Give up your guns or be forced out of Sirte, loyalists told

LIBYA’S rebel leaders have issued a blunt deadline to regime loyalists in Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte: “Surrender by Saturday or be forced out with military force.”

The warning came as a military commander with the country’s interim ruling council said an estimated 50,000 people have been killed since the beginning of Libya’s uprising six months ago.

The Mediterranean city of 100,000 people is the biggest remaining prize in the hands of pro-Gaddafi fighters, blocking the road from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to the capital Tripoli.

Opposition leaders have been negotiating with tribal elders for a peaceful handover even as rebel forces closed in from east and west. They know they will face bloody resistance and have slowed their approach to allow talks to continue.

However, yesterday the transitional leadership of Libya said there had been little progress, amid reports that Gaddafi forces in the city had sabotaged the supply of water to Tripoli.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the rebel National Transitional Council, said he wanted to avoid more bloodshed and destruction but loyalists had only until the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr to agree to a peaceful handover.

“Beginning from next Saturday, if there are no peaceful indications, we will act decisively to end this situation in a military manner,” he told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

“We do not wish to do so, but we cannot wait more than that.”

Rebels have been moving tanks and rocket launchers into position about 80 miles to the east of Sirte. At the same time, fighters to the west are within 20 miles of the city.

They have held their positions hoping that shortages of gas, electricity and petrol would turn the population against Gaddafi loyalists who control the city.

However, in a message repeated by the military leadership, the rebels have now decided they can wait no longer, giving a deadline for surrender.

“The zero hour is gradually approaching,” said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, the military spokesman. “We have given ample time for questions regarding the city of Sirte and up to this moment we have not yet received any hopeful, peaceful proposals regarding Sirte.”

Rebels in Benghazi believe that Gaddafi forces have been moving to the south of the country to regroup, leaving rebels in control of much of the coastline, but little of the interior.

Nato officials said their mission was not over despite the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

“He is displaying a capability to exercise some level of command and control,” said Colonel Roland Lavoie, military spokesman of the Nato air mission in Libya. “The pro-Gaddafi troops that we see are not in total disarray,. They are retreating in an orderly fashion, conceding ground and going to the second best position that they could hold to continue their warfare.”

Warplanes have been in action for the past four days, attacking targets in and around Sirte. Nato reported hitting 22 armed vehicles, three command and control sites, four radar installations and several other targets on Monday.

The city is a key strategic target for the rebels. Not only will it complete their control of Libya’s coastline, its status as Gaddafi’s hometown makes its capture a huge boost for morale.

At the same time, it is crucial to ensuring the supply of clean water to Tripoli, where shortages are forcing aid agencies to bring water tankers in by land and sea.

A report by the European Union’s humanitarian office accuses Gaddafi forces in the city of cutting off two-thirds of the water supply to the capital.

Most of the city’s water is supplied by the massive Great Man-made River project, a vast civil engineering scheme built under Gaddafi’s rule that pumps out water from under the Sahara desert, via a network of underground canals and reservoirs.

“The valve allowing the transfer of 200,000 cubic metres [a day] from the Eastern system is in Sirte, and [Gaddafi forces] are keeping it closed,” according to the report.

Some residents filled containers with water from large trucks, while others relied on wells. One of the water truck drivers, Ramzi Abu Shabaan, said the shortages were a small price to pay.

“I don’t care if we go without water for two months even – frizz-head is gone – it’s worth it,” using a commonly used nickname for Gaddafi.

Shops selling clothes, shoes and toys opened for the first time since the rebels entered the city ten days ago. Children accompanied their mothers and fathers into shops to pick clothes and toys for this week’s holiday. “This will be the happiest Eid we celebrate,” said Munira Omar, 30, who bought her two daughters hair clips and dresses.