Libya 'ready' to discuss reforms

Information minister says the people will decide their own future, calling Gaddafi a "safety valve" for unity in Libya.

Libya is ready to negotiate reforms, such as elections or a referendum, but only its own people can decide whether Muammar Gaddafi should stay on as leader, a government spokesperson has said.

"We could have any political system, any changes: constitution, election, anything, but the leader has to lead
this forward. This is our belief," Musa Ibrahim, the Libyan information minister, told reporters on Tuesday.

He said no conditions could be imposed on Libya from abroad, even though the country was ready to discuss proposals aimed at bringing more democracy, transparency, press freedom and anti-corruption laws.

"Don't decide our future from abroad, give us a proposal for change from within," he said.

Ibrahim described Gaddafi as "the safety valve" for the unity of the country's tribes and people.

"We think he is very important to lead any transition to a democratic and transparent model.

"The leader has no official position to step down from. ... He has a symbolic significance for the Libyan people. How Libya is governed is a different matter. What kind of political system is implemented in the country is a different matter. This is a question we can talk about."

'Never attacked civilians'

Ibrahim accused some Western leaders of trying to topple Gaddafi out of personal interest or for economic gain.

"We know there are some politicians in power in the West who just have a personal problem with the leader ... Others have economic interests which they think would be served better if the government collapsed."

He denied allegations that government forces were involved in any attacks against civilians.

"We are not attacking any civilians, I assure you. We never in this crisis attacked any civilians. ... I will not stand and speak for a government that kills civilians. Who do you think we are, monsters?"

Ibrahim also criticised Italy's decision to recognise the Opposition National Council, saying that it is up to Libyans to decide who represents them.

Italy, Libya's former colonial master, on Monday said Gaddafi and his family must leave power and the international community has to stand united against regime diplomacy.

Call to relinquish power

Meanwhile, Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdel Ati al-Obeidi that Gaddafi and his family must relinquish power.

Al-Obeidi was in Malta following talks with government officials in Greece and Turkey on ways to end the Libyan conflict.

"The prime minister reiterated the Maltese government's position that the resolutions of the United Nations must be respected, that the Gaddafi government must step down, that Colonel Gaddafi and his family should leave and there should be an immediate ceasefire and a process to enable the Libyan people to make its democratic choices," the government said in a statement.

Malta has stayed out of the United Nations-mandated military actions against Tripoli but has sent humanitarian aid to Misurata on trawlers.

Al-Obeidi also visited the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday in a bid to help negotiate a ceasefire with opposition forces in the North African nation, a day after he visited Greece on a similar mission.

In a statement from the Greek foreign ministry, its government said it was committed to seeking a "political, diplomatic solution" to the crisis in Libya.

Turkey also sent humanitarian aid in the form of a hospital ferry to rescue about 250 injured people in Misurata on Sunday.

Elsewhere on Monday, the United States lifted financial sanctions against Moussa Koussa, Libya's former foreign minister, in the hopes of encouraging other officials in Gaddafi's regime to defect. Koussa severed ties with Gaddafi's government and fled to Britain last week.

"Koussa's defection and the subsequent lifting of sanctions against him should encourage others within the
Libyan government to make similar decisions to abandon the Gaddafi regime," David Cohen, the Treasury's acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a blog posting on the Treasury website.

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UN helicopters fire on Gbagbo military camp

Fierce fighting in Cote d'Ivoire as pro-Ouattara fighters call for a "rapid offensive" in Abidjan.

United Nations-commanded helicopters have fired missiles at military positions of Cote d'Ivoire's incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo in the country's main city, Abidjan.

The targets included the Akouedo military camp, where a helicopter fired on Gbagbo's troops at about 5pm local time (17:00 GMT) to prevent them from using heavy weapons, Nick Birnback, the spokesman for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said.

The spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force, Hamadoun Touré, specified that the attack was not against rebels but against "weapons used by Gbagbo against civilians and against UNOCI".

France said its military was supporting the UN peacekeeping force at UN request.

