All updates are in Libyan local time (GMT +2)
12:28am: Senior Libyan rebel commander Maj Gen Suleiman Mahmoud, who spoke to BBC’s Newsnight, says the rebel forces need time, patience and help to organize themselves. “Our problem we need help – communication, radios, we need weapons,” he said, adding that the rebels had a strategy but fighters did not always obey orders. Maj Gen Mahmoud also said coalition liaison officers were working with the rebels to organise raids against pro-Gaddafi forces.
12:17am: A live phone caller gives a detailed description of opposition forces taking back the city of Ajdabiy 3 days ago. Listen here:Source: Feb17Voices
12:15am: Abdul Rahman Shalgam, former Libyan ambassador to the UN, tells Al Arabiya “Musa Kusa’s defection signifies the end of Gaddafi’s regime…I am not surprised by this news…I see Musa Kusa’s exit as the beginning of the grand exodous (from this regime)”.
12:12am: Libya’s chief of intelligence and speaker of the house is reported to have crossed over the border to Tunisia according to unconfirmed reports from journalist Karl Stagno-Navarra Ksnavarra on Twitter.
11:58pm: A senior US official has told AFP that the defection of Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa was “very significant” and showed that Col Gaddafi’s aides could see the “writing on the wall”.
11:45pm: At least 370 Libyans have been reported missing in the eastern part of the country since mid-February 2011, and some of them are known or suspected to be in Libyan government custodyHuman Rights Watch said in a new report released on Wednesday.
11:43pm: Officials in Tripoli refused to comment on the defection of Moussa Koussa. “I will have something to say later. Right now I am too busy in meetings,” said Moussa Ibrahim, the government spokesman.
11:31pm: More bad news for Col Gaddafi: Tunisia has announced a freeze on assets belonging to the Libyan leader and his family. Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi told national TV the move was “the least we can do”. He added: “We had no problems making that decision. The move is likely to have a significant impact because Libya has dozens of investments in Tunisia, including hotels, a chain of petrol stations and a stake in an oil terminal.11:11pm: After a day of setbacks for the Libyan rebels, correspondents say the apparent defection of Libya’s foreign minister will be a major blow to Col Gaddafi’s regime. No reaction yet from Tripoli.11:05pm: UK Foreign Office statement on Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa: “We can confirm that Moussa Koussa arrived at Farnborough Airport from Tunisia. He travelled here under his own free will. He has told us that he is resigning his post. We are discussing this with him and we will release further detail in due course. Moussa Koussa is one of the most senior figures in Gaddafi’s government and his role was to represent the regime internationally – something that he is no longer willing to do. We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people”.10:53pm: More on Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, newly arrived in London: Noman Benotman, a friend and senior analyst at Britain’s Quilliam think-tank tells Reuters: “He has defected from the regime. He wasn’t happy at all. He doesn’t support the government attacks on civilians. He’s seeking refuge in Britain and hopes he will be treated well.” Sources have confirmed to the BBC that the Libyan foreign minister has arrived in London and that he is being interviewed to check reports that he has defected.
10:48pm: Nicaragua has named former foreign minister Miguel d’Escoto to represent Libya at the United Nations after a senior Libyan envoy Ali Abdussalam Treki was reportedly denied a visa. A Spanish version of the letter to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon informing him of the decision was posted on the Nicaraguan government’s official website. A copy of the letter allegedly from Gaddafi has been posted in English here.The Nicaraguan government said it has sent a letter to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to inform him of the decision “to support our Libyan brothers in their diplomatic battle to enforce respect for its sovereignty”.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Wednesday the UN had not yet received the letter but said the Nicaraguan mission had scheduled a news conference with d’Escoto on Thursday. Treki was to replace Abdulrahman Shalgham, the Libyan UN envoy who turned against Gaddafi. The Libyan government had asked the UN to no longer recognise Shalgham.
10:37pm: Libyan Foreign Minister, Moussa Koussa, quits government, arrives in Britain seeking refuge -according to a source close to minister, Reuters says.
10:34pm: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says no decision had been made by the Obama administration on whether to arm the Libyan rebels. She spoke as she was leaving a briefing on Libya that she and other senior officials gave to the House of Representatives10:12pm: Libyan government says Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa is on a diplomatic mission, and has not defected, Reuters reports.9:54pm: Reuters reports that Obama has signed secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for opposition forces in Libya. Obama signed the order, known as a presidential “finding”, within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter. Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment.9:49pm: The Libyan government has warned foreign companies against signing oil deals with the Benghazi-based rebels. “No country can leave the management of this commodity to armed gangs to tamper with it as a commodity or with its revenues,” the statement by the General People’s Committee said. It was carried on the state news agency Jana, as translated by BBC Monitoring.
9:42pm: Al Jazeera has learned from sources in the Tunisian interior ministry that Koussa may have defected, and is believed to be negotiating passage for himself and his family. European diplomats have told Al Jazeera the same, including that Koussa may also be negotiating a deal for other senior Libyan officials.9:21pm: BBC Monitoring, a sister organization that peruses foreign media, says there are now three rebel TV channels broadcasting in Libya. Monitoring says one of the channels was broadcasting out of Benghazi, one from Doha and the other from Qatar. The channels are carrying pictures of rebel fighters in heroic poses, along with slogans such as: “Muammar the destroyer wants to kill us.”9:08pm: Disturbing news from Human Rights Watch, which says in a new report that Col Gaddafi’s forces have been using landmines. The rights groups says it has uncovered two dozen anti-vehicle mines and roughly three dozen anti-personnel mines on the eastern outskirts of Ajdabiya.
