Libya crisis: Gaddafi under pressure

Live blog: Libya revolt

Tues 1 March

12.30 Colonel Bob Stewart MP tells Channel 4 News of his concerns over the implentation of a no-fly zone in Libya.

He said: “The Libyan people don’t want military intervention. We’d have to get the UN to advocate it, get all the people who want it together – we can’t do it alone. Our jets from Cyprus may not even make it without re-fuelling. And who would pay?”

Read more from Channel 4 News on the West using force against Libya’s Gaddafi.

10.45 As the international community warns it will not rule out military action against Gaddafi, Channel 4 News Presenter Jon Snow writes that war is not a viable option in Libya in his blog, why intervention into revolution won’t go.

08.20 The UN is warning of a humanitarian emergency as thousands flee Libya, protesters warn of more attacks from Gaddafi loyalists, and the international community ramps up the pressure on the Colonel, hinting of military intervention and a no-fly zone.

As the situation worsens, the West warns it is ready to use force against Libya’s Gaddafi, particularly if orchestrates further attacks on his own people.

07.00 Western leaders suggest they will not rule out using military force against the Libyan regime, as they consider imposing a no-fly zone.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We do not in any way rule out the use of military assets. We must not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people.

“In that context I have asked the Ministry of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff to work with our allies on plans for a military no-fly zone.”

Mon 28 Feb

20:15 Two people reported shot dead as Gaddafi troops open fire in the city of Misratah.

19.30 US Treasury says it has blocked $30bn of Libyan assets

19.20 Ibrahim: “We believe that the people of Benghazi are with national unity and are hostages to these armed individuals. We believe Libyan blood is very valuable, we will not shed Libyan blood, we want tribes, university professors, civil institutions to get into a dialogue to get the country out of this crisis peacefully.”

19.15 Musa Ibrahim, Libyan Information Minister tells Channel 4 News: “We have in Tripoli more than 140 foreign correspondents who have been touring the city of Tripoli and the surrounding cities for days now. They have found no evidence of air bombardments of cities, no evidence of massacres and dead bodies in the streets.”

18.35 Several people were killed and others wounded after forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi opened fire to disperse a protest in the capital, according to reports in Quryna newspaper.

17.40 Muammar Gaddafi speaks to US TV netowork ABC and says he refuses to acknowledge the protests in the streets of Tripoli, saying, all Libyans love him. He tells Christiane Amanpour”All my people love me. They would die to protect me”.

15.30 David Cameron makes a Commons statement on Libya, telling Gaddafi to “go now” and revealing the UK is pushing for a no-fly zone over Libya.

13.30 UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking in Geneva, warns anyone in Libya contemplating human rights abuses that there will be a “day of reckoning”.

Mr Hague said: “The unanimous response to the crisis in Libya, here in the Human Rights Council and at the UN Security Council, is nothing short of remarkable. The international community came together in a way it has not done before, setting aside differences in the face of a challenge to the very notion of what we instinctively regard as the basic rights of humankind – the right to be free from terror and oppression, the right to life, and the right to gather and express views without the dread of violent retribution.

“Today we have signalled that crimes will not be condoned, will not go unpunished and will not be forgotten.”

11.45 The EU is considering sanctions and the International Criminal Court has said it expects to open a preliminary examination into the violence in Libya before proceeding to a full investigation.

11.30 YouTube video emerges appearing to show Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif Gaddafi holding a gun and telling loyalists to “teach a lesson” to anti-government protesters. It is unverified video.

10.00 It is reported opponents of Muammar Gaddafi have held off an attack by pro-government forces near the town of Misrata and shot down a military aircraft. Misrata is 200km (125 miles) east of the Libyan capital. “An aircraft was shot down this morning while it was firing on the local radio station. Protesters captured its crew,” a witness told Reuters.

08.50 France is sending two planeloads of medical aid to Benghazi in Libya – partly in a bid to stop an influx of Libyan migrants to France.

On Sunday the French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was forced to quit over her handling of the Middle East crisis, particularly events in Tunisia. She took a holiday there as protests raged. Alain Juppe is her replacement.

07.50 As international pressure mounts on Gaddafi, Jonathan Rugman writes from Libya on the “miracle” of freedom in Zawiyah – and the terrible cost.

