Libya rebels prepare for offensive

Hundreds of armed anti-government forces backed by military defectors who control the city closest to the capital Tripoli today prepared to repel an expected offensive by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi surrounding Zawiya.

Two prominent US senators said Washington should recognise and arm a provisional government in rebel-held areas of eastern Libya and impose a no-fly zone over the area - enforced by US warplanes - to stop attacks by the regime.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed President Barack Obama's demand for Gaddafi to relinquish power.

"We want him to leave," she told reporters travelling with her today to a UN meeting on Libya planned for tomorrow.

"We want him to end his regime and call off the mercenaries and forces loyal to him. How he manages that is up to him."

Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, claimed again that the country was calm and denied the regime used force or airstrikes against its own people.

But human rights groups and European officials have put the death toll since unrest began in Libya nearly two weeks ago at hundreds, or perhaps thousands, though it has been virtually impossible to verify the numbers.

There were no reports of violence or clashes today.

Gaddafi has launched by far the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of anti-regime uprisings sweeping the Arab world. The United States, Britain and the UN Security Council all imposed sanctions on Libya over the weekend. And President Barack Obama said it is time for Gaddafi to go.

The regime, eager to show foreign reporters that the country is calm and under their control, took visiting journalists to Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli today.

However, the tour confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the centre of the city of 200,000. They have army tanks and anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks deployed.

On the outskirts of the city, they are surrounded by pro-Gaddafi forces, also backed by tanks and anti-aircraft guns.

There were at least six checkpoints controlled by troops loyal to Gaddafi on the road from Tripoli to Zawiya. Each checkpoint was reinforced by at least one tank, and the troops concealed their faces with scarves.

"To us, Gaddafi is the Dracula of Libya," said Wael al-Oraibi, an army officer at Zawiya who joined the rebels. He said his decision to defect was prompted in large part by the Libyan leader's use of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa against the people of Zawiya.

A key city close to an oil port and refineries, Zawiya is the nearest population centre to Tripoli to fall into the opposition hands.

Police stations and government offices inside the city have been torched and anti-Gaddafi graffiti was everywhere. Many buildings are pockmarked by bullets.

The mood in the city was generally upbeat, but the anticipation of a renewed attempt to retake the city was causing some anxiety among the rebels.

Meanwhile, cities in eastern Libya under the control of rebels have appointed a former minister to lead a provisional government, officials in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city in the east, said today.

But a spokesman for the new government, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, denied that former justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil was named its leader.