LIBYA:Tunis opens border crossing with Libya + Related News

Laaska News  August 28,2011
Tripoli calm, Sirte attacked
The Dehiba border post on the Libyan-Tunisian border. Photo: AFP 
Tunis opens border crossing with Libya

Tunisian authorities have opened the main border crossing into Libya.

On Friday, the rebels gained control of the key border checkpoint of Ras Ajdir after protracted skirmishes with Gaddafi loyalists. Another checkpoint on the western sector of the border with Libya, Diba, is under rebel control since April.

According to preliminary data, as a result of armed confrontation in the Jamahiriya more than 100 thousand Libyans crossed over to Tunisian territory. The actual number of refugees may be more, since many have crossed the border illegally.

Libyan rebels promise to resume oil exports late September

The Libyan rebels promise to resume oil exports to world markets in late September.

The first batch of oil will be shipped from the port of Tobruk. The first group of workers will be dispatched to the oilfields after the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in the first week of September.

Meanwhile, gunfire can still be heard in Tripoli. World media report of continuing armed standoff between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups. The whereabouts of the Colonel are still unknown. A reward had been announced for his capture.

Libyan rebels keen on resuming oil, gas export

After repairing an important pipeline for exporting natural gas, the Libyan rebels are going to reactivate the Tobruk oil terminal within one month. They also speak of plans to immediately relaunch the Ras al-Lanuf oil refinery. All five of Libya’s refineries stay shut because of fighting in the country’s civil war.

Rebel forces, meanwhile, are closing in on Sirte, the home city of Muammar Gaddafi.

Tripoli calm, Sirte attacked

Tripoli is relatively calm, although without water, electricity, sanitation or garbage collection. The streets are littered with rubbish and even dead bodies in places. People are mostly staying indoors for fear of rampant crime. The port is unloading international aid cargoes of food, medicines and fuel.

The rebels say they are within 30 kilometres of Gaddafi’s home city Sirte, half way from Tripoli to Benghazi. Reinforced from Misrata and backed by NATO air power, they are forging ahead to capture Sirte. Rebel commanders are in talks with tribal leaders in Sirte to persuade them to surrender the city without bloodshed.

Libyan gas pipe repaired

According to reports in Benghazi, the Libyan rebels have repaired a pipeline used to export natural gas  and seized control of the main road from Tripoli to the southern homeland of the al-Gaddafi tribe of Muammar Gaddafi.

They also say they are within 30 kilometres of Gaddafi’s home city Sirte, half way from Tripoli to Benghazi. Reinforced from Misrata and backed by NATO air power, they are forging ahead to capture Sirte. Rebel commanders are in talks with elders in Sirte to persuade them to surrender the city without bloodshed.

The capture of Sirte will mark the start of a manhunt for Gaddafi.

Libyan opposition won’t bargain with Gaddafi

On Sunday, a representative of the Libyan oppositionists said that they won’t have any negotiations with Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi must resign by any means, the opposition leader said.

He also said that he didn’t know where Gaddafi was.

Earlier, Gaddafi’s representative said that his boss was ready to negotiate with the opposition about the conditions of handling power over to them.

Arab League supports Libyan opposition

Foreign ministers of the Arab League’s member countries have called on the UN Security Council, and countries which may be interested in that, to defrost Libyan assets.

The ministers say that the Libyan people are now having financial difficulties and need money.

Besides, the Arab League says that the Libyan oppositionists’ Transitional National Council’s representatives must substitute Gaddafi’s government’s representatives in the UN.

At a recent extra meeting of the Arab League in Cairo, Libya was for the first time represented not by Gaddafi’s regime’s officials, but by the chairman of the Transitional National Council’s Executive Board Mahmoud Jibril.

No talks with Gaddafi – Libyan rebels

The rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) has said its “No” to Muammar Gaddafi’s proposal to discuss the creation of a transitional government in Libya, a high-ranking TNC official said on Sunday.

He demanded an immediate resignation of Muammar Gaddafi, whose whereabouts he said are yet to be spotted.

Earlier in the day, Gaddafi signaled his readiness to sit down for parleys with representatives of the TNC to grapple with power transfer in Libya.

Gaddafi ready for power handover

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ready to start talks on the handover of power, the colonel’s spokesman Moussa Ibragim said Sunday.

Ibragim said that the Colonel’s son Saadi will hold negotiations.

At present the rebels of the Transitional national Council have gained control over most of the country, including Tripoli.

The location of Gaddafi is unknown. The opposition representatives said they are sure that the colonel is hiding in his native town of Sirte, which is also blocked by  the rebels.
VOR.
Laaska News.
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