TRIPOLI – Terrified residents on Saturday braced for bloody battles in an eerily quiet Tripoli after Moamer Gaddafi’s forces prepared to defend the city from a rebellion controlling much of the rest of the country.
UN Security Council envoys embarked on tough negotiations over how to sanction the Libyan leader for his deadly offensive on opposition protesters. The escalating revolt to overthrow Gaddafi, which a Libyan diplomat to the UN said has killed thousands, has seen opponents grab almost the entire east and loyalists embark on shooting sprees in the capital.
Helicopter-borne mercenaries fired on protesters attending a funeral in the western city of Misrata on Saturday, a witness told AFP. Heavy weapons fire could be heard in the background as the witness said by phone that the mercenaries opened fire on relatives of the victims who were about to enter a mosque, adding the mercenaries also fired on a building housing an opposition-run radio station.
It was unclear if there were casualties. The witness said Gaddafi aides had proposed granting a degree of independence to the city on condition that it does not attack Tripoli, in a phone call to the local chieftain. Others in Tripoli said two of the capital’s three five-star hotels were closed and the third, the Corinthia, had started to evacuate. Gaddafi’s closest European ally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said the Libyan leader no longer appeared to be in control of his country.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has imposed personal sanctions on Gaddafi and four of his sons, in a clear attempt to further weaken his teetering regime and punish brutal assaults against his people. Obama wielded presidential power in an executive order on Friday to seize the assets of Gaddafi and named family members in the US and globally within the auspices of US financial institutions, saying the “human dignity” of Libyans “cannot be denied.”
Washington also shuttered its Tripoli embassy, warned its spies were seeking evidence of “atrocities” in Libya and said that Gaddafi had lost the confidence of his people, in an apparent broad hint that Washington wanted him gone.
But diplomats said China, Russia, South Africa, India and other nations have expressed concern about a proposal to refer the Libya crackdown to the International Criminal Court to investigate possible crimes against humanity.
