Rolling coverage of events in Libya, as behind-the-scenes moves against Col Moammar Gaddafi intensify, with updates from other conflicts around the world.
By Martin Evans, Chris Irvine and Barney Henderson 10:00PM BST 05 Apr 2011
Libya 'needs Gaddafi' or it risks an Iraq-style power vacuum
David Cameron stresses that operation is 'not an attack on Islam'
Air strikes have destroyed 30 per cent of Gaddafi military capacity
ICC alleges Libyan authorities were 'ready to kill protesters as early as January'
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For coverage of the events taking place today, go to Libya: live.
22.00 That's all from the live blog tonight. Follow all Libya events here.
A Libyan rebel loads artillery into a rocket launcher near Brega
21.58 The Libyan government has named deputy minister for European affairs Abdelati Obeidi as its new top diplomat to replace Moussa Koussa who defected to the West last week, a senior foreign ministry official told AFP.
21.33 Read our full report on Nato asking the RAF to contribute more warplanes to step up ground strikes against Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces after the alliance yesterday said a third of the Libyan leader’s forces had so far been destroyed.
21.19 Full details of this evening's rebel press conference: Libyan rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi's forces on Tuesday criticised Nato as too slow to act and said they would ask the U.N. Security Council to suspend its mission unless it "did its job properly". Abdel Fattah Younes, head of the rebel forces, said Nato's inaction was allowing Gaddafi's forces to advance and letting them kill the people of the rebel-held city of Misrata "every day".
The reaction of Nato is very slow. One official calls another and then from the official to the head of Nato and from the head of Nato to the field commander. This takes eight hours. Either Nato does its work properly or we will ask the Security Council to suspend its work.
Misurata is being subjected to a full extermination. Nato blesses us every now and then with a bombardment here and there and is letting the people of Misrata die every day. Nato has disappointed us.
The Ministry of Defence is ready to send further Tornados and other aircraft 'if they are needed' a senior defence source said
20.06 Top Libya rebel commander says NATO leaving people of Misurata to die.
19.59 The Telegraph's Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer reports on how a major town in Yemen has fallen to al-Qaeda-backed rebel forces:
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr Abu Bakr al-Qirbi confirmed a major town near the vital southern port of Aden had fallen to al-Qaeda-backed rebel forces, and said the group was expanding its wider operations as the government was destabilised by clashes with protesters.
His warning came as American intelligence agencies said they believed Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the terrorist group's Yemen-based franchise calls itself, was planning a new terrorist assault on the West.
As the country descends into open conflict, with more people killed across the country on Monday and Tuesday, Britain joined urgent calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down.
19.04 The United States is urging for a negotiated transition in Yemen "as quickly as possible," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said, as he condemned ongoing violence that killed three more people on Tuesday:
Obviously the situation right now is a difficult one. The longer it festers, the more difficult it becomes. That is why this government has been urging a negotiated transition as quickly as possible.
A rebel fighter plays his guitar close to the frontline near Brega
18.32 Gaddafi forces have pushed rebels back towards Benghazi with sustained rocket and mortar fire in Brega, according to Reuters.
18.25 A US envoy, Chris Stevens, the former deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Tripoli, has arrived in Benghazi to get to know Libya's opposition better and discuss how the US might help it meet its financial needs.
18.10 Two boats with 600 migrants have arrived at Lampedua island. Silvio Berlusconi has promised to evacuate.
18.00 Apparently Serb nationalists have taken to Col Gaddafi. AP is reporting that a Facebook group supporting the Libyan leader has gathered more than 66,000 "likes" by Tuesday. It reflects the deep hatred some Serbs still feel for the West over the 1999 nato bombing of Serbia.
17.45 Jordanian fighters jets are operating out of a European air base to protect Jordanian transport aircraft ferrying humanitarian aid to Libyan rebel-held territory, according to the foreign minister. He stressed that they were only offering logistical support.
17.10 Watch the Telegraph's latest Libya video here. Rebels in Brega with waging war with a homemade rocket launcher mounted on the back of trucks.
