Rebels near Gaddafi's compound but his forces resistant

A man places the Libyan rebel flag onto a road barrier as rebels advance through Maia UK PM Cameron says that Gaddafi must stop fighting, and that his fate will be decided by the Libyan rebel council. He says the transition in Libya must be led by Libyans, but that the UK will be, and has been, deploying humanitarian aid. He says that power supplies, communication networks, water and fuel supplies must be restored. Diplomatically, he says the UK has a strong presence in Benghazi, and will re-establish its diplomatic presence in Tripoli, including stabilisation experts. At the UN, the new Libyan political authorities will be given the legal, political and economic support that they need, he says. Cameron says that the transition may not be smooth or easy, but that "the Arab Spring is a step closer to freedom and democracy"
Cameron says that he would like to see Gaddafi "face justice" for his "appalling" crimes, but that the decision is for the Libyan rebel council to make. He has warned against "complacency", and says that the government will soon be releasing frozen Libyan assets to the rebels.
But even as Cameron speaks in London, Reuters reports that forces loyal to Gaddafi in Tripoli have stationed tanks near his compound in central Tripoli. "The situation is not stable. There is gunfire everywhere. Gaddafi's forces are using tanks at the port and Al Sarine street near (Gaddafi's compound at) Bab al-Aziziyah," said a rebel official in Tripoli, who gave his name as Abdulrahman. "The revolutionaries are positioned everywhere in Tripoli, some of them are near Bab al-Aziziyah, but Gaddafi's forces have been trying to resist." "[Gaddafi's] snipers are the main problem for the revolutionaries. There is a big number of martyrs, including my brother and two of my neighbours," he said. 
The French foreign minister in Alain Juppe said on the planned meeting of the international contact group on Libya:"We have reached the tipping point. This is a subject of great satisfaction. France took risks, calculated risks, but the cause was just," Juppe told reporters in Paris."France has proposed an extraordinary meeting of the Contact Group at the highest level from next week," he said, calling on the Gaddafi's remaining supporters to lay down their arms.
In other related news, Agoco, an oil firm controlled by the Libyan rebels, says that two eastern Libyan oilfields are ready to begin output, but are awaiting security clearance, Reuters reports. Reuters reported that the rebels said they are near Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, but that his forces are resisting. They added that a "big number" of rebels have been killed in fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces in Tripoli, citing a rebel official. Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from outside Misrata, says that rebel fighters are determined to continue the push towards Tripoli and to wipe out any remaining pro-Gaddafi forces. He says there are pockets of pro-Gaddafi forces who fled Zlitan along the roads. The celebrations in Misrata, he says, are turning into "gritty, hard fighting."
Meanwhile, the international Libya Contact Group is due to meet in Paris next week, AFP reports.  Mahmud Nacua, the Charge d'affaires at the Libyan embassy in London, says "there will be no vacuum" in Libya, and that the NTC will move from Benghazi to Tripoli to appoint a transitional government to take over the country. "In the next few days, we may be facing some difficulties because every revolution will face some difficulties," he added. "Maybe some mistakes will happen but we believe that our people in NTC are capable of resolving all the problems... and we will go forward to build the  promised Libya and we will have a promising relationship between the UK and a new Libya."
