Libya Live Blog - April 10

Libya Live Blog - April 10

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

• Timestamp: 

  11:54pm

  That's it for tonight's liveblog... Thanks for reading! But Al Jazeera's blog team isn't going to bed just yet - we'll continue to keep you updated through the night on our Libya liveblog for April 11th.

• Timestamp: 

  11:47pm

  Libya's coastal highway has seen the bulk of the fighting, back and forth, over the past few weeks. This territory has been taken, lost and re-taken by each side several times.

  

  [Picture: Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  11:34pm

  Anita reminds us of the contents of the Africa Union roadmap:

  1. Ceasefire & protection of civilians. 

  2. Humanitarian aid for Libyans & foreign workers - especially Africans.

  3. Dialogue between the two sides.

  4. An inclusive transitional period.

  5. Political reforms which "meet the aspirations of the Libyan people".

  If Zuma's right, and Gaddafi has accepted these proposals, that could be pretty significant...

• Timestamp: 

  11:04pm

  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught tells us South African president Jacob Zuma emerged and gave brief remarks, saying that Gaddafi accepted the AU roadmap, which calls for a ceasefire, protection of African migrant workers, and consideration of "the demands of the Libyan people" - ie: a transition of power. She tells us:

  He said: 'We have to give the ceasefire a chance.' When asked if he was optimistic, he said he was.

• Timestamp: 

  10:52pm

  Libyan state TV is now showing a live shot of Gaddafi's compound. The Libyan leader is expected to speak, and we've got a translator on standby... Watch this space...

• Timestamp: 

  10:36pm

  We're still waiting for any reports to come out of that AU meeting... Anyone inside Bab al-Azizia reading this?

• Timestamp: 

  10:10pm

  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught tells us that Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, was expected to come to Tripoli, but sent foreign minister Henry Orykem Okello instead.

  She also says thats he understands Jacob Zuma plans to fly out of Tripoli in an hour. With Reuters saying Zuma will give a press conference before going, they're cutting time a bit fine... 

• Timestamp: 

  9:40pm

  Presidents Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Denis Sassou Nguessou of Congo, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and African Union Secretary-General Jean Ping (front L-R) stand outside a tent erected at Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya residence in Tripoli.

   [Picture: Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  9:23pm

  Bernard-Henri Levy, French philosopher and journalist, has returned to the city of Benghazi.

  He says he has returned in order to continue his "work of free spirit" and promote the vision of the pro-democracy leaders.

  He spoke with Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee.

• Timestamp: 

  8:58pm

  Gaddafi makes an outdoor appearance in his Bab al-Azizia compound before the meeting with the AU leaders, says Reuters. We'll bring you more on that meeting as soon as we get it... 

  

  [Picture: Reuters]

  [CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post said the photo was taken 'before' the meeting....]

• Timestamp: 

  8:43pm

  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from Ajdabiya, tells us:

  Gaddafi’s soldiers occupied Ajdabiya for just 24 hours. In that time doctors here say 13 civilians were killed and more than a dozen injured.

  More loss of life in a city that has borne the brunt of this constantly shifting frontline. 

• Timestamp: 

  8:12pm

  As residents of Benghazi take up arms with little or no training, students who have taken weapons from Gaddafi's depots say they are now most comfortable when carrying their rifles.

  With the international debate continuing over whether to send guns to anti-Gaddafi fighters, the arming of Benghazi society has gone almost unnoticed.

  Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from the city on Libya's coast, examines residents' new interest in weaponry.

• Timestamp: 

  8:01pm

  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught tells us that the AU leaders are now in Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia compound in southern Tripoli:

  There really is no window for prevarication. Gaddafi can be hard to pin down, but the AU leaders have let it be known they are only here for a short time.

  What they want is a ceasefire and a settlement for the African migrant workers in Libya ... there are thought to be 6,000 in Misurata alone.

• Timestamp: 

  7:37pm

  More from Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught on the AU delegation to Tripoli.

• Timestamp: 

  7:33pm

  Anti-Gaddafi fighters shoot a rocket from the frontlines outside Ajdabiya. In front, a burnt-out vehicle in the area hit by NATO air strikes.

  

  [Picture: Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  7:03pm

  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, tells us:

  The Tripoli side won't negotiate without Gaddafi, and the Benghazi side won't negotiate with Gaddafi.

• Timestamp: 

  6:58pm

  AU leaders are “seeking Tripoli’s cooperation” in reaching Benghazi tomorrow, our correspondent tells us -but it's unclear if or when they will make it to the anti-Gaddafi stronghold.

  South African president Jacob Zuma is on a separate schedule to the others, and sources tell us he may return home tomorrow.

  We'll keep you updated...

• Timestamp: 

  6:16pm

  Algerian officials deny that mercenaries from the country are reinforcing Gaddafi's troops, after opposition fighters said they captured 15 Algerian fighters during yesterday's fighting in Ajdabiya.   

  The foreign ministry "categorically denies in the strongest terms any implication that Algeria is involved in this alleged mercenary operation," its spokesman Amar Belani told AFP.

• Timestamp: 

  5:45pm

  Award winning Associated Press photographer Altaf Qadri has gone missing in Libya, the agency reports. 

  He became separated from his team outside Ajdabiya yesterday. In a statement, the agency said:

  We are concerned about his safety and are taking appropriate steps to locate him.

  We are, of course, most focused on making sure that Altaf is safe and secure and that we are reunited with him as quickly as possible.

  The 35-year-old won a World Press Photo award this year for his poignant photograph of relatives mourning over the body of a man killed in a shooting by Indian police in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

• Timestamp: 

  5:42pm

  Anti-Gaddafi fighters say NATO airstrikes helped them hold Ajdaibiya and drive Gaddafi's forces out during the weekend's attack.

