AJDABIYA, Libya (AP) — Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces fired rockets along the eastern front line and shelled the besieged city of Misrata on Tuesday as France said NATO should be doing more to take out the regime’s heavy weaponry targeting civilians.
Several rockets struck Ajdabiya, the main point leading into the rebel-held east, and witnesses also reported shelling in Misrata, the only major city in the western half of Libya that remains under partial rebel control.
Weeks of fierce government bombardment of Misrata have terrorized the city’s residents, killing dozens of people and leaving food and medical supplies scarce, according to residents, doctors and rights groups. International groups are warning of a dire humanitarian crisis in Libya’s third-largest city.
“Unfortunately, with the long-range war machines of Gadhafi forces, no place is safe in Misrata,” a medical official in Misrata told the Associated Press, asking that his name not be published for fear of reprisals. Six people were killed Monday and another corpse was brought in Tuesday, he said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said NATO’s actions are “not enough” and that the alliance should be firing on the weapons being used by Col. Gadhafi’s troops to target civilians in Misrata.
Mr. Juppe spoke on France-Info radio a day after Libyan rebels rejected a cease-fire proposal by African Union mediators because it did not insist that Col. Gadhafi relinquish power.
“NATO has to play its role in full. NATO wanted to take the military command of the operations,” Mr. Juppe said. He also urged the EU to do more to get humanitarian aid to Misrata.
France has played a particularly aggressive role in Libya in recent weeks, pushing diplomatically for a U.N. resolution to allow the international military operation and firing the first strikes in the campaign. France also was the first to recognize the Libyan opposition and to send a diplomatic envoy to the rebel-held city of Benghazi.
A NATO general rejected the criticism and said the alliance is performing well and protecting civilians.
Dutch Brig. Gen. Mark Van Uhm said the alliance was successful in enforcing an arms embargo, patrolling a no-fly zone and protecting civilians. “I think with the assets we have, we’re doing a great job,” he said.
NATO took over command of the operation over Libya from the United States on March 31.
Also Tuesday, a British government official said Libya’s former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, is traveling to Qatar to share his insight on the workings of Gadhafi’s inner circle.
Mr. Koussa, who fled to England in late March, is the highest-ranking member of Col. Gadhafi’s regime to quit so far. He was a longtime aide throughout Gadhafi’s 42-year rule.
Mr. Koussa was asked to attend the conference on Libya being held in Doha as a valuable Gadhafi insider, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
MI6 agents stopped questioning Mr. Koussa last week, according to the official. Mr. Koussa stayed in a safe house until late Monday night, according to Noman Benotman, an ex-member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and a relative of Mr. Koussa’s who has been in regular contact with the former foreign minister since he fled to Britain.
Although Mr. Koussa was provided with legal advice, Mr. Benotman said he believed he had “cleared most of the legal hurdles in the U.K.” surrounding his alleged involvement in the Lockerbie bombing and arming the IRA.
Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the trip in a statement Tuesday, saying that Mr. Koussa was “traveling today to Doha to meet with the Qatari government and a range of other Libyan representatives.”
African Union mediators were meeting in Algeria to discuss Libya on Tuesday, a day after the rebels rejected their cease-fire proposal. The rebels’ leadership council has insisted that Col. Gadhafi must give up power.
“Col. Gadhafi and his sons must leave immediately if he wants to save himself,” said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, a former justice minister who split with Col. Gadhafi and heads the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council. “If not, the people are coming for him.”
Associated Press writers Ben Hubbard in Benghazi, Libya; Hadeel al-Shalchi in Tripoli, Libya; Paisley Dodds and Raphael G. Satter in London; Raf Casert in Luxembourg; and Selcan Hacaoglu in Turkey contributed to this report.
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