NATO has just released its daily operational media update for August 21. 126 sorties were flown on Sunday, with 46 being strike sorties. NATO says it hit three command and control facilities, one military facility, two radar facilities, nine surface-to-air missile launchers, one tank and two armed vehicles in Tripoli. It says it hit one radar facility near Bin Ghashir and five surface-to-air missiles near al-Azizyah. Fifteen NATO ships have been enforcing the arms embargo on Libya in the Mediterranean. Fourteen vessels were hailed and two boardings conducted on August 21. It is reported by rebel sources that Khamis Qaddafi heading to central Tripoli with his forces. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC's  chief prosecutor, has said that he hopes that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will "soon be in The Hague" to face judgment.  Meanwhile, al-Arabiya television reports that negotiations are currently ongoing between the NTC and the ICC on the handover of Saif al-Islam. We await confirmation on those reports.  Reuters reporter Missy Ryan tweets that there is still a pro-Gaddafi presence around the Rixos Hotel, where many foreign correspondents are staying. "There are still Gaddafi guards, volunteers, snipers around Rixos. We want to go out, report but for moment unable to do so." Rebels say Gaddafi's bodyguard was arrested as he tries to escape. Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, is due to speak on Monday about the situation in Libya. David Cameron, the British prime minister, is due to make a statement on the situation in Libya outside of his Downing Street office on Monday as well. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reporting live from Johannesburg right now that despite denials from the South African government, sources have told her that talks continued on Monday between the South African government and Muammar Gaddafi's representatives to attempt to facilitate his exit from the country. The two destinations reportedly on the table right now are Angola and Zimbabwe. Furthermore, technical staff for Italian oil giant Eni have arrived in Libya to investigate how quickly they can get oil facilities back up and running, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has said. "The facilities had been made by Italians, by [oil field services group] Saipem, and therefore it is clear that Eni will play a number one role in the future [in Libya]", Frattini told Italian state TV RAI. Al Arabiya reported that snipers around Tripoli's Green Square are giving themselves up to rebels, while Nato says combat air patrols over Libya to continue until all pro-Gaddafi forces surrender, reports AP. Meanwhile, Malta said that if Gaddafi or any other suspects wanted by the ICC were to flee to the Mediterranean island it would immediately hand them over to the court's authorities. "Should Colonel Gaddafi or any wanted Libyan government officials come to Malta, they will be arrested and transferred immediately to The Hague", a Foreign Ministry spokesman has told Reuters. Lawrence Gonzi, the Maltese prime minister, has congratulated the Libyan people on their march "towards freedom and respect for human rights" in a phone call to Mahmoud Jibril, the chairman of the NTC. Moreover, demonstrators set fire to a poster of Col Gaddafi outside Libyan embassy in Ankara, Turkey. The International Criminal Court is seeking the transfer of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the court's spokesman says. "The court as a whole is involved," Fadi El-Abdallah told AFP, answering 'yes' when asked if that meant discussions were underway with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council NTC over a transfer.
Libyan state television is showing a programme entitled "Despite the attack", with interviews of injured civilians and people in hospital. One of the injured offered his condolences to Gaddafi on the "loss" of his two sons (Saif al-Islam and Mohamed). The two were captured by rebel forces last night. Earlier, the state television broadcaster was only briefly reporting on the rebel campaign to take Tripoli, with reports on a campaign launched by external forces. Interviews with Libyan public figures, possibly recorded at an earlier date, were aired - all condemned the attacks on "peaceful Libyan people". The Libyan charge d'affaires in London says that the rebels control 95 per cent of the capital, Tripoli, the Associated Press reports.In the most recent developments, Nasser, a rebel fighter from Tripoli, has just been on the line with AJE. He says that he can hear NATO aircraft flying overhead, but it is unclear whether they are on strike or surveillance missions. There were reports of clashes between rebels and pro-Gaddafi mercenaries near al-Hani area, he said, but that situation "has been taken care of". He also said that the rebels had recently secured a "huge amount of artillery from an airbase nearby".
Shelling is being heard from the area directly behind Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizya compound, where Nasser said the rebels are "in a weaker position" and that pro-Gaddafi battalions had heavier weapons. He said that about 40 minutes ago a firefight had occured at the Mitiga air base.
On the subject of how Gaddafi supporters were to be treated, Nasser said that the rebels "did make plans", and that people had gone to their neighbours who they knew to be pro-Gaddafi, asking them to surrender their weapons. "We have asked them to surrender their weapons and no-one is going to harm them. We want the Libyan National Council to deal with such things, because we are basically rebels, we do not have any party," he said.
The Libyan rebel official in London said that the Transitional Council plans to move headquarters to Tripoli from Benghazi
A Libyan official said the International Criminal Court is in talks with Libyan rebels over Colonel Gaddafi's detained son, reports AFP. In addition, rebel spokesman says Gadhafi forces in Tajourah neighborhood are negotiating with rebels in an attempt to turn themselves in Libya. Furthermore, a Libyan rebel official in London said: "Gadhafi is still in country, fighters will 'turn over every stone' to arrest and 'put him in ... court.'"
Meanwhile, Michael Mann, the European Union foreign policy chief's spokesman, has said that the EU is ready to help Libya's transitional administration carry out reforms "in the months and years ahead".
