A leader of the uprising against Gadhafi’s 41-year-old rule said he would reject any proposal for talks with Gadhafi to end the conflict in the world’s 12th largest oil exporting nation.
Witnesses said a warplane bombed the eastern oil terminal town of Brega, a day after troops loyal to Gadhafi launched a ground and air attack on the town that was repulsed by rebels spearheading a popular revolt against his four-decade-old rule.
The rebels, armed with rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns and tanks, called on Wednesday for UN-backed air strikes on foreign mercenaries it said were fighting for Gadhafi.
Rebels called on Thursday for a no-fly zone, echoing a demand by Libya’s deputy UN envoy, who now opposes Gadhafi.
“Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes,” shouted soldier-turned-rebel Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then US President George Bush.
But perhaps mindful of a warning by Gadhafi that foreign intervention could cause “another Vietnam”, Western officials expressed caution about any sort of military involvement including the imposition of a no-fly zone.
A rebel officer said government air strikes targeted the airport of Brega and a rebel position in the nearby town of Ajdabiyah, referring to two rebel-held locations.
Opposition soldiers also said troops loyal to Gadhafi had been pushed back to Ras Lanuf, home to another major oil terminal and 600 km east of Tripoli.
“Gadhafi’s forces are in Ras Lanuf,” Mohammed al-Maghrabi, a rebel volunteer, told Reuters, echoing comments by others.
In an angry scene at al-Ugayla, east of Ras Lanuf, a rebel shouted inches from the face of a captured young African and alleged mercenary: “You were carrying guns, yes or no? You were with Gadhafi’s brigades yes or no?”
The silent youth was shoved onto his knees into the dirt. A man held a pistol close to the boy’s face before a reporter protested and told the man that the rebels were not judges.
The uprising, the bloodiest yet against long-serving rulers in West Asia and North Africa, is causing a humanitarian crisis, especially on the Tunisian border where tens of thousands of foreign workers have fled to safety.
Revolt has torn through the OPEC-member country and knocked out nearly 50 per cent of its 1.6 million barrels per day output, the bedrock of the country’s economy. As the struggle between Gaddafi loyalists and rebels who have taken swathes of Libya intensified, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said a peace plan for Libya from Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez was under consideration. “We have been informed of President Chavez’s plan but it is still under consideration,” Moussa told Reuters on Thursday. “We consulted several leaders on Wednesday,” he said. Moussa said he had not agreed to the plan and did not know whether Gadhafi had accepted it.
Oil fell on news of the plan. Brent crude fell more than $3 to $113.09 per barrel as investors eyed a possible deal brokered by Chavez, a close friend of Gadhafi.
Al Jazeera news said Chavez’s plan would involve a commission from Latin America, Europe and West Asia trying to reach a negotiated outcome between the Libyan leader and rebel forces.
The network said the chairman of the rebels’ National Libyan Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, rejected any talks with Gadhafi.