17.00 More from Saif Gaddafi's BBC interview. He has insisted that sweeping changes are possible, including a democratically elected president, as long as no one demanded his father step down.
The role of my father will be similar if you keep saying step down, step down he will not do it. You will get nothing.
16.30 Tom Rayner, from Sky News, Tweets that he has heard more gunfire in the capital Tripoli:
Just heard another burst of gunfire in Tripoli - someone with knowledge about these things said it sounded like came from a Dushka cannon
16.02 The International Criminal Court proescutor is alleging that Libyan authorities decided they were ready to kill unarmed proesters opposed to Gaddafi's rule as early as January, even before unrest spread from Tunisia and Egypt. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said:
We have evidence that after the Tunisia and Egypt conflicts in January, people in the regime were planning how to control demonstrations inside Libya.
They were hiding that from people outside and they were planning how to manage the crowds ... the evidence we have is that the shooting of civilians was a pre-determined plan.
15.47 Nato's Brig Gen Mark van Uhm has said that the death of Libyan civilians in an air strike last week was an "unfortunate accident". The air raid on Friday killed 13 people, four of them civilians, 10 miles east of Brega after rebels fired celebratory gunfire into the air prompting warplanes to act in self defence.
15.46 Shifting focus to Yemen for a moment, William Hague has said he is "appalled" by the bloodshed. At least 24 people have been killed in as many hours.
I condemn the Yemeni security forces' indiscriminate violence against demonstrators in Taiz, Hodeida and Sanaa.
In early March, President Saleh promised to maintain maximum restraint in the use of the Yemeni security forces in controlling peaceful demonstrations. We strongly urge him to keep that promise.
As we have said before, the government of Yemen should act urgently to respond to the legitimate demands of the Yemeni people for political change and move towards implementing much-needed reform.
A lengthy transition heightens the risk of accelerating political and economic instability and further needless violence.
15.30 Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary has told the Commons that the international community will learn the lessons of Iraq in planning to rebuild Libya.
In the past the links between humanitarian aid and post-conflict stabilisation have not always been well understood.
We must not make the same mistakes that were made in Iraq. The international community must agree and implement a single UN-led plan to rebuild lives, peace and security.
A plan which has the full support of the Libyan people and strong regional buy-in...
This will require clear, strong, multi-lateral leadership and a shared assessment of what needs to be done.
We have learnt lessons from Iraq and indeed from events in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sierra Leone.
15.25 The US Air Force secretary has admitted that they are spending about $4 million (£2.5 million) a day to keep 50 fighter jets and nearly 40 support aircraft in the Libya conflict.
Michael Donley said they had spent $75 million as of this morning ont he war.
15.00 Sky News's Jeremy Thompson, who is in Tripoli this week, Tweets that a mosque on Zawiyah that was the subject of a Sky report three weeks ago, is now no longer there.
#Zawiya mosque now flattened was scene of #skynews Alex Crawford's dramatic report 3 wks ago.
14.38 CNN's senior International Correspondent, Nic Robertson, Tweets from Zawiyah:
Zawiya center: store owners repairing shop fronts, rebel medical clinic welded shut. Nearby, a govt tank is hiding camouflaged under a tree
14.18 The actress Angelina Jolie, who is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, visited the Libyan-Tunisian border to give her opinion.
The international community has done well to reinforce Tunisia's remarkable relief effort.
But with 2,000 people still crossing each day, we cannot let the funding dry up and need to sustain the momentum.
UNHCR goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie at the Tunisian-Libyan border town of Ras Djir
14.00 Nato has claimed that the allied strikes have taken out 30 per cent of Gaddafi's military capacity according to Big Gen Mark van Uhm.
13.55 Alistair Burt, Britain's foreign minister, stressed there will be no foreign occupation in Libya in an interview with the Arabic daily El Chourouk.
There will be absolutely no foreign occupation or invasion in Libya... the UK believes that Gaddafi should go, and should go now. Libya has no future with him at the helm.
