>Libya: UN appoints envoy and agrees humanitarian visit

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The UN has appointed a new envoy on Libya and is to send a humanitarian team as the battle between forces loyal to Col Gaddafi and rebels intensifies.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon named a former Jordanian minister to deal with Libya and said Col Gaddafi had agreed to allow an assessment team into Tripoli.

The UN’s top humanitarian official also demanded urgent access to the town of Misrata after fierce fighting there.

 Rebels have been trying to fight off a counter-offensive by Gaddafi forces.

Col Gaddafi’s forces have been attacking both near Tripoli and in the east after recent rebel gains.

‘Hospital bombed’

A statement from Mr Ban’s office said the UN secretary general “notes that civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence, and calls for an immediate halt to the government’s disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets”.

The statement continued: “He stresses that those who violate international humanitarian law or commit grave crimes must be held accountable.”

Mr Ban has appointed Jordan’s former foreign minister, Abdelilah Al-Khatib, as his special envoy “to undertake urgent consultations with the authorities in Tripoli and in the region on the immediate humanitarian situation,” the statement said.

Mr Ban also said Libyan Foreign Minister Musa Kusa had agreed to accept the immediate dispatch of a humanitarian assessment team to the capital.

UN relief co-ordinator Valerie Amos said that after heavy fighting in Misrata, 200km (125 miles) east of Tripoli, “people are injured and dying and need help immediately”.

Government troops with tanks and artillery fought their way into rebel-held Misrata on Saturday before being forced back.

“I call on the authorities to provide access without delay to allow aid workers to help save lives,” Baroness Amos said.

A local doctor told the BBC that 21 dead and more than 100 wounded had arrived at his hospital, which he said was also targeted by government troops.

He said the fighting went on for at least six hours.

“They bombed all the houses with heavy weapons. They intentionally gunned and exploded our drug store. They bombed even around our hospital but fortunately nobody was injured. More than five mosques which I know are bombed.”

A resident of Misrata, Mohamed Benrasali, told the BBC there were joyous scenes there as the Gaddafi forces were turned back.

He said one government tank had been blown up and 16 Gaddafi soldiers killed. Other soldiers had been captured and would be interrogated on Monday.

With a population of 300,000, Misrata is the largest town controlled by rebels outside their stronghold in the eastern part of the country.

Residents have called for the international community to establish a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Col Gaddafi’s air force from attacking.

In the US, ex-ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson and ex-national security adviser Stephen Hadley were among those advocating the supply of arms to rebels.

‘Bigger attack’

Rebels in Zawiya, 50km west of Tripoli, also said they repulsed an attack by government forces on Sunday.

“There was a new attack, bigger than yesterday,” rebel spokesman Youssef Shagan told Reuters.

“There were one-and-a-half hours of fighting… Two people were killed from our side and many more injured. We are still in full control of the square.”

The anti-government forces are centred in the eastern city of Benghazi. The rebels have set up a Transitional National Council that has called on the international community to recognise it as Libya’s sole government.

On Sunday troops backed by helicopter gunships had attacked the major oil town of Ras Lanuf which was taken by rebel forces on Saturday. It is 160km east of Col Gaddafi’s well-defended hometown of Sirte.

Rebels said their forces withdrew from Bin Jawad – about 50km north-west of Ras Lanuf – after coming under attack when they advanced.

The UN estimates that more than 1,000 people have died in nearly three weeks of unrest in Libya, which follows public protests in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt that saw their longtime authoritarian leaders overthrown.

An estimated 200,000 people – mostly foreign workers – have fled the country, creating a humanitarian crisis along Libya’s border with Tunisia.

The UN Security Council approved sanctions last week imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Col Gaddafi and his family and aides.

The resolution also referred Col Gaddafi and his inner circle to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity.

>Gunfire rings out in Libyan capital

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Heavy, sustained gunfire rang out in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday, but confusion reigned as to what prompted the shooting.

A government official said the shots were celebratory — marking the army’s victory in the city of Zawiya and its presence in the oil town of Ras Lanuf in eastern Libya.However, a witness in Tripoli said the gunfire was actually part of fighting — not celebration — in Green Square. On Sunday morning, Libyan state TV showed video of Gadhafi supporters in Green Square, with the caption “Green Square now.” The broadcast zoomed in on a clock to show the actual time and showed a person holding a sign that showed Sunday’s date.

The station said the people in the square were celebrating the army’s regain of control in not just Zawiya and Ras Lanuf but also the eastern port city of Tobruk.

“Morning victory, O people of Libya. Victory city of Tobruk from terrorist gangs,” the station said.

A day earlier, opposition forces had claimed major achievements in Zawiya and Ras Lanuf. And most of the eastern part of the country had been under rebel control for several days.

It was not immediately clear whether the government account of events was true. CNN has not been able to enter Zawiya and does not have independent confirmation of events in Ras Lanuf.

On Saturday, Libyan opposition leaders announced an alternative government as the United States and other countries helped evacuate refugees of the conflict.

Anti-government forces claimed two major successes Saturday: preventing pro-government forces from taking Zawiya, near the capital of Tripoli, and capturing Ras Lanuf.

The opposition and government forces have battled in recent days for full control of Zawiya, about 30 miles west of Tripoli.

