Fighters move into Gaddafi stronghold

LIBYAN rebels stormed the southern town of Bani Walid yesterday after Nato airstrikes paved the way for a final push on the ground that may, after eight long months, finally defeat the Gaddafi regime.

Flags streamed from the barrels of the rebel’s anti-aircraft guns as the convoys drove into battle. Guns in hand, fighters in the back of the pickups lounged on mattresses as checkpoint volunteers shouted and cheered in adulation.

Rebels attacking loyalist forces on the outskirts of the town that remains one of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s last strongholds were met with fierce resistance.

“They are fighting until the death. It is as if Gaddafi himself was with them,” shouted a rebel fighter as an ambulance rushed the injured back. By mid-afternoon, two fighters were dead.

“There are ‘big fish’ inside the town,” said chief rebel negotiator Abdullah Kenshil. Col Gaddafi’s sons Saif al-Islam and Mutassim, and regime mouthpiece Moussa Ibrahim, have all been spotted inside the town.

“We have surrounded the exits so that they cannot leave. If they are still there we will catch them,” said Ahmed Naji, 23.

Soldiers from Col Gaddafi’s regime that fled Tripoli when the rebels took the capital, as well as mercenaries – Africans that Col Gaddafi has paid to fight for him – added to the loyalist forces inside the city.

Libya’s interim government gave loyalists in the southern towns of Bani Walid and Sirte until yesterday to surrender. But after a week of failed negotiations for peaceful surrender between tribal leaders, loyalists rocketed rebel forces, sparking the start of the conflict late on Friday night.

“Now is not the time for talks anymore,” said Kenshil as the noon surrender deadline passed.

On cue, loyalist rockets slammed into the mountainside metres away from the convoy. Gunfire rattled. ‘Sniper!’ shouted the rebels, taking cover and pointing to the hilltops behind where the loyalist forces stood.

Nato planes screamed overhead. “They have asked us to pull back. They have a mission to do,” said military commander Mohammed Ghneya. Planes reportedly bombed regime rocket launchers in a military base close to the town.

Hundreds of men who fought for Col Gaddafi have been killed in bombing raids and fighting with rebel forces since the war began in February. Many came from the staunchly loyalist town of Bani Walid, and many families there still see Nato as an invading force.

“They [loyalists] don’t talk to us; we don’t exist in their eyes. This is a fight with Nato,” said Kenshil. “They demanded that we hand Nato to them.”

“We are happy to change the regime, we are happy to change Gaddafi, but not with the force of Nato. This is the main problem for the people of Bani Walid,” said Mohammed Khafalla from the town. “The people of Bani Walid must liberate themselves. They do not want Nato or anyone coming with weapons from other Libyan cities.”

Rebels reported fighting from districts inside the town. “Many people inside are with us,” said Shehab al Uftassi.

The rebels leading the battle are all from Bani Walid, and from the traditionally loyalist Warfalla tribe. Fighters from Tripoli who had come to support were stopped from joining the advance.

“This is our war,” one Warfalla rebel fighter told them. Furious, the Tripoli rebels ditched the front lines and sped back to the capital.

Taking the town will be mired in painful decisions and personal recriminations within the rebel movement. Many of the men fighting to “free” their town are the relatives of loyalists that fought and killed for Col Gaddafi in this bloody civil war. It is these very men the rebels have to arrest.

“I know that my brother has to be arrested, he did many bad things. But my God, I hope they do it when I am not in the room,” said one fighter.

Taking the towns of Bani Walid and Sirte will leave the beleaguered Brother Leader with few places to hide if he remains in Libya.

Rebel leaders have said that Col Gaddafi is hiding in an unmarked desert region, possibly near the southern garrison town of Sabha, and has surrounded himself with fighters coming from surrounding African countries, and loyal members of his tribe.

“Our eyes on the ground know where he is. He has three to four thousand people around him,” said General Ahmed Hesnawi, who heads military operations in southern Libya. “We will catch him.”

But the battle for Sabha could be the toughest the rebels have faced yet. Close to the possible escape routes of Chad, Niger and Algeria, the city is filled with regime forces led by General Massoud Abdelhafid, Col Gaddafi’s head of military security.

It could yet be a long war.