy crackdown the past week has spread fear among residents.
The opposition has called for protesters to march out of mosques after noon prayers in demonstrations demanding Gadhafi's ouster. Similar protests last Friday were met by brutal retaliation: Pro-regime militiamen opened fire immediately on the marches, killing and wounding a still unknown number.
Internet services, which have been spotty throughout Libya's upheaval, appeared to be halted completely in Tripoli on Friday, as well as in Benghazi, the opposition's stronghold in the east. The extent of the cutoff was not clear. Also, Libyan authorities barred many foreign journalists from leaving their hotel in Tripoli, claiming it was for their protection because they had information "al-Qaida elements" plan to open fire on police to spark clashes.
Several hours before prayers, streets were eerily empty, with few residents out. Security forces, however, began to take up positions.
In Tajoura, an eastern district of the capital where protests a week ago were attacked, police set up two checkpoints on the main highway leading to downtown. They stopped cars to search them, check drivers' ID and ask where they were going or coming from. Another police car was set up not far from the district's main Murad Agha Mosque.
Friday could be a significant test of whether the opposition can maintain protests in Tripoli in the face of a fearsome clampdown. The capital is crucial to the Libyan leader, his strongest remaining bastion after the uprising that began on Feb. 15 broke the entire eastern half of Libya out of his control and even swept over some cities in the west near Tripoli.
The crisis has turned into something of deadlock between the two sides. Gadhafi's forces have been unable to take back significant ground from the rebellion — which has repelled repeated attacks on several opposition-held cities. At the same time, his opponents, made up of ragtag citizen militias backed by mutinous army units, don't seem to have the capabilities to make a military move against territory still in regime hands.
Instead, the eastern-based opposition is hoping that residents of those areas — including Tripoli — will be able to rise up like they did in other cities where protesters drove out Gadhafi loyalists.
Gadhafi loyalists have been working to make sure that doesn't happen in the capital by unleashing a wave of arrests and disappearances since last Friday's bloodshed. Bodies of people who vanished have been dumped in the street. Gunmen in SUVs have descended on homes in the night to drag away suspected protesters, identified by video footage of protests that militiamen have pored through to spot faces. Other militiamen have searched hospitals for wounded to take away.
Residents say they are under the watchful eyes of a variety of Gadhafi militias prowling the streets. They go under numerous names — Internal Security, the Central Support Force, the People's Force, the People's Guards and the Brigade of Mohammed al-Magarif, the head of Gadhafi's personal guard — and they are all searching for suspected protesters.
"While you are speaking to me now, there are spies everywhere and people watching me and you," one man said, cutting short a conversation with an Associated Press reporter visiting the Tripoli district of Zawiyat al-Dahman on Thursday.
The fear among Gadhafi opponents is so intense that when one family set up a mourning tent in Tripoli's Fashloum neighborhood on Thursday for a 56-year-old protester killed last Friday, no one showed up to pay condolences.
During the man's burial several days earlier, "the militia was also there watching us," said the man's brother. He — like other residents — asked that he and his relatives not be identified for fear they too would be hunted down.
He said his brother was shot when militiamen opened fire on protesters emerging from Fashloum's main Al-Baz mosque last week. "My brother was hit with a bullet right in the heart. In minutes he lost all his blood," he said, showing a mobile phone video clip of the body, with a hole in the chest.
While rushing to Tripoli's central hospital, he found militia stationed in front of the building.
"Doctors at the hospital told me that they are taking the injured to underground rooms inside the hospital away from the militia," said the brother, who is a doctor himself.
The number of deaths across Tripoli last Friday is not confirmed. The brother gave the names of six people from Fashloum who were killed. He said other bodies of slain protesters that day were seen being loaded into cars by militiamen and have not been seen since. He said he knows families who are still searching for bodies of their loved ones.
Others were arrested later on. The brother said he knows a 37-year-old man who disappeared for several days afterward. Then his body was dumped in a street in Tripoli's Abu Selim district.
In Tajoura, a 31-year old protester showed the AP on Thursday the houses of his two brothers, who were rounded up in a 3 a.m. raid a day earlier.
The protester said he was on the roof of a nearby building during the raid, counting the militia vehicles: 15 white pickup trucks with People's Guards license plates and two 4x4 Toyotas screeched up to the adjacent houses in a narrow, unpaved alley. They cordoned off the buildings, militiamen leaped over the buildings' fences, froze the door locks off with a compressed substance in cans and broke in. They drove off with his 32- and 35-year-old brothers, whose whereabouts remains unknown, the protester said.
