Libya no-fly zone calls mount as air force strikes again

Libya's air force carried out new raids today on a rebel-held town as the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's regime entered its third week amid mounting calls for a no-fly zone over the country.

A rebel spokesman meanwhile said that an intermediary of Gaddafi had offered talks with the opposition leadership but was rejected outright.

"I think there was an attempt from Gaddafi's people with the provisional national council. It has been rejected," said Mustafa Gheriani, a media organiser at the rebels' main headquarters at the court house in Benghazi.

"We're not going to negotiate with him. He knows where the airport is in Tripoli and all he needs to do is leave and stop the bloodshed."

The head of the council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, also said the rebel leadership would not pursue criminal charges against Gaddafi if he resigns and leaves the country.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has already launched a probe against Gaddafi, three of his sons and four other top aides on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity in Libya.

A missile exploded around 100 metres from some houses on the outskirts of the strategic oil town of Ras Lanuf , sending up a big plume of dark grey smoke.

There were no casualties or damage, apart from a large crater in the ground. Witnesses reported another air strike an hour earlier in the same location.

Libyan jets have carried out daily strikes against the rebels trying to push westward towards Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte, and while most have missed their targets, a father and a son were wounded in one such attack at Ras Lanuf.

An AFP reporter saw fewer rebels at the main Ras Lanuf checkpoint, the front line since the insurgents suffered the first check to their advance at Bin Jawad, 30 kilometres to the west last week.

Pro-Gaddafi ground forces failed to follow up their success but rebels accompanied by many civilians began pulling out of Ras Lanuf yesterday.

Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stepped up the pressure for the United Nations to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.

"We join our voice to the voices asking for a no-fly zone in Libya, and we call on the Security Council to do its duty in this regard," Ihsanoglu said at the start of an emergency meeting of the 57-member OIC in Saudi Arabia.

But he rejected "any military interference (on the ground) in Libya."

The OIC -- which includes Libya -- is meeting in Jeddah to discuss its response to the conflict which has left at least 1,000 people dead, including many civilians.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council -- including nations such as Bahrain and Oman shaken by their own anti-government protests -- yesterday urged the "UN Security Council take all necessary measures to protect civilians, including enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya".

Diplomats said yesterday a joint British-French resolution for a no-fly zone to hamper Gaddafi's offensive and deny his air force the freedom to attack the rag-tag rebel elements could go before the Security Council as early as this week, diplomats said.

But any move toward collective military action of any kind is likely to face tough resistance from China, Russia and other members of the Security Council.

Veto-wielding UN Security Council permanent member Russia has already signalled its opposition, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying "the Libyans must resolve their problems themselves".

The United States, which would likely bear the main burden of any such operation, has said it is studying the possibility while warning of the major commitment it would entail.

The United States, facing rising pressure at home and abroad to do more to protect civilians and hasten Gaddafi's exit from power, also appeared to be wary of throwing weapons into a conflict involving groups about which it knows little.

While the White House said it was considering arming the rebels, it insisted that such a move would be premature and Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that intervention would likely require international approval.

"It would be premature to send a bunch of weapons to a post office box in eastern Libya, we need to not get ahead of ourselves," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Libya's Foreign Minister Mussa Kussa accused the West yesterday of trying to split the country by secretly building up contacts with rebel leaders.

"It is clear that France, Great Britain and the US are now getting in touch with defectors in eastern Libya. It means there is a conspiracy to divide Libya," he told a press conference in Tripoli.

On the ground, Libyan opposition groups and media reported tank fire and fierce battles between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists in the city of Zawiyah, a flashpoint 60 kilometres west of Tripoli.

It was not possible to confirm the reports because AFP does not have a correspondent in the city and local residents were not reachable by telephone.

After the bloodiest fighting of the three-week-old conflict Sunday, the United Nations demanded urgent access to scores of "injured and dying" in the western city of Misrata.

Ihsanoglu also called on the Libyan authorities to "immediately allow the entrance of humanitarian aid" to the country.

The regional unrest has sent oil to two-and-a-half-year highs, but prices slipped today after the United States refused to rule out tapping its oil reserves to ease the impact on the economy.

Khartoum University meanwhile said it had decided to revoke the honorary doctorate that it awarded to Gaddafi in 1996 and condemned the actions of his regime against the Libyan people.