BENGHAZI – Forces loyal to Muammar Qadhafi in his hometown of Sirte are urging people to fight or be killed by bloodthirsty attackers, complicating efforts to arrange a peaceful surrender of the city, opponents of the Libyan leader said on Monday.
Anti-Qadhafi forces are approaching Sirte, 450km east of Tripoli by road, from east and west. They say they would rather not fight for the city but talks seem stalled.
"I can't say there's any real progress because we have difficulty with the regime people from Tripoli," said Hassan Droy, the National Transitional Council (NTC) representative for Sirte, who is based in the eastern city of Benghazi.
"They're trying to tell the people that the battle is no longer for Qadhafi but to protect themselves," he told Reuters, adding that three days ago a message from Qadhafi was broadcast in Sirte, urging people to fight to save themselves.
Qadhafi's own whereabouts are unknown.
Another spokesman, Mohammad Zawawi, said Qadhafi loyalists were telling people that the rebels wanted to kill them. "But we are sending a clear message that our troops won't kill anyone."
That message had been passed via satellite telephone to rebel sympathizers in Sirte, who were spreading it, he said.
Sirte, which Qadhafi developed from a small village to a city of 100,000 people, is the ousted leader's last bastion on the coast, where most of Libya's six million people live. Many of the city's residents belong to his Qadhafa tribe.
LOSING STRATEGY
NTC spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said most people in Sirte were against Qadhafi. "But it's the minority of Qadhafi loyalists who have the weapons," he said. "They're using all kinds of scare tactics but it's a losing strategy."
Abdulmolah said NTC forces had heard that about 45 Qadhafi soldiers and officers had been executed in Sirte after refusing to fight for what they saw as a lost cause. There was no independent confirmation.
Zawawi said the main force of fighters from the east was almost 100km from Sirte, although small units had pushed ahead. The force coming from the west was about 30km from the city.
Some fighters were moving to cut a road linking Sirte with the desert town of Sabha, another Qadhafi stronghold about 500km to the southwest, Zawawi said.
NATO aircraft have been bombing military positions and ammunition dumps of pro-Qadhafi forces in Sirte.
Human rights groups say both sides have executed prisoners, but Droy said the message to Qadhafi loyalists was that there would be no reprisal killings when Sirte is taken.
"We have our people in Sirte ready to take control. They are ready to put these people safely in jail where they will wait for a trial."
Anti-Qadhafi forces say time is on their side and there is no deadline for the defenders to give up, adding that the city is without power and is running short of food and medicine.
"Day by day, the people who are trying to get the Qadhafi soldiers to put down their guns are getting stronger and stronger," said Droy.
Abdulmolah said: "It's a waiting game in favor of the liberating forces."
