Kadhafi shelling kills 11 in Misrata, most civilians: rebels (AFP)

BENGHAZI, Libya (AFP) – Shelling by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi killed 11 people and wounded another 57, almost all civilians, in the western rebel enclave of Misrata, insurgents said.

Earlier, the sources said five rebels were killed in fighting at the western entrance to the city, the sources said.

"Eleven people were killed and 57 wounded, almost all of them civilians," a rebel source told AFP by telephone from Misrata. 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Tripoli.

The news came as Paris said the rebels, increasingly confident on the ground, no longer need weapons drops from France, and as a senior Russian official reported that Moamer Kadhafi is conditionally ready to step down.

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

"There is emerging a political order distinct from that of Tripoli," French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet said. "The (rebel) territories are organising their autonomy... That is why the parachute drops are no longer necessary."

Last week, France said it supplied light arms including rifles and rocket launchers to the rebels for "self-defence" in line with a UN resolution and that it informed NATO and the Security Council of its plan to do so.

Russia criticised the arms drops, and France's NATO ally Britain expressed reservations.

UN Security Council Resolution 1970, passed in February, prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya. Resolution 1973 in March authorised nations "to take all necessary measures" to help protect civilians.

Longuet was cautious about the rebels' chances of defeating Kadhafi in a major offensive they have said they are preparing on Tripoli.

They have a "growing capacity to organise politically and militarily" but are "currently not in a stabilised, centralised system," he said.

On the diplomatic front, an unnamed senior Russian official was quoted on Tuesday as saying Kadhafi is ready to cede power in exchange for security guarantees.

"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 the country most willing to play a part by unfreezing some of the Kadhafi family's accounts and promising to help him avoid trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

On Monday, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim had said contacts between Tripoli and rebel-stronghold Benghazi were continuing across several cities in Europe in order to seek a reconciliation and avoid bloodshed.

The Kommersant report came a day after NATO's Rasmussen discussed Libya in Russia with President Dmitry Medvedev and South African President Jacob Zuma, fresh from an African Union summit that tried to forge a regional peace plan.

Russia has advocated the AU taking a leading role in negotiations to end the conflict, and Zuma, highly critical of NATO air raids, told Medvedev he hoped the alliance would better appreciate the AU's concerns.

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

But the rebels have thus far rejected the AU's settlement terms and Russia has also failed to convince Kadhafi to leave.

"There is absolutely no current or future possibility for Kadhafi to remain in Libya," said National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Mohammed Abdel Jalil.

"There is no escape clause for Kadhafi -- he must be removed from power and face justice," Jalil said in a statement.

In other developments, NTC foreign affairs point man Mahmud Jibril was to hold in Ankara on Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his United Arab Emirates counterpart, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, a senior Turkish diplomat said.

The talks are to prepare the ground for a meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya, scheduled for July 15-16 in Istanbul, the diplomat told AFP.

Also Tuesday, Davutoglu was to meet separately with the special UN envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, the Turkish diplomat said.

The increased diplomatic activity comes amid a toughening Turkish stance on Libya after Ankara's initial criticism of the Western air strikes.

On Sunday, Davutoglu visited Benghazi, recognised the NTC as "the legitimate representative of the Libyan people" and offered $200 million in aid.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is NATO's sole Muslim-majority member and an influential regional player, has called on Kadhafi to cede power and leave Libya.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen is to meet Libyan opposition members in Brussels next week, an alliance diplomat said Tuesday, their first invitation to NATO headquarters.

Speaking in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday, Rasmussen said "to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people, it is necessary that Kadhafi 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."

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Clinton urges Kadhafi to deliver democracy not threats (AFP)

TRIPOLI (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded on Saturday that Moamer Kadhafi deliver democracy instead of threats after the Libyan leader warned Europe of stinging attacks unless NATO halts its air war.

"Instead of issuing threats, Kadhafi should put the well-being and interests of his own people first and he should step down from power and help facilitate a democratic transition," Clinton said on a visit to NATO ally Spain, the latest leg of a European tour.

In a speech broadcast by loudspeaker to thousands of supporters in Tripoli's emblematic Green Square on Friday, the Libyan leader had warned that his loyalists could launch stinging attacks on Europe like "locusts and bees."

