Italy ceasefire call exposes NATO split on Libya (Reuters)

MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – A split opened within the NATO-led air campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday when France and Britain rejected an Italian call for a halt to military action to allow aid access.

China also signaled a shift in its stance on the conflict, describing as a "dialogue partner" the rebels who, four months into the uprising, are making only slow gains in their effort to reach the capital Tripoli and topple Gaddafi.

Rebels said NATO air strikes hit government weapons depots south of the rebel-held western mountain town of Zintan, while an unverified Libyan TV report said "dozens" of people were killed in a separate NATO attack on the town of Zlitan.

NATO's first acknowledgment this weekend that it may have caused civilian casualties risks hurting support for a mission that secured a U.N. mandate despite deep misgivings from states in the Arab world, Europe and beyond.

"The need to look for a ceasefire has become more pressing," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told parliament.

"As well as the ceasefire, which is the first stage toward a political negotiation, a humanitarian stop to military action is fundamental to allow immediate humanitarian aid."

An Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman later clarified that Rome was not making a specific proposal and was interested in any ideas to reduce civilian casualties. But his comments got short shrift from NATO allies.

"We have to intensify the pressure on Gaddafi. Any pause in operations would risk allowing him to gain time and reorganize himself," said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

Britain, which along with France was one of the first countries to put their weight behind the rebellion, agreed.

"Our position is that this is in Gaddafi's hands. He has called several ceasefires and none of them have resulted in ceasefires," Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said.

"The right approach at the present time is to increase the pressure on Gaddafi."

TIME OF THE ESSENCE

NATO air strikes hit government weapons depots south of the rebel-held western mountain town of Zintan on Wednesday evening, said rebel spokesman Juma Ibrahim.

A series of large explosions followed the air strike, he said. Live footage from Zintan broadcast on Al Jazeera TV showed huge balls of fire lighting up the pitch-dark horizon.

Separately, four rebels were killed and at least 12 wounded in artillery fire on the Dafniya front near the coastal city of Misrata, a medical worker at the field hospital there said.

Three of them were killed as they ate their lunch in a group, underlining concerns about the amateurishness of a force on which Gaddafi's opponents are counting for regime change.

Forces loyal to Gaddafi shelled Nalut near the border with Tunisia on Wednesday, firing more than 20 Grad rockets into the rebel-held town, a rebel spokesman called Salem said by phone.

Several houses were damaged in the attack, he said.

The lack of any sustained rebel advance has led some analysts to believe NATO is banking on an uprising in Tripoli to remove Gaddafi, and is choosing its bombing targets accordingly.

A senior official of the African Union, many of whose member states are uncomfortable with the sight of NATO bombs hitting the continent, said NATO would ultimately have to rally to its policy of promoting a ceasefire as a first step to a settlement.

"(The bombing campaign) was something which they thought would take 15 days," Jean Ping, chairman of the AU Commission, told Reuters in Addis Ababa.

"The stalemate is already there. There is no other way."

Time is now a crucial factor for both sides in the conflict, with unity in the NATO-led coalition likely to come under more strain and Gaddafi having to deal with the economic impact of international sanctions.

In a sign of the increasing impact of the crisis on daily life, Libyan state media issued instructions that ordinary people should follow "to deal with the fuel shortage."

They called on people to use public transport instead of cars, avoid using air conditioning when driving and stick to 90-100 kph (55-63 mph) as the ideal speed. They also asked Libyans to be patient when queuing at petrol stations.

Exports of oil have ceased, depriving Gaddafi's government of the funds it used during peacetime to provide the population with heavily subsidized food and fuel. Petrol queues in Gaddafi -held areas now stretch for miles.

CHINA ACKNOWLEDGES REBEL CHIEF

The rebel National Transitional Council got a further boost on Wednesday when China, the only veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council not to have urged Gaddafi to stand down, hosted its diplomatic chief for talks in Beijing.

"China sees you as an important dialogue partner," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Mahmoud Jibril, according to comments published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website (http://www.mfa.gov.cn).

The statement, however, stopped short of aligning China with the 19 countries which have recognized the Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

Action on the ground was inconclusive. At least three explosions were heard in Tripoli in the morning and again in the afternoon but it was not clear what had caused them.

Rebels have been trying to advance west toward the town of Zlitan, where Gaddafi's soldiers are imposing a tight siege. Libyan television said on Wednesday that "dozens" of people were killed there after NATO ships shelled the town.

The report could not be independently verified because foreign reporters have been prevented from entering Zlitan. NATO normally comments on its Libya operations the following day.

(Additional reporting by Roberto Landucci in Rome, John Irish in Paris, Keith Weir in London, Nick Carey in Tripoli, Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Joseph Nasr in Berlin and Ali Abdelatti in Cairo; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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North, south Sudan clash before split: south army (Reuters)

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan's army said it clashed with northern troops in the disputed Abyei border region on Wednesday, in the latest sign of deteriorating relations in the build-up to the secession of the south in July.

