I reached Misrata today after an 18-hour journey by sea. As we approached the port, it appeared that we might have to turn back because the area near the port was coming under heavy rocket fire from Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi’s armed forces.

Several journalists were also on board our ship, including reporters from major international media from the US, the UK and France, as well as some freelancers. At last, through these efforts the wider world will come to learn more of what is and has been happening in this besieged port city, home to more than 300,000 people.

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African and Asian migrants have continued to flee the fighting in western Libya.

Nearly 1,200 people boarded a Greek-flagged ship in Misrata for the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The aid agency said many of them needed medical treatment.

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Libyan rebels said a rocket attack on a residential district of Misrata killed 23 civilians on Thursday and warned of an impending government “massacre” if Nato does not intensify its attacks there.

A rebel spokesperson said troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi appeared to be deliberately targeting civilians in the western Libyan town. Most of the dead were reported to be women and children, along with three Egyptian migrant workers waiting to be evacuated.

“A massacre… will take place here if Nato does not intervene strongly,” a rebel spokesperson, who identified himself as Abdelsalam, told Reuters by telephone from Misrata.

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Defiant Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo has been captured at his Abidjan residence, after an assault by French and U.N. forces, and fighters of his rival, Alassane Ouattara.

A spokesman for the Ouattara forces, Seydou Ouattara, told VOA French to Africa service that Gbagbo was captured after an assault on the residence Monday and taken to Ouattara’s headquarters at the Golf Hotel.

French armored vehicles had been seen advancing on the residence ahead of Gbagbo’s capture. The French embassy in Ivory Coast and Ouattara representatives in New York say it was Ouattara’s men who detained the incumbent president.

The News:
http://www.voanews.c … tacks-119588724.html

Heavy arms fire rang out Wednesday near the home of the country’s strongman who remained holed up in his residence, as forces backing his rival assaulted the residence to try to force him out, diplomats and witnesses said.

While some are reporting Gbagbo is holed up in a subterranean bunker, incumbent strongman Laurent Gbagbo himself told French radio he is simply in his house, reports the BBC.

“I am in the residence - the residence of the president of the republic,” Gbagbo said. “When it rains, can’t one take shelter inside one’s house?”

Yves Doumbia, a spokesman for the forces backing democratically elected president Alassane Ouattara said his men were repelled by heavy fire from within the compound after piercing its outer perimeter.

The News:
http://www.cbsnews.c … 4/main20051185.shtml

Heavy fighting is continuing in Abidjan where forces loyal to Cote d’Ivoire’s presidential rivals are battling for control of the country’s main city.

Fighters supporting Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised as Cote d’Ivoire’s legitimate president, launched an assault around the presidential palace early on Tuesday as they attempt to oust incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo from power.

Machine gun and heavy weapons fire could be heard near the palace before dawn, witnesses told Reuters, while a spokesman for Ouattara’s government has claimed its troops have already occupied Gbagbo’s official presidential residence further to the east in Abidjan.

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According to Al-Jazeera, the Libyan rebels have taken advantage of the latest NATO air raids to recapture most of the eastern oil city of Brega. They are now trying to dislodge Gaddafi forces from industrial estates in the city’s western suburbs.

In Misurata in the west, rebel forces and local people have lost dozens more men and women………………..

The News:
http://english.ruvr. … /04/04/48451479.html