"The Libyan people are capable, one day, of taking the battle to Europe and the Mediterranean," Kadhafi said.

"They could attack your homes, your offices, your families could become legitimate military targets because you have transformed our offices, headquarters, homes and children into military targets which you say are legitimate," he said.

"If we decide to do so, we are capable of throwing ourselves on Europe like swarms of locusts or bees."

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez was asked at a news conference with Clinton about Kadhafi's threat, and vowed that NATO would keep up the pressure on the Libyan leader.

"We are working together to protect the Libyan people from the threats and violence that Kadhafi is employing against them. We will stay until we achieve our goals," she said.

Clinton said: "The NATO-led mission is on track and pressure on Kadhafi is mounting and the rebels have been gaining strength and momentum. We need to see this through."

Libyan state television, meanwhile, said NATO air strikes on Saturday had "destroyed infrastructure and claimed victims" in Al-Jafra, a desert region 600 kilometres (360 miles) south of Tripoli.

And some 300 children rallied in front of invited foreign media outside UN offices to condemn the air strikes.

Kadhafi's regime has earned notoriety over the four decades since he seized power in 1969, arming militant groups from Northern Ireland to the Philippines, and being held responsible for a string of bombings against Western targets, including in Europe.

The Libyan leader also urged his supporters to retrieve weapons that France supplied to rebels battling his regime from bases in an armed enclave in the strategic Nafusa Mountains, southwest of the capital.

"March on the jebel (mountains) and seize the weapons that the French have supplied," he said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday that this week's arms drop was meant only to defend peaceful civilians from Kadhafi's forces and thus fell in line with existing UN resolutions on the conflict.

"It is not a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions" under which France and other allies launched air strikes and imposed embargoes to protect civilians from Kadhafi, he said.

NATO said on Saturday that it had stepped up its air strikes against Kadhafi's forces on the front lines around the rebels' two enclaves in the mainly government-held west -- the Nafusa Mountains and Libya's third-largest city Misrata.

After a retreat from around the plains town of Bir al-Ghanam some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Tripoli, rebel spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said the rebel army would soon try to push the frontline northward.

"In the next two days the (revolutionaries) will come up with answers, things will change on the frontline," he said.

In the past four days in Gharyan, a government stronghold near the mountains, NATO aircraft struck eight targets including a military complex used to resupply Kadhafi troops, tanks and other military vehicles, the alliance said.

In its daily report for Friday, NATO said it had launched a total of 42 strike sorties over Libya, hitting two tanks near Gharyan and two armed vehicles near Bir al-Ghanam, also near the Nafusa.

In and around Tripoli, it said it had hit a military facility, three radars, two anti-aircraft guns, a missile launcher, four tanks, and a command and control vehicle.

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Warcrimes court issues Kadhafi arrest warrant (AFP)

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Judges at the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi for war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday, the 100th day of a NATO bombing campaign.

Britain, which has led the UN-mandated international effort to protect civilians from Kadhafi's forces, hailed the court's decision and said members of the Libyan regime should now abandon him.

Italy said the decision of the three-judge court, set up in 2002 to try war crimes, confirmed that Kadhafi had lost all "moral legitimacy" and could have "no role in the future of his country."

And French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the warrant "confirms that the question is not whether Kadhafi should leave power, but when he will leave power."

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had sought the warrants for Kadhafi, 69, his son Seif al-Islam, 39, and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, for murder and persecution since mid-February, when the bloody uprising started.

All three are charged over their roles in suppressing the revolt, in which civilians were murdered and persecuted by Libyan forces, particularly in Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata, the prosecutor said.

Thousands have so far died in the fighting, while around 650,000 others fled the country. Another 243,000 Libyans have been displaced internally, according to UN figures.

Moreno-Ocampo said on Sunday that the war crimes in Libya will not stop until Kadhafi is arrested.

"Crimes continue today in Libya. To stop the crimes and protect civilians in Libya, Kadhafi must be arrested."

The prosecutor will give his response to the decision on Tuesday.

The only other warrant issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state, for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in March 2009, has yet to be served. Bashir was due to begin a state visit to China later Monday.

