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west of the country, while government and rebel forces appear stalemated at Brega in the east.
Muammar Gadaffi’s Government is putting out peace feelers for a negotiated settlement, according to Turkish and Greek sources.
The bloodiest fighting is now centred on Misrata, according to some of the hundreds evacuated yesterday by a Turkish ship and a neutral ship chartered by a French aid agency.
Government forces using tanks and snipers are shooting in Misrata with corpses on the streets and hospitals full of the wounded, evacuees said, with one describing the besieged city as “hell”. Misrata, Libya’s third city, rose up with other towns against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule in mid-February, and it is now under attack by government troops after a violent crackdown put an end to most protests elsewhere in the west of the country.
Stalemate on the frontline of fighting in eastern Libya, defections from Gaddafi’s circle and the plight of civilians caught in fighting or facing food and fuel shortages prompted a flurry of diplomacy to find a solution to the civil war. But the evacuees from Misrata had more immediate concerns. Swathed in bandages, evacuees gave some of the most detailed accounts yet of conditions in Misrata, the last major rebel-held city in western Libya which recalled sieges of town and cities in the Bosnian conflict. Air strikes to protect civilians have so far failed to halt attacks by the Libyan army, which residents said stationed snipers on rooftops and fired mortars and artillery at populated areas of the city with devastating effect. Libyan officials deny attacking civilians in Misrata, saying they are fighting armed gangs linked to al Qaeda. Accounts from Misrata cannot be independently verified as Libyan authorities are not allowing journalists to report freely from there. A rebel spokesman said the city was shelled on Monday.
“The shelling started in the early hours of the morning and it’s continuing, using mortars and artillery. This is pure terrorism. The shelling is targeting residential areas,” the spokesman, called Gemal, told Reuters by telephone, adding:
“We know there are casualties but I don’t know how many.”
A Turkish ship that sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by Turkish warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated. Another ship operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres docked in Sfax in Tunisia with 71 wounded from Misrata. Many had bullet wounds and broken limbs. Fears of a massacre in Misrata are helping to propel efforts this week to try and secure a ceasefire in the North African oil-producing desert state. Sfax echoed to the sound of sirens as a stream of ambulances ferried the wounded to hospital.
A Libyan envoy was in Europe yesterday seeking to end the civil war that has become locked in a battlefield stalemate between rebels and forces loyal to Gaddafi. Libya wanted a negotiated political settlement, Greek officials said, because a military solution to the conflict between rag-tag rebels backed by Western air power and Gaddafi’s better armed troops now looked impossible.
“The Libyan envoy wanted to convey that Libya has the intention to negotiate,” a Greek official said after the visit by Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi. “We don’t think that there can be a military solution to this crisis.”
Obeidi arrived in Turkey yesterday for the next leg of his mission and a Turkish foreign ministry official said both sides in the conflict had “conveyed that they have some opinions about a possible ceasefire”. Obeidi is due in Malta today. Beyond a willingness to talk, there was no sign of what Libya might offer to end the war that is bogged down on a frontline around the eastern oil town of Brega, while civilians are bombarded by Gaddafi forces in western rebel holdouts.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who had spoken to Greek officials, dismissed the Libyan envoy’s message saying a divided Libya was not acceptable and Gaddafi must quit.
After a meeting with Ali Essawi, a member of the Libyan rebel council looking after foreign affairs, Frattini said Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, backed the rebels. – Reuters.