Libya Live Blog - April 30

Libya Live Blog - April 30

• Timestamp: 

  8:50pm

  The Reuters news agency quotes witnesses who say they heard loud explosions in the capital, Tripoli.

  "Missiles appeared to fall behind the Rixos Hotel, which is near a major conference centre, opposite the palace Muammar Gaddafi uses to host visiting dignitaries and not far from his Bab al-Aziziyah compound. It was not immediately clear what the target was," the news agency reported.

• Timestamp: 

  7:20pm

  Army chiefs from Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Algeria are on alert as the crisis in nearby Libya deteriorates, a military source said Saturday.
  
  "The situation in Libya is of great concern. There is a risk of destabilising the entire region," an unnamed Malian officer told the AFP news agency.
  
  Yesterday's meeting between the four military heads was to reinforce the fight against insecurity in a region threatened by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).
  
  

  Moreover, because of the Libyan crisis, the security situation in the Sahel has deteriorated, so it is necessary to be careful. We are all on alert and we keep each other informed.

• Timestamp: 

  6:18pm

  ''He didn't have mercy on us for 42 years. He's a liar. We want NATO to intervene against this war criminal," one resident of the eastern city of Benghazi tells Al Jazeera of Gaddafi.

  Watch:

   

• Timestamp: 

  4:19pm

  NATO has also rejected Gaddafi's latest ceasefire offer, with one NATO official telling the AFP news agency that the alliance wants to see "not words, but actions".

  (UN Security Council Resolution) 1973 explicitly calls for an end to attacks on and abuses of civilians. The regime has announced ceasefires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians," the official said.

• Timestamp: 

  12:27pm

  Libya's opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) released a statement this morning in response to Gaddafi’s call for a supposed ceasefire.
  
   Abdul Hafidh Ghoga, vice president of the NTC, said:

  
  "Gaddafi’s regime has lost all credibility. It has repeatedly offered ceasefires only to continue violating basic human rights, international humanitarian law, and the safety and security of Libya and the entire region. Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed or injured.
   
  "Countless others have been detained, tortured and are still missing. The time for compromise has passed. The people of Libya cannot possibly envisage or accept a future Libya in which Gaddafi’s regime plays any role.”

• Timestamp: 

  10:50am

  A Libyan rebel loads bullets into a machine gun at the front line in al-Ghiran, near Misurata airport, yesterday, as tanks belonging to Gaddafi's forces launched an assault on the besieged city.
  
  
  [Photo: AFP]

• Timestamp: 

  10:40am

  Libya's government has threatened to attack any ships approaching the western rebel outpost of Misurata, potentially depriving rebel fighters of a lifeline to the country's eastern rebel stronghold.

• Timestamp: 

  10:00am

  Fighting is shifting to edges of Libyan city of Misurata, turning small village clinics into trauma centres, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

• Timestamp: 

  8:20am

  Medical aid is in very short supply, but now Italy is working to change that.

  
  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton is in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and spoke to opposition fighters benefiting from the initiative. 
  
   
• Timestamp: 

  7:30am

  Tunisia has summoned Libya's ambassador in protest at incursions by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces over its western border.

   

  Much of the fighting there has been taking place away from the spotlight. However, Al Jazeera has travelled to the isolated Nefusa Mountains, which had been under siege by Gadaffi forces.

  
  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught has this report from Zintan, 130km south west of the capital Tripoli:
  
   
• Timestamp: 

  6:00am

  Good morning, welcome to Al Jazeera's live coverage of the battle for Libya. You can read our earlier live blog here.
  

  Libya's embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi has made his latest television appearance on state TV.

  In a speech that lasted one and a half hours, he reaffirmed his committment to a ceasefire but added it must not be one sided. 

  Gaddafi also said he is open to talks with coalition powers.

  His appearance came as NATO said it has stopped his forces from laying mines in Misurata's port.
  
  Here's a quick recap of what Gaddafi had to say:
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  5:18am

  Government troops outran a rebel outpost on the Tunisian border, with fighting spilling onto Tunisian territory.

  
  Pro-Gaddafi forces raise the Libyan flag while they take back the Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Dehiba on Thursday [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  4:49am

  Libyan state television says NATO had bombed close to TV building during Gaddafi's speech early on Saturday morning.

• Timestamp: 

  3:38am

  Gaddafi has called for negotiations with NATO powers to end the air strikes over Libya.

  We did not attack them or cross the sea ... why are they attacking us? Let us negotiate with you, the countries that attack us. Let us negotiate.

  He added that if it was oil the coalition countries were after, there was no problem in negotiating them.

• Timestamp: 

  3:27am

  Gaddafi said no one would force him to leave Libya. Appearing live on state TV in the wee hours of Saturday morning, he said:

  I'm not leaving my country. No one can force me to leave my country and no one can tell me not to fight for my country.

• Timestamp: 

  3:22am

  Gaddafi said he is prepared to enter a ceasefire but that it must involve all sides and not only his own forces who are fighting rebels in the east. Speaking live on state TV in the early hours of Saturday, he said:

  [Libya] is ready until now to enter a ceasefire ... but a ceasefire cannot be from one side. We were the first to welcome a ceasefire and we were the first to accept a ceasefire ... but the crusader NATO attack has not stopped.

• Timestamp: 

  2:55am

  Libyan state TV says Misurata port has been rendered "non-functional". Nato has accused Gaddafi's forces of mining the harbour to block aid ships.

  Friday's clashes was the first time government troops had crossed the border and entered a Tunisian town.

  Inside Libya, NATO air strikes hit Gaddafi's troops attacking rebel-hit Zintan. The claim did nothing to stop loyalists from firing 20 rockets into the city.

  
  Thousands of rebels and civilians gather for Friday prayers in central Ajdabiya [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  2:46am

  Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a statement on state TV said the government is prepared to enter a ceasefire, but said  it will have to be by both sides.

  What is happenig today with all the evil forces fighting against the bave Libyan people and its leader, it is just one pahse of its bright history and it was shows in the past by our brave people against the abject Italian occupation.

• Timestamp: 

  2:22am

  The Libyan government has threatened to attack ships arriving the western rebel outpost of Misurata, a move that will deprive the anti-Gaddafi movement of a lifeline to the eastern rebel stronghold.

  NATO said pro-Gaddafi forces had laid mines on the approach to the harbour, which has been under siege for weeks. It forced a temporary stoppage of humanitarian shipments but troops have not taken control of the port.

  Earlier the Libyan government claimed it was in control of the port and that vessels need permission to dock.

• Timestamp: 

  1:34am

  NATO official says anti-Gaddafi forces expanding their perimeter around Misurata, according to Reuters news agency.

• Timestamp: 

  12:47am

  A group of French bloggers have travelled to the shell-shocked city of Misurata in western Libya to support the anti-government movement. They said in an email statement:

  We came here to support this revolution ... supporting the people alse means taking on their risks.

  The group said they were also in Misurata for their friend, Baptiste Dubonnet, who nearly lost his life in the fighting when he took a bullet to the neck. Doctors in Benghazi said Dubonnet's injuries were severe enough to cause paralysis.