Meanwhile, there were reports that forces loyal the internationally recognised president Alassane Ouattara had seized Gbagbo's official residence in Abidjan. Patrick Achi, the spokesman for Ouattara's government, told Reuters news agencythat he did not know if Gbagbo was in the residence at the time it was seized.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Bassam, just outside Abidjan, said there were suggestions that the UN and France were supporting Ouattara, making it easier for his forces to gain ground in Abidjan.

"There are reports that Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, had a phone call with Ouattara earlier today," she said. "We don't know what was said but this is an indication that there is some kind of relationship between France and Ouattara."

Earlier on Monday, a leading ally of Ouattara called for a "rapid offensive" in Abidjan.

Guillaume Soro, Ouattara's prime minister, said that fighters sent into the centre of the city had reported a "generalised panic" among Gbagbo's soldiers.

"The situation is now ripe for a rapid offensive... " he told the TCI television station. "The operation will be rapid because we have discovered the exact number of operational tanks on the ground. Ivorians must trust in the Republican Forces [Ouattara's army]."

Residents 'on edge'

Ouattara's forces have effectively cornered Gbagbo and his closest supporters after four days of fierce fighting.

Al Jazeera's Mutasa said the people living outside Abidjan were "on edge" after hearing that an "all-out assault by Ouattara's forces is imminent".

"The disturbing thing is the checkpoints and barricades being manned by young men who are unemployed, some of them intoxicated, armed with machetes, [who] decide who goes in and out of Abidjan," she said.

"So the residents are still living in fear. It is dangerous, however, despite a lull in the fighting; they are concerned about what the future may hold."

But Gbagbo shows no signs of wavering, scoring a coup as his army chief of staff General Philippe Mangou seemed set to rejoin his side after seeking refuge in the South African ambassador's residence earlier this week, the AFP news agency reported.

The RTI television station, a vital means of communication between Gbagbo and his loyalists, was briefly captured by pro-Ouattara fighters last week before Gbagbo troops regained control and restored the signal.

Messages on the station have urged civilians to form a "human shield" around Gbagbo's residence.

'Massacre denial'

Meanwhile, a first group of foreigners fleeing chaos was evacuated on Sunday as the French army took over the airport in Abidjan, wracked by the fighting.

After the French Licorne (Unicorn) force took control of the airport, Paris sent 300 more troops to the city as more than 1,500 foreigners sought refuge at a French military camp.

Gerard Longuet, France's defence minister, said evacuation of its 12,000 citizens in Ivory Coast was under consideration.

The latest fighting follows an alleged massacre of hundreds of people in the small town of Duekoue in the west.

The United Nations mission in Ivory Coast [ONUCI] said on Saturday that traditional hunters known as Dozos had joined Ouattara's forces in killing 330 people in Duekoue.

Ouattara's government said in a statement that Dozos were not part of its forces and invited international human rights organisations to investigate the killings and rights violations.

A Catholic charity, Caritas, said up to 1,000 people had been killed by unknown attackers wielding machetes and guns. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) earlier estimated the death toll at around 800 people.

It is not clear whether the 330 counted by ONUCI were included in the figures.

Alistair Dutton, the humanitarian director of Caritas, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that an investigating team had found bodies lying in the streets and the bushes.

He said the victims appeared to be civilians who had been "caught up somehow between [the two] warring factions".

Aid organisations say atrocities that could qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed by both sides.

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Gaddafi envoy seeks Turkish truce deal

Libyan envoy meets Turkish and Maltese ministers in apparent bid to reach negotiated settlement to crisis.

The Libyan deputy foreign minister has arrived in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in a bid to help negotiate a ceasefire with opposition forces in the North African nation, a day after he visited Greece on a similar mission.

Abdel Ati al-Obeidi and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu were to look at common ground between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, and the opposition National Council, officials said.

"We will do our best so that the suffering in Libya comes to an end in the shortest possible time and that a roadmap is outlined in a way that would include political changes in line with the demands of the Libyan people," Davutoglu said ahead of Monday's meeting.

