Libyan rebels march forward on two fronts on Friday against embattled President Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, as the UN called for a peaceful transition to end the crisis in the African country.
Libyan rebels march forward on two fronts on Friday against embattled President Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, as the UN called for a peaceful transition to end the crisis in the African country.
NATO, who has been backing the rebels’ offensive few days ago, said that fighting was going on.
NATO military spokesman, Wing Commander Mike Bracken, said “anti-Gaddafi forces look to have the initiative and are able to launch successful attacks against pro-Gaddafi forces."
However pro-Gaddafi forces still hold two cities west of the capital Tripoli, Zawiyah and Zuwarah, “and are rearming, regrouping and fighting in places such as Kikla, Misrata and Dafnia," Bracken added via video link from NATO operational headquarters in Naples.
“PEACEFUL TRANSITION”
For his part, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Libya's regime to allow a peaceful transition as the rebels fighting went into day three of a NATO-backed offensive to the south and east of Tripoli.
On Thursday, he urged Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi to stop the fighting, which began in February, and help improve humanitarian conditions.
In a telephone call, Ban stressed "the urgent need to find a way out of the current fighting and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation and work out a transition that could bring peace to all Libyans," his office said.
He also said his special envoy to Libya Abdul Ilah al-Khatib was aiming to reach a peace deal for all Libyans.
Mahmudi had agreed that Khatib should be received in Tripoli "at an early date for urgent consultations," Ban's office added.
INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION
In the United States, the country's interference in the Libyan conflict remains unpopular, with the House of Representatives voted to forbid the Pentagon from arming, training, or advising the strife-torn North African nation's rebels.
Some Republican Representative denounced the US involvement in the Libyan war, with one of them, Tom Cole, said in a statement: "Congress has allowed the president to overreach in Libya."
In Europe, Poland said it had opened diplomatic ties with the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), installing its ambassador in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi.
Warsaw currently holds the rotating European Union presidency.
France said last week that it had supplied light arms including rifles and rocket launchers to the rebels for "self-defence" in line with a UN resolution and that it had informed NATO and the Security Council of its plan to do so.
Russia criticized the move while France's NATO ally Britain had expressed reservations. Paris said this week that the rebels no longer need weapons drops since they are getting more organized and can arrange to arm themselves.
