Qaddafi forces resumed shelling of the rebel-held Libyan port of Misrata, as the besieged dictator went on TV both to offer a ceasefire and warn NATO against a ground invasion: “Either freedom or death. No surrender.”
A deadly Marrakesh bomb blast attributed to al-Qaeda came days after thousands of Moroccans marched nationwide to demand sweeping reforms before a new constitution is unveiled in June by King Mohammed VI.
After pulling back from besieged Misrata, Moammar Qaddafi’s forces have reportedly been pouring into Libya’s western Nafusah Mountain, surrounding and shelling villages of the Berber minority.
Forces loyal to Moammar Qaddafi reportedly retreated from the besieged western city of Misrataāas the US military confirmed the first strike by a Predator drone aircraft in Libya.
The US is sending $25 million in nonlethal aid to Libyan rebels to cover “vehicles, fuel trucks and fuel bladders, ambulances, medical equipment, protective vests, binoculars, and non-secure radios.”
A Tunisian court dropped charges against a police officer who incited protests in several Arab countries when she allegedly slapped a local fruit vendor who later set himself on fire in front of a governor’s office.
Foreign workers are desperately trying to flee the besieged Libyan city of Misrataābut they may be fleeing attacks by the rebels as well as Qaddafi’s forces. Qatar now acknowledges it is arming the rebel forces.
The Moroccan media are making much of a report in Italy’s Corriere della Sera that Western Sahara guerillas are fighting for Qaddafiāas well as claims from the Tripoli regime that they are fighting against Qaddafi!
Berber refugees from Libya’s remote Western Mountains report atrocities by Moammar Qaddafi’s forces, including the shelling of homes, poisoning wells with petrol, and threatening women with rape.
AlJazeera reports from a refugee camp in Tunisia, where African migrants who have fled Libya tell both of being expelled from the country by rebelsāand being press-ganged into Qaddafi’s military.
As NATO warplanes again bombed their ostensible rebel allies in Libya, Gen. Carter Ham, head of US Africa Command, broached sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force to back up the rebel army.
Reports are emerging of US and British military advisors arriving in Benghazi, as a Qaddafi spokesman said the regime is open to reformābut that “the leader has to lead this forward.”