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "These individuals are accused of crimes against humanity and should be held to account before judges in a criminal court," he said, calling on the Libyan government to cooperate with the investigation.

"Individuals throughout the regime should abandon Kadhafi."

And NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said arrest warrant shows that time is running out for the increasingly isolated Libyan leader.

"This decision once again highlights the increasing isolation of the Kadhafi regime," he said in a statement.

"It reinforces the reason for NATO's mission to protect the Libyan people from Kadhafi's forces. Kadhafi and his henchmen need to realise that time is rapidly running out for them," he added.

The head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, meanwhile told a news conference in the rebel capital of Benghazi that "justice had been done," while rebel justice minister Mohammed Al-Allagy told reporters outside the ICC: "We are going to arrest them."

Al-Allagy said: "First arrest them, we will decide afterwards where to prosecute them."

In his submission, Moreno-Ocampo said Kadhafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing "a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular."

"Kadhafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents," the submission said.

The Libyan strongman also ordered sniping at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers. His forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents, it said.

"Kadhafi's plans were carried out through his inner circle, which included Seif al-Islam, Kadhafi's de-facto prime minister and his brother-in-law Al-Senussi, considered to be his right-hand man," the submission said.

Moreno-Ocampo's investigation follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council on the Libyan conflict on February 26. The prosecutor's office launched its investigation five days later. On May 16, Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for the warrants.

The ICC is the world's only permanent, treaty-based court set up to try those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the accused's own country cannot or will not do so.

NATO meanwhile said it was hitting around 50 targets a day and that its "Operation Unified Protector" was approaching its 5,000th strike sortie.

The air strikes appear to have helped the rebels launch an offensive of their own against Kadhafi's forces. However, only in Nafusa does the rebel army of ill-equipped irregulars and defectors appear to be making any sustained progress.

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Kadhafi to stay out of Libya peace talks: AU panel (AFP)

PRETORIA (AFP) – African leaders welcomed Sunday Moamer Kadhafi's decision to stay out of negotiations to end Libya's four-month conflict, as battles raged between the regime and rebels near Tripoli.

Multiple rocket and heavy machine gunfire was heard on the plains below the rebel enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli. Rebel commanders said the fighting centered on Bir al-Ghanam, a strategic point on the road to the Libyan capital.

Meanwhile, the African Union panel on Libya said after four hours of talks in the South African capital Pretoria that Kadhafi would not participate in peace talks, in what appeared to be a concession.

The panel "welcomes Colonel Kadhafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiations process," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said, reading out the communique without elaborating.

Rumours have been rife in recent days that the Libyan leader may consider leaving Tripoli and that rebels could accept his internal exile to a remote location.

But Kadhafi's government spokesman said Sunday he has no intention of leaving power or Libya.

"Kadhafi is here. He is staying. He is leading the country. He will not leave. He will not step down because he does not have any official position," Mussa Ibrahim said.

"We will not give in to some criminal gangs who took our cities hostage. We will not give in to the criminal organisation of NATO. Every one continues to fight. We are ready to fight street to street, house to house," he added.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), said on Saturday intermediaries had indicated that a proposal from Kadhafi was in the works, offering a faint glimmer of hope for a deal to end the bloodshed.

"We expect to get an offer very soon; he is unable to breathe," said Ghoga.

"We want to preserve life, so we want to end the war as soon as possible," he added. "We have always left him some room for an exit."

It was not immediately clear if the AU announcement was the awaited offer. The rest of the AU panel's communique reiterated the group's call for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations toward a democratic solution.

The communique was far softer than South African President Jacob Zuma's opening remarks, when he again warned NATO against overstepping the mandate of the UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

"The intention was not to authorise a campaign for regime change or political assassination," he said behind closed doors, according to a text of the speech.

Zuma urged both Kadhafi and the rebel NTC to make compromises to reach a deal in the face of a conflict that was degenerating into a protracted and bloody deadlock.

"On the ground, there is a military stalemate which cannot and must not be allowed to drag on and on -- both because of its horrendous cost in civilian lives and the potential it has to destabilise the entire sub-region," he said.

