Turkey working with both sides to gain Libya cease-fire

Turkey has confirmed that even as rebel forces advance on Sirte it has been working with the Libyan government and the opposition to set up a cease-fire.

“We are one of the very few countries that are speaking to both sides,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said his country will take over the running of the airport in Benghazi to aid the transport of humanitarian supplies to Libya.

It comes as rebel forces close in on Muammar Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte, the gateway to the western half of the country, today after it was targeted for the first time by international air strikes.

Celebratory gunfire broke out in the early hours of the morning in the rebel city of Benghazi amid rumours that Sirte had already fallen without a fight.

Witnesses in the city said bombing could be heard at around 6.30am local time but there was no fighting in the streets or signs of rebel forces.

Libya’s rebels have recovered hundreds of miles of flat, uninhabited territory, including two key oil installations, at record speeds after Colonel Gaddafi’s forces were forced to pull back by international air strikes.

A heavy bombardment of Tripoli also began late yesterday, with at least nine loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire heard, an Associated Press reporter in the city said.

Earlier in the day, rebels regained two key oil complexes along the coastal highway and promised to quickly restart Libya’s stalled oil exports, prompting a slight drop in the soaring price of crude oil to around 105 a barrel.

Moving quickly westward, the advance retraced their steps in the first rebel march toward the capital. But this time, the world’s most powerful air forces have eased the way by pounding Col Gaddafi’s military assets for the past week.

Sirte is strategically located about halfway between the rebel-held east and the Gaddafi-controlled west along the Mediterranean coast. It is a bastion of support for Col Gaddafi and was expected to be difficult for rebels to take.

If the city has fallen, it would mark a major victory for the rebels and leave the way open to Tripoli and Misrata, the sole rebel outpost remaining in the west of the country.

In Misrata, residents reported fighting between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists who fired from tanks on residential areas.

Misrata is one of two cities in western Libya which have risen against the regime and suffered brutal crackdowns. It is located between Tripoli and Sirte on the coastal road.

Now that the rebels have regained control of two key oil ports, they are making tentative plans to exploit Libya's most valuable natural resource. But production is at a trickle, the foreign oil workers and their vital expertise have fled the country, and even talk of a marketing deal with Qatar seems murky at best.

The coastal complexes at Ras Lanouf and Brega were responsible for a large chunk of Libya’s 1.5 million barrels of daily exports, which have all but stopped since the uprising which began on February 15 and was inspired by the toppling of governments in Tunisia and Egypt.

The agreement with the tiny Gulf nation of Qatar could allow the rebels to exploit Libya’s vast oil reserves – most of which are in the eastern territory they control. With no ships coming or going, Libya’s tanks are full to the brim. Until they are emptied, there is nowhere to store any oil that is pumped from the ground.

Eastern oil officials said more than a week ago that they were still producing about 100,000 barrels per day from two key fields. But it was unclear whether such levels were sustainable given the security problems across the country and the exodus of foreign workers from the vital sector.

The rebel turnaround is a boost for US President Barack Obama, who has faced complaints from politicians from both parties that he has not sought their input about the US role in the conflict or explained with enough clarity about the American goals and exit strategy.

Pentagon officials are looking at plans to expand the firepower and airborne surveillance systems in the military campaign, including using the Air Force’s AC-130 gunship armed with cannons that shoot from the side doors, as well as helicopters and drones.