Pro-Gadhafi forces withdrew from the city’s Martyrs’ Square and returned to their positions on the outskirts after intense clashes with rebels, according to a witness who is serving as a rebel spokesman.

He reported heavy gunfire and mortar shelling and saw the bodies of three slain opposition members carried in the square en route to burial.

The witness said pro-Gadhafi forces entered a residential area in the city and shot live ammunition and automatic weapons at residents in the streets. The sounds of automatic weapon fire and people yelling could be heard during a telephone interview with the witness.

After a lull in fighting, clashes erupted again Saturday evening.

The pro-Gadhafi security forces are using tanks, armed vehicles, and heavy weapons, and the anti-Gadhafi forces are well-armed, a second witness said. Many deaths and injuries have occurred in the latest round of fighting, and protesters managed to seize tanks and weapons from the security forces.

Emboldened opposition members prepared to advance west to Gadhafi’s birthplace of Sirte.

Government forces, however, worked to thwart their push. CNN reporters following the movement of rebels in As Sidr, just west of Ras Lanuf, saw an air force helicopter pound opposition positions. There was no word on casualties.

Rebels near Ras Lanuf said they shot down a Libyan air force plane, a Soviet-made Sukhoi Su-24MK that crashed in the desert. CNN located the plane’s debris, spread over a kilometer (about half a mile), with the headless bodies of two pilots at the site.

The plane was printed with the emblem of the Libyan Arab Air Force.

In the capital, a pro-democracy activist who spoke to CNN described a city filled with tension and mistrust. The woman, who asked not to be named because of fears for her safety, said she has seen people in the streets who, she believes, are monitoring residents’ comings and goings and phone conversations.

“I see cars that have people inside them, and they are usually connected with a computer,” the woman said, adding that special antennae are connected to the computers.

The same people are also interrupting cell phone signals and hacking mobiles, she said, and the internet has been unavailable since Thursday.

The family’s business has been robbed, with millions of dollars’ worth of materials stolen, she said. Squatters have also moved into one of the family’s homes.

“The police won’t do anything about it,” she told CNN. “Everyone is focusing on what is going on politically and losing focus on the crime.”

The woman said she has been trying to smuggle medication and other supplies into Libya, and that’s one reason she refuses to leave — even though so far, she said her efforts have been unsuccessful.

The strife engulfing the besieged north African nation is reverberating across the country, the region and the world. Death toll estimates range from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000, and the international community has been pondering strategies on how to end the violence and remove the Gadhafi regime.

The government has been reviled across the globe for violence against civilians, and the International Criminal Court this week launched an investigation of Gadhafi, some of his sons and other leaders for possible crimes against humanity.

Opposition-controlled radio announced Saturday that the country’s sole legitimate representative was now the National Transitional Council, a group with 31 representatives for most of the regions in Libya.

The council held its first meeting Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi. They called Benghazi their temporary location until the “liberation” of the capital, according to a decree the council issued late in the day.

Former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdeljeleel, whom the council said had tried to resign from Gadhafi’s government several times, was announced as the council’s new leader.

The council also named a representative for military affairs and established a military council to oversee the “liberation” of Libya and reconstruct the armed forces, according to the radio announcement.

The council said its main missions are to represent all of Libya internationally, liberate the country, draft a constitution and hold elections.

In Benghazi, witnesses said forces loyal to Gadhafi pounded a weapons depot, an airstrike that caused casualties and widespread damage.

One witness said the airstrike there was powerful enough “to destroy a whole city.” News footage showed the remains of buildings and debris and ambulances arriving.

Such aerial attacks have prompted the West to step up discussions about imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. U.S. military and diplomatic officials have said such a zone would be complicated and risky, and international support for it is not strong.

“If it’s ordered, we can do it,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier this week, but imposing a no-fly zone “begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses.”

The Arab League has rejected international intervention, saying Libya is facing “an internal affair that is decided by the people and their governments.” However, the league cannot ignore the suffering of civilians and would consider the imposition of a no-fly zone in coordination with the African Union if fighting were to continue, said Hisham Yousef, chief of staff of the Arab League, on Wednesday.

The fierce fighting has sparked the flight of Libyans and foreigners out of Libya, with nations across the globe scrambling to help people leave.

Almost 200,000 people have fled Libya with nearly equal numbers going to Tunisia and Egypt, the United Nations refugee agency said.

The United States announced Saturday it is contributing $3 million to the International Organization for Migration to help return home thousands of non-Libyans who fled to Tunisia. Four U.S. military flights Saturday were taking a total of 312 Egyptians back to Cairo, the U.S. State Department announced.

Thursday and Friday, about 1,800 people crossed from Libya to Tunisia, and about 3,000 crossed on Saturday, said Firas Kayal, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

He said the situation at the border is “very calm.”

A few thousand Egyptians are in Tunisia awaiting travel home, and more than 10,000 Bangladeshis are there awaiting evacuation with hundreds more still arriving, Kayal said.

The agency confirmed that a Bangladeshi migrant worker died after a heart attack from the exhaustion of walking to the border. Many migrant workers told aid workers they had to walk to the border because soldiers took their money and they couldn’t afford paying for a taxi.