The AU has been leading mediation efforts in Libya with the blessing of other key players including Russia.

Kadhafi is a long-time backer of the AU and a forceful advocate for stronger continental integration. He held the pan-African body's rotating chair in 2009 and has twice held talks with members of the panel.

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Kadhafi 'may leave' bombed capital, Obama rebuked (AFP)

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Moamer Kadhafi is reportedly mulling leaving Tripoli after blistering NATO air raids, as the rebels hinted they may let him stay in Libya if he quits and US lawmakers rebuked US President Barack Obama.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a senior US national security official as saying American intelligence shows Kadhafi "doesn't feel safe anymore" in the capital where he has ruled for more than four decades.

However, officials told the paper they did not see the move as imminent and did not believe Kadhafi would leave Libya, a key demand of rebels battling his forces.

Kadhafi is believed to have numerous safe houses and other facilities both within and outside Tripoli where he could go.

In Washington, the House of Representatives on Friday rejected a resolution authorising US military action in Libya, in a symbolic but scathing rebuke to Obama.

Lawmakers voted 123-295 to defeat the measure and moved to take up a companion resolution aimed at sharply reducing the US role in the NATO-led, UN-mandated operations against Kadhafi's forces.

"We are disappointed by that vote. We think that now is not the time to send the kind of mixed message that it sends," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Rebel spokesman Mahmud Shamam told French daily Le Figaro the insurgents were in indirect contact with the Kadhafi regime and may be prepared to allow him to stay in the country, but that he and his family must agree to leave power.

"Our conditions remain the same. It is totally excluded that Kadhafi or members of his family take part in a future government. We are discussing with them the mechanism for Kadhafi's departure," he said.

In the rebel capital Benghazi, however, National Transitional Council deputy chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told AFP: "There is no contact, direct or indirect, with the Kadhafi regime."

Another rebel leader, Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, on Thursday pleaded for foreign allies to provide the equipment needed to defeat Kadhafi.

Bani said the rebels were up against vastly superior firepower. Much of their arsenal comprises Soviet-era tanks and artillery up to 50 years old.

The mostly volunteer force has, with the help of NATO air strikes, kept Kadhafi's forces at bay on several fronts, but has made limited progress toward Tripoli -- allowing loyalist forces to dig in.

Rights group Amnesty International said on Friday Kadhafi's forces were using rockets packed with ball bearings to bombard civilians in rebel-held Misrata in the west.

At least three civilians -- two women and a 14-year-old boy -- were killed recently when Grad rockets hit a residential neighbourhood of the port city, it said in a statement.

"These rockets are indiscriminate weapons which cannot be directed at a particular target and their use may amount to war crimes," Amnesty said.

A senior US commander, meanwhile, said that NATO and Libya's African allies had not adequately planned for the aftermath of Kadhafi's possible fall.

"We, the international community, could be in post-conflict Libya tomorrow and there isn't a plan, there is not a good plan," the senior US commander in Africa, General Carter Ham, told the Wall Street Journal.

He predicted that Kadhafi could fall quickly, and said there may be a need for substantial ground forces in Libya to preserve order.

Despite the intensive NATO bombing, stalemate on the battlefield and a wave of defections of regime officials and soldiers, Kadhafi remains defiant.

"We will resist and the battle will continue to the beyond, until you're wiped out. But we will not be finished," he said in an audio message on Wednesday.

Around 300 people, including 51 freed detainees, arrived in Benghazi on Friday aboard the Ionis, chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross, after a 22-hour journey from Tripoli, an AFP correspondent said.

Families who had been separated for weeks were reunited.

The ICRC said the arrival of the group was part of a broader exchange negotiated between Libya's two warring factions.

The 28-member International Energy Agency said on Thursday that 60 million barrels of oil would be taken from reserves over the next month to cover lost Libyan output.

World oil prices sank on Friday, extending Thursday's plunge after the IEA decision.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in August, eased ten cents to $90.92 a barrel after plummeting $4.39 or 4.6 percent on Thursday.

In London afternoon trade on Friday, Brent North Sea crude for August fell $1.31 to $105.95, one day after plunging by $6.95, or 6.0 percent in value.

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