Libya Live Blog - April 7

Libya Live Blog - April 7

• Timestamp: 

  10:33pm

  Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught reporting from Tripoli says Turkey feels it has a better chance because it has been in direct talks with both sides, as well as sending in aid shipments to Benghazi and moving injured Libyans to Turkish hospitals.

  But the major problem is how Turkey will get both sides to accept a ceasefire when all sides still feel there is something to play for, that the cost of giving up the fight would be far too great to bear.

  Both sides are fearful that if they give up fighting now they will lose everything. This is what Turkey will have to find a way through.

  
  Turkish PM Erdogan says the roadmap for Libya is to reach a ceasefire and political reform [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  9:37pm

  Sources cited by Reuters say China will buy the first oil cargo from Libya via trading house Vitol. But traders said it could take a long time before flows of crude from Libya reach substantial levels.

  Trading sources told the news agency on Thursday that the Liberia-registered tanker Equator, which can carry up to one million barrels of oil, was taking Libyan crude to China.

  Libya's government has cut oil output by 80 per cent while rebels and Gaddafi loyalists trade charges over attacks on oil fields in eastern Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  8:30pm

  Media watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) corrects its Libya report earlier about 26 journalists being expelled. A day earlier Libyab authorities posted a list of the foreign reporters they said were slated for departure on Thursday, because their visas had expired.

  But on Thursday  officials said there may have been an administrative error and no one on the list was expelled. It is not clear whether Libya intends to expel any of them at a later date.

• Timestamp: 

  6:45pm

  Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip  Erdogan urges pro-Gaddafi forces to withdraw from cities they are besieging in Libya, local news channel NTV said. He promised to disclose a Libyan "roadmap" on Thursday.

  
  Wounded rebels were taken to hospital in Ajdabiya after NATO's friendly fire incident killed five [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  5:37pm

  NATO promises to investigate the latest air strike on Thursday that killed at least five rebel fighters in the eastern town of Brega, less than a week after 13 people died in an alliance bombing in the same area.

  It said in a statement:

  NATO is looking into the specific details of an alleged strike on a column of tanks outside of Brega today.

  The fighting between Brega and Ajdabiya, where the strike occurred, has been fierce for several days. The situation is unclear and fluid with mechanised weapons travelling in all directions.

  The alliance reiterated it will continue to uphold the UN mandate and strike forces that threaten Libyan civilians.

• Timestamp: 

  5:20pm

  Five journalists reported missing on Thursday in east Libya, as Gaddafi's government expels 26 foreign reporters from Tripoli, says media watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF).

  It said in a statement:

  Reporters without Borders has learned from a reliable source that four journalists - a South African, two Americans and a Spaniard - have been missing in the east of the country since April 4.

  The names of journalists, who had all been invited to Tripoli by the [Gaddafi] government, were posted last night in the lobby of the hotel where they were staying.

  The expulsions follows a series of deportations in recent weeks.

  A female Syrian reporter Rana Akbani has been reported missing in Libya since March 28.

  About 100 other foreign journalists are still in the Libyan capital, RSF added.

• Timestamp: 

  5:15pm

  Al Jazeera's Sue Turton visits a weapons bunker near Tobruk to look at the ammunition pro-Gaddafi forces have had to rely on. Catch her report below:

• Timestamp: 

  4:30pm

  Top US general, Commander of US Africa Command General Carter Ham, tells senate hearing on Thursday a stalemate is emerging in Libya between rebels and troops loyal to Gaddafi.

  
  Nearly a dozen rebel fighters were injured in the second NATO air strike that hit a rebel position near Brega [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  1:04pm

  AFP - At least five opposition fighters killed in a NATO air raid in the eastern oil town of Brega.
  
  

  "It was the planes of NATO. They fired twice at our tank and blew up the tank's position," said rebel fighter Ali Sahli.
  

  Chaotic scenes were witnessed at a rebel checkpoint on the edge of Ajdabiya, about 80km from Brega, with ambulances racing through heading for the hospital followed by a convoy of rebel military vehicles.

  Civilians were ordered away from the checkpoint.

• Timestamp: 

  7:51am

  Reuters - Libya accuses British government of damaging an oil pipeline in an air raid, hours after rebels said government attacks had halted production of oil they hope to sell to finance their uprising. 

  "British warplanes have attacked, have carried out an airstrike against the Sarir oilfield which killed three oilfield guards and other employees at the field were also injured," Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim told reporters. 

  There was no immediate comment from Britain's ministry of defence or from NATO, which is coordinating air raids against pro-Gaddafi forces. 

  Kaim said the raid damaged a pipeline connecting the oilfields to the Marsa el Hariga port.
  
  "There is no doubt this aggression ... is against international law and is not covered by the UN resolution," he said. 

• Timestamp: 

  7:18am

  Associated Press - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi  "knows what he must do," said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in response tohis appeal for an end to the conflict.

  Gaddafi appealed directly to president Barack Obama to end what he called "an unjust war," and he wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

  Clinton, speaking at the White House, repeated U.S. and allied demands that Gaddafi's forces pull back and cease attacks.

  "I don't think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr. Gaddafi at this time," Clinton said. 

• Timestamp: 

  6:17am

  Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi,  said that Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the Vice-Chairman of the Libyan National Provisional Council, continues to insist that NATO do more.

  "He has certainly strengthened his language, and he even went on to call NATO a "burden", which is an extraordinary thing to say under the current circumstances." 

  "There is obviously agreement here among the opposition that if more military gains are to be made, international forces must step up their operations."

• Timestamp: 

  4:48am

  Al Jazeera's Laurance Lee visited some of the pre-Gaddafi sites in rebel-held Benghazi and found signs of the city's proud history:

• Timestamp: 

  2:16am

  The US government has provided $47 million to international and non-governmental organisations to meet humanitarian needs in Libya, according to the State Department. Though the US government, mostly via the United Nations, is able to monitor the humantarian situation in eastern Libya and along most of the borders, western Libya remains cut off by the Gaddafi regime.

  Here's a breakdown, provided by the State Department, that shows where the money is going:

  

• Timestamp: 

  2:05am

  The United Nations on Wednesday called for a cessation of hostilities around the Libyan city of Misurata to get help to the wounded and let people escape fighting between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and opposition rebels.

  "The situation on the ground is critical for a large number of people who immediately need food, clean water and emergency medical assistance," said UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, who made the appeal.

• Timestamp: 

  1:44am

  Former US Senator Curt Weldon traveled to Tripoli on Wednesday to try to convince Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to impose a cease fire on his forces and step down. Weldon led Congressional delegations to the country after Gaddafi agreed to give up its nuclear program in 2004. Check out Weldon's curriculum vitae, published on Wired magazine's website, for a glimpse of the ex-senator's history of dealings with Libya, North Korea, Russia and other lovely countries.

• Timestamp: 

  1:31am

  Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told the Reuters news agency that a British air strike hit the major Sarir oil field on Wednesday, killing three guards. He said the strike damaged a pipeline connected the field to Hariga port and that it violated international law.

• Timestamp: 

  12:07am

  Welcome to Al Jazeera's Libya live blog for April 7. Catch up on all of the latest developments on our live blog for April 6, including Gaddafi's letter to Barack Obama appealing for the withdrawal of NATO air strikes.