STF NA MÍDIA

a US-educated economist, is
favourite to take charge of
economic affairs.
The US, Britain and other
western governments have
been encouraging Abdel Jalil
and Jibril to be more inclusive
amid nervousness about
internal disagreements while
the liberation of the country
is incomplete and Gaddafi is
still at large and trying to
rally support.
Alarm bells first rang in July
when the opposition military
commander, General Abdel-
Fattah Younis, an early defector
from the regime, died
in what many think was an
attack by an Islamist group.
The NTC has laid down a
detailed timetable under which
the "countdown" to a
Constitutional referendum
and elections can begin only
when the country is declared
liberated.
An NTC military spokesman
predicted at the weekend that
Sirte on the coast and Bani
Walid in the centre would
fall soon but, in reality, it
could still take weeks to retake
the cities from fighters
loyal to Gaddafi. Reuters
correspondents at the Bani
Walid front described a chaotic
rebel retreat after another
day of inconclusive fighting.
Refugees fleeing Sirte on
Sunday told rebels that supplies
of food, medicines and
water were running low. A
fourth day of combat inside
the city saw rebels launch
attacks against loyalist units
fortified around Ouagadougou
hall, the venue for pan-
African congresses before
the war, and a line of luxury
beach-front villages held by
the 32nd brigade, commanded
by Gaddafi s son Khamis.
Nato jets have continued to
bomb in support of the offensive,
hitting command centres,
vehicles and missile
sites on Saturday. The alliance
said it had destroyed 39
targets since rebel forces
entered the city on Thursday.
Rebel commanders said they
were rethinking their strategy
of avoiding the use of heavy
weapons in the city centre for
fear of harming civilians.
Four days of fighting have
resulted in 25 deaths and 76
injuries among anti-Gaddafi
forces. Many happened on
Saturday when they were hit
by Grad missiles fired from
loyalist compounds. Truckmounted
Grad rocket launchers,
tanks and two 155mm
guns, recently captured from
pro-Gaddafi forces, are being
readied to target sites in the
city.
Misrata military council,
which is commanding the
offensive, said six Scud missiles
were found, two prepared
for launching, when loyalist
positions in the Jaref valley
close to Sirte were overrun.
Reports from Sabha,
another regime stronghold in
the south of Libya, described
advances by rebel forces a-
mid rumours that Gaddafi
himself, his son Mutasim and
intelligence chief Abdullah
Sanussi were all in the area.
Gaddafi s spokesman, Moussa
Ibrahim, claimed Nato air
raids killed 354 people in
Sirte on Friday. "We will be
able to continue this fight
and we have enough arms for
months and months to come,"
Ibrahim said in a call to
Reuters via satellite telephone
on Saturday.
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