British Ex-foreign secretary Lord Owen, on the Libyan situation, tells Sky News: "There are mercenaries out there that have got nowhere to go. There are very many snipers and there is a real danger of the war continuing for a longer time than any of us would hope for." He added: "A big change has taken place. It is now up to the National Transitional Council to try to assert order. There are plans to only use people from Tripoli and not bring in people from the outside areas. There has been a lot of pre-emptive planning and let's hope it works."
China's foreign ministry has said that the country respects the choice of the Libyan people and that it hopes the situation in Libya will stabilise as quickly as possible, according to a statement.AFP reports Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could still be in his Tripoli compound, according to a diplomatic source. Sky sources say fighting reported around Rixos hotel in centre of Tripoli. Also, reports of heavy fighting near Col Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli, reports AFP.
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, said:
"The whereabouts of Colonel Gaddafi we don't know, we assume he is still in Libya. Should we start speculating that he wants to come to South Africa, no we will not. Maybe you know something I don't know, because there is absolutely nothing I know." South Africa says it has not sent aircraft to Libya for Col Gaddafi's exit, reports AP.
The European Union is actively planning for a Libya without Muammar Gaddafi following the rapid advance of rebel forces over the weekend and urged the Libyan leader to leave "without further delay".
"We seem to be witnessing the last moments of the Gaddafi regime and we call on Gaddafi to step down without further delay and avoid further bloodshed," Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said.World leaders have weighed in on events in Tripoli with almost unanimous calls for Gaddafi to give up and end the bloodshed.
A Downing Street spokesman said David Cameron was cutting short his holiday in Cornwall to chair a meeting of the National Security Council's Libya group. Cameron said "the end is near for Gaddafi".
Meanwhile, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, a longtime critic of the NATO campaign in Libya, still opposed the international effort:
"Today we are seeing images of how the democratic European governments - well some of them are (democratic), we know who they are - are practically demolishing Tripoli with their bombs and the supposedly democratic government of the United States, because they feel like it."
The situation in Libya reached a “tipping point” and the control of the capital Tripoli was “slipping from the grip of a tyrant,” US President Barack Obama said on Monday, calling on Colonel Muammar Qaddafi to accept reality and relinquish power.
“The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple: Muammar Qaddafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end,” President Obama said in a statement issued during his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. “Qaddafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all.”
President Obama issued the statement after conducting a conference call with members of his national security team, who had kept him updated throughout the day.
The president had told reporters earlier that he would not make a statement “until we have full confirmation of what has happened.”
Senior rebel figure Mahmud Jibril said there were still pockets of resistance in and around Tripoli and warned his forces to be cautious.
An AFP reporter said the night was mainly calm although the sound of fighting was heard early on Monday in the south of the capital. By daybreak it was still not clear how much of the capital the rebels controlled.
Al Arabiya television reported heavy fighting near Colonel Qaddafi‘s Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli on Monday morning.
Mr. Jibril called on the insurgents to act responsibly as the battle to end four decades of dictatorship neared its end.
“The fight is not over yet,” he said on rebel television Al-Ahrar. “God willing, in few hours our victory will be complete.”
Muammar Qaddafi's eldest son Mohammed surrendered to rebels on Sunday, the Libyan rebel transitional council coordinator said, shortly after Colonel Qaddafi’s second son Seif Al Qaddafi was captured by rebels in their advance on Tripoli.
Embattled Libya leader Col. Qaddafi made a second appeal late Sunday for his people to "save Tripoli" from a rebel offensive, in an audio message played on state television on Sunday.
He called on the people of Tripoli on Sunday to "purge the capital" after rebels seized various parts of the city in their drive to unseat him.
The people should "go out now to purge the capital," Col. Qaddafi said, adding that there was "no place for the agents of colonialism in Tripoli and Libya."
"Go back where you came from," he added, addressing the rebels.
"It is the obligation of all Libyans. It is a question of life or death," he said. Colonel Qaddafi had made a similar appeal earlier in the evening on state television, as rebels streamed into the capital.
Earlier, Muammar Qaddafi's presidential guard had surrendered to Libya's rebels, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday, citing the rebel National Transitional Council after reports came in that the rebels captured Muammar Qaddafi's son, Seif Al-Islam during their strategic advance on Tripoli.
Rebel national transitional council head Mustafa Abdul Jalil confirmed Seif Al Islam’s capture: "We have confirmed information that our guys have captured Seif Al Islam."
"We have given instructions to treat him well so that he can face trial."
