Africa, Libya | featured news

Scores of Libyan army vehicles have crossed the desert frontier into Niger in what may be a dramatic, secretly negotiated bid by Muammar Gaddafi to seek refuge in a friendly African state, military sources from France and Niger told Reuters on Tuesday.

Chinese arms firms offered to sell weapons worth about $200 million to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's beleaguered forces in July, two newspapers reported, compounding pressure on Beijing's brittle ties with the rebels who have ousted him.

"Negotiations are over, and we are waiting for orders" to attack, said Mohammed al-Fassi, a rebel commander at a staging area about 45 miles from Bani Walid.

Libya's provisional government said it was closing in on bastions of support for Muammar Gaddafi on Saturday and planned to resume oil production at key fields within days.

The rebels' Tripoli military commander, a former leader of an Islamic militant group, insisted Friday that the new Libya will shun extremism.

In a message of utter anger and defiance broadcast Thursday, a man purported to be Libya's fugitive leader Moammar Gadhafi urged Libyans to continue the fight and not surrender.

A man claiming to be Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam vowed to fight to the death and said nobody will surrender.

The U.S. government has seen no indication that Muammar Gaddafi has left Libya, the White House said on Monday.

Moammar Kadafi 's wife and three of his children fled Libya to neighboring Algeria on Monday, firm evidence that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country.

Rebel fighters gave loyalists in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown until Monday to disarm or face "liberation," an opposition spokesman said.