Libya’s Gaddafi Defiant, Rebels Claim They Make Gains

Local Editor

At the time Libyan rebels claimed they edged closer to Tripoli, stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi, the embattled leader said the “end of rats and colonizer” was close, referring to rebels and NATO. "We now have full control" of the 15 kilometer) stretch of road between the coastal cities of Sorman and Zawiyah, spokesman for the rebels' western military council, Abdulsalam Othman, said. However, he added that the battle for Zawiyah, 40 kilometers west of Tripoli, was still raging. "All the entrance gates (of Sorman and Garyan) are under the control" of the rebels, he said, but admitted the "presence of an unknown number" of Gaddafi snipers in some residential areas. The advance on Sorman, about 60 kilometers west of Tripoli, started at dawn on Sunday, Othman said. The spokesman also said that the advances meant that Tripoli's supply lines from Tunisia were severed. “END OF RATS, COLONIZER CLOSE” Libyan state television early on Monday broadcast what it said was a live speech by Gaddafi calling on the Libyan people to arm themselves to liberate the country from "traitors and from NATO." "The end of the colonizer is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them," Gaddafi declared in an audio message. "The colonizer and its agents can now only resort to lies and psychological warfare after all the wars with all the weapons have failed," the defiant leader said as rumors circulated on Twitter and other media about his imminent departure into exile. CLOSED DOORS MEETING BETWEEN REGIME, REBELS:SOURCE Meanwhile, Reuters news agency reported on Monday that rebels and representatives of Gaddafi’s government held negotiations late on Sunday in a hotel in southern Tunisia. The news agency quoted a source with direct knowledge of the talks as saying talks were being conducted behind closed doors at a hotel on the Tunisian island of Djerba near the border with Libya. "Representatives of the rebels and Gaddafi representatives are having a meeting now," said the source.

Source: Agencies

Libyan rebels' discord eroding NATO support?

"... The increase in discord and factionalism is undermining the effort to overthrow Colonel Qaddafi, ... The infighting could also erode support for the rebels among members of the NATO alliance, which faces a September deadline for renewing its air campaign amid growing unease about the war’s costs and direction...

While the rebels have sought to maintain a clean image and to portray themselves as fighting to establish a secular democracy, several recent acts of revenge have cast their ranks in a less favorable light. They have also raised the possibility that any rebel victory over Colonel Qaddafi could disintegrate into the sort of tribal tensions that have plagued Libya for centuries. In recent weeks, rebel fighters in Libya’s western mountains and around the coastal city of Misurata have lashed out at civilians because their tribes supported Colonel Qaddafi, looting mountain villages...

The rebels’ Western backers have become alarmed at the growing rift between supporters of a group of rebels who have coalesced into a relatively unified army and the others who effectively remain a civilian band of militia fighters...

In an interview, Jeffrey D. Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said that concerns about the rebels might be overblown..."

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