They were among 20 protesters rounded up in Tajoura at that same time, according to various residents.
"They call Tajoura 'the terrorist neighborhood' because we dared to call for ousting Gadhafi," the protester said.
In the home of one of the arrested men, clothes were left scattered around the living room, drawers were open and the TV was still on. The door was intact, but its lock was knocked out. In the bedroom, the mattress was overturned. The protester said money, jewelry and four mobile phones were also taken. Other young men from the family had already been arrested days earlier, he said.
Except for the barking dogs, the house was empty and still.
"We moved their families away from here. There is no way they can stay after what happened," he said, adding that he and his fellow activists had also decided not to spend the night in their homes.
"This is the message to all Libyans: if you say you don't want Gadhafi, this is what will happen to you," he said.
The opposition has called for protesters to march out of mosques after noon prayers in demonstrations demanding Gadhafi's ouster. Similar protests last Friday were met by brutal retaliation: Pro-regime militiamen opened fire immediately on the marches, killing and wounding a still unknown number.
Internet services, which have been spotty throughout Libya's upheaval, appeared to be halted completely in Tripoli on Friday, as well as in Benghazi, the opposition's stronghold in the east. The extent of the cutoff was not clear. Also, Libyan authorities barred many foreign journalists from leaving their hotel in Tripoli, claiming it was for their protection because they had information "al-Qaida elements" plan to open fire on police to spark clashes.
Several hours before prayers, streets were eerily empty, with few residents out. Security forces, however, began to take up positions.
In Tajoura, an eastern district of the capital where protests a week ago were attacked, police set up two checkpoints on the main highway leading to downtown. They stopped cars to search them, check drivers' ID and ask where they were going or coming from. Another police car was set up not far from the district's main Murad Agha Mosque.
Friday could be a significant test of whether the opposition can maintain protests in Tripoli in the face of a fearsome clampdown. The capital is crucial to the Libyan leader, his strongest remaining bastion after the uprising that began on Feb. 15 broke the entire eastern half of Libya out of his control and even swept over some cities in the west near Tripoli.
The crisis has turned into something of deadlock between the two sides. Gadhafi's forces have been unable to take back significant ground from the rebellion — which has repelled repeated attacks on several opposition-held cities. At the same time, his opponents, made up of ragtag citizen militias backed by mutinous army units, don't seem to have the capabilities to make a military move against territory still in regime hands.
Instead, the eastern-based opposition is hoping that residents of those areas — including Tripoli — will be able to rise up like they did in other cities where protesters drove out Gadhafi loyalists.
Gadhafi loyalists have been working to make sure that doesn't happen in the capital by unleashing a wave of arrests and disappearances since last Friday's bloodshed. Bodies of people who vanished have been dumped in the street. Gunmen in SUVs have descended on homes in the night to drag away suspected protesters, identified by video footage of protests that militiamen have pored through to spot faces. Other militiamen have searched hospitals for wounded to take away.
Residents say they are under the watchful eyes of a variety of Gadhafi militias prowling the streets. They go under numerous names — Internal Security, the Central Support Force, the People's Force, the People's Guards and the Brigade of Mohammed al-Magarif, the head of Gadhafi's personal guard — and they are all searching for suspected protesters.
"While you are speaking to me now, there are spies everywhere and people watching me and you," one man said, cutting short a conversation with an Associated Press reporter visiting the Tripoli district of Zawiyat al-Dahman on Thursday.
The fear among Gadhafi opponents is so intense that when one family set up a mourning tent in Tripoli's Fashloum neighborhood on Thursday for a 56-year-old protester killed last Friday, no one showed up to pay condolences.
During the man's burial several days earlier, "the militia was also there watching us," said the man's brother. He — like other residents — asked that he and his relatives not be identified for fear they too would be hunted down.
He said his brother was shot when militiamen opened fire on protesters emerging from Fashloum's main Al-Baz mosque last week. "My brother was hit with a bullet right in the heart. In minutes he lost all his blood," he said, showing a mobile phone video clip of the body, with a hole in the chest.
While rushing to Tripoli's central hospital, he found militia stationed in front of the building.
"Doctors at the hospital told me that they are taking the injured to underground rooms inside the hospital away from the militia," said the brother, who is a doctor himself.
