Live Blog - Libya Feb 26

Live Blog - Libya Feb 26

As the uprising in Libya enters its twelfth day, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Blog: Feb17 - Feb18 - Feb19 - Feb20 - Feb21 - Feb22 - Feb23 - Feb24 - Feb25

AJE Live Stream  - Special Coverage: Libya Uprising - Twitter Audio: Voices from Libya 

Benghazi Protest Radio (Arabic)

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

• Timestamp: 

  11:59pm

  We continue our liveblog coverage here: February 27.

• Timestamp: 

  11:00pm

  Jamie Doward argues in the Guardian that "Saif's desire to act as a mouthpiece for his father has lent the tragic scenes unfolding in Libya a surreal, sometimes ridiculous dimension.

  His appearances in front of the television cameras suggest a man increasingly unhinged. Arms folded, jaw firmly out, Saif is a manifestation of defiance. It is clear he is very much his father's son, albeit, as one Twitter user wryly observed, someone who seems to have styled himself sartorially on Stringer Bell, the drug lord in the US cop show The Wire.

• Timestamp: 

  10:45pm

  An atmosphere of panic and chaos has gripped Tripoli's international airport, strewn with luggage left behind by fleeing passengers and besieged by crowds on Saturday trying to escape the escalating violence. Thousands of people, many of them migrant workers from the Middle East and Africa, have camped out for days on little more than bread and water in the hope of leaving.

• Timestamp: 

  10:25pm

  AJE source says that "security officials were at Tripoli medical centre all day today ... the injured did not go in for help". He estimates that 70 were killed last night alone.

  
  "They were left to drown in their own blood ... the blood banks are empty ... last night (Friday) Tripoli medical centre was over run with the wounded"

• Timestamp: 

  10:20pm

  The first Indian evacuees from #Libya have arrived in New Delhi, describing looting and narrow escapes from violence reports AFP. The Air India flight carrying around 300 evacuees from Libya arrived in New Delhi and was greeted by India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

• Timestamp: 

  10:05pm

  Reuters reports that UN Security Council diplomats clashed on Saturday over a proposal to refer the deadly crackdown against anti-government demonstrators in Libya to the International Criminal Court.

• Timestamp: 

  9:50pm

  According to Reuters, Libyan Ex-Justice minister leads formation of an interim government based in Benghazi. It is further reported that Gaddafi 'alone' bears responsibility for crimes in the country.

• Timestamp: 

  9:30pm

   

  Al Jazeera talks to Ibrahim Sharqieh of the Brookings Center in Doha about the possibilities for Libya

• Timestamp: 

  9:10pm

  Screen shot of Saif al-Islam
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  7:45pm

  Blackout. No international journalists. No network cameras. And yet the story of Libya's revolution has poured out on twitter, facebook and other online platforms. It's a story that has been raw, uncut and shocking. Read on here.
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  7:30pm

  The UN Security Council has begun urgent deliberations to consider imposing sanctions against Libya for violent attacks against protesters. The sanctions under consideration at Saturday's session include an arms
  embargo against the Libyan government and a travel ban and asset freeze against Gadhafi, his relatives and key regime members.
  
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging council members to take concrete action to protect civilians in Libya where some estimates indicate more than 1,000 people have been killed in less than two weeks.

• Timestamp: 

  7:15pm

  The New York Times reports that Qaddafi forces were seen shooting from ambulances and using antiaircraft weapons against crowds, as protesters recount brutal tactics of Libyan regime.

  They shoot people from the ambulances,” said one terrified resident, Omar, by telephone as he recalled an episode during the protests on Friday when one protester was wounded. “We thought they’d take him to the hospital,” he said, but the militiamen “shot him dead and left with a squeal.

• Timestamp: 

  7:05pm

  AJE correspondent reports that anti-government protesters have attacked black Africans in Libya, taking them for mercenaries.
  
  Seidou Boubaker Jallou and his friend, both from Mali, fled for their lives by night to the Tunisian border. They said the roads out of the West are still in the hands of those loyal to Gaddafi. Jallou says:

  The situation is very dangerous - every day there are more than a hundred who die - every day - every day there are shootings - the most dangerous situation is for foreigners like us - and also us black people - Because Gaddafi brought soldiers from Chad from Niger - they are black and they are killing Arabs.

• Timestamp: 

  7:00pm

  Al Jazeera's Inside Story: What would a new Libya look like?

• Timestamp: 

  6:55pm

  A British warship and a Chinese-chartered ferry docked in the Mediterranean island of Malta loaded with 2,500 people from Libya's vast multinational workforce including domestic helpers.

• Timestamp: 

  6:52pm

  Families and relatives of expatriate Bangladeshis now trapped in Libya blocked a road near Dhaka on Saturday to demand their quick repatriation. The protesters called upon the government to quickly bring
  the expatriate workers home. More than 50,000 Bangladeshi workers are believed to be employed in different Libyan and international firms operating at different areas mainly in Bengazi.
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  6:30pm

  'Free Libya' protests in Tokyo by flickr user: jetalone

  

• Timestamp: 

  5:25pm

  An anti-government security man waves to migrant Tunisian nationals and expatriates from other countries before they leave Libya on board a Tunisian ship leaving for Tunisia, from the Libyan harbour in Benghazi. Photo from Reuters.