Long-standing tensions between northern and southern-aligned groups along the shared border have come to a head less than a month before the independence of the oil-producing south.

Southerners overwhelmingly voted to declare independence from the north in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north, fought over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology.

A return to full north-south conflict could have a devastating impact on the region by sending refugees back across borders and creating a failed state in the south at birth.

The south's army said its troops clashed with northern soldiers in Abyei on Wednesday more than three weeks after the northern military seized the fertile, oil-producing area.

A spokesman for the northern army said he had no information about any clashes on Wednesday.

The northern army has also been fighting southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan -- a northern, oil-producing state that surrounds Abyei on the ill-defined north-south border -- since June 5.

OBAMA CALL

President Barack Obama urged Sudan's government to halt military operations in Southern Kordofan and called for a ceasefire.

"There is no military solution," Obama said, appealing directly to leaders on both sides in an audio message issued through the U.S. government-funded Voice of America network.

Analysts have said the north may be trying to assert its authority along the north-south border to stamp out any remnants of southern support ahead of the split.

The division of Africa's largest country is a highly sensitive subject for the Khartoum government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir which stands to lose around a third of its territory and up to three quarters of its oil reserves when the south leaves.

The United Nations on Wednesday said air strikes on Southern Kordofan may have killed as many as 64 people and caused tens of thousands to flee.

"There is a growing sense of panic among some of the displaced populations who find themselves trapped by the ongoing violence and the ethnic fault lines," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report.

In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said the situation in Southern Kordofan was deteriorating and that a "humanitarian corridor" should be created for aid deliveries.

"The problem is that the fighting is spreading by the day," said Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba.

"POLITICAL RUMOURS"

Some civilians were being targeted at checkpoints, she said.

"We even have unconfirmed reports -- people are telling us about torture, harassment, sometimes summary executions at checkpoints ... It is difficult for us to confirm that, but that is what displaced are telling us," she added.

Northern official Rabie Abdelati on Tuesday dismissed allegations of arbitrary torture, arrest and killing in Southern Kordofan as "political rumors."

Both north and south still have to resolve a list of issues ahead of the split, including how they are doing to share the country's oil wealth, the position of their border and the status of Abyei.

Abyei was a key battleground in the civil war and a symbol for both the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most follow Christian and traditional beliefs.

"SPLA and SAF clashed in Abyei in the area of the Kiir bridge (on Wednesday)," southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said, referring to the north's Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The river, known as Kiir in the south and Bahr al-Arab in the north has become a frontline between northern and southern troops since Khartoum occupied the region.

Aguer said there had been casualties, but did not release any numbers.

The north says it moved into Abyei after southern soldiers attacked its troops in the area. The north has also accused southern-backed groups of trying to start a revolution in Southern Kordofan, the north's main oil state and home to some groups that sided with the south during the civil war.

After talks in neighboring Ethiopia over the weekend, both sides announced on Monday they had agreed "in principle" to pull their troops out of Abyei and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Southern minister Deng Alor told reporters in Addis Ababa the north was now holding up discussions over the withdrawal of northern troops with last minute conditions.

"Bashir has agreed to withdraw, but the problems are over his request to administer Abyei and over the status of the Ethiopian troops," Deng Alor, south Sudan's minister for regional cooperation, told reporters in Addis Ababa.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Geneva and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Andrew Heavens)

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Two to split $480,000 for alerting feds about overcharges in Iraq

DynCorp will pay the U.S. government $7.7 million and The Sandi Group will pay $1 millionThe Justice Department says the payouts are because they overcharged for work in IraqTwo whistleblowers, who worked for The Sandi Group, will get part of these paymentsFederal investigators continue to look into other potential false claims in Iraq

(CNN) -- Two whistleblowers will divide nearly a half million dollars following the latest settlement between the Justice Department and independent contracting firms working in Iraq.

DynCorp agreed to pay the U.S. government $7.7 million, and its subcontractor The Sandi Group promised to pay a bit more than $1 million dollars for overcharges they presented to officials, the Justice Department said Friday in a press release.

Drew Halldorson and Brian Evancho, both former Sandi Group employees who alerted authorities about the overcharges, will divide $481,710 as their share of the government's recovery in the case, according to the federal department.

DynCorp was sued for inflated claims involving construction of camps from containers shipped to locations where contractors were able to set up temporary accommodations for fighting forces.

The Sandi Group was sued for improperly seeking reimbursement for "danger pay," which it falsely claimed to have paid its employees in Iraq, the Justice Department claimed.

"The hard work of stabilizing Iraq is challenging enough without contractors and subcontractors inflating the cost of rebuilding by making false claims at taxpayer expense," said Assistant Attorney General Tony West.

Spcial Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen, Jr. said in the release that his office continues to pursue a number of other allegations involving false claims.

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