After their talks, Turkey's NTV television cited al-Obeidi as telling Davutoglu that the Libyan government wants to see a quick end to the fighting. No further details on the talks were announced.

Al-Obeidi then continued his diplomatic tour, meeting with Lawrence Gonzi, the Maltese prime minister, in Malta's capital, Valetta. Officials remained tightlipped about what was discussed during those talks.

The meetings come a day after al-Obeidi went to Athens seeking a political settlement on the Libyan crisis, over fears of an open-ended conflict.

"The Libyan envoy wanted to convey that his country has the intention to negotiate," a Greek official said after the visit, adding: "We don't think that there can be a military solution to this crisis."

Obeidi crossed into neighbouring Tunisia on Sunday and travelled from Djerba airport to the Greek capital to meet George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister, later in the day.

In a statement, the Greek foreign ministry said it was committed to seeking a "political, diplomatic solution" to the crisis in Libya, where government forces are battling pro-democracy fighters seeking to end Gaddafi's almost 42 year-old rule.

Papandreou had been talking by telephone with officials in Tripoli as well as the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Britain over the past two days.

Libya-Greece ties

Greece and Libya have had close ties since the 1980s.

"It stands to reason that Libya would reach out to the Greeks, if they would reach out to anyone in Europe, because Greece is a country that''s always been Arab-friendly in its foreign policy," John Psaropoulous, editor of the Greek magazine Odyssey, told Al Jazeera.

Given the poor state of the Greek economy, he added, its government is currently particularly susceptible to incentives from Libya, such as cheap oil.

While it has not participated in the air strikes, Greece has provided access to its territorial waters to French aircraft carriers southwest of Crete, along with permanent territorial access to NATO and US forces.

Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said there is much speculation about what might be discussed during the reported negotiations.

They could involve some of transitional arrangement to help Gaddafi "take a graceful exit from the Libyan political scene," she said.

Greece is likely to be viewed by Tripoli as one of few potential negotiating partners in Europe, McNaught said.

"Would Libya think that Greece would be a more sympathetic ear in Europe, than old friends like Italy, which Libya feels betrayed by, and all the other implacable voices in the rest of the EU?"

Italy recognises rebels

Meanwhile in Italy, Franco Frattini, the country's foreign minister, dismissed a message from Gaddafi's envoy for discussions to halt fighting in Libya, saying that the request was "not credible" because it did not mention the leader standing down.

Speaking after a meeting on Monday with Ali Essawi, a member of the Libyan rebel council, Frattini said Gaddafi's departure was a "pre-condition" to any negotiated settlement over Libya and gave his support to the country''s opposition council.

"We have decided to recognise the council as the only political, legitimate interlocutor to represent Libya," he told reporters, in the clearest sign that Italy now backs the Transitional National Council set up in Benghazi.

"A solution for the future of Libya has a pre-condition - that Gaddafi's regime leaves and is out and that Gaddafi himself and his family leave the country," he said.

Italy is the third country to recognise the council, following France and Qatar.

Also on Monday, David Cameron, the British prime minister, paid a surprise visit to an Italian airbase where UK air force crews are stationed. He announced that four additional Tornado ground attack aircraft would be deployed by the UK.

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Libya releases Al Jazeera journalist

One of four journalists covering the uprising in Libya has been released after being arrested for a second time.

One of four Al Jazeera journalists detained by Libyan forces has been released after a bizarre turn of events that saw the team being arrested, freed and then rearrested.

Lotfi Al Masoudi, a Tunisian national, crossed the border into Tunisia on Sunday night.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the network is "glad to see the end of the ordeal that Lotfi unnecessarily went through" while calling for the immediate release of his colleagues.

"We are extremely grateful for all the sincere and generous efforts of heads of state, diplomats as well as legal, human rights, media and press freedoms organisations from around the world to secure the release or our colleagues."

Lotfi, along with Ahmad Val Ould Eddin of Mauritania, Ammar Al-Hamdan of Norway and Kamel Al Tallou of Britain, was freed once before.

The men were initially detained on March 19 near Zintan, in the country's northwest. They were released on March 31, only to be rearrested later that same day.

