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No. 5204 PP 2644/12/2011 (025832) www.sun2surf.com
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Gaddafi hangs on
> Libya’s western
towns fall to rebels
and world leaders
condemn violence,
seek response
B
ENGHAZI: Muammar
Gaddafi was struggling to
hold on to power yesterday
as forces loyal to him
launched a counter-attack, fighting
fierce gun battles with rebels who
have seized important towns close to
the capital.
The opposition was already in
control of major centres in the east,
including the regional capital Beng-
hazi, and reports that the towns of
Misrata and Zuara in the west had
also fallen brought the tide of rebel-
lion closer to Gaddafi’s power base.
Gun battles in Zawiyah, an oil
terminal 50km from the capital, left
10 people dead, a Libyan daily said.
Gaddafi spoke on state television
to offer condolences over those who
had died, calling them Libya’s chil-
dren.
Speaking to the TV station by
phone, Gaddafi said people in Libya
were fighting among themselves and
had been taking drugs. Calling for
calm, he accused al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden of orchestrating
the uprising against him.
The uprising has virtually wiped
out Libyan oil exports, said the head
of Italy’s ENI, Libya’s biggest foreign
oil operator. The unrest has driven
world oil prices up to around US$117
a barrel, stoking concern about the
economic recovery.
Anti-government militias control
Zuara, about 120km west of Tripoli,
fleeing Egyptian construction work-
ers who crossed into Tunisia told
Reuters yesterday. There was no
sign of police or military and the
town was controlled by “popular
committees” armed with automatic
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Separately, lawyers and judges
said they had the coastal city of
Misrata, 200km east of Tripoli, in
their grip, according to an internet
statement. With help from “honest”
military officers, they had removed
agents of the “oppressive regime” in
Misrata, said the statement, which
could not immediately be verified.
World leaders condemned
Gaddafi’s bloody crackdown on the
week-long revolt that has split Libya,
but did little to halt the bloodshed
from the latest upheaval reshaping
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Crude
shock
Brent crude oil
rises to US$113
a barrel, WTI hits
US$100
Sunbiz page 11
the Arab world. US President Barack
Obama made his first public
comments, condemning as
“outrageous” and “unacceptable”
attacks on protesters that have killed
hundreds in 10 days.
Washington and Brussels spoke
of possible sanctions against a man
whose 41 years in power have been
marked by idiosyncratic defiance of
the West, yet there seemed little
cohesion and urgency in the global
response to the Libyan crisis.
The desert nation pumps nearly
2% of the world’s oil.
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“It is imperative that the nations neighbours, the presidents of
and peoples of the world speak with Tunisia and Egypt, who were
one voice,” Obama said. “The suffer- brought down by popular unrest in
ing and bloodshed are outrageous.” the past few weeks.
French Defence Minister Alain Italy’s foreign minister said as
Juppe said he hoped Gaddafi was many as 1,000 people may have been
“living his last moments as leader.” killed in Libya. As elements of the
British Foreign Secretary William security forces and other senior
Hague urged the world to increase government figures defected to the
pressure on Gaddafi, whose grip on protesters, it was unclear how long
power appeared to be slipping. Gaddafi could hang on to power.
The oil exports which Gaddafi Thousands of foreigners – from
used to help end his isolation in the doctors to oil contractors – fled
past decade have given him means Libya through its ports and borders
to resist the fate of his immediate in mass emergency evacuations.
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