• by Correspondents* - IPS/Al Jazeera (doha, qatar)
• Wednesday, July 06, 2011
• Inter Press Service

At least 11 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in shelling by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, around the besieged rebel enclave of Misurata, the rebels say.

'Eleven people were killed and 57 wounded, almost all of them civilians,' a rebel source told the AFP news agency by telephone from Misurata, 200km east of Tripoli, on Tuesday.

The attacks marked another bloody milestone for a city that has been shelled almost continuously since March.

Sources said five rebels were killed in fighting at the western entrance to the city earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Gerard Longuet, France's defence minister, questioned the rebels' chances of defeating Gaddafi and pushing towards the capital.

The expression of doubt came as reports emerged that the rebels had launched what they called a promised attack on a key gateway to the capital Tripoli. There was no independent verification on the rebels' claim.

Curbing support

The rebels have a 'growing capacity to organise politically and militarily' but are 'currently not in a stabilised, centralised system', Longuet said.

He also said that the rebels were no longer in need of controversial French weapons drops.

'There is emerging a political order distinct from that of Tripoli. The [rebel] territories are organising their autonomy... That is why the parachute drops are no longer necessary,' he said.

Across the Gulf of Sirte, on the eastern front line, a rebel representative said nine Gaddafi soldiers were captured between Ajdabiya and Brega.

Amid the uneasy military stalemate, diplomatic talks continued about a possible negotiated solution to the conflict, although no proposal appears to have gained much traction yet.

An unnamed senior Russian official was quoted on Tuesday as saying Gaddafi would consider stepping down - an offer that, if realised, would meet the rebels' central demand.

'The colonel is sending signals that he is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees,' the respected business daily Kommersant quoted the official as saying.

The Russian source added that France appeared to be the country most willing to play a part, by unfreezing some of the Gaddafi family's accounts and promising to help him avoid trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

'No escape'

The rebels have thus far rejected any deal that would leave Gaddafi in power.

'There is no escape clause for Gaddafi - he must be removed from power and face justice,' Mustafa Mohammed Abdel Jalil, Transitional National Council (TNC) chief, said earlier this week.

Meanwhile, preparations were underway for an international meeting on Libya in Istanbul on Jul. 15-16. TNC foreign affairs point man Mahmud Jibril held talks with his Turkish and UAE counterparts on Tuesday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, whose country is NATO's sole Muslim-majority member and an influential regional player, has called on Gaddafi to cede power and leave Libya.

The Jul. 15-16 meeting comes as diplomats increasingly mull what post-Gaddafi Libya might look like, with many hoping to avoid Iraq or Afghanistan-style chaos.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO chief, said on Tuesday that the alliance would like to see the United Nations assume the leading role in Libya's transition to democracy in the event Gaddafi leaves power.

Speaking in Russia's second-largest city, Saint Petersburg, Rasmussen said, 'To accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people, it is necessary that Gaddafi leaves power.'

'After that, it is necessary to ensure a transition to democracy... We want the United Nations to take the lead in this effort,' he said.

One of the new elements in the road map agreed by the African Union on Friday includes provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

Rasmussen is to meet Libyan opposition members in Brussels next week, an alliance diplomat said Tuesday, the anti-Gaddafi contingent's first invitation to NATO headquarters.

*Published under an agreement with Al-Jazeera.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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