After they were freed on March 31, Al Masoudi, gave an interview to a Tunisian radio station, saying that he and his colleagues had been treated well.

The three non-Libyan nationals met with their respective ambassadors in Tripoli to plan their departure for Tunisia the following day.

But all four men were rearrested just hours later, with Libyan authorities providing no information on why the journalists were rearrested or where they were being held.

Other foreign journalists detained in Libya, such as two BBC correspondents, who were also detained and released, have spoken of rough treatment that includes beatings and mock executions.

Reporters from The New York Times and AFP news agency are also among those who have either been detained or are missing since the violent conflict between pro-democracy rebels and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's started in February.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded at least 60 attacks on journalists in the North African country since the start of the unrest, with 33 documented arrests and two fatalities, including Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber, who was shot covering a protest 50km outside Benghazi.

	Ahmad Val Ould Eddin first joined Al Jazeera in 2008. He worked as a correspondent in South Africa for a couple of years before he returned to the newsroom in Doha. He reported on Africa, which led him to cover Libya during the recent uprising. A Mauritanian, he has two daughters, Layla and Lubna. He writes a blog called "Kounach", in which he collects articles he published in several newspapers. He is a passionate reader of Arabic poetry, especially by Al-Mutanabbi.
	Lotfi Al Masoudi joined Al Jazeera from CNBC Dubai in March 2007 and started off as a presenter for Al Jazeera Sport. He is a native of Kairouan, Tunisia, and his main professional goal has been to make sure that Al Jazeera stays at the forefront of the news industry. This devotion took him to Libya to cover the conflict there as a correspondent. Lotfi is 34, married, and has a 2-year-old son named Mohamad Khalil. Lotfi and his wife Amira hope to have a family reunion soon.
	Kamel Al-Tallou joined Al Jazeera as a cameraman recently, driven by his passion for journalism despite his medical education and background as a doctor. Al-Tallou studied medicine in Tripoli before working as a doctor in England until 2009. Kamel, 43, is married with three sons and one daughter.
	Ammar Al-Hamdan is a Norwegian cameramen with a multicultural background. He is of Palestinian origin and was born and raised in Baghdad. Al-Hamdan is married a Norwegian journalist and has worked in Al Jazeera's Oslo bureau since 2006.

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Protesters shot dead in southern Yemen

At least 16 anti-government protesters killed as troops - some stationed on rooftops - open fire on crowd.
Yemeni security forces have shot dead at least 16 anti-government demonstrators and wounded 30 in the city of Taiz, south of the capital Sanaa, medics said.

The violence began when thousands of protesters marched through Taiz toward Freedom Square, where demonstrators have been camped out.

As the march passed the governor's headquarters, troops stationed there blocked the procession, and clashes broke out, with some protesters throwing stones, witnesses said.

Troops on nearby rooftops opened fire with live ammunition on the crowd and the marchers then turned to besiege the governor's headquarters, said Bushra al-Maqtara, an opposition activist in Taiz, and other witnesses.

Fast-moving events

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Sanaa said "events are moving fast around the country".

"We're hearing from the doctors in a makeshift hospital that's actually a mosque in Taiz ... that they're running out of vital supplies and that they're in need of equipment in trying to deal with what's going on," said our reporter, who is not being named for security reasons.

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Our correspondent added that protesters planned on meeting in three different locations, with one of them being near the presidential palace though it is feared that gathering there could escalate the violence between anti-government protesters and security forces.

The bloodshed in Taiz has further stoked the more than month-old uprising against Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year-rule.

The opposition has been holding continual protest camps in main squares of cities around the country, and on Monday new demonstrations in solidarity with the Taiz protesters erupted in several places including the cities of Mukalla in the east, and Hudaida, on Yemen's western Red Sea coast.

In Hudaida, protesters tried to march on a presidential palace in the city but were blocked by security forces, who opened fire with tear gas and live ammunition, said activist Abdel-Hafiz al-Abbasi.

Our correspondent said at least 400 people have been wounded and many are in critical condition.