• Timestamp: 

  5:28pm

  An update on the weekend's death toll in Ajdabiya. Doctors told Al Jazeera's Sue Turton that 11 anti-Gaddafi fighters were killed on Saturday, and a further two died today.

  In this photo, an anti-Gaddafi fighter is tended to by medics in Ajdabiya after he received shrapnel to his leg in fighting just outside the city.

   

  

  [Photo: REUTERS]

• Timestamp: 

  5:25pm

  Apparently, when South African president Jacob Zuma arrived at Tripoli airport, he was "welcomed" by a crowd of Gaddafi supporters - with banners reading "No to foreign intervention!"

• Timestamp: 

  5:17pm

  AU leaders have arrived in Tripoli, and are expecetd to meet Gaddafi tonight. We'll keep you upated if we hear anything...

• Timestamp: 

  5:01pm

  This may not be what the anti-Gaddafi fighters had in mind - but the UN resolution was pretty clear...

  A NATO statement reads:

  As an example of NATO impartiality, a fighter aircraft (MiG 23) flown by TNC forces was intercepted and forced to land within minutes of taking off from the Benina Airfield near Bengazi yesterday.  Under the UN mandated No-Fly-Zone no unauthorized aircraft is permitted to fly in Libyan airspace.

• Timestamp: 

  4:58pm

  More from General Bouchard:

  We are hitting the regime logistics facilities as well as their heavy weapons because we know Gaddafi is finding it hard to sustain his attacks on civilians. 

  One recent strike cratered the road leading to Ajdabiya, west of Brega, where his fuel and ammunition is being moved forward on large trucks. Further west we hit two more storage bunkers where the ammunition is coming from.

• Timestamp: 

  4:46pm

  Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, who commands NATO's Libya operations, says:

  The situation in Ajdabiyah, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the Gaddafi regime.

   

• Timestamp: 

  4:20pm

  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton tells us of seeing a Gaddafi soldier with a severe neck wound in Ajdabiya's hospital.

  Doctors here were told that this soldier was surrounded in a school here. Fighters shouted at him to surrender and he shot himself. He is currently on life support here. He has a very vicious wound to his throat and doctors don't think he is going to pull through.

• Timestamp: 

  4:18pm

  At least 12 anti-Gaddafi fighters were killed in fighting for Ajdabiya over the course of the weekend, says Reuters.

  Doctors in the city's main hospital told Al Jazeera's Sue Turton that 11 were killed yesterday.

• Timestamp: 

  4:14pm

  NATO airstrikes outside Ajdabiya destroyed 25 tanks earlier today, the alliance reports.

  A Reuters correspondent also said he had seen at least 15 charred bodies lying next to bombed armoured vehicles in the aftermath of the strikes.

• Timestamp: 

  14:25pm

  Our correspondent Sue Turton reports from Ajdabiya as shelling can be heard in the background:

   

• Timestamp: 

  13:09pm

  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from just north of Ajdabiya, says fighting is going on, mainly at the western side of the city.

  "We're seeing plumes of smoke and constant shelling ... There are pockets of Gaddafi's forces in the city."
  
  She said she'd been told that there were patients in a hospital who appeared to have been shot by sniper fire.

  She described the city as something of a "ghost town" as not many civilians are left in the city. Many have fled eastwards to the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.

• Timestamp: 

  12:41am

  African Union mediators have left Mauritania for Libya to attempt to negotiate a ceasefire.

  Presidents Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania, Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo and Jacob Zuma of South Africa, left mid-morning, travelling separately to Tripoli, then Benghazi.

  "They have just left, each in his own plane," a Mauritanian official told AFP.

  Meanwhile, Nabila Ramdani, a French journalist and Middle East expert,told Al Jazeera that she was questioning the AU's involvement in mediation.

  Unfortunately, my view about the African Union is that it will appear as not being a credible group of people to be in a position to broker a deal on behalf of [Muammar] Gaddafi.

  "They're a group of dictators themselves and they won't be taken very seriously given that they're from very brutal regimes which are in many ways far worse than the Gaddafi regime."

• Timestamp: 

  9:50am

  Gaddafi's forces have clashed with opposition fighters in Ajdabiya, according to rebels quoted by Reuters.

  A witness at Ajdabiya's eastern gate heard shooting and artillery fire and saw plumes of black smoke, suggesting Gaddafi's forces had pushed towards the centre of the town.

  "There is resistance inside the city. Gaddafi forces are fighting with rebels. They have a presence inside."

• Timestamp: 

  7:58am

  North Korea has ordered its citizens in Libya not to return home in an apparent bid to block news of civil uprisings in the Arab World from reaching the isolated state, according to Yonhap news agency.

  The report says Pyongyang sent a message to its embassy in Libya telling about 200 North Korean workers not to return.

  Pyongyang and Tripoli have maintained close diplomatic ties, with Gaddafi described in the North as a "revolutionary comrade" of leader Kim Jong-Il, according to defectors from the North.

• Timestamp: 

  7:30am

  Here's a longer version of the footage Al Jazeera has obtained of government forces in the battlefield. It's filmed in mid-March and shows young men being taken into custody and beaten up by Gaddafi forces roaming the streets of Ajdabiya.

• Timestamp: 

  3:10am

  To catch up on all of the events in Libya from Saturday, check out our April 9 live blog.

• Timestamp: 

  2:59am

  Here's some of that exclusive Ajdabiya video Al Jazeera has received, with some discussion from our correspondent Hoda Abdel Hamid: