Gadhafi forces fight back, China recognizes interim Libyan gov’t

Moammar Gadhafi. AP FILE PHOTO

BENGHAZI – A defiant Moammar Gadhafi has vowed to fight until victory as his forces launched surprise fightbacks on three fronts Monday.

China, which opposed the NATO campaign backing the anti-Gadhafi forces, finally recognized Libya’s interim government, but the new regime earned a rebuke from Amnesty which said its fighters had also committed war crimes.

The ferocious counterattacks by the pro-Gadhafi forces were on a Ras Lanuf oil refinery, near Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte, and at Bani Walid near the capital Tripoli.

“It is not possible to give Libya to the colonists again,” Gadhafi said in a statement read out on Syria-based Arrai Oruba television.

“All that remains for us is the struggle until victory and the defeat of the coup,” added the former leader who has gone underground since being ousted from Tripoli late last month.

Libya’s new interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil received a hero’s welcome when he made a public speech in the capital’s main square Monday.

Thousands celebrated the fall of the Gadhafi regime in Martyrs’ Square, two days after Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), arrived in Tripoli from Benghazi in the east.

Moderate Islam would be the main source of legislation in post-Gadhafi Libya, he told the crowd.

“We will not accept any extremist ideology, on the right or the left. We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and we will stay on this road,” he said.

In a new report released Tuesday, Amnesty International accused Gadhafi’s regime of crimes against humanity but also said NTC fighters had committed war crimes.

While the London-based rights group’s consisted mainly of damning examples of violations by Gadhafi’s regime, it said the NTC appeared unwilling to hold its fighters accountable for human rights violations.

“Opposition fighters and supporters have abducted, arbitrarily detained, tortured and killed former members of the security forces, suspected Gadhafi loyalists, captured soldiers and foreign nationals wrongly suspected of being mercenaries fighting on behalf of Gadhafi forces,” Amnesty said.

On the diplomatic front, China which had opposed the NATO air strikes, formally recognised the NTC as Libya’s government after weeks of holding back.

“China respects the choice of the Libyan people and attaches great importance to the status and role of the NTC, and has kept in close contact with it,” the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu as saying.

Washington also announced it had sent an advance team to help its officials reopen the US embassy in Tripoli.

NATO in its latest update said warplanes had hit 13 targets in and around Sirte, four around Waddan and one near Sabha.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the strikes would continue until the threat to civilians had been eliminated.

But forces loyal to the fugitive Gadhafi sprang a surprise deep behind enemy lines, killing at least 12 NTC soldiers in a raid on the refinery near Ras Lanuf on the central coast, an NTC military spokesman told AFP.

The oil infrastructure along the Mediterranean coast between Sidra and Brega was a key battleground of the seven-month uprising against Gadhafi, as the mainly rebel-held east and mainly government-held west fought it out.

But since Tripoli’s fall, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometres (miles) west towards Sirte, which remains in Gadhafi’s hand, moving to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which its post-war reconstruction plans depend.

Southeast of Tripoli, civilians poured out of the desert town of Bani Walid after intense fighting Sunday between Gadhafi loyalists and troops of the new regime who have encircled it.

But those fleeing said many more remained trapped inside the oasis town, 180 kilometres (110 miles) from the capital, for want of fuel for their vehicles.

“Families are scared to death by this war,” said Mohammed Suleiman as he passed through a checkpoint with 10 relatives crammed into the back of his white BMW.

West of Sirte, an NTC commander said his forces had met strong resistance as they advanced on it Sunday to a place called “Checkpoint 50” – 50 kilometers from the town.

“We came under fire from a lot of Grads [rockets],” said field commander Umran al-Awaib.

The unexpected counter-offensive by Gadhafi loyalists came despite the flight to neighbouring Niger of 32 members of his inner circle during the past 10 days.

“A total of 32 people are now here, including one of [Gadhafi’s] sons, Saadi, as well as three generals,” Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said.

They crossed the border in four separate groups and had been taken in for “humanitarian reasons”, he added.

The most recent arrivals included Saadi, the third of Kadhafi’s seven sons, who has a reputation as a playboy; and eight of the fallen despot’s other close associates, Rafini added.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Niger was preparing to detain Saadi.

“We have confirmed with the government of Niger that Saadi crossed over, that they are either in the process or have already brought him to the capital of Niamey and intend to detain him,” she said.

Moammar Gadhafi, his most prominent son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi are all wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

But Rafini said that “as far as we are aware, none of the 32 in Niger is being sought on an arrest warrant or being pursued by international justice.”