Security forces including the Republican Guard, for the first time, have fired on protesters as well as snipers positioned around Protest Square

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Martelly 'won' Haiti's presidential runoff

Singer Michel Martelly beat former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to preliminary results.
Singer Michel Martelly has won Haiti's presidential runoff election, beating former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to official preliminary results.

Pierre Thibault, an electoral council spokesman, said the preliminary results showed Martelly won 67.57 per cent of the vote.

Monday's announcement was followed by peaceful celebrations by his supporters in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Martelly, who has no previous government experience, had preached a forceful message of change ahead of the March 20 runoff vote, pledging to break with decades of past corruption and misrule in Haiti. In a contrast of styles and personalities, the presidential contest was a choice between extroverted 'Sweet Micky' Martelly, 50, and experienced law professor and former senator Manigat, 70. Martelly, a star of Haiti's Konpa carnival music blending African and Latin rhythms, was regarded as a no-hoper when he first announced his presidential bid last year in the poor, volatile Caribbean state. "This is the carnival singer who campaigned on a quite populist platform, very popular with the younger generation of Haitians," Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker reported from Port-au-Prince. 'Irregularities and flaws' Definitive results of the presidential and legislative elections are due to be announced on April 16, after any legal complaints have been resolved. Anxious anticipation tinged with fears of violence had gripped the country since the preliminary results announcement was delayed from last week because of reported high levels of fraud. "[It was] postponed because of the same kind of irregularities and flaws in the electoral process that we saw in the first round back in November," Al Jazeera''s Walker said. "There are a lot of question marks still about the credibility of this process ... There could be days and possibly weeks of appeals to come up until the final results are delivered. "A lot still depends on what happens on the streets, whether the supporters of either candidate really gets out and causes trouble." Blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeepers patrolled Port-au-Prince and other potential flashpoints around the country, one of the world's poorest which is struggling to rebuild after being hit by a devastating earthquake in January last year. Some stores and businesses boarded up windows in anticipation of trouble and said they would send employees home early before the results. The UN and donor governments including the United States have pledged billions of dollars of reconstruction funds to Haiti. They want the election to produce a stable, legitimate leadership to take charge of the recovery. They also want to avoid the rioting and fraud allegations that marred a first round of voting held on November 28 in the elections to choose a president and some fresh members of parliament. The runoff was delayed following a dispute over the result of the first round. Authorities had first said the ruling party candidate, Jude Celestin, should stand against Manigat in the second round but under international pressure, the party withdrew its candidate, allowing Martelly to run.

Source: Al Jazeera

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Japan’s survivors scavenge for hope

Just memories, debris remain in fishing town

KESENNUMA, Japan | Hideto Miura, 37, never thought he would become a scavenger.

He was working at a fish-processing plant by the ocean in his hometown of 70,000 when the March 11 tsunami forced him to flee for his life.

Like many other survivors who lost everything, he has been returning here almost daily to search for his car and anything else of value left in one of the most devastated cities in northeastern Japan.

“I have no job and nothing else to do, so I might as well look for things,” he said.

Unlike the homeless and trash-bin divers of Tokyo and Osaka, this new breed of temporary scavengers includes parents who were working as fishermen, teachers, mechanics and clothing makers less than a month ago.

At first, most were too scared of the sea to come back from evacuation shelters in schools and town halls perched on bluffs above the disaster zone.

But nearly three weeks of desperation and depravation have given them the courage to brave the nightmarish area they used to call home.

Though accustomed to blood and fish guts at work, Mr. Miura said it took time to get over the fear barrier in the 5-mile-wide swath between the sea and the highway, where police say at least 1,200 are dead or missing, and perhaps 40,000 or more lost homes and land they might never recover.

“I’m only afraid at night now,” he said, “because it’s perfectly dark, and full of ghosts.”

He was no longer disgusted by the smell of corpses buried under debris and the throat-burning acrid air from homes and vehicles charred by towering fires, which burned out of control long after the tsunamis subsided on the cold night of March 11.

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