The Arab League has demanded the United Nations Security Council authorise a no-fly-zone over Libya as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s rebel forces pushed further back in intense fighting.
Following a meeting in Cairo, the grouping issued a statement calling for the UN to “shoulder its responsibility to impose a no-fly-zone” to protect civilians.
As a Libyan Army bombardment pushed the rebels out of the oil port of Ras Lanuf and troops fought to oust them from the town of Misrata, Amr Moussa, the League’s Secretary-General, said that the “massive and dangerous violations” committed by Colonel Gaddafi’s regime had stripped it of any legitimacy.
The League had made contact with the Libyan rebel council to discuss humanitarian issues, it said, and would “co-operate with the provisional national council and provide support and protection for the Libyan people”.
The United States welcomed the call and said it was preparing for “all contingencies”.
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“We welcome this important step by the Arab League, which strengthens the international pressure on Gaddafi and support for the Libyan people,” the White House said in a statement.
“The international community is unified in sending a clear message that the violence in Libya must stop, and that the Gaddafi regime must be held accountable.
“The United States will continue to advance our efforts to pressure Gaddafi, to support the Libyan opposition, and to prepare for all contingencies, in close co-ordination with our international partners.”
The meeting of the League was being closely watched by an international community which is split over the issue of military intervention, following a push by David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy for a hawkish response to the crisis.
The Prime Minister and the French President were slapped down at the emergency summit of EU leaders they themselves had called as their European counterparts looked to the Arab world to take a lead and the US and Nato refused to consider action without a clear UN mandate.
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That mandate became more likely as the Arab League’s 22 members were unanimous in their call to the Security Council.
“The Arab League asks the United Nations to shoulder its responsibility to impose a no-fly zone over the movement of Libyan military planes and to create safe zones in the places vulnerable to airstrikes,” it said in a statement.
Mr Moussa stressed that a no-fly zone was intended to be a humanitarian measure to protect Libyan civilians and foreigners in the country and not a military intervention.
Yousef Ben Alwi, Oman’s Foreign Minister and chairman of the emergency session, had said earlier: “The League cannot remain idle, not taking responsibility for these events.”
He called upon members to act “now, before events race ahead of us”.
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Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, leader of the Libyan National Council in Benghazi, had pleaded with the international community to act.
“If a no-fly zone and restrictions on Gaddafi’s ships are not imposed, Libya’s civilians are going to suffer,” he said.
The EU, meanwhile, reiterated its resolution that it would take military action “if need be” and provided certain conditions were met.
Those conditions, said János Martonyi, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, were: “That there is a demonstrable need for such an action, also there is a clear legal basis by which we all mean a resolution of the Security Council, and also there is support from the countries in the region, basically there is support from the Arab countries, indeed from the Arab League.”
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the EU’s chief diplomat, was due to meet the League in Cairo today and and tomorrow Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, will meet Mahmoud Jibril, the National Libyan Council’s foreign affairs chief, in Paris.
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Meanwhile, Colonel Gaddafi’s forces were regaining ground against the rebels. Pummelled back from Ras Lanuf, defected army officers conceded that they had withdrawn their front line eastwards towards the rebel-held town of Uqaylah, outgunned by loyalist troops.
“We’re out of Ras Lanuf. They’ve beaten us back with bombardment,” rebel Colonel Bashir Abdul Qadr said. “We’ve moved back 20km (12 miles) from last night because we are also afraid the refinery will explode.”
According to engineers, damage to the refinery meant it would blow up within the next five days, he claimed.
In Brega, the next major oil town in the path of the loyalist counter-offensive, rebels are building defences while civilians fled.
The al-Jazeera television network said that one of its cameramen working in Libya, Ali Hassan al-Jaber, had been killed in an ambush near Benghazi.
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Loyalists also attacked the town of Misrata, 130 miles east of Tripoli, and the last remaining rebel stronghold in western Libya. “They are now 10km away,” a rebel spokesman told Reuters. “We are hearing shelling. We have no choice but to fight.”
Mussa Ibrahim, a Government spokesman in Tripoli, would neither confirm nor deny that a military operation was under way. “We want to give people a chance to lay down their arms. There is a hard core of al-Qaeda fighters there,” he said. “It looks like a Zawiya scenario. Some people will give up, some will disappear, so their numbers are declining. Tribal leaders are talking to them. Those who stay behind, we will deal with them accordingly. Misrata will be completely within united Libya very soon.”
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Colonel Gaddafi’s son, told Italian media that “almost 90 per cent” of the country was back under Government control and that all oil and gas facilities would soon be in the regime’s hands.
Meanwhile a UN envoy arrived in Tripoli to meet with Libyan officials to discuss access to the country for humanitarian relief efforts.
Rachid Khalikov, the UN co-ordinator for Libya, was accompanied by a small support team during the visit.
He will meet with Libyan officials “to discuss access for humanitarian aid workers throughout Libya to assess needs and ensure that humanitarian assistance can be delivered,” the UN said.