The number of deaths across Tripoli last Friday is not confirmed. The brother gave the names of six people from Fashloum who were killed. He said other bodies of slain protesters that day were seen being loaded into cars by militiamen and have not been seen since. He said he knows families who are still searching for bodies of their loved ones.
Others were arrested later on. The brother said he knows a 37-year-old man who disappeared for several days afterward. Then his body was dumped in a street in Tripoli's Abu Selim district.
In Tajoura, a 31-year old protester showed the AP on Thursday the houses of his two brothers, who were rounded up in a 3 a.m. raid a day earlier.
The protester said he was on the roof of a nearby building during the raid, counting the militia vehicles: 15 white pickup trucks with People's Guards license plates and two 4x4 Toyotas screeched up to the adjacent houses in a narrow, unpaved alley. They cordoned off the buildings, militiamen leaped over the buildings' fences, froze the door locks off with a compressed substance in cans and broke in. They drove off with his 32- and 35-year-old brothers, whose whereabouts remains unknown, the protester said.
They were among 20 protesters rounded up in Tajoura at that same time, according to various residents.
"They call Tajoura 'the terrorist neighborhood' because we dared to call for ousting Gadhafi," the protester said.
In the home of one of the arrested men, clothes were left scattered around the living room, drawers were open and the TV was still on. The door was intact, but its lock was knocked out. In the bedroom, the mattress was overturned. The protester said money, jewelry and four mobile phones were also taken. Other young men from the family had already been arrested days earlier, he said.
Except for the barking dogs, the house was empty and still.
"We moved their families away from here. There is no way they can stay after what happened," he said, adding that he and his fellow activists had also decided not to spend the night in their homes.
"This is the message to all Libyans: if you say you don't want Gadhafi, this is what will happen to you," he said.
Zimbabwe's Mugabe goes to Singapore for eye check
HARARE, Zimbabwe – A senior government official says Zimbabwe's 87-year-old President Robert Mugabe has returned to Singapore, his fourth visit there this year.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba said the trip is for an eye checkup after the longtime leader underwent cataract surgery in January. Charamba says "there is nothing to cause any alarm."
Mugabe is expected home on Sunday, the state media reported Friday.
At celebrations marking his 87th birthday in February, an increasingly frail Mugabe said even if his body "may get spent" his mind remained young and alert.
But seven weeks away in Asia since December have fueled doubts on the health of Zimbabwe's authoritarian ruler since 1980.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba said the trip is for an eye checkup after the longtime leader underwent cataract surgery in January. Charamba says "there is nothing to cause any alarm."
Mugabe is expected home on Sunday, the state media reported Friday.
At celebrations marking his 87th birthday in February, an increasingly frail Mugabe said even if his body "may get spent" his mind remained young and alert.
But seven weeks away in Asia since December have fueled doubts on the health of Zimbabwe's authoritarian ruler since 1980.
Warship evacuates South Koreans from Libya
SEOUL (AFP) – A warship carrying 32 South Koreans evacuated from strife-torn Libya is set to arrive at the Mediterranean island of Malta, Seoul's defence ministry has said.
The 4,500-ton South Korean destroyer Choi Young left Tripoli on Thursday en route for Valletta, said spokesman Kim Min-Seok.
"After safely transporting them to Malta, the Choi Young will be on standby outside the port of Tripoli to support further evacuation efforts," Kim was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
The 32 Koreans include three women and three elementary school students, Kim said.
The warship had been stationed in waters near Somalia on anti-piracy patrol before being dispatched to Libya.
Seoul has already evacuated hundreds of nationals via chartered flights and ships while scores of others fled by land to Tunisia and Egypt.
Almost all South Koreans wishing to leave Libya were expected to have left as early as this weekend, officials said.
Some 100 people still want to remain in the country though the number could change if the situation worsens, they said.
The 4,500-ton South Korean destroyer Choi Young left Tripoli on Thursday en route for Valletta, said spokesman Kim Min-Seok.
"After safely transporting them to Malta, the Choi Young will be on standby outside the port of Tripoli to support further evacuation efforts," Kim was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
The 32 Koreans include three women and three elementary school students, Kim said.
The warship had been stationed in waters near Somalia on anti-piracy patrol before being dispatched to Libya.
Seoul has already evacuated hundreds of nationals via chartered flights and ships while scores of others fled by land to Tunisia and Egypt.
Almost all South Koreans wishing to leave Libya were expected to have left as early as this weekend, officials said.
Some 100 people still want to remain in the country though the number could change if the situation worsens, they said.
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