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Refugees, having fled from Libya, line up for breakfast Friday at the Choucha refugees camp near the Tunisian border at the Ras Jedir post. Libya's neighbors, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, mobilized to receive and repatriate a tide of refugees fleeing the unrest. Photo: AFP Libyan rebels made an appeal for weapons Friday as they sent fighters into battle against Muammar Gaddafi's advancing forces, as France and Britain called for targeted air strikes on the country, highlighting EU divisions over how to deal with the crisis. Rebels said fighting flared again in key eastern oil hub Ras Lanuf, the frontline in the uprising, after most of them were overwhelmed and driven out in a fierce battle Thursday after occupying it for a week. In the midst of a heavy-weapons duel, a warplane dropped bombs on a rebel checkpoint 10 kilometers east of the town and on a nearby oil refinery, but no casualties were reported. Earlier, rebels fired a salvo of at least 12 Katyushas from a multiple rocket launcher mounted on the back of a truck, and what rebels said were loyalist army shells and Grad rockets were heard exploding farther west. The appeal came as Western powers headed into crisis talks in Brussels on Friday, divided over how best to address the crisis in Libya, but agreed on one thing – that Gaddafi must relinquish power immediately. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said ahead of the EU summit that France and Britain favor targeted strikes in Libya in case Gaddafi uses chemical weapons or air strikes against his people. Sarkozy said Paris had "many reservations" on military or NATO intervention in Libya "because Arab revolutions belong to Arabs." But he and British Prime Minister David Cameron were "ready on condition that the UN wishes, that the Arab League accepts and the Libyan opposition agrees, for targeted actions if Mr Gaddafi uses chemical weapons or air strikes against peaceful citizens." Arab League foreign ministers were to meet Saturday to discuss ways to stop Gaddafi from bombing his own citizens. Two Tripoli envoys were excluded from the meeting. Britain and France have a draft resolution in hand to submit to the UN Security Council for an air-exclusion zone over the oil-rich country. But the council remains split on the issue, and even allies Germany and Italy have sounded words of warning. In two days of NATO defense ministers' talks that began Thursday, the alliance agreed to send more ships toward Libya's coast but delayed any decision on imposing a no-fly zone. Gaddafi threatened Europe on Friday with the withdrawal of Libyan support for the international war on terror and to prevent illegal migration, the official Jana news said. Christopher de Margerie, the head of Total, said Friday that unrest in Libya has almost wiped out production in its key oil sector, slashing output by 1.4 million barrels a day to under 300,000. Agencies |
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