Gathafi sends letter for Arab League as he battles rebels

TRIPOLI - Libyan officials who landed in Cairo earlier on Wednesday were carrying a letter from embattled leader

Not looking good

Battle for Libyan town of Zawiya teeters on brink as scores of Libyan rebels retreat to Ras Lanuf.

Moamer Gathafi for the Arab League, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

The Libyan plane that arrived from Tripoli was carrying "Gathafi envoys who brought the Egyptian government a missive from the colonel" to pass on to the Arab League, Frattini told reporters in Rome.

An airport official in Cairo earlier said that Abdelrahman al-Zawi, a member of embattled leader Moamer Gathafi's inner circle responsible for logistics and supplies, was on board the private plane.

Zawi's visit comes as Arab League foreign ministers prepare to meet at the body's Cairo headquarters at the weekend to discuss a no-fly zone over Libya.

An EU source said that a Libyan government emissary was en route for Portugal for talks with the country's foreign minister.

Battle for Zawiya teeters on brink

The battle for the rebel-held western Libyan town of Zawiyah was undecided Wednesday, escapees reported, while state television said residents were staging a mass demonstration in support of Gathafi.

An official trip to the town for Tripoli-based journalists, who have been repeatedly turned away in efforts to reach there in previous days, was announced then cancelled without explanation.

"The revolutionaries control the centre of Zawiyah and Gathafi's forces are surrounding it. It's 50-50," a long-term Moroccan resident said after crossing the border into Tunisia.

Libyan television reported that "massive demonstrations" were taking place in the centre of Zawiyah in favour of Gathafi.

"The crowds in Zawiyah have come out on to the main square in solidarity with our brother, the leader of the revolution," said the television, which has previously reported government successes that were belied on the ground.

It showed pictures of crowds shouting and waving green flags, which it said came from Zawiyah.

Giving his name as Rachid, the 48-year-old shopkeeper had fled Zawiyah 150 kilometres (95 miles) away a few hours beforehand with his wife and four daughters.

"There was no one in the streets, the town is completely deserted, and there are snipers on the roofs," he said, adding that he did not know which side they were on.

"There is no telephone and no internet."

"Zawiyah's like Somalia, bang, bang, bang," added another Moroccan standing behind Rachid who also fled Wednesday.

Zawiyah, a prosperous dormitory town 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Tripoli, has been under assault for several days by Gathafi's forces using artillery and tanks.

"This morning around 10 o'clock (0800 GMT) as we were leaving we heard firing some way away," Rachid said. "Yesterday it was worse with shooting and bombing."

On Sunday, he added, after three days of fierce fighting, a shell had landed on his house, making a hole a metre (yard) across in one wall.

The flight to Tunisia cost the family the equivalent of 350 euros ($490) for the taxi and around 50 euros at each of the six military checkpoints between Zawiyah and the border.

They had also been stopped several times near Zawiyah by rebels who demanded a password given to their driver as he left town.

Tahar Souifi, a Tunisian from Tripoli, said his driver had not dared to go through Zawiyah as it was too dangerous, but he had heard shooting in the distance and seen a police station that had been totally wrecked.

His companion, Mohammed Saidi, said at one checkpoint a Libyan army colonel ordered them to get out of the car to clear a blazing garbage bin from the road.

When they refused the colonel threatened them with a Kalashnikov, Saidi said, showing burns on his hands

Scores of Libyan rebels retreat to Ras Lanuf

Scores of Libyan rebels, packed into dozens of vehicles, on Wednesday retreated east into the oil town of Ras Lanuf after artillery and air strikes from government troops.

They streamed back after several hours of sustained shelling and at least three air strikes around five kilometres (three miles) west of the rebel-held town on Libya's northern Mediterranean coast, a reporter said.

The rebels initially appeared to gain some ground, firing off around 50 rockets and making some advance towards the sand dunes, beach and an oil facility.

Forces loyal to Gathafi then fired about a dozen shells and rebels gave the call to retreat, got back into their vehicles and drove off -- the latest sign that the front line is shifting ever closer to Ras Lanuf.

The rebels had captured the town on Friday and pushed west to the hamlet of Bin Jawad some 30 kilometres (19 miles) away before being forced to retreat to a point between the two settlements on Sunday.

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