Live Blog - Libya Feb 23

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

February 23, 2011

7.57pm: A source speaking to Al Jazeera from the outskirts of Tripoli, said that a number of tanks and cars carrying gun-weilding Gaddafi-supporters were in the Tajura district of the capital, heading towards the city center.

7.51pm: Reuters reports that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will allow 300 Palestinians in Libya to enter the Palestinian territories in the coming days.

7.48pm: PJ Crowley, the US state department spokesperson, says the country is looking at using "a full range of tools," including possible sanctions, on Libya, news agency Reuters reports.

7.46pm: Key towns and cities in Libya are under protester-control, including Benghazi and Tobruk. International media organisations, including Al Jazeera, are now able to broadcast Live pictures from these cities. Here is a screen shot of footage we were able to get today:

7.37pm: The African Union released a statement condemning "the disproportionate use of force against civilians" in Libya and expressed regret at the loss of life there, news agency AFP reports.

7.32pm: Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Khaim, told EU ambassadors in Tripoli that Al-Qaeda had set up an Islamic emirate in Derna, led by a former US prisoner at Guantanamo Bay named Abdelkarim al-Hasadi.

Residents in Derna rejected the claims, saying Khaim's words were "something to scare Europe with".

7.24pm: European Union governments agreed to prepare possible sanctions on Libya in response to Gaddafi's violent crackdown on anti-government protests, EU diplomats told the Reuters news agency.

The measures could include visa bans, asset freezes, an arms embargo and other restrictions, Reuters said.

7.16pm: Libya witnessed another day of chaos, following Gaddafi's defiant 75-minute speech on Tuesday. Al Jazeera's Lawrence Lee has this report:

7.04pm: Malta has turned back the unscheduled flight that was carrying Gaddafi's daughter, Aisha Gaddafi. The plane is said to be headed back to Libya, Cal Perry reports from Valletta.

6.55pm: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, tells the Associated Press that if reports of aerial attacks against civilians turn out to be true, the international community may need to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

Peru had previously called for the UN to establish a no-fly zone overthe country.

6.45pm: Nour Al Masmari, former head of Gaddafi protocol, tells Al Jazeera he resigned because it was the "human" thing to do following the Libyan leader's actions, which he called "genocide". Masmari said "it is the end of it" adding:

Now [Gaddafi] is using mercinaries, not because he wants to use them but because he cannot use the army. He cannot use the armed forces of Libya because they are Libyans and they are faithful and honest people. They cannot kill themselves. and killing their cousins and uncles and friends means they are killing themselves. So he doesnt trust them. He doesnt even trust his own guard.

6.40pm: Three workers at Libya's embassy in Sweden resign in protest of government crackdown, the Associated Press reports.

6.34pm: At least 640 people have been killed since the protests began, the International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) says. This figure is more than double the official Libyan government toll of 300 dead.

6.30pm: Former justice minister Mustapha Abdeljalil told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that Muammar Gaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, the paper reported on its website.

"I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order on Lockerbie," said the minister, who stepped down Monday to protest the ongoing violence in Libya.

6.27pm: At least three oil cargoes have left Libyan ports in the past 24 hours despite a revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade rule, trade and shipping sources said.

6.25pm: Carlos Latuff, a provocative cartoonist who often focuses on Arab and Arab-Israeli politics, has posted this image on Twitpic:

6.20pm: Qatar's ambassador to Libya has left the country, a Libyan foreign ministry official said on state television.

6.15pm: A private Libyan jet that was prevented from landing at Beirut's airport was carrying on board the wife of one of Gaddafi's sons, Voice of Lebanon radio reported Wednesday.

Several Libyan regime figures could have been among the plane's passengers, the radio station said.

6.10pm: Government sources say Muammar Gaddafi's daughter was on board the National Libyan Airlines plane that tried to land in Malta on Thursday, Al Jazeera's Cal Perrry reports from Valletta.

5.52pm: Hussein Muserati, a former Libyan diplomat who recently resigned told Al Jazeera the uprising was a revolt by people "suffering from poverty, injustice and corruption". Muserati added:

We do not oppose [Gaddafi] in person, we oppose his policies, his injustices, his tyrany, because now, as far as we are concerned, it represents facism. It represents a policy like Hitler's policy.. killing innocent people and violating all sanctities of Libyan people

5.41pm: The European commission estimates that some 10, 000 EU citizens are awaiting evacuation from Libya.

5.34pm: Italy predicts that some 300, 000 Libyans could flee to Europe "if" Gaddafi falls. The country and five other European nations are trying to prepare for that possibility. They are gathered in Rome to work out a consolidated response if Gaddafi falls.

On Thursday, all 27 interior ministers and justice ministers from the EU also plan to meet, Al Jazeera's Harry Smith said.

URL du billet: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/02/22/live-blog-libya-feb-23