Libya's transitional government has given forces loyal to ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi four days to surrender cities still under their control or face military action.
"If a peaceful solution is not on the horizon by Saturday, we will have to solve the problem by military means," said the leader of the Transitional National Council (PNS), Mustafa Abdel Dzalil, at the press conference.
Rebel forces approached Sirte from the east and west, but refrained from directly attacking the city in the hope of negotiating the surrender of Gaddafi's birthplace.
Gaddafi has been on the run since August 23, when his opponents seized his compound in Tripoli.
He was in Tripoli until Friday when he went to the desert city of Saba in the south of the country, British Sky News reported, referring to the statement of the 17-year-old bodyguard of Gaddafi's son Hamis.
Rebel forces approached Sirte from the east and west, but refrained from directly attacking the city
The unnamed captured young man said that Gaddafi allegedly met with Khamis on Friday around 1.30:XNUMX a.m. at a complex in Tripoli that was under heavy rebel fire.
Gaddafi came by car, and soon his daughter Aisha joined them.
After a brief meeting, they left by car, and his officer told him they were headed to Sabah.
Along with Sirte, Saba is one of the few places under the control of forces loyal to Gaddafi.
Gaddafi came by car, and soon his daughter Aisha joined them
Anti-Gaddafi officials said Hamis Gaddafi and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi were killed in clashes on Saturday. These allegations have not yet been confirmed, and the spokesman for the NATO alliance said that he did not know anything about Hamis' fate.
The PNS spokesman said that the body will request the extradition of Gaddafi's family members from Algeria, which is the only neighboring country that has not yet recognized the rebel council as the legitimate representatives of the government in Libya, which has been done by nearly 60 countries around the world.
Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil are among the countries that have not yet recognized the PNS.
Algeria, which previously voted against the imposition of a no-fly zone and sanctions against the Gaddafi regime, has an authoritarian government that does not take kindly to revolutions taking place in Arab countries near its borders.
"I would say that the Algerian regime is making a big mistake, making a catastrophically bad assessment," Favaz Gerges, an analyst from the London School of Economics, told the BBC. "Even the Algerian regime itself is not immune to the revolutionary momentum that has swept the Arab world."
"About 50.000 people have died since the beginning of the rebellion",
It is estimated that since the beginning of the conflict in Libya six months ago, around 50.000 people have died, a military commander close to the ruling transitional council of this country said yesterday.
"About 50.000 people have died since the beginning of the rebellion," Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, the commander of the rebel troops that took over Tripoli last Sunday, told Reuters.
"Between 15.000 and 17.000 died in Misrata and Ziltan. Then there are the cities of Ajdabija and Brega. "A lot of people died there," Buhagiar said. "We released about 28.000 prisoners. We assume that all those who are missing are in fact dead."
These figures include those killed by both the rebel side and forces loyal to Gaddafi, as well as those who have been missing for the past 6 months.
France exports wheat to Libya
The Libyan transitional government has signed at least two contracts on the purchase of French wheat with funds from funds that were unfrozen in France earlier this month, multiple sources close to the signatories confirmed to Reuters.
France's foreign ministry said in early August it would unfreeze $259 million in Libyan funds and make them available to the Transitional National Council to help the North African country recover from a six-month civil war.
"It is part of two contracts signed by PNS, each for the purchase of 60.000 tons of wheat," said a high-ranking official of the French company Soufle, which won one of the contracts.
According to French customs data, this EU country exported close to 2009 tons of wheat to Libya in the 2010/30 season, ending on June 250.000 last year.
He added that the value of the contract signed by his company is 22 million dollars and that the shipment will leave for Libya at the end of this week.
Two other sources said the sale of French wheat was made as part of the recent unfreezing of Libyan funds in France.
"Libya needs a lot of wheat. They need 75.000 tons immediately," said one of Reuters' sources.
According to French customs data, this EU country exported nearly 2009 tons of wheat to Libya in the 2010/30 season, ending on June 250.000 last year.
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