Libyan generals defect to Italy

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Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Eight generals from embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's army have defected to Italy, the Italian Foreign Ministry told CNN Monday.

The generals were accompanied by more than 100 Libyan soldiers, a senior Italian official with first-hand knowledge of and responsibility for the operation said.

The Libyans crossed their country's border into Tunisia, where they were met by Italian intelligence agents, the official said.

The news came on the same day that South African President Jacob Zuma met with Gadhafi to push for a cease-fire between Gadhafi's forces and rebel fighters, officials said.

Zuma arrived in Tripoli Monday afternoon on his second visit to the capital aimed at mediating an end to the fighting that began when Gadhafi resisted popular efforts to end his 42-year-rule.

A Libyan government official said the leaders met Monday, with Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi also in attendance.

Baghdadi greeted the South African leader at Tripoli's Mitiga International Airport, where dozens of Gadhafi supporters carried posters, some of which said, "May the leader be victorious" and "Thanks for great Africa."

Unlike some other world leaders, Zuma has not called for the longtime Libyan leader to step down. Neither has his African National Congress party nor has the African Union, which he is representing and which Gadhafi once led. In fact, the AU has criticized the NATO airstrikes.

The NATO-led bombing campaign began in March after the U.N. Security Council authorized the use of any means necessary -- short of occupation -- to protect civilians from attacks by Gadhafi's forces.

Noureddine Mezni, an African Union spokesman, said Zuma was planning to push for a cease-fire and peace talks between the warring parties. The African Union has helped mediate such talks before, including ones in Kenya and Zimbabwe that left the ruling powers in control.

It was not clear whether Zuma would use the opportunity to press Gadhafi for information on the whereabouts of South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl. Hammerl has been missing in Libya since April and is believed dead.

South Africa says it got assurances from Libya that the journalist was alive. But a Libyan government spokesman said his whereabouts were unknown.

"We never had him with us at any stage," spokesman Musa Ibrahim has said.

Hammerl's family has pressed Zuma to raise the issue during the meeting, Zuma's office said. The South African leader has said he will do what he can to assist but did not outright agree to take up the issue with Gadhafi, his office said.

Also Monday, the first locally based television station to operate in Libya since the start of the revolution was to begin broadcasting from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. The station was founded by Momammed Nabus, who later was one of five journalists killed in the conflict.

"Gadhafi forces assassinated him for highlighting to the rest of the world the atrocities committed by the Gadhafi regime," said Zuheir Al-Barasi, who was to open the station's broadcast from the city's courthouse.

In recent weeks, Gadhafi has been seen in public only rarely as NATO has stepped up attacks against his sprawling Bab el-Azizia compound.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday that Gadhafi's "reign of terror is coming to an end."

"He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad," Rasmussen said during a speech in Bulgaria. "Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting."

Rasmussen also said NATO has made "significant progress" in its Libya operation.

NATO said Monday it has conducted 3,385 strike sorties in Libya since March.

"We have seriously degraded Gadhafi's ability to kill his own people," Rasmussen said in his speech. "We have prevented more massacres in Misrata and elsewhere across the country, and we are saving lives every day."

On Sunday, Libyan opposition forces continued to fend off attacks near the rebel-held port city of Misrata.

But rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said over the weekend that the opposition movement is running out of money even as it has achieved key victories militarily and diplomatically.

"We are going through a financial crisis," said Jalil, chairman of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council.

In a speech in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations' top human rights official noted Monday "the brutality and magnitude of measures" taken by the Libyan government.

The government's actions have been "shocking," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, criticizing the "outright disregard for basic human rights."

CNN's Sara Sidner, Ben Wedeman, Nkepile Mabuse, Amir Ahmed, Raja Razek and Nima Elbagir contributed to this report.

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