The War In Libya Rages On, And Gaddafi Still Sounding Crazy

Aug 2 (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi's forces counter-attacked rebels in a strategic town on Tuesday, killing seven insurgents, as the Libyan leader vowed to crush a Western-backed uprising.

A son of Gaddafi said the conflict would go on until the rebellion was wiped out, whether or not NATO stopped its bombing campaign, leaving little room for diplomacy to end a war that has killed thousands and divided Libya.

The rebels and their foreign backers kept up the pressure on the veteran leader as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, with NATO planes bombing military targets and dropping leaflets over the capital calling on loyalists to give up.

In return, the government urged former allies turned rebels in the east to switch sides again, offering them an amnesty, promotions and other benefits, the state news agency said.

The front lines are in the Western Mountains near Tunisia, around the eastern oil hub of Brega and close to Zlitan, 160 km (100 miles) east of Tripoli and near rebel-held Misrata, Libya's third-largest city.
The rebels, who have seized about half Libya but lose ground to attacks by better armed and trained Gaddafi forces, had been seeking to consolidate recent gains around Zlitan.
But hospital sources in Misrata said a counter-attack by Gaddafi forces on Tuesday killed seven rebels and wounded 65 fighters. A Reuters reporter between the two towns saw plumes of smoke and heard intermittent gunfire coming from Zlitan.

FIGHT ON

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam seemed to remove a government offer of ceasefire talks if NATO stopped bombing.
"Regardless of whether NATO leaves or not, the fighting will continue until all of Libya is liberated," he said in comments made on Sunday and broadcast on Monday.
A U.N envoy was dispatched to Libya last week but made little visible progress and said the two sides were far apart.

Gaddafi's call for eastern rebels to return to the fold may also be a sign he senses an opportunity to exploit divisions caused by the slaying last week of the rebel military commander in as yet unexplained circumstances.

General Abdel Fattah Younes family said on Tuesday their powerful tribe might take justice into its own hands if the rebel leadership failed to come clean over who had killed him.

The killing, after Younes was summoned back from the front by his superiors, has prompted speculation of conspiracies and raised fears among Western governments about the rebels' reliability.
"The rebels that the West has been counting on to replace the Gaddafi regime apparently cannot even control their base territory in eastern Libya, let alone govern the entire country," Stratfor, a global intelligence company, said.

The Muslim holy month began in Libya on Monday, with many saying it might lead to a lull in fighting. But rebels in Zlitan were optimistic after their first day of fasting.
"Fasting has only increased our determination and resolve to defeat the brigades of the tyrant (Gaddafi)," said frontline commander Husam Hussein.
At a rebel base nearby, off-duty fighters prepared meals of pizzas and pastries as milk and juice were cooled in crushed ice before being sent to the front.
His unit made gains on the eastern outskirts of Zlitan but later said they had to fight off another counter-attack and were more or less back where they had started.
NATO said it had hit about a dozen targets, including ammunition dumps and missile systems on Monday.
A NATO spokesman said the front line was shifting but rebels had disrupted main supply routes for Gaddafi's forces.

"LONG LIVE GADDAFI"

Despite slow rebel progress and mounting bills for bombing raids, Britain and France, leading members of NATO, said they will continue for as long as needed.

About 30 nations have recognized the Benghazi-based rebel government, the Transitional National Council (TNC). But others are concerned that NATO has overstepped its U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gave some rare outside support to Gaddafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity for attacks on civilians.

"Long live Muammar Gaddafi," he said in a televised address.

(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan in Tripoli, Rania El Gamal in Benghazi, Michael Georgy in Western Mountains, Joseph Nasr in Berlin; Writing by David Lewis and Richard Meares, editing by Angus MacSwan)

Original story courtesy of Reuters.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/02/us-libya-idUSTRE76Q76620110802

On the Verge of a Cataclysmic Famine

(Reuters) - Somalia's famine refugees, weakened by months of drought, on Monday began Islam's punishing Ramadan fast amid the tents and shacks of the world's largest refugee camp.

"Because of the famine, we've been going for days without any food anyway," said 25-year-old Mohamed Dubow Saman, comforting his daughter outside their emergency shelter in Dadaab camp, just over Somalia's border in neighboring Kenya.
"That was a fast without reward. At least this fast is inspired by God," he said.
Sick people do not have to keep the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. But most camp-dwellers, caught up in the severest drought to hit the Horn of Africa in decades, appeared determined to keep to their traditions.
As the sun sank below the horizon late on Sunday, bathing Dadaab's makeshift city in a deep orange hue, Saman scanned the sky for the first sight of the crescent moon, which would mark the start of the month-long fast.
Like millions of fellow believers across the world, Saman was prepared to go without food or water from dawn to dusk and wait until night to eat his meager rations.
Ramadan comes at a tough time for the Horn of Africa's Muslim population. In parts of the drought-prone region the rains have failed for four straight years, pastoralists say.
The United Nations has warned the whole of southern Somalia is slipping into famine. In all, more than 12 million people are affected across the Horn.
A rebellion waged by Islamist militants has prevented the distribution of food aid in some parts of Somalia.
Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has embarked on a tour of countries in the region, kicking off with Djibouti over the weekend, to stress the importance of delivering aid within the country first, so Somalis do not have to trek elsewhere.
"We don't want our compatriots to have to make testing journeys to other countries to receive aid," he told Reuters.
AFRICA PLEDGING CONFERENCE
The African Union is also planning to hold a pledging conference for African heads of state and international partners on August 9 in the Ethiopian capital to raise money to support those hit by the drought in the Horn of Africa.
"Around the globe, everyone must dig deep into their pockets to rescue the people of Somalia from the abyss they find themselves staring into," said AU Commission Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha during a visit to Mogadishu last week.
As night fell over the crowded refugee camp, a young girl led her family out of the scrub, carrying a rug adorned with scriptures from the Koran over her shoulder.
They were the latest among the tens of thousands of refugees arriving at the already over-flowing camp, initially meant to host 270,000 people but now home to more than 400,000, the vast majority Somalis.
Aid workers are struggling to cope with the influx. It is taking the United Nations refugee agency days, sometimes weeks to register and issue new-arrivals with tents.
Weary from the long walk to Kenya, the girl's family will have to mark at least the start of Ramadan sleeping rough in the bush.
Close by, just before the start of the fast, Abdulrahman Malim Abdi mopped up the remains of a meal of wheat flour and water -- scant sustenance for him and his 10 children.
Abdi said his family's two-week food rations were unlikely to last that long, even if they adhered to the strict rules of the fast.
"This is how we enter Ramadan, it will be difficult," Abdi said, adding that in previous years he would have broken a day's fasting with meat, rice, pasta and dates.
Meanwhile, Saman turned his thoughts to prayer.
"We'll worship here, right by the tents. In our situation, you can't even dream of a mosque," he said.

(Additional reporting by Abdourahim Arteh in Djibouti; Editing by David Clarke and Andrew Heavens)

Original report taken from Reuters.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-somalia-famine-ramadan-idUSTRE7702S220110801