Libyan rebels were on a diplomatic upswing yesterday, gaining Canada’s recognition one day after Germany’s, but suffered a setback on the battle front against Muammar Gaddafi’s troops.
Tripoli slammed as “irresponsible” a visit to the rebel bastion of Benghazi by Germany’s foreign minister, as the United States pressed Africa to take tougher action against the Gaddafi regime.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Canada recognised the rebel National Transitional Council as “the legitimate representative of the Libyan people going forward,” as part of a new “enhanced engagement strategy”.
In so doing, Canada became the 14th nation to recognise the NTC after Australia, Britain, France, Gambia, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Qatar, Senegal, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Ottawa’s decision came as parliamentarians debated an extension of Canada’s participation in Nato’s efforts to protect Libyan civilians from forces loyal to Col Gaddafi.
A popular uprising against the strongman that began in mid-February has left the oil-rich North African state split between the largely Gaddafi-controlled west and the rebel east.
Libya’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile said Monday’s visit by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to Benghazi, the rebels’ de facto capital, was a “flagrant violation” of Tripoli’s sovereignty.
It condemned the trip as “irresponsible” and said it “does not help efforts by regional and international organisations to find a peaceful solution to what is happening in Libya.”
During his visit to Benghazi, Mr Westerwelle said Mr Gaddafi “had lost all legitimacy” and announced Berlin’s recognition of the NTC as the “legitimate representative” of the Libyan people.
Rebels meanwhile said they suffered heavy losses in eastern Libya after being “tricked” by Col Gaddafi’s forces, amid a resurgence of fighting in the country after weeks of stalemate.
On the eastern front line between the rebel-held transport hub Ajdabiya and the oil town of Brega, which is in the hands of Col Gaddafi’s soldiers, a firefight on Monday left 21 rebel combatants dead, their commander told AFP.
“Our men were tricked. Gaddafi’s soldiers pretended to surrender, coming with a white flag, and then they fired on us,” Mussa al-Mograbi said.
About 20 rebels were wounded and transferred to hospital in Ajdabiya, 160 kilometres south of Benghazi, the de facto capital of rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Col Gaddafi since mid-February, he said.
Mr Mograbi said four of his men were killed and 30 wounded in a skirmish the previous day.
Battles were also being fought in the western town of Zintan, the Berber mountains southwest of Tripoli, in nearby Yefren, and at Dafnia near Misrata, Libya’s third city, rebel sources told AFP.
An AFP correspondent said Col Gaddafi’s forces pounded the outskirts of Zintan on Sunday, killing at least seven rebels and wounding 49.
In Addis Ababa, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday pressed all African states to demand Col Gaddafi step down and take tougher action against his regime.
“I urge all African states to call for a genuine ceasefire and to call for Gaddafi to step aside,” the first US chief diplomat to speak to the African Union said during a visit to the body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Senegal and Gambia are the only African states to have recognised the NTC as the legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people.
Col Gaddafi remains adamant he will not step down, according to the head of the World Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who said that during a game of chess in Tripoli on Sunday the strongman insisted he had no position of power to relinquish.
“I am neither premier nor president nor king. I do not hold any post in Libya and therefore I have no position which I should give up,” Mr Ilyumzhinov quoted Col Gaddafi as telling him.