April 6, 2011 5:41 PM

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Libyan rebel forces abandon Brega; Move towards Ajdabiya

In Libya, rebel forces totally abandoned the oil town of Brega and headed east towards Ajdabiya in the face of renewed offensive by troops loyal to Col Gaddafi.Buoyed by his huge successes against rebels, Gaddafi offered to hold talks with opposition if the insurgents disarmed.Gaddafi's son Seif ul-Islam told BBC that if the foreign interference ended, he and his father were ready to move Libya towards democratic elections under a elected Prime Minister with Gaddafi remaining only in a figure head role.Meanwhile, the Pentagon has ruled out sending ground troops to Libya and reiterated that any change in the leadership would be determined by the people of the country and not by any external forces.The International Criminal Court in the meantime says, Col Gaddafi government planned to crush protests by killing civilians even before the uprising broke out in Libya. Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said, the plans had been a reaction to street protests that led to the fall of the Tunisian regime. Mr. Ocampo is expected to request arrest warrants for Col Muammar Gaddafi, his sons and close aides. Nato has vowed to do all it can to protect civilians after rebels accused it of failing to protect Misrata city. Nato deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said, Misrata is their number one priority. She added that alliance warplanes had hit Col Gaddafi's military assets around Libya's third largest city on Monday. Referring to the UN resolution that permits “all necessary measures” to defend Libya's population, Ms. Romero said, they have a clear mandate and they will do everything to protect the civilians of Misrata. Earlier, rebel commander Gen Abdul Fattah Younis complained that bureaucracy was causing Nato to take hours to respond to calls for air strikes. He told reporters in the de facto rebel capital Benghazi, “Nato is letting the people of Misrata die every day.” He said, if Nato would wait another week, there will be no more Misrata.

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