He has unleashed hell onto his people. He has murdered civilians. He stands accused of dreadful crimes. Now those crimes are a matter for the International Criminal Court.
13.46 A Turkish ship evacuating hundreds of wounded from Libya has arrived at Turkey's Aegean coast. The ferry-turned-hospital brought wounded residents from Misurata for treatment. The ferry is carrying more than 300 wounded. The Telegraph's Ben Farmer last week reported from the boat.
13.25 A rather bizarre incident at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk this morning. The British airbase, from which American warplanes are flying to Libya, was at the centre of a major security alert - after a sniffer dog mistook a lump of mud for explosives.
The drama began when a building firm's van arrived at the gates of the base and was being checked.
Although the Norfolk-based company has been working on a contract to refurbish homes on the base for more than two years, the six men were ordered out of the vehicle.
US security personnel set up a 0.7 mile safety cordon blocking off nearby roads after a specially-trained dog picked up a suspect scent.
A bomb disposal team from Colchester Garrison 50 miles away was called in and used a remote controlled probe to examine the white van.
But six hours later the emergency was lifted and an Army spokesman said the base dogs smelled mud which was "likely at some stage to have been in or near a field where explosives had been used".
13.20 Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the African Union chairman, has condemned foreign military intervention in Ivory Coast and Libya
Africa does not need any external influence. Africa must manage its own affairs.
Each foreigner is susceptible to proposing erroneous solutions. African problems cannot be resolved with an European, American or Asian view.
13.01 David Cameron, who is in Pakistan, has sought to reassure the Muslim population that the military operation in Libya is not an "attack on Islam".
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I don't think anyone can seriously argue that international action in Libya is an attack on Islam. Backed by the United Nations and the Arab League, we have taken action to protect people - predominantly Muslim people - from slaughter, just as we did in Kosovo over a decade ago.
12.50 In Bahrain, authorities have deported two journalists working for the Al Wasat opposition newspaper. The journalists, both Iraqi, had been accused by the government of "unethical" coverage of the Shiite uprising against the Sunni rulers.
12.37 Meanwhile in Yemen, two dissident soldiers and three other people have been killed in a firefighter in the capital Sanaa.
12.33 The International Criminal Court prosecutor has now said he wants to speak with Moussa Koussa, the former foreign minister, for his investigation into crimes against civilians in Libya.
12.30 Great story on Twitter, courtesy of Libyans forever in unity. Appears to have come originally from Wefaq Media and ShababLibya.
Brilliant: Misratah's freedom fighters outsmart Gaddafi's soldiers bit.ly/e13r3p - (thanks WefaqMedia & @ShababLibya) - #libya #feb17
If you don't want to follow the link, basically, rebels unloaded a fuel station no a service road outside Misurata. The petrol in it was emptied and replaced with water. Gaddafi forces then came along and began filling their vehicles with "fuel". When they attempted to leave, the vehicles stopped working and the rebel fighters ambushed them, forcing them to flee and abandoning their vehicles.
12.25 Francesca Cicardi, a freelance journalist in Cairo, Tweets:
Rebel spokesman in #Benghazi: "be patient, the end is near, one week, two weeks"... political solution is now the focus - and patience... #Libya
12.01 The Telegraph's Con Coughlin has argued that John Simpson's interview with Saif Gaddafi shows why we cannot trust the colonel's son:
Saif now has delusions of grandeur, and sees himself as the potential peace-maker in the Libyan crisis. But no one is going to be fooled by Saif’s grand-standing. You only have to listen to his comments regarding Mr Koussa – he’s old and sick and no one should believe a word he says to his MI6 minders – to see how manipulative Saif can be.
I imagine Mr Koussa, who helped to negotiate the disarmament of Libya’s nuclear weapons programme at a time when Saif was insisting that his father’s regime had no such programme, will provide some useful information both about all the Gaddafis’ involvement in committing war crimes against their own people. No wonder Saif is starting to feel the heat.
11.59 William Hague yesterday assured the House of Commons that Britain is not involved in arming Libyan rebels but that non-lethal military equipment may be provided to support them.
