Welcome to Middle East Live. Are splits emerging in the Gaddafi clan? One of Muammar Gaddafi's sons Saadi has offered to surrender while another, Saif al-Islam, has vowed to fight to the death.

Here's a run down of the main developments.

• Gaddafi's son and former heir apparent, Saif al-Islam, said loyalists would never surrender to the rebels. Claiming to be speaking from the suburbs of Tripoli, he said he and his father were fine. He told Syria's Arrai television: "We are going to die in our land. No one is going to surrender. We must wage a campaign of attrition day and night until these lands are cleansed from these gangs and traitors. We assure people that we are standing fast and the commander is in good condition."

• His brother Saadi, a former footballer, gave a very different interview on al-Arabiya television saying he was ready to negotiate with rebels. "If surrendering myself will end the bloodshed, I am ready to do so, but I do not represent only myself, and in order to reach a peaceful resolution to the crisis we should sit down with each other and negotiate. The most important thing is to stop the bloodshed."

• As world leaders gather for a Friends of Libya conference in Paris, Russia, an ally of the Gaddafi regime, has announced that it has officially recognised the National Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate authority. David Cameron and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy will co-host the Paris talks which are expected to set out plans for lifting international sanctions against Libya's ports and companies.

• Cameron has been operating a secret unit in Whitehall charged with undertaking covert economic operations to choke the Gaddafi regime of oil supplies. The "Libyan