9:05pm: Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa has apparently flown to London after a two-day visit to Tunisia, AP is reporting, citing Tunisia’s official TAP news agency. The report is not yet independently confirmed. Mr. Koussa was on an early afternoon flight from the Tunisian resort of Djerba to the British capital, after a “private” visit to Tunisia, AP quoted TAP as saying.8:45pm: Just to recap: It’s unclear at the moment how many – if any – rebel fighters remain in Brega tonight after rebel forces earlier retreated in disarray eastwards to Ajdabiya. There have been reports of fighting in Brega and of a coalition air strike to the west of Ajdabiya, implying that some pro-Gaddafi forces have gone beyond Brega and may be threatening the city.
8:33pm: Al-Jazeera Arabic reports that Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kousa leaves Libya heading towards Europe.
8:29pm: A bomb drops in the suburb of Tajura, Tripoli. Photograph: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images
8:11pm: Senior Libyan rebel commander Maj Gen Suleiman Mahmoud tells BBC’s Newsnight that with Nato or US help they could defeat pro-Gaddafi forces in two weeks – but without that help it could take more than six months. Watch here.7:55pm: Wednesday’s chaotic retreat by rebel forces from a number of towns and villages they had seized in recent days came after they were confronted by thousands of Chadian Republican Guards, rebel spokesman Col Ahmed Bani told reporters in Benghazi.7:54pm: A Libyan rebel spokesman is playing down a statement by a Nato commander that al-Qaeda fighters may have infiltrated their ranks. “We don’t have this organization in Libya because their culture is different from ours,” Col Ahmed Bani told reporters in Benghazi. On Tuesday, US Admiral James Stavridis told US senators there were “flickers in the intelligence of potential al-Qaeda, Hezbollah” among the rebels.7:39pm: opposition spokesman Ahmad Bani tells Reuters that civilians are under threat from the advancing Libyan army and he called on coalition planes to “take out” Gaddafi’s forces. He added: “We are seeking weapons that will be able to destroy the heavy weapons they are using against us such as tanks and artillery.”7:32pm: Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting in Libya, crossing borders into neighboring African countries. The International Organization of Migration says more than 376,000 have fled Libya, as follows:- nearly 200,000 going west into Tunisia
- over 150,000 fleeing east into Egypt
- another 15,000 south into Niger
- at least 10,000 into Algeria
- about 3,000 into Chad
- approximately 2,800 into Sudan
7:29pm: Members of Russia’s Communist Party have picketed the US embassy in Moscow to protest against NATO and US “aggression” in Libya, Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy reports. Most protesters were elderly, the station noted.7:24pm: Correspondents on the Libyan front line say some opposition members believe a large force of pro-Gaddafi troops is coming from the south to form a pincer movement on Ajdabiya and Benghazi.6:40pm: Guma el-Gamaty, UK co-ordinator for the Libyan rebels’ Transitional National Council, tells the BBC that Wednesday’s retreats did not spell victory for Col Gaddafi. “The military situation is very fluid,” he said. “It is open terrain and difficult to protect and retain. Things can change in hours.”
6:06pm: Foreign secretary William Hague has said apparent differences over whether arms could be supplied were “academic”. Mr Cameron and UK ministers were setting out the position “based on the legal advice to our own Government”, he told a conference at thinktank Chatham House. He said:“There may be different legal interpretations of that (the UN resolution) around the world. I don’t think that would be wholly surprising. But of course at the moment it is rather an academic point, because at the moment, the Prime Minister made this clear and I’ve made it clear, we are not engaged in delivering arms to the opposition or rebel groups in Libya and nor is anyone else we are aware of.”
6:03pm: The Netherlands has said that it has frozen more than three billion euros ($4 billion) of assets as part of EU sanctions against Gaddafi’s regime.6:00pm: Libya’s foreign ministry has said a French suggestion that Western powers could arm Libyan rebels violated United Nations resolutions and was tantamount to aiding “terorrists”. A foreign ministry statement carried by Libya’s official Jana news agency said:“Providing military assistance to armed gangs is contrary to Security Council resolutions, and is in support of terrorism as it has been proven that the armed gangs in Benghazi belong to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”
5:21pm: It seems fighting is hotting up in Libya this evening: Coalition fighter planes have carried out an air strike on pro-Gaddafi forces near Ajdabiya, where rebels have gathered after retreating from Brega and Ras Lanuf, an AFP reporter says. The strike, about 10 kilometres (6.5 miles) west of Ajdabiyah, sent a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky and brought cries of jubilation from the rebel fighters, who had earlier called for air support by coalition jets. The air raid was the first in two days in eastern Libya, where rebel forces were pushed back some 200 kilometres on Wednesday by Gaddafi’s forces who blazed through town after town with tanks and heavy artillery.
Plumes of smoke after coalition carried out air strikes on Gaddafi forces near Ajdabiyah
5:15pm: Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned of the danger that Libya might disintegrate as a state and become a haven for terrorists. The NATO Secretary General told a student conference in Rotterdam:“The worst-case scenario would be to see a failed state that would fuel extremism and terrorism.The ideal outcome would be to see a peaceful outcome and a peaceful transition to a sustainable democracy. It is up to the Libyans to shape the future of their country. I really hope that we will see a cease-fire soon.”
