Citing unnamed "Libyan and Arab sources," the pan-Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Aug. 17 reported that Moammar Qaddafi has sent one of his closest advisers, Bashir Saleh, to Mali and the Tunisian island of Djerba, to meet with British and French officials to discuss "securing a safe exit for Qaddafi and his family from Libya." Saleh reportedly met in secret with officials from the British Foreign Office and the French Presidency, in an effort to negotiate terms for the besieged strongman's exile.

Tunisian police fired tear-gas on Aug. 15 as a rally called by the General Workers' Union (UGTT) was joined by some 2,000 protesting the lack of political reform since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January. The UGTT, which was the only legal trade union federation during Ben Ali's 23-year rule, sought a demonstration "faithful to the souls of the martyrs [of January] and for the achievement of the aims of the revolution." The legal rally demanded a "purge of corrupt judges and lawyers," under the slogan "Free Tunisia, throw out the thieves." But a hundreds-strong breakaway demonstration attempted to march on the interior ministry, and clashed with riot police who blocked the way. The breakaway marchers shouted "new revolution" and "the people want the system to fall," while accusing the interior ministry of "terrorism." (Middle East Online, July 15)

The Tripoli regime on Aug. 9 accused NATO of killing 85 of civilians, including several children, in an air attack on a village in western Libya. The remote village Majar, lies south of the town of Zlitan, on a ridge overlooking the rebel-held city of Misrata. A BBC correspondent reports that he saw about 30 body bags at a local hospital, but it was unclear how the people died. NATIO says the target was a military one, with civilian deaths unlikely. "NATO had very clear intelligence demonstrating that former farm buildings were being used as a staging point for pro-Gaddafi forces to conduct attacks against the people of Libya," the alliance said in a statement. "We do not have evidence of civilian casualties at this stage, although military casualties, including mercenaries, are very likely owing to the nature of the target." (The Telegraph, VOA, BBC News, Aug. 9)

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) issued a statement Aug. 5 expressing concern over a July 30 NATO air-strike on the Tripoli headquarters of state broadcaster al-Jamahiriya that killed three staff and wounded 21, according to media reports. The statement calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to determine whether the air-strike was a breech of a 2006 Security Council resolution that bans attacks on journalists. NATO said the bombing was in line with its UN mandate. Countered INSI director Rodney Pinder: "NATO forces in Libya are acting under a Security Counsel mandate to protect civilians and journalists are civilians." He added that such attacks could not be excused "on the basis that you disagree with the point of view of the news organizations." AP notes that the International Federation of Journalists also condemned the bombing and called for a probe.

We have noted the rather hilarious irony that Qaddafi actually tried to play to the West by portraying the rebels as jihadi terrorists—and even claimed the West was supporting him against a jihadist insurgency!—but has recently threatened suicide attacks against European capitals. Today the New York Times reports:

After six months battling a rebellion that his family portrayed as an Islamist conspiracy, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent said Wednesday that he was reversing course to forge a behind-the-scenes alliance with radical Islamist elements among the Libyan rebels to drive out their more liberal-minded confederates. "The liberals will escape or be killed," the son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, vowed in an hourlong interview that stretched past midnight. "We will do it together," he added, wearing a newly grown beard and fingering Islamic prayer beads as he reclined on a love seat in a spare office tucked in a nearly deserted downtown hotel. "Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?"

The latest round of unofficial UN-brokered Western Sahara negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front ended without agreement last week, US Africa Command's Magharebia news site reports July 25. The eighth round of informal talks wrapped up July 21 in Manhasset, Long Island. "By the end of the meeting, each party continued to reject the proposal of the other as the sole basis for future negotiations, while reiterating their willingness to work together to reach a political solution in conformity with the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations Security Council," said UN Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross. The UN News Centre on July 22 took a more optimistic spin, emphasizing plans to resume the dialogue after the autumn session of the UN General Assembly. “In order to find a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara […] the parties continued to deepen their discussions on the two proposals, including the issue of the electoral corps, mechanisms for self-determination, and the forms of guarantees,” said a statement issued by the office of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross.

A United Nations team, including representatives from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO), completed a one-week mission to Tripoli on July 24. On the fourth mission to Tripoli since the beginning of the crisis, the team aimed to assess the needs of displaced persons and other vulnerable groups, and looked at the humanitarian impact of the conflict on civilians. "Although the mission observed aspects of normalcy in Tripoli, members identified pockets of vulnerability where people need urgent humanitarian assistance," said Humanitarian Coordinator Laurence Hart.

Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) is on the brink of bankruptcy, media reports indicate (e.g. . LAT, July 14)—and this despite the fact that it is sitting on a proverbial sea of oil. The NTC has actually been buying fuel in Europe on credit. Last week, an unnamed "European financial company" that had provided $500 million in loans "told the council that it could no longer shoulder the risk and shut down the credit line." About $100 million donated by Qatar has nearly been spent, and $200 million promised by Turkey has yet to arrive. Several tankers loaded with fuel from Europe have left the Benghazi port without unloading after the NTC couldn't pay cash. The sprawling petrochemical complexes at Port Brega and Ras Lanuf, seized from the rebels by Qaddafi forces this spring, have been shut down. Also closed is the natural gas pipeline that normally fuels electricity production in Benghazi and other eastern cities. "That means that rebel leaders in the country that is the world's 17th-largest producer of oil must import all their fuel," the LA TImes states.