TRIPOLI, 26 February 2011 (AFP) – Residents of Tripoli on Saturday were preparing for bloody battles against the threat of Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi to arm civilians to defeat the popular rebellion, which controls the oil-rich east and threatens to topple the Libyan regime after four decades in power.
Clashes continued on Saturday in Libya and Muammar Qaddafi opponents, who controlled the oil-rich east, and supporters of the Libyan leader, who maintained control of Tripoli.On the diplomatic pressure was accentuated on the twelfth day of insurrection. Thus, the head of Italian government Silvio Berlusconi said that “it seems that Kadhafi no longer controls the situation”, while his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, and British, David Cameron, called for “severe sanctions” from the UN and the European Union against the regime of Gaddafi.
New administration in eastern Libya :
In the eastern part of Libya, while establishing a new administration in the cities under their control, the armed opposition hopes that power changes hands in Tripoli.
“We are coordinating committees in cities and Musratha released. We hope that Tripoli kick off the Kadhafi regime and their children and then try to form a transitional government, “he told AFP Ghoqa Abdelhafiz, spokesman for the Coalition Revolutionary February 17.”
“Every day I leave for Tripoli volunteers” who will fight, added, ensuring that new officers abandoned Gaddafi and started to fight with opposition forces.
The situation in Tripoli :
Meanwhile, in some districts of Tripoli, “the electricity has been cut (Tuesday night) and since then has not been restored,” one resident said by telephone. “We were terrified. We thought we were preparing an attack. We collected all he could as a weapon and watched the door of the house, “he added.
But in other neighborhoods of the capital, where electricity was not cut, the night was calm, according to an AFP reporter.
Increasingly isolated internationally :
On the diplomatic front, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a decree to freeze assets and block U.S. assets of Qaddafi and his four children.
The Security Council UN consultations will resume on Saturday at 1600 GMT. A draft resolution mentioned penalties, including two attachments, one of arms and travel of Colonel Qaddafi, whose assets were also frozen, according to diplomatic sources.
“It seems that Kadhafi no longer controls the situation,” said Berlusconi in Rome on Saturday. “If we all agree, we can end the bloodshed and support the Libyan people,” he added.
For his part, during a telephone conversation on the subject, the German government leaders, Angela Merkel, and British, David Cameron, called for “severe sanctions” from the UN and the European Union against the regime of Gaddafi.
The Libyan regime appears increasingly isolated, after being abandoned by the Arab countries and several co-workers and diplomats, including the Libyan ambassador in Paris, Lisbon, Geneva, the UN and UNESCO, as well as the Dam Kadhaf, advisor and cousin of Kadhafi.
One protester pointing a gun at a poster of the Libyan leader.
Balance of violence :
It is difficult to determine the balance of the violence gripping the country. According to the deputy ambassador of the Libyan mission to the UN, Ibrahim Dabashi, who also defected, the dead number in the thousands, but others shuffle between 300 and over a thousand deaths.
Abroad criticized and attacked by an armed opposition, Kadhafi, speaking on Friday night in front of hundreds of supporters in downtown Tripoli.
“We will fight and win,” he said. “If necessary, we will open all the arsenals to arm all the people,” he threatened.
On Friday the pro-Qaddafi, deployed around mosques in the capital to prevent protests, fired on the demonstrators.
In the east of the city, at least two protesters were killed by the followers of Kadhafi in the neighborhood of Fachlum, according to a witness. Both in this area as in the Ben Achur, witnesses noticed “intense fire against those who (were) in the street.”
“Security forces opened fire indiscriminately on demonstrators. There are dead in the streets of Sug Al Joma, “said another resident.
Libyan television said, citing medical sources, however denied that there was killed in Tripoli.
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