Showing posts with label rebels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rebels. Show all posts

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Rebels appeal for Gaddafi capture

25 August 2011 Last updated at 04:34 GMT The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes came under fire as fighting continued in Gaddafi's compound

Libyan rebels have announced an amnesty for anyone within Col Muammar Gaddafi's "inner circle" who captures or kills him, and a $1.7m (£1m) reward.

Col Gaddafi's whereabouts are unknown, though rebels have said they think he is still in or around Tripoli.

Rebels fighters have fought running battles in the capital, where pockets of pro-Gaddafi resistance remain.

The fugitive leader has vowed in an audio message to fight until victory or martyrdom.

His sprawling Bab al-Aziziya compound was overrun on Tuesday, though firefights within the complex have continued.

Col Gaddafi's forces are still firmly in control of his birthplace - the strategic coastal city of Sirte - as well as several key bases in southern Libya.

'Huge incentive'

The head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, announced the amnesty offer from the eastern city of Benghazi.

"Gaddafi's forces and his accomplices will not stop resisting until Gaddafi is caught or killed," he said.

Continue reading the main story
Libyan rebels as well as Nato officials will be hoping that the hunt for Col Muammar Gaddafi does not turn into a protracted affair. ”

End Quote Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News He added that the NTC supported an offer by a group of businessmen to pay $1.7m for Col Gaddafi, "dead or alive".

Rebel spokesman Guma el-Gamaty told the BBC that those around Col Gaddafi were "heavily implicated with him in crimes against humanity and crimes against the Libyan people".

"Now there is a huge psychological incentive for them. If they don't want to go down with him and save their skin, they will be immune from prosecution if they hand him over or kill him," he said.

The rebel leadership have also offered Col Gaddafi safe passage out of the country, if he renounces his leadership.

Mr Gamaty said such a possibility was remote.

"I think [Col Gaddafi] would rather die or be captured than do that," he said.

'Tactical move'

Despite thousands of rebel fighters overrunning Col Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli on Tuesday, they were still meeting fierce resistance from well-armed loyalists a day later.

Rebel spokesman Guma el-Gamaty explains the amnesty for anyone who captures or kills Col Gaddafi

Col Gaddafi is also believed to retain a strong following in two other cities - Sirte, his hometown 450km (280 miles) to the east of the capital, and Sabha, 650km to the south in the desert.

A rebel spokesman told the BBC that negotiations were going on with local leaders in both locations seeking a peaceful end to the conflict.

The NTC estimates that about 400 people have been killed and thousands injured in the battle for Tripoli since Sunday.

Earlier, Col Gaddafi said in an audio message that his decision to leave his Bab al-Aziziya compound was a "tactical" move.

He said he had "been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen".

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi told the UK's Channel 4 News that it appeared Col Gaddafi had exhausted all his options, including fleeing abroad, and that his rule "was over".

And the deputy head of Libyan intelligence, Gen Khalifa Mohammed Ali, declared his allegiance to the rebels in an interview with Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV channel.

Meanwhile, the head of the NTC's cabinet, Mahmoud Jibril, said it was seeking $2.5bn in immediate aid.

Its immediate priority is to pay employees' salaries and cover humanitarian costs, though in the longer term, money will be needed to repair Libya's oil infrastructure, correspondents say.

Diplomats say the US will present a draft resolution at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday evening asking it to release $1.5bn of assets for humanitarian needs. A vote is expected on Thursday or Friday.

But South Africa has been stalling Washington's attempts, saying it wants to wait for guidance from the African Union, which has not recognised the rebel leadership as Libya's legitimate authority.

Meanwhile, the NTC says it has started the process of moving its headquarters from Benghazi to Tripoli, but that with Gaddafi loyalists still fighting back, a full move has been postponed until next week at the earliest.