“He is being kept in a secure place under close guard until he is handed over to the judiciary," Abdel Jalil said, without giving a date or place for the reported capture of Qaddafi's son.
In an interview with Al Arabiya TV earlier on Sunday, Mr. Abdul Jalil said if rebels were to capture Seif Al Islam they would treat him in accordance to international conventions and allow to be tried freely and fairly in a civil court.
“We will be dealing with them like any other prisoners [in Libya] according to international conventions, and we will give them a fair trial, much like former Presidents who are now being tried in civil courts,” he said in reference to recently ousted former leaders in the Arab world facing trials for corruption.
Al Arabiya television aired images of Libyans celebrating in central Tripoli and tearing down Gaddafi posters, the first images from the city since rebels entered from the west earlier in the day.
Col. Qaddafi also said he is prepared to negotiate directly with head of the rebel National transitional council after his son Seif Al Islam was captured by rebels Sunday night during their strategic advance on Tripoli.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said on state television that Colonel Qaddafi is ready for immediate negotiations with rebels seeking to oust him, and has asked NATO to convince the rebel forces to halt an attack on Tripoli.
Mr. Ibrahim added that 1,300 people had been killed in fighting in Tripoli on Sunday.
Meanwhile, NATO called the situation in Libya "very fluid" on Sunday as rebel fighters streamed into the capital Tripoli, and said the rule of Muammar Qaddafi was "crumbling."
"It's a very fluid situation. We can see that the regime is crumbling, and the sooner Qaddafi realizes he cannot win this war against his own people, the better," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.
"He's the one who's responsible for starting the conflict and he should spare his people further bloodshed," she added.
Furthermore, The military unit in charge of protecting embattled leader Muammar Qaddafi and the Libyan capital Tripoli has surrendered to rebel council.
Mahmoud Shammam, the rebel minister of information, told the Associated Press on Sunday that the unit commander "has joined the revolution and ordered his soldiers to drop their weapons."
When the unit dropped its arms, it essentially opened the way for the rebels to enter the city with little resistance.
But on Monday, jubilant crowds of Libyans gathered in Tripoli’s central Green Square to celebrate a hard-fought victory over the forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, reportedly staying in the Tajura-Cardiac hospital, east of Tripoli.
Rebels and Tripoli residents waving opposition flags and firing into air swept into the square, a symbolic showcase the government had until recently used for mass demonstrations in support of the now embattled Qaddafi. Rebels immediately began calling it Martyrs Square.
The armed brigades of Colonel Qaddafi quickly melted away as rebel forces from the western mountains entered the capital on Sunday to join local rebel groups who rose up against Qaddafi a day earlier.
The whereabouts of Colonel Qaddafi were not immediately known, but a reporter from Tripoli told Al Arabiya TV that the embattled leader was in the Tajura-Cardiac hospital, east of Tripoli. There were no reports on whether Colonel Qaddafi was undergoing treatment in the hospital or simply taking refuge in the facility.
Ibrahim Saad, secretary general of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, told Al Arabiya TV that the whereabouts of Colonel Qaddafi were known to rebels and that an announcement about the matter would likely be made within hours.
The reporter said rebels had taken control of most of Tripoli neighborhoods. He added Qaddafi loyalists could not be seen in the city.
The startling rebel breakthrough, after a long deadlock in Libya’s 6-month-old civil war, was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels, NATO and anti-Qaddafi residents inside Tripoli, rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles over a matter of hours Sunday, taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time, Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.
When rebels reached the gates of Tripoli, the special battalion entrusted by Mr. Qaddafi with guarding the capital promptly surrendered. The reason: Its commander, whose brother had been executed by Colonel Qaddafi years ago, was secretly loyal to the rebellion, a senior rebel official Fathi Al-Baja told The Associated Press.
Mr. Fathi al-Baja, the head of the rebels’ political committee, said the rebels’ National Transitional Council had been working on the offensive for the past three months, coordinating with NATO and rebels within Tripoli. Sleeper cells were set up in the capital, armed by rebel smugglers. On Thursday and Friday, NATO intensified strikes inside the capital, and on Saturday, the sleeper cells began to rise up.
Akram Ammar, 26, fled his hometown of Tripoli in March and on Sunday he was among the rebel fighters pouring back in.
