Gadhafi defiant as West mulls action

TRIPOLI – Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi stood firm Wednesday, accusing the West of plotting to seize Libya’s oil and insurgents of being traitors backed by al-Qaida, as his forces pounded rebel positions.

"The colonialist countries are hatching a plot to humiliate the Libyan people, reduce them to slavery and control the oil," he said on state television.

He again said al-Qaida was behind the insurrection that began on February 15 and called on inhabitants of Benghazi, the rebels’ main base, to "liberate" the eastern city.

Gadhafi made similar accusations against Western countries in interviews aired by the French LCI television channel and Turkish television Wednesday.

"If al-Qaida manages to seize Libya, then the entire region, up to Israel, will be at the prey of chaos," he told Turkey’s public TRT channel.

On the eastern front both sides were taking up defensive positions, rebel fighters said amid government shelling.

An AFP reporter saw some 200 rebels spread out on the main coast road between the rebel-held oil town of Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) to the west.

"Today, we have established defensive positions ahead of here," rebel Colonel Masud Mohammed told reporters some five kilometres from Ras Lanuf.

"Gadhafi’s forces are in Bin Jawad, they are occupying the mosque and the school," he said. "Today we are not attacking yet".

He also said there were four strikes by government warplanes near Bin Jawad Wednesday. He said several rebels were wounded but gave no further details.

Two shells later fell near a rebel position in the same area.

The rebels earlier said their own forces were 20 kilometres west of Ras Lanuf, while the government troops had not moved from Bin Jawad.

Mohammed admitted that shelling thwarted a new advance on Bin Jawad Tuesday by the lightly-armed rebels, who had entered the hamlet on Sunday but were ambushed and retreated.

From Zawiyah, just west of Tripoli, a former official, Murad Hemayma, said Gadhafi wanted to take control of the city by Wednesday after days of siege which has seen many civilian casualties.

"Round every corner there are people shooting," he said. "The international community must do something."

As pressure grew from inside Libya and elsewhere in the Arab world for a no-fly zone, the White House said U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron had agreed to press forward with planning a range of possible responses.

These included surveillance, humanitarian assistance, enforcement of the arms embargo and a no-fly zone, the White House said.

Cameron said the world could not stand aside while Gadhafi did "terrible things" to the Libyan people. "We have got to prepare for what we might have to do if he goes on brutalizing his own people," he added.

A senior UN official in New York said the Security Council had discussed the no-fly zone being pushed for by Britain and France especially to keep Gadhafi’s air force grounded.

Washington has been markedly less enthusiastic about a no-fly zone. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday, "We think it is important that the United Nations make that decision."

Saudi Arabia meanwhile said a decision to support a no-fly zone was up to the Arab League, not only the Gulf countries which have backed the measure.

In Cairo, U.S. ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz and other U.S. officials met members of the opposition to Gadhafi, the State Department said, declining to identify them.

"We are engaging a wide range of leaders, and those who both understand and can potentially influence events in Libya," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Crowley said Washington had been in contact with opposition members inside and outside the provisional national council declared by the rebels.

Top European lawmakers called Wednesday on EU leaders to recognize formally Libya’s opposition and support a no-fly zone, after members of the national council came to the Strasbourg parliament seeking legitimacy.

A Libyan jet that normally carries VIPs passed through Greek airspace en route from Tripoli to Cairo on Wednesday, Greek defence sources said, though the pilot denied dignitaries were aboard.

Gadhafi on Tuesday had called Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who urged him to seek a peaceful resolution to the uprising, Papandreou’s office said.

On the oil markets prices were mixed though producer countries showed signs of increasing output to counter the effects of turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, analysts said.

In early London trade, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April rose 69 cents to USD113.75 per barrel, while New York’s light sweet crude fell 22 cents to USD104.80.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil supplier, pledged Tuesday to meet any needs, but analysts still warned that prices could reach record highs above USD200 a barrel.

Foreigners fleeing the violence are still crossing from Libya into Tunisia, though UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutteres said Tuesday they were down to fewer than 2,000 people a day because of measures by the Libyan authorities.

Guterres visited the Tunisian side of the border with William Swing, director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

He hailed the "extreme generosity of the Tunisian people" and interim government set up following the January ouster of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in accepting more than 110,000 refugees.

Elsewhere in the volatile region, a Yemeni died Wednesday of wounds received when police fired on anti-regime student demonstrators in Sanaa late Tuesday, a medical official said.