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As Washington urged African countries to reject the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, rebels reported progress Monday against government forces in western mountain cities.
After a siege of nearly two months, rebels have freed the city of Al-Rayyana, northeast of Zintan, said Talha Al-Jiwali, a rebel fighter. Nine rebels were killed, and 35 were wounded, he said.
The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir has reportedly agreed to withdraw his forces from the contested region of Abyei during a summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
“President Bashir has agreed to pull his troops out before July 9 with Ethiopia sending two battalions as peacekeepers. They will be deployed under the U.N. flag,” one diplomat told Reuters.
A second diplomat confirmed Bashir had agreed to the troop withdrawal and the deployment of Ethiopian peacekeepers.
The Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) on Wednesday said unidentified gunmen ambushed a lorry carrying soldiers and civilians in Unity State, killing 23 and wounded eight others.
The attack took place on Sunday but it is not clear as to why the authority did not report the incident earlier.
Thousands of troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi advanced on the rebel-held western city of Misrata on Wednesday, shelling it from three sides in attacks that killed at least 12 rebels, a rebel spokesman said.
There was no immediate comment from Gaddafi’s government.
“Misrata is under heavy shelling … Gaddafi forces are shelling Misrata from three sides: east, west and south,” rebel spokesman Hassan al-Misrati told Reuters from inside the town.
The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) on Monday changed its earlier version about the events that took place in South Kordofan over the weekend saying that it clashed with the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA).
SAF spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad was quoted by Sudan news agency (SUNA) as saying that on Sunday SPLA units carried a wide-scale attack in Umm Dorain about 12km southeast of South Kordofan’s capital state of Kadugli.
The military official said that the SAF company in the area “bravely carried out their duties” but were overwhelmed by a large influx of SPLA forces and were thus forced to withdraw to other positions.
Libyan rebels say they have seized the western mountain town of Yafran from forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi after NATO airstrikes last week destroyed key government military targets, enabling opposition forces to advance.
Ethnic Berber fighters, who have joined the anti-government rebellion, retook Yafran, about 100 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, on Monday. Pro-Gadhafi forces had attacked the western mountain region after local Berbers rose up against government troops at the beginning of the uprising.
The Al Qathafi forces have for the first time been given a taste of NATO’s new strategy in the ongoing air strikes when for the first time the military alliance used attack helicopters on Libya, striking the regime’s military vehicles, military equipment and the forces themselves in Brega.
British Apache helicopters destroyed two military installations near the town of Brega - a military radar site and an armed checkpoint.