   

  

• Timestamp: 

  5:50pm

  Map illustrating which cities in Libya have fallen into the hands of pro-reform demonstrators. Details via Reuters.

  
  View Libya in a larger map

• Timestamp: 

  4:20pm

  South African cartoonist, satirist and social commentator Zapiro charts an alternate Oscar ceremony.

  

• Timestamp: 

  4:15pm

  The leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy and Turkey have agreed that the actions of the Libyan regime are "totally unacceptable", a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday.

• Timestamp: 

  3:50pm

  Richard Pithouse argues in the latest edition of Pambazuka Online, that the revolts in North Africa and the Middle East might be towards advancing democratic values but the struggles do not seek to replicate American or European values. Pithouse argues that considering the relationship the United States and Europe have had with despots in the region, "they have no claim of moral leadership in this world"

  We cannot know the trajectories of the uprisings that have swept North Africa and the Middle East. But one thing is for sure. Whatever pompous claims to the contrary come out of Washington and Brussels, these are not revolts for American or European values. On the contrary they are a direct challenge to those values. They are revolts against a global power structure that is formed by an international alliance of elites with one of its key principles being the idea, the racist idea, that Arabs are ‘not yet ready’ for democracy.

• Timestamp: 

  3:40pm

  The British Prime Minister chaired a ministerial meeting of the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) to discuss the latest situation in Libya. According to the spokesperson:

  The Prime Minister was clear that the Libyan regime would face the consequences of its actions. He agreed with counterparts that urgent action was needed through the EU and UN including a tough sanctions package targeting the regime directly. The Prime Minister stressed that there can be no impunity for the blatant and inhuman disregard for basic rights that is taking place in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  3:10pm

  The US State department says that there maybe Americans still in Libya who "might need assistance departing the country"Philip Crowley, department spokesperson:

  In order to help, our task force will remain up and running to make sure that if there are any Americans remaining, we can assist them

• Timestamp: 

  2:54pm

  The New Middle East? Via Imgur.com
  
  
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  1:50pm

  Gaddafi's strongest European ally has weighed in on the situation in Libya too. At a political meeting in Rome, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said:

  It appears that, effectively, Gaddafi no longer controls the situation in Libya.

• Timestamp: 

  1:30pm

  Libya's ex-interior minister has told Al Jazeera that Tripoli is the only major city in Muammar Gaddafi's hands.

  "Now there is only Tripoli and a few other towns (In Gaddafi's hands). that is why I urge the Libyan people that there is no going back."

• Timestamp: 

  1:15pm

  The UN Security Council is set to meet today to consider a sanctions resolution against Gaddafi. 

  Britain, France, Germany and the US have drawn up a resolution that says the attacks on civilians in Libya could amount to crimes against humanity.

  The resolution calls for an arms embargo and a travel ban and assets freeze against the Libyan leader.

• Timestamp: 

  12:15pm

  Our correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the eastern Libyan city of al-Baida, says that while many parts of the country's east are no longer under government control, local residents do not want to separate from the rest of Libya. 

  "They still want a united Libya, and want Tripoli to remain its capital," she said.

  She added that many in the country's east have felt abandoned by the Gaddafi government, despite the vast oil wealth located in the region, and said that they feel they have no future in the country.

• Timestamp: 

  11:11am

  The Maldives has apparently joined France in calling on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down, according to the Haveeru Daily, a newspaper in the island nation.

  It said Iruthisham Adam, the permanent representative of the Maldives to the UN in Geneva , told the UN Human Rights Council that Libyan authorities have shown brute force and clear disdain for people's rights and well-being.

  “The Maldives, a fellow Muslim country which itself recently began the transition to democracy, refuses to remain silent as hundreds of Muslim brothers and sisters are abused and killed,” she asserted.

• Timestamp: 

  10:56am

  The website Buzzfeed has compiled a list of the Top 40 Best Libyan Protest Signs from around the world. This photo, taken and owned by Collin David Anderson at a protest in Washington, DC, shows one of Buzzfeed's winning signs.

  

• Timestamp: 

  10:00am

  Witnesses tell Al Jazeera Arabic, our sister station, that Libyan protesters have taken control of a number of areas in the capital, Tripoli.

  They also said at least seven people were killed in Tripoli yesterday when security brigades opened fire on protesters. It was not immediately possible to verify their accounts however.

• Timestamp: 

  9:28am

  In the Libyan city of Az Zawiyah, about 50km away from the capital Tripoli, amateur video appears to show soldiers switching sides and joining anti-government protesters. Al Jazeera's Tarek Bazley reports:

• Timestamp: 

  9:00am

  According to this Global Voices piece, which cites Malta.cc, a Maltese blog, Serbian military pilots reportedly took part in the bombing of anti-government protesters in the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi.