“It is a happiness you can’t describe but also some fear. It will take us time to clear the entire city. I expect a long time for Libyans to get used to the new system and the new democracy,” he said, dressed in camouflage pants and black shirt and sporting the long beard of a conservative Muslim. “But in the end it will be better.”
The rebels’ leadership council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, sent out mobile text messages to Tripoli residents, proclaiming, “Long live Free Libya” and urging them to protect public property. Internet service returned to the capital for the first time in six months.
The day’s first breakthrough came when hundreds of rebels fought their way into a major symbol of the Qaddafi regime - the base of the elite 32nd Brigade commanded by Qaddafi’s son, Khamis. Fighters said they met with little resistance. They were 16 miles from the big prize, Tripoli.
Hundreds of rebels cheered wildly and danced as they took over the compound filled with eucalyptus trees, raising their tricolor from the front gate and tearing down a large billboard of Qaddafi. From a huge warehouse, they loaded their trucks with hundreds of crates of rockets, artillery shells and large-caliber ammunition.
One group started up a tank, drove it out of the gate, crushing the median of the main highway and driving off toward Tripoli.
The rebels also freed more than 300 prisoners from a regime lockup, most of them arrested during the heavy crackdown on the uprising in towns west of Tripoli. The fighters and the prisoners - many looking weak and dazed and showing scars and bruises from beatings - embraced and wept with joy.
“We were sitting in our cells when all of a sudden we heard lots of gunfire and people yelling ‘God is great.’ We didn’t know what was happening, and then we saw rebels running in and saying ‘We’re on your side.’ And they let us out,” said 23-year-old Majid al-Hodeiri. He said he was captured four months ago by Qaddafi’s forces crushing the uprising in his home city of Zawiya. He said he was beaten and tortured while under detention.
From the military base, the convoy sped toward the capital.
Mahmoud al-Ghwei, 20 and unarmed, said he had just came along with a friend for the ride.
“It’s a great feeling. For all these years, we wanted freedom and Qaddafi kept it from us. Now we’re going to get rid of Qaddafi and get our freedom,” he said. On Sunday, Italy’s Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa confirmed Sunday that that Abdel-Salam Jalloud, Gaddafi’s ex-number 2, had arrived in Italy after fleeing Tripoli. Minister Ignazio La Russa’s remarks to reporters in Sicily Sunday were the first official confirmation that Abdel-Salam Jalloud had arrived in Italy. He didn’t say where Jalloud was staying, but later, in an interview on Sky TG24 TV, indicated the Libyan might soon make public remarks. “Whether he speaks depends on him," La Russa said. "I don’t rule out that that could happen soon.” Libyan rebels said Friday that Jalloud had defected, a blow for Gadhafi’s embattled regime. Jalloud helped Gadhafi come to power in a 1969 coup and for decades traveled the world representing Tripoli. He started clashing with Gadhafi in the 1990s. Italian media have reported that Jalloud first fled to Tunisia, then to Italy on Saturday. Italian officials initially declined to comment on Jalloud’s whereabouts.
Thousands celebrated in the streets of Benghazi, the rebels’ de facto capital hundreds of miles to the east. Firing guns into the air and shooting fireworks, they cheered and waved the rebel tricolor flags, dancing and singing in the city’s main square.
When rebels moved in, the regime unit guarding the capital, known as the Mohammed Megrayef battalion, surrendered and its commander ordered its troops to put down their arms. Al-Baja, the rebel official, said that the commander, Barani Eshkal, had secretly defected earlier to the rebels, embittered by the 1986 execution of his brother, who had joined a coup attempt against Qaddafi.
Eshkal also pointed out to the rebels the hiding place of Qaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam in a hotel, al-Baja said. Rebel chief Mustafa Abdel-Jalil in Benghazi confirmed to the AP that the rebels captured Seif but refused to give details.
In the Netherlands, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said his office would talk to the rebels on Monday about Seif al-Islam’s transfer for trial. “It is time for justice, not revenge,” Moreno-Ocampo told the AP.
Green Square which has now been renamed Martyrs Square by the rebels had been the site of night rallies by Gaddafi supporters throughout the uprising. Major celebrations are also taking place in the centre of Libya's second city, Benghazi and the coastal town of Misratah. People have also taken to the streets in cities in Egypt and Tunisia - and in London's Edgware Road - to show solidarity with Libya's rebels.