11.44 A Libyan-owned ship carrying a cargo of imported petrol has docked at a government-controlled port helping to relieve a fuel shortage, according to government officials. They said the ship was owned by the Libyan state shipping company and was unloading at the port of Zawiyah.
11.12 And the latest Telegraph video on Libya is footage of Col Gaddafi's spokesman saying that the government is ready to discuss reforming its political system but Gaddafi must remain at the helm.
11.09 The Telegraph's latest video on the UN calling on Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo to step down,
11.07 More on this morning's Libyan airstrikes (see 10.25). Nato struck some 18 miles east of the key oil port, which has been the scene of fierce fighting over the past week.
A rebel fighter stands in front of two burning government military vehicles manned by loyalists to Muammar Gaddafi after they were hit by a Nato air strike on the eastern outskirts of Brega
Two government pick-up trucks heading for rebel positions were destroyed, although the soldiers inside appeared to escape unhurt, according to reports.
11.06 Gbagbo's camp is also now denying that he has reached the point of surrender.
10.49 The Gbagbo camp is now saying that an assault by UN and French forces on two military camps killed many, as soldiers lived with their families on the bases.
10.40 The Telegraph's Aislinn Laing, on Ivory Coast reports:
Rinaldo Depagne, Ivory Coast expert for the of the International Crisis Group, said that Mr Ouattara will be hoping his forces follow his orders not to kill Gbagbo if they find him: "Some of the Force Nouvelles (soldiers) I met when the war started in 2002 have a special bullet they keep in their pockets they say they are saving for Mr Gbagbo."
If reports Mr Gbagbo has been captured are true, he advised Mr Ouattara not to rush into setting up his government. "It's very difficult to install a cabinet in a city of chaos and anarchy and if it's rushed, it could unravel, the glue holding them all together could melt."
10.35 In Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo's spokesman has insisted that his forces remain in control of his residence, presidential palace and the country's biggest military campaing Abidjan.
10.25 Reports from AFP breaking that Nato has launched its latest airstrike on Gaddafi forces near the eastern oil town of Brega.
10.23 A tanker is due to dock in the key oil port of Tobruk to picm up the first oil cargo from the rebel-held part of Libya in 18 days, according to Lloyd's List.
10.14 Libyan rebels have been sent scattering under a barrage of shelling early today by Gaddafi forces on the edge of Brega, according to AFP.
09.47 The latest video from Libyan state TV shows footage of what they claim is Col Gaddafi among his supporters in Tripoli.
In the video a convoy of vehicles can be seen driving through a crowd outside Gaddafi's compound although you will notice that you cannot actually see the "brother leader".
09.45 In Afghanistan, around 250 young Afghans have gathered at Kabul University on the fifth day of protests against the burning of a Koran by the US pastor Terry Jones.
There has been deadly violence in two cities, with seven foreign UN staff and five Afghan protesters killed after demonstrators overran their office in Mazar-i-Sharif.
09.41 Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who burst into a hotel in Tripoli to tell journalists she was beaten and raped, has been speaking to CNN. Although no longer in custody, she told the network she still fears for her life.
My life is in danger, and I call on all human rights organization ... to expose the truth and to let me leave now. I am being held hostage here.
They have threatened me with death and told me I will never leave prison again, if I go to the journalists or tell them anything about what's happening in Tripoli.
09.33 And in Syria, authorities are to unveil new legislation to replace the country's emergency laws before the weekend, according to the al-Watan newspaper.
09.31 In Yemen, the US has quietly signalled it no longer backs embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Telegraph's Toby Harnden writes:
Despite America's previous longtime support for Ali Abdullah Saleh, reports have indicated that the White House has concluded that Yemen's president is unlikely to bring about reform and should be eased out of office under a US-brokered deal.
Libyan rebels fighting forces loyal to Libyan leader Gaddafi gather outside the eastern oil town of Brega
09.28 The Telegraph's Damien McElroy reports that al-Qaeda meanwhile have benefited from the Libya unrest, with convoys of weapons looted from barracks to be taken to camps in northern Mali.