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Monday, May 2, 2011

VIDEO: Syrian soldier 'defects' claim rebels

1 May 2011 Last updated at 17:23 GMT Help

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

VIDEO: Libyan rebels reject ceasefire plan

11 April 2011 Last updated at 22:02 GMT Help

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Farc rebels release more captives

11 February 2011 Last updated at 23:23 GMT Hostage Armando Acuna raising his arms in triumph in front of the Brazilian helicopter that brought him out of the jungle Hostage Armando Acuna appealed for reconciliation on his return from captivity Colombia's Farc rebels have released two hostages, bringing the number released so far this week to three.

The hostages - a local politician and a marine - were handed over to a humanitarian delegation in the jungles of southern Colombia and flown out on a Brazilian military helicopter.

The rebels have said they will free two more captives on Sunday.

The Colombian government has made the release of all hostages a condition for any peace talks with the Farc.

The two hostages - municipal council member Armando Acuna, 48, and marine Henry Lopez, 25 - were released in separate locations in the southern department of Caqueta.

The guerrillas handed them over to a delegation that included officials from the International Red Cross and the ex-Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, who helped mediate their release.

Political weapon

Mr Acuna, who was kidnapped in May 2009, emerged from his jungle ordeal in an incongruous suit and tie, clutching the shirt of his local football team.

"It is time to move forward on the road to peace and reconciliation, seeking with dignity a solution to the Colombian conflict," he said.

He also urged an end to the use of kidnapping as a "political weapon" in Colombia and called on the Farc to stop attacks on local government officials.

Marine Lopez - who was captured in May 2010 after an ambush in which nine other marines were killed - did not appear before the media.

Earlier this week the Farc freed another local councillor, Marcos Baquero.

The Farc has been describing the releases as a unilateral "gesture of peace" to the government.

The rebels are still holding at least 15 police and military personnel, who they have been trying to exchange for captured guerrillas.

Some of the hostages have been in captivity for more than a decade.

President Juan Manuel Santos has made the release of all hostages a condition for opening peace talks with the Farc, along with an end to attacks and the use of land mines.


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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Colombia rebels release hostage

9 February 2011 Last updated at 19:43 GMT A Brazilian military helicopter with Red Cross insignia landing at Villavicencio airport, where the mission to collect the hostages is based Brazil provided the helicopter that collected the released hostage Colombia's Farc rebel group has released the first of five hostages it had promised to free as a gesture of peace to the government.

The hostage, local politician Marcos Baquero, was collected by a Brazilian military helicopter from a secret location in the Colombian jungle.

He had been in captivity for 19 months.

The Colombian government has demanded that all hostages be freed as a condition for any talks with the left-wing rebels.

Mr Baquero was released to a humanitarian delegation led by ex-senator Piedad Cordoba, who played a role in previous hostage releases but was also banned from the senate for her alleged links to the rebels.

"My first words are for my family and my wife who I love very much. Thanks be to God I am now coming out," he told Colombian broadcaster Caracol as he was being flown to the city of Villavicencio, where the rescue operation is based.

"We have to keep working hard for the liberation of the other hostages," he added.

Mr Baquero was kidnapped in June 2009 when Farc guerrillas ambushed a group of local politicians on a road near the town of San Jose de Guaviare.

Continue reading the main story Jerry McDermott BBC News, Bogota

Nobody is getting their hopes up just yet, but there are indications that both the Farc and the government are ready to sit down and talk.

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos has said it would be prepared to start a dialogue when the Farc have released all the hostages they hold, something Ms Cordoba said could be completed within six months.

There have been peace talks before, the last round ending in 2002, but there have been some significant changes to the 46-year civil conflict since then, foremost among them a series of defeats for the rebels who have seen their number halved to 8,000 fighters and many of their top commanders killed.

Last December the Farc announced that it was prepared to free him along with another politician, two soldiers and a policeman, but agreement on security arrangements for the release has required lengthy negotiations.

Brazil has been acting as a neutral facilitator along with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Colombian military temporarily suspended operations across a huge area in the south of the country to facilitate the release.

The Farc has been describing the releases as a unilateral "gesture of peace" to the government.

The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota says there are growing indications that the two sides may soon be prepared to open a serious dialogue.


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