Fighting continues in Libya

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International aircraft have now carried out 70 sorties in Libya. They’re trying to enforce a UN resolution to end attacks on civilians by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces. However, the fighting in Libya continues. Troops loyal to Gaddafi reportedly killed at least nine people in the western city of Misrata today. There were also clashes near Ajdabiya in eastern Libya. It’s impossible to measure the popular support for or opposition to Gaddafi. Anchor Lisa Mullins gets an update on the situation from Los Angeles Times correspondent Borzou Daragahi in Tripoli. Download MP3

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is the World.  International aircraft have now carried out 70 missions in Libya.  They’re trying to enforce a UN resolution to end attacks on civilians by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, but the fighting in Libya continues.  Today troops loyal to Gaddafi reportedly killed at least nine people in the western city of Misurata.  There were also clashes today near Ajdabiya in eastern Libya.  It’s impossible to measure the popular support for Kaddafi, or the opposition to him.   Los Angeles Times correspondent Borzou Daragahi in Tripoli says, it depends on who you talk to.

Borzou Daragahi: According to the pro-government people that we talk to and sort of surround us, all Libyans love Muammar Gaddafi, except for a few Al Qaeda terrorists and a few stray dogs, but if you talk to other people, what they say is that Gaddafi does have his base of supporters and that these people are bussed around to every single event, and given freebies in order to chant slogans.  We’ve seen some evidence of that.  My sense is yes, Gaddafi has some supporters, but I think there are a lot of people who are very pleased by what is happening now.  One doctor we talked to is very happy about the no fly zone and airstrikes. And he was saying that after the first airstrikes started in Tripoli Sunday morning, he climbed to his roof, and he didn’t dare cheer, because he’s so afraid of informants, but he you know took out his cell phone, and started recording it as a moment in history when perhaps the liberation of Libya was beginning.  And he looked around and he saw that almost all of his neighbors had also climbed to their roofs, and to him that was that was an indication that people were in support of this operation.

Mullins: I think that creates quite an image Borzou, because even if they have been against Gaddafi’s regime for years or even decades, one would think it’s pretty difficult to go out on the roof when there are bombs reigning down, basically, in your neighborhood.

Daragahi: Yeah, and that’s one of the things he said.  He said “we trust the coalition not to hit us.”  He said “I hate Gaddafi; everyone I know is against Gaddafi, and he said he’s only managed to stay in power by keeping everyone afraid of everyone else.”   And he said that for the first time in Libyan history in the past 40 years, that sort of fear has come down, but there still a lot of trepidation in terms of expressing that openly.

Mullins: One more thing Borzou, is we’re hearing from the government forces that the rebels aren’t abiding by a cease fire.  We’re hearing from the rebels that the Libyan military has not abided by a cease fire.  Is anyone seeking a negotiated solution?

Daragahi: You know I talked to a woman. She’s an amazing scholar.  Her name is Lisa Anderson and she’s now the president of the American University of Cairo, and what she was saying is that, you know, the nature of the system that Gaddafi has created, that everyone knew that as soon as this thing started it, it was going to be a fight to the finish.  Gaddafi is not the kind of person who allows opposition and from the moment these people took to the streets, they knew that it was either him or them.   It was always a zero sum game.  There’s basically very little room for compromise between a regime that has a law on the books that allows for the punishment of entire villages for the action of one individual in their midst, and an opposition that basically wants to move this county out of the control of one family that it’s been under for 40 years.

Mullins: Los Angeles times reporter Borzou Daragahi talking to us from Tripoli, Libya.  Thank you, Borzou.

Daragahi: It’s been a pleasure

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