We know that this is not the first convoy and that it is still ongoing. Several military barracks have been pillaged in this region [eastern Libya] with their arsenals and weapons stores and the elements of AQIM [Al-Qaeda in Islamic Magreb] who were present could not have failed to profit from this opportunity.
09.17 The Ukrainian nurse who treated Col Gaddafi has dismissed rumours he had a nurse as a mistress, but admitted that the man they call "Papa" gave his staff gold watches every year.
08.55 Meanwhile in war-torn Ivory Coast, The Telegraph's Africa Correspondent Aislinn Laing is reporting that defeated Presidential candidate Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender.
Forces loyal to Mr Ouattara, Ivory Coast's internationally recognised president, said they had captured Mr Gbagbo's Abidjan residence. Heavy weapons fire rocked the economic capital early on Tuesday, after UN and French helicopters last night attacked targets near the presidential residence. Mr Gbagbo's presidential palace and two military camps under his control, were struck, the UN confirmed, in retaliation for "reckless and mindless" attacks on civilians and UN personnel.
08.45 Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi claims Moussa Koussa was allowed to leave Libya and insists he knows nothing about the Lockerbie bombing. He tells BBC world affairs editor John Simpson:
The British and the Americans they know about Lockerbie, they know everything about Lockerbie so there are no secrets anymore. Come on. The British government say this: you have no immunity unless you co-operate. He [Moussa Koussa] is sick, he is sick and old so if you put it this way, no immunity of course... [he] will come out with the funny stories.
08.30 The Libyan government has said it is ready to discuss reforms to its political system, but insisted that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi must be allowed to stay in the country. Moussa Ibrahim, the government spokesman said:
Many Libyans, many Libyans want him [Gaddafi] to lead the process forward because they are scared if he is not there for any reason we will have what happened in Iraq, we will have what happened in Somalia, we will have what happened in Afghanistan.
08.18 Ministers have been criticised by MPs over arms exports to regimes in Libya and Bahrain.
In a report MPs from the arms export control committees accused the Coalition Government of misjudging the risk that arms could be used for internal repression. Sales only stopped in January this year.
08.41 Reports are emerging of a family rift opening up between Gaddafi's two sons Mutassim and Saif over plans for a ceasefire.
Damien McElroy reports in today's paper: Gaddafi sons split over plans for ceasefire
While Saif believes that talks would be impossible without a ceasefire, Mutassim wants to ensure the regime cannot be beaten. He is reported to have said 'people get sick of dying, we have to keep fighting until we've beaten the opposition'.
08.00 The Telegraph today reveals exclusively how Libyan defector Moussa Koussa could face criminal proceedings in a British court over alleged involvement in IRA bombings. The legal team representing 160 families of Republican atrocities are considering bringing private prosecutions against the former Libyan foreign minister alleged to be involved in the suuply of Semtex to Irish terrorists. Matthew Jury, a solicitor at H20 Law representing the families said Koussa's role in arming the IRA is unequivocal. Moussa Koussa could face UK private criminal prosecution
We had not anticipated that Moussa Koussa would come to this jurisdiction. Now that he has, such considerations are whether to commence private civil and or criminal prosecutions against him and the making of enquiries of his asset position in the UK and elsewhere. We have spent nearly 20 years gathering evidence and his role in this is unequivocal.
A car passes a Gaddafi army tank that was destroyed during a NATO air strike in the town of Ajdabiya
07.35 Prosecutors investigating the Lockerbie bombing are expected to meet Libyan defector Moussa Koussa in the next few days. Mr Kusa, who was a Libyan intelligence officer at the time of the 1988 atrocity arrived in the UK last week after abandoning the Gaddafi regime.
07.30 Welcome back to the Libya live blog for April 5. The Telegraph has comprehensive coverage of events in Libya, the wider Middle East and from conflict zones elsewhere including the Ivory Coast.
Our team in Libya:
Damien McElroy
Ben Farmer
Nick Meo
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