12 people killed as two rebel groups turn on each other

Mustafa Abdul Jalil The head of Libya's interim government, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has flown to Tripoli for the first time since anti-Gaddafi forces captured the capital. Abdel Jalil’s plane landed in the Metiga military base in

eastern Tripoli. TV footage showed hundreds of people waiting to receive him as he was greeted by hundreds of cheering, flag-waving supporters. Thick chain of armed men were also there trying to protect him.
His arrival was eagerly awaited in Tripoli, in hopes he will tackle rivalries emerging among rebel groups that overthrew Qaddafi and begin mapping out a transition.
“This is a huge symbol, because it means the end of Qaddafi’s era,” said Ahmed Darrad, the interim interior minister inside the National Transitional Council headed by Abdel Jalil.
“There is no one else who can lead this revolution, except Abdel Jalil, and we give him our full trust,” said Ahmed Farj al-Dersi, a 19-year-old dentistry student and brigade leader in Tripoli.
Mr Abdul Jalil has been running the interim administration from Benghazi, prompting questions about the transitional council's ability to impose its authority elsewhere in the country.
Officials close to Mr Abdul Jalil have cited security concerns as one reason why he has stayed away until now.
At a news conference at the airport, Abdel Jalil urged unity and order. "This is not the time for retribution or to take matters into your own hands. Many rights were lost and there are many tragedies that we could dwell on but this is not the time. This is the time to come together."
“(This visit) is very important and I think it is correct timing,” said Italian consul Guido De Sanctis, adding that Abdel Jalil is one of the key faces in the struggle against Qaddafi’s regime.
“It is huge. This is what the country has been waiting for but we still have to see who is coming with Abdel Jalil and what he will say,” said a Western observer. According to naval sources to "Arabstoday"  Jalil may stop in Misrata, "200 km east of Tripoli," which has been controlled by the National Transitional Council since the beginning of the revolution in February, but that government troops besieged and shelled it for several months. Jalil announced on the 2nd September that the NTC, which is based in Benghazi since its establishment on February 27, will move next week to Tripoli. For his part,  spokesman for the NTC  Abdul Hafeez Goukha said 3 days later that this transition will not occur until after the liberation of the Libya is complete.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting was raging for the control of three key Libyan towns after a deadline set for the surrender of loyalists of Muammar Gaddafi expired. At least 12 people were killed and many more wounded when two groups of fighters opposed to Muammar Gaddafi turned on each other in Libya's west, two officials told the AFP news agency on Sunday. The fighting, which has its roots in ancient rivalries and pitted combatants from the towns of Gharyan and Kikla on the one side and from Asabah on the other, broke out on Saturday, according to the chief of the Gharyan council and confirmed by the head of the military council of Asabah. The towns are on the eastern edge of the Nafusa mountains and were important centers of resistance to Muammar Qaddafi’s forces in months of fighting to oust the strongman.
Al Jazeera correspondents reported on Saturday that fighters aligned with the National Transitional Council (NTC) were seeking to capture Bani Walid, Sirte and Sabha from Gaddafi loyalists after the latter chose to ignore the deadline for surrender.
Al Jazeera's David Poort, reporting from the outskirts of Bani Walid, said NTC fighters seeking to advance to the centre of the town, 150km south of the capital Tripoli, were coming under sniper fire from Gaddafi loyalists.
Abdullah Kenshil, the NTC's spokesman and chief negotiator, said anti-Gaddafi fighters were exchanging fire with gunmen positioned in houses in the town of Bani Walid and the hills that overlooked it. "They are inside the city. They are fighting with snipers ... They forced this on us and it was in self-defence."
Kenshil said that Gaddafi forces in Bani Walid had received reinforcements during the night.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reported that there seemed to be more pro-Gaddafi fighters in Bani Walid than expected, possibly coming in from Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown. "This is a surprise as it was thought that the rebels had cut off that link between the two towns," she said.
Amid the continued fighting, NATO carried out at least five air raids on the town, the Reuters news agency reported.
Fierce battles were also being fought over Sirte and the southern desert town of Sabha.
In Teassain, 90km east of Sirte, witnesses told the Reuters news agency they saw heavy rocket exchanges between NTC forces and Gaddafi loyalists.
The interim authorities are also anxious to show they can restart an economy almost entirely dependent on oil. Production essentially stopped since the start of the six-month civil war.
The interim oil and finance minister, Ali Tarhouni, told reporters some oil production would start again at some fields in just three to four days, and full pre-war output levels would be reached within a year.
Diplomats said Britain plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN  Security Council early next week to start easing sanctions against Libya and establish a modest UN mission in the country.
The International Monetary Fund also chipped in on Saturday, recognising the NTC as Libya's legitimate governing body and saying it planned to send a team there when it is safe enough.
NTC leaders say they must still capture Gaddafi's last strongholds before they can declare Libya "liberated" and set the clock ticking for elections and a new constitution.
Several convoys of former loyalists are said to have streamed over Libya's southern border with Niger over the past few weeks. A convoy of 12 Libyan vehicles and two Nigerian military vehicles left Niger's northern city of Agadez in the direction of Niamey on Friday afternoon, a Reuters witness said.
The convoy was believed to contain a group of 14 former Gaddafi officials, including General Ali Kana and General Ali Sharif al-Rifi, that had reached Agadez on Thursday.
Late on Friday the Niger government said four more senior Libyan officers had entered the country.
Niger said it would respect its commitments to the international court if Gaddafi or his sons arrived. On Saturday, Guinea-Bissau's prime minister Carlos Gomes Junior said the colonel would be "welcomed with open arms" if he chose to travel to the West African country. "If Gaddafi asks to come to Guinea Bissau we will welcome him with open arms and we will ensure his security," Gomes Junior was recorded as saying by radio station Radio Diffusion Portuguese (RDP). Guinea Bissau has not ratified the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive Gaddafi. e slammed NATO airstrikes in Libya as a "flagrant violation of the rights of a sovereign country. Behind this, is the fact that westerners want Libyan oil." The flag of the new Libyan authority, the National Transition Council (NTC) - which was raised over the Libyan embassy in Bissau a week ago - was removed on Friday, an AFP correspondent reported.  On the other hand, U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday accepted the credentials of Ambassador Ali Ajili as the first Libyan ambassador to the United States after the era of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.  Ajili, who served as ambassador to Libya in the past, declared that he is against the regime and pro-NTC since the start of the 17th February revolution. The United States congratulated Libyan people on the "courage and determination to lead a new and democratic future of their country," and stressed that the United States will remain a strong ally of the NTC during the political transition, which guarantees respect for human rights.