Anti-Gaddafi forces widen control

Forces fighting to oust the Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi have seized the city of Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Tripoli.

The Libyan government took journalists to Zawiya on Sunday morning.

But instead of a show of government force, reporters saw opposition fighters manning the barricades in the city centre and flying their flag.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Col Gaddafi’s regime.

Eastern Libya has fallen to the uprising, but Tripoli remains in the control of Col Gaddafi, who is facing the biggest challenge to his 41-year rule.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency UNHCR says nearly 100,000 migrants have fled from Libya into neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt in the past week.

It warns of a growing humanitarian crisis. Many of the migrants have no way to get home and are sleeping out in the open.

‘Ready to fight’

Pro-Gaddafi forces surround Zawiya, which saw fierce fighting last week.

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, who was on the government-organised trip to Zawiya, says the centre of the city and its immediate outskirts appear to be wholly in the control of anti-Gaddafi forces.

Pro-Gaddafi forces have tried a couple of times to enter the town, local people have told him, but the rebellion has been going on since 17 February, and they say it is going to continue.

The BBC saw hundreds of demonstrators in the centre of Zawiya.

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John Simpson: “Small towns liberating themselves against fighting”

Some were firing weapons into the air, saying they are protesting peacefully but are ready to fight.

In a televised speech on Thursday, Col Gaddafi addressed the people of Zawiya, saying young people were being duped with drugs and alcohol to take part in “destruction and sabotage”.

The Security Council unanimously backed an arms embargo and asset freeze on the Libyan government. It also voted to refer Colonel Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

US President Barack Obama has said the Libyan leader should step down and leave the country immediately.

Discussions on forming an anti-Gaddafi transitional government are reportedly under way.

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil – who resigned as justice minister in protest against the excessive use of force against demonstrators – said a body comprising military and civilian figures would prepare for elections within three months, Libya’s privately-owned Quryna newspaper reported.