06.30 Colonel Gaddafi faces more international pressure as leaders around the world queue to denounce him, including Prime Minister David Cameron.

The break from the diplomatic approach to the other recent revolutions in the Middle East – notably in Tunisia and Egypt, where the international community held back to let the people of the country decide their own fate – is a sign of the concern over the ongoing violence in Libya.

Gaddafi himself said on Sunday he would not quit, as anti-Government fighters in Zawiyah, near Tripoli, prepared for a counter-attack from his forces.

Sun 27 Feb

20.00 It is revealed that one of the RAF aircraft which took part in Sunday’s desert rescue suffered damage “consistent with small arms fire”.

19.15 Ministry of Defence confirms three RAF Hercules planes have successfully evacuated a further 150 civilians from multiple locations in eastern desert.

18.30 The British government has taken action to freeze assets of Colonel Gaddafi and members of his family plus those acting on their behalf, the Foreign Office confirms.

17.15 Colonel Gaddafi responds to international calls on him to quit with an angry refusal – accusing foreigners and al-Qaeda of working to destabilise his country.

15.45 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States is reaching out to Libyan opposition groups.

14.00 The end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s rule was “inevitable”, the foreign minister of Italy, his closest European ally, has said.

13.00 HMS Cumberland sets sail back to Libya from Malta.

11.28 Rebel fighters opposed to Colonel Gaddafi are in control of the city of Zawiyah, about 50km (30 miles) west of the capital Tripoli.

10.00 Britain revokes the diplomatic immunity of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family.

07.00 More military aircraft to be sent to Libya to carry out desert rescues.

01.18 Confirmation that the UN Security Council has unanimously imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, members of his family and inner circle.

Sat 26 Feb

22.00 Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said the people of Libya had spoken and leader Muammar Gaddafi must go.

18.15 Two RAF Hercules aircraft which picked up UK nationals south of Benghazi land safely in Malta, says Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox. He adds that HMS Cumberland will return to Libya.

17.40 Colonel Gaddafi’s son Saif Gaddafi says the Libyan people “have no future” if no agreement is reached and that eastern Libya cannot break away.

17.00 Dozens “severely wounded” after pro-Gaddafi battalion opens fire on protesters near Sabratha – Quryna newspaper.

16.00 UN discussing what action should be taken against Libya.

15.00 Rumours circulate that former British PM Tony Blair – a UN Middle East peace envoy – has warned Gaddafi this is his “last chance”.

14.40 Is this really a regime in its last hours? Channel 4 News Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson writes from the Libya-Tunisia border.

14.30 Security forces have abandoned the working-class Tajoura district of Tripoli after five days of anti-government demonstrations – reports.

12.40 David Cameron and other European leaders agree the United Nations and European Union should take urgent action to deal with the Libyan crisis, including tough sanctions.

12.35 Saif Gaddafi, Colonel Gaddafi’s son, has told Channel 4 News Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Rugman that his father is in “high spirits” and Libya is no longer on the brink of civil war.

11.35 Muammar Gaddafi does not seem to be in control of Libya anymore, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Gaddafi’s strongest European ally, says.

11.33 In a sign of restoring normality, the financial sector is resuming activity in Libya’s northern city of Benghazi.

10.00 Another rescue flight has set off for Tripoli to bring back British people still trapped in the Libyan capital.

09.30 Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General: “It is time for the Security Council to consider concrete action. The hours and the days ahead will be decisive for Libyans and their country with equally important implications for the wider region.”

09.00 Rania Abdul Aziz Diab, a Tripoli resident, says: “The situation in Tripoli is safe. We live in the Bin Aachour district and there is no shelling, we are going onto the streets today with our cars, and nothing bad is happening.”

08.00 UN estimates 1,000 people have been killed so far in Libya clashes. There were reports of further gunfire overnight in Tripoli. The mass evacuation of foreign workers continues.

07.30 Ministry of Defence confirms that in the early hours of Saturday morning, HMS Cumberland arrived alongside Malta carrying 207 persons evacuated from Libya. The 69 British nationals and 138 passengers from other nations were evacuated from Benghazi, Libya’s second city, on Thursday.