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Hunt for Gaddafi escalating in Tripoli as Libya contact group meets in Istanbul

25 August 2011 18:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Libyan rebels Thursday continued their hunt for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in the war-torn capital of Tripoli as senior officials from 29 nations met in Turkey to discuss aid for the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC), APA reports quoting Xinhua.

A group of Libyan rebels Thursday besieged several apartment buildings near the seized military compound of Gaddafi in Tripoli where they believed the embattled strongman and some of his sons may be holing up, Al-Jazeera television reported.

Rebels were trying to advance toward the buildings but met fierce sniper fire from Gaddafi’s loyalists, the report said, adding that the rebels’ speculation has yet to be confirmed.

With the support of the NTC, some Libyan businessmen offered a 1.67 million U.S. dollars bounty for the capture of the former Libyan leader, who has ruled the oil-rich North African state for 42 years.

According to Al-Jazeera television, British and French intelligence were in Libya providing assistance to rebels in hunting Gaddafi and his sons. NATO was reportedly giving Libyan rebels surveillance assistance and continued bombing targets in the country.

The whereabouts of Gaddafi and his sons remained unknown after the rebels overran his military bastion, Bab al-Aziziya, in Tripoli Tuesday after a day of heavy fighting.

Rebels claimed they have so far controlled more than 90 percent of Tripoli, a city with a population of 2 million, but intense fighting was still going on in many parts of the city between the rebels and Gaddafi’s loyalists.

As the hunt for Gaddafi escalated, the international community was intensifying its efforts to lend specific support to the fledgling new Libyan governing body, the NTC.

In the Turkish city of Istanbul, senior officials from 29 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, convened Thursday to seek ways on how the international community can cooperate to provide political guidance to the NTC and potentially release frozen funds as the rebels look to strengthen their grip on the reins of power.

The meeting will discuss financial support for NTC and the Libyan people, the protection of civilians, and NTC’s efforts to achieve an inclusive and broad-based democratic transition, and urgent needs for essential services and humanitarian relief.

Opening the gathering, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on the international community to assist the NTC in every possible way as soon as they can and to work towards releasing frozen Libyan assets for the NTC’s use.

The NTC got another boost earlier Thursday as the Arab League ( AL) announced that it would unfreeze Libya’s membership. AL Secretary General Nabil eL-Arabi said that the NTC will legally represent Libya at an AL meeting of foreign ministers to be held in Cairo Saturday.

In the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, where the NTC is headquartered, NTC head Abdel Jalil reiterated his call for the international community to extend financial support for the NTC.

He told reporters that the cash-strapped NTC has been unable to pay its workers salary for months.

Quoted by Al-Jazeera, he said Libyan national wealth will be distributed equally among the population and welcome negotiations with Gaddafi-held areas to avoid more killings.

He also urged Libyan people living in areas still controlled by Gaddafi to "join the revolution."