  Two Libyan pilots made the claim upon fleeing to Malta, the blog said. Al Jazeera can't confirm the authenticity of the report - but you can read it for yourself here.

• Timestamp: 

  8:19am

  A resident of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, just left this voice note posted on Twitter by @Feb17voices. She says:

  "We are afraid. We are afraid because we are women, I have daughters here. Every house is armed only by knives. We have nothing else, but we have God. ... We are not very much afraid of death."

  Listen to part one of her note below and click here for part two.

• Timestamp: 

  5:23am

  Ashraf Tulti, director of the Justice and Democracy for Libya group based in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera that sanctions go against people; they will not affect the Libyan regime.
  
  Instead, he asked for immediate action to stop the killings of Libyan people.

• Timestamp: 

  5:22am

  Details of the US sanctions are emerging. They are:

  Freeze of assets held by Gaddafi and four of his children inside US, all US banks have been put on notice for sudden movement of funds from Libya and all military assistance cut off.

• Timestamp: 

  5:02am

  A picture of a group of peaceful Libyan protestors outside Hyde Park, London twitted by @ellsun.
  

  Protests have also been held in the British city of Manchester.

• Timestamp: 

  4:57am:

  The UN Security Council agrees to urgently consider sanctions against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime to try to end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.

  Under pressure from Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, to take "concrete action" to protect civilians, the council decided to meet again on Saturday morning to discuss options.

• Timestamp: 

  4:40am:

  A rally has been planned in San Fransisco, US, in solidarity with Libyans on Saturday, Febraury 26, 2011 at UN Plaza Market between 1:00pm-4:00pm [local time]

• Timestamp: 

  3:35am:

  Barack Obama, the U.S. president, has imposed sanctions on Libya's government for its violent repression of a popular uprising, signing an executive order blocking property and transactions related to the country.

• Timestamp: 

  3:31am:

  Obama says Libyan sanctions target Gaddafi's government while protecting Libyan people's assets.

• Timestamp: 

  3:30am:

  Obama says Gaddafi's government has violated international norms and common decency and must be held accountable.

• Timestamp: 

  3:20am:

  A charter aircraft dispatched by the Canadian government on Friday to pick up its citizens fleeing the violence in Libya left Tripoli with only its crew aboard after it could not find any Canadians waiting at the airport.

• Timestamp: 

  3:10am:

  Muammar Gaddafi's allies in Latin America should follow Peru's example and suspend diplomatic relations with the North African nation's regime, the representative of a leading Jewish organization said on Friday.

  Sergio Widder, the Latin American representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, strongly criticized the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela for failing to condemn Gaddafi's violent crackdown on a popular uprising.

• Timestamp: 

  2:35am:

  Mark Goldberg, Managing Editor, UN Dispatch, told Al Jazeera that the Libyan regime has become isolated and the targeted sanctions against Libyan government might encourage further defections.

• Timestamp: 

  2:20am:

  After the UN security council meeting, Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler, reporting from UN headquarters, said that the most important point right now is how to stop the killings in Libya. However, the UN chief told our correspondent that military action was not in the cards.

• Timestamp: 

  1:50am

  Dozens of US diplomats and their families were among the US-chartered ship's estimated 300 passengers, two of whom had to be taken off the vessel on stretchers by paramedics after crossing over from Tripoli in 20-foot waves.

• Timestamp: 

  1:09am:

  

• Timestamp: 

  12:58am

  Twitter user @AnnSaid posted this picture.
  

• Timestamp: 

  12:46am

  Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Shalgham, has defected, following in the footsteps of his deputy Ibrahim Dabbashi, a diplomat said on Friday.

• Timestamp: 

  12:35am

  A son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Friday that his forces were holding back in fighting with rebels in western Libya and hoped that a negotiated ceasefire could be in place by Saturday, according to Reuters.

• Timestamp: 

  12:20am

  After three days of delays, a U.S.-chartered ferry carrying Americans and other foreigners out of the chaos of Libya finally arrived on Friday at the Mediterranean island of Malta.

• Timestamp: 

  12:10am

  After 41 years of ruthless rule by Muammar Gaddafi, Libyans are suddenly free to rule themselves. Here's a picture gallery from boston.com on the lives of Libyans in the liberated areas of the country.

• Timestamp: 

  11:45pm

  Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam says army holding back and hopes for peaceful settlement "by tomorrow", according to Reuters.

• Timestamp: 

  10:25pm

  In Chad, Foreign Ministry's General Secretary Moussa Mahamat Dago rejected allegations that citizens of his African country were amongst those reportedly recruited by Gaddafi to crack down on protesters

• Timestamp: 

  10:15pm

  An Italian navy assault ship, the San Giorgio, has loaded up 245 evacuees in the Libyan port of Misrata and has set sail for Sicily.

• Timestamp: 

  10:04pm

  The United States has suspended embassy operations in Libya and is moving forward with unilateral sanctions.