Libyan army advances as no-fly efforts falter

MUAMMAR GADDAFI’S forces bombarded Libya’s third largest city with artillery fire and advanced on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi as diplomatic steps to prevent him quelling a revolt ran aground.

In Geneva, former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner berated the international community for its delay in imposing a no-fly zone on Libya, saying it was already too late to save lives.

“A no-fly zone is a minimum. It’s certainly already too late,” Mr Kouchner said of the crackdown on the revolt, an increasingly vulnerable-looking uprising inspired by pro-democracy rebellions that toppled the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents.

“We’ve known for three weeks that the poor civil society, the poor people, are dying. And we are doing nothing.”

In Benghazi, seat of the insurgents’ provisional national council, the mood was a mixture of defiance and nervousness, with some citizens predicting a bloodbath and others confident the rebels would still snatch victory.

Italy, a potential base for a no-fly zone proposed by Britain and France, ruled out military intervention in the oil-exporting north African country.

“We cannot have war, the international community should not, does not want and cannot do it,” foreign minister Franco Frattini said in Rome.

A newspaper in Benghazi reported a Russian-made MiG-36 aircraft, operated by the rebels, had bombed the airport at Al Kardabiya near Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte.

The Brnieq newspaper said the bombing raid was in retaliation for an attack by warplanes on Benghazi’s airport.

Libya’s Jana state news agency quoted the director of Sirte airport as saying the report was “false and unfounded”.

Both the rebel administration and the government in Tripoli have in the past few days put out information about military gains which later turned out to be untrue.

But the rebels’ position looked highly vulnerable after the government said its troops took control of the junction at Ajdabiyah, opening the way to Benghazi.

The Libyan army told residents of Benghazi to lay down their arms, and one of Gaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Islam, said that Libya’s second-largest city would fall whether or not there was a no-fly zone.

“Everything will be over in 48 hours,” he said.

Saif, once seen as Libya’s Western-friendly face, lashed out at French President Nicolas Sarkozy for being the first foreign leader to condemn Gaddafi and back the rebel Libyan National Council, calling him a “clown”.

He said Libya had contributed to Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign financing and demanded he return the money.

Mr Sarkozy’s office denied that he had accepted any funding from Libya.

Libyan state television called on all loyalist forces in the east to join the government advance toward Benghazi.

Aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières said the violence had forced it to withdraw its staff from Benghazi and begin moving teams to Alexandria in Egypt.

Residents in Misrata, the country’s third-largest city, 200km east of Gaddafi’s stronghold, Tripoli, said his forces attacked the rebel-held city with tanks and artillery.

The shelling killed at least five people and wounded 11, a doctor at Misrata hospital said by telephone.

“Very heavy bombardments are taking place now from three sides. They are using heavy weapons including tanks and artillery... They have yet to enter the town,” said one resident..

Foreign powers have condemned Gaddafi’s crackdown but show little appetite for action to support the revolt.

A Gaddafi victory and the suppression of protests in Bahrain could turn the tide in the region against the pro-democracy movements.

A meeting of Group of Eight (G8) foreign ministers in Paris this week has failed to get the agreement France was hoping for to support a no-fly zone being imposed over Libya, an issue that has also divided the UN Security Council.