In this photo made on a government-organized tour, an official building is damaged after an airstrike early Saturday in Tripoli, Libya.
By Darko Bandic, APIn this photo made on a government-organized tour, an official building is damaged after an airstrike early Saturday in Tripoli, Libya.
In Brussels, a NATO official said the alliance needed "to see not words but actions," and that NATO would keep up the pressure until the U.N. Security Council mandate on Libya is fulfilled.The targeted compound included the state television building and the Libyans alleged the strikes were meant to kill Gadhafi. However, the TV building was not damaged and Gadhafi spoke from an undisclosed location.
In his rambling pre-dawn speech which lasted for more than an hour, Gadhafi appeared both subdued and defiant, repeatedly pausing as he flipped through handwritten notes.
"The door to peace is open," Gadhafi said, sitting behind a desk. "You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you. Come, France, Italy, U.K., America, come, we will negotiate with you. Why are you attacking us?"
He said Libyans have the right to choose their own political system, but not under the threat of NATO bombings.
Rebel leaders have said they will only lay down their arms and begin talks on Libya's future after Gadhafi and his sons, some of whom hold powerful positions in the country, step aside. Gadhafi has repeatedly refused to resign.
"Why are you killing our children? Why are you destroying our infrastructure," Gadhafi said, while denying that his forces had killed Libyan civilians. Even as he called for a cease-fire, he appeared to dismiss the possibility of one, saying his enemies were al-Qaida operatives who did not understand what a truce meant.
He promised the young rebels fighting his regime that if they gave up their guns, he would give them cars and money, saying they were children "tricked" by NATO promises.
The U.N. official however noted that just hours before Gadhafi's talk of a truce, he had shelled Misrata and tried to mine the port. The city of 300,000 is the main rebel stronghold in western Libya and has been under siege for two months.
"The regime has announced cease-fires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians," said the official who could not be named under standing regulations. "All this has to stop, and it has to stop now," the official said, adding that a ceasefire had to be "credible and verifiable."
Earlier this month, NATO's foreign ministers said the alliance will continue operations until all attacks and threats against civilians have ceased, until all of Gadhafi's forces have returned to bases, and until there is full humanitarian access.
The port is Misrata's only lifeline. On Friday, NATO intercepted boats laying anti-ship mines in the nearby waters.
The regime signaled Friday that it is trying to block access to Misrata by sea.
Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said he was unaware of the attempted mine-laying. However, he said the government is trying to prevent weapons shipments from reaching the rebels by sea. Asked whether aid vessels would also be blocked, he said any aid shipments must be coordinated with the authorities and should preferably come overland.
Gadhafi's forces have repeatedly shelled the port area and his ground troops are deployed on the outskirts of Misrata, after having been driven out of the downtown area by the rebels last week.
On Saturday, heavy fighting continued in the southern part of the city near the airport and frequent large booms could be heard in downtown from that part of town.
Hassan al-Bari, 21, who lay in the hospital screaming from pain from a three inch gash on his cheeks, said Gadhafi's forces were just outside the airport. He was wounded in a mortar strike there.
The hospital contained two dead and four injured from fighting.
With the rebels holding much of eastern Libya, Gadhafi needs to consolidate his hold over the western half, including Misrata and a mountainous region on the border with Tunisia.
On Friday, fighting between rebels and regime loyalists over a key border crossing spilled over into Tunisia, drawing a sharp rebuke by Tunisian authorities. The Foreign Ministry summoned Libya's ambassador to convey its "most vigorous protests" for the "serious violations" at the Dhuheiba border area Thursday and Friday, a ministry statement said.
The crossing is a strategic lifeline for Libya's western Nafusa mountain area where members of the ethnic Berber minority ? who have complained of systematic discrimination by the regime ? have been fighting the Gadhafi's forces for several weeks.
The Tunisian news agency, citing military officials, said dozens of Libyan troops and rebel fighters were killed in the two-day battle over the Dhuheiba crossing which ended with rebels regaining control Friday, after Libyan forces held it for a day.
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