Libyan rebels seize airport

Gaddafi, while a United Nations call for a ceasefire was rejected.
A correspondent for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, speaking from Benghazi, quoted a rebel spokesman as saying “the rebels have taken complete control of the airport about half an hour ago”.
There was no independent confirmation.
The rebels are fighting to end Gaddafi’s 41 years in power, but the war has reached stalemate with Gaddafi in control of the capital and almost all of the west of the country while rebels control Benghazi and other towns in the oil-producing east.
Misrata is the only major city the rebels hold in the west and for eight weeks Gadda-fi’s forces have besieged it leading to fierce fighting in which hundreds have been killed.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ca-lled yesterday for an “immediate, verifiable ceasefire” in Libya but rebels fighting in western Libya dismissed the idea.
“We don’t trust Gaddafi . . . This is not the time for a ceasefire because he never respe-cts it,” said rebel spokesman Zintan Abdulrahman by telephone from Zintan in the Western Mountains region.
“He bombards civilians immediately af-ter his regime speaks of willingness to ob-serve a ceasefire,” Abdulrahman said, adding that Gaddafi’s forces fired 20-25 Grad missiles yesterday at rebels yesterday, killing one and wounding three others.
Gaddafi’s government has made several ceasefire declarations but has continued attacks on Misrata and other rebel-held areas including the Western Mountains near the Tunisian border.
Ban spoke in Geneva after talks with Libya’s Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi.
“He (Mahmoudi) even suggested the Libyan government was willing to have an immediate ceasefire with a monitoring team to be established by the United Nations and the African Union,” Ban told a news conference.
“But first and foremost there should be an end to the fighting in Misrata and elsewhere. Then we will be able to provide humanitarian assistance and in parallel we can continue our political dialogue,” Ban added. – Reuters.