Print version Email to a friend

Rebels mass outside Gaddafi hometown

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:56 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Rebels closing on Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown

* Fighters prepare for battle if talks fail

* Negotiations facing complications (Recasts, adds details)

By Maria Golovnina

ABU GREIN, Libya, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Thousands of rebel fighters in brightly painted pick-up trucks massed west of Muammar Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on Monday, preparing for what could be the last major battle for control of Libya's coast.

Fighters tested their cannons in the desert and cleaned their weapons at the main defence line, about 180 kilometers (110 miles) from Sirte along the dusty coastal highway. Rebel forces were also gathering to the east.

"The Libyans in Sirte don't want to fight, but there are senior Gaddafi people there who are in control," said Abdul Rahman Omar, a 27-year-old fighter from Misrata. "We don't want any more blood."

After streaming into Tripoli and rampaging through Gaddafi's compound in the capital last week, rebels seeking to bring a definitive end to Gaddafi's 42-year rule see Sirte as the last of his strongholds along the heavily populated coast.

After Sirte, rebels say they will turn their attention to Libya's southern desert town of Sabha.

Senior rebel commanders said they had 4,000 fighters on the western front with Sirte and that they estimated that they would come up against about 1,000 pro-Gaddafi soldiers if negotiations for the town's surrender fail.

"We are giving talks some time," said Mohammed Salim, a rebel captain. "We are ready to attack and to fight anytime. If they refuse (to surrender) there will be a big battle."

TALKS STALL

Gaddafi forces in Sirte are urging people to fight or be killed by the attackers, complicating efforts to arrange a peaceful surrender of the city, opponents of Gaddafi said on Monday.

"I can't say there's any real progress because we have difficulty with the regime people from Tripoli," said Hassan Droy, the National Transitional Council (NTC) representative for Sirte, who is based in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"They're trying to tell the people that the battle is no longer for Gaddafi but to protect themselves," he told Reuters.

Three days ago a message from Gaddafi was broadcast in Sirte, urging people to fight to save themselves, he said. Gaddafi's own whereabouts are unknown.

Another spokesman, Mohammad Zawawi, said Gaddafi loyalists were telling people that the rebels wanted to kill them.

"But we are sending a clear message that our troops won't kill anyone."

That message had been passed via satellite telephone to rebel sympathisers in Sirte, who were spreading it, he said.

Rebel fighters painted their pick-up trucks in bright red and yellow in an effort to help NATO warplanes, which have been striking Gaddafi military infrastructure, distinguish them from Gaddafi's vehicles.

Many of the trucks had the letter N for NATO, or F for friend painted on the roof.

A rebel convoy from the west had earlier in the day advanced about 50 km to the outpost town of Abu Grein, where the green flags of the Gaddafi government flapped in the wind from most buildings. But they turned back after a crowd of locals believed to be Gaddafi supporters gathered nearby.

Sirte, which Gaddafi's largesse developed from a small village to a city of 100,000 people, is the ousted leader's last bastion on the coast, where most of Libya's six million people live. Many of the city's residents belong to his Gaddafa tribe.

To the east of Sirte, rebels had reached the town of Nawfaliyah about 100 km (60 miles) away, and said they were facing only mild resistance from Gaddafi forces.

"There are some light clashes. They (Gaddafi soldiers) don't have ammunition. Their morale is low," said Senussi Mabrook, a rebel fighter. "God willing, the people of Sirte will liberate the city. We will wait two, three or four days. There is no problem. We have NATO up above."

NTC spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said most people in Sirte were against Gaddafi.

"But it's the minority of Gaddafi loyalists who have the weapons," he said. "They're using all kinds of scare tactics but it's a losing strategy."

Abdulmolah said NTC forces had heard that about 45 Gaddafi soldiers and officers had been executed in Sirte after refusing to fight for what they saw as a lost cause. There was no independent confirmation.

NATO aircraft have been bombing military positions and ammunition dumps of pro-Gaddafi forces in Sirte. On Monday, the roar of warplanes could be heard near Abu Grein but there was no evidence of renewed strikes.

Anti-Gaddafi forces say time is on their side and there is no deadline for the defenders to give up, adding that the city is without power and is running short of food and medicine.

Abdulmolah said: "It's a waiting game in favour of the liberating forces." (Additional reporting by Alex Dziadosz in Nawfaliyah and Robert Birsel in Benghazi; Editing by Giles Elgood, Richard Valdmanis and Alistair Lyon)