Opponents of the Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi fear he could use any evidence of Western military intervention against the rebel's uprising. The newspaper said that according to Libyan sources, the soldiers were taken by rebels to Libya's second city Benghazi, held by the opposition, and hauled up before a senior figure.
The Sunday Times said a British source, who confirmed the men had been detained, said the diplomat they were protecting had wanted to make contact with the rebels. It cited a source close to the opposition leadership as saying rebel officials were worried that Libyan people might think from the escort party that "foreign troops have started to interfere by landing in Libya". British service personnel have already been involved in the rescue of British nationals working on oil installations in remote desert camps.
Prime minister David Cameron said last week that Western countries should be stepping up contact with the Libyan opposition to gain a greater understanding of their intentions.
Foreign secretary William Hague held telephone talks on Wednesday with General Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former Libyan interior minister who defected, about the situation on the ground. Meanwhile, heavy automatic weapons fire has erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the first such outbreak in Mr Gaddafi's main stronghold. It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started at am local time, just before daybreak, or what had caused it. Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy calibre, were reverberating around central Tripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.
Tripoli is percent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square. He warned, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety. Libyan rebels were also advancing from the east on Mr Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, around km from Tripoli, and clinging to positions in a western town near the capital after withstanding two armoured assaults by government forces.
A tense calm settled over the western town of Zawiya after nightfall on Saturday, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning checkpoints on streets leading into the centre. A doctor in Zawiya, some 50km west of Tripoli, said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.
The eight Britons had been detained and questioned since Thursday by rebel leaders who had suspected they were mercenaries. Challenged by guards at a wheat farm, they were forced to open bags containing weapons, reconnaissance equipment, and multiple passports, then herded into a dormitory before they were handed over to the rebels.
William Hague confirmed the "diplomatic team" had left Libya after experiencing "difficulties". He said another team would be sent in after consultation with the opposition leadership. The group's capture is a major embarrassment to the British government and could potentially undermine the rebels' claims that the revolution, which has rippled through Libya for the past fortnight, has had solely domestic roots.
Officials in Benghazi's organising committee, which is trying to organise civilian and military affairs, criticised the British team's decision to make a clandestine entry to the country, claiming it had fuelled doubts about their intentions. It's a matter of verification. At a time of revolution, suspicion is greater than trust. A recording of a telephone conversation between the UK's ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, and a senior rebel leader has been leaked by Libyan authorities.
Northern suggested the SAS team had been detained due to a "misunderstanding". The rebel leader responded: "They made a big mistake, coming with a helicopter in an open area. I didn't know how they were coming. John Leyne, a BBC correspondent in Benghazi, said in a dispatch that he was surprised that Britain had taken the "James Bond route" to fly the diplomats guarded by special forces to the city.
There has been no word of them since Thursday when the Dutch government said that "intensive diplomatic talks" were under way. Eight British SAS men freed in Libya The soldiers, who were armed but not in military uniform, and were guarding a team of British diplomats who had flown to Libya to talk to rebel forces, were reportedly detained by rebels annoyed by a foreign military presence on their soil.
David sapsted. Sudan's military head appoints new apex council after takeover.
0コメント