Anti-Kadhafi rebels pull out of Brega

Dozens of Libyan opposition fighters pulled of the eastern town of Brega on Sunday after heavy shelling from forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi.

Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Rebel sources said government forces were advancing from the west after seizing the town of Uqayla and the village of Bisher 20 kilometres from Brega.

The retreating fighters were reported to be heading along the coast road towards
Ajdabiya, gateway to the main rebel cities of Benghazi and Tobruk.

On Saturday Arab League foreign ministers agreed to deal with the rebel National Council and called for a no-fly zone to stop Kadhafi’s planes attacking rebels or civilians.

Kadhafi’s representatives were kept out of the emergency meeting in Cairo and, of the 11 foreign ministries present, only Algeria and Syria voted against the proposal that the UN Security Council impose an air exclusion zone.

Representatives of the council in Benghazi welcomed the decision and asked the league the European Union to give it full official recognition.

"We asked the Arab League ... not to limit their discussion to the question of a no-fly zone, and to deal in political matters with the National Transition Council as the expression of the Libyan people’s wishes,"  council representative Abdel Hafiz Gougha told RFI.

"We welcome the European Union’s proposal that we become their political interlocutor: it’s a step towards the total recognition of the national transition council. We recognise that the Arab League has also now taken that step."

On Friday the African Union opposed military intervention in Libya, while condemning the "disproportionate use of force". On Saturday it named a group of five presidents to work on resolving the conflict.

Several thousand women demonstrated in favour of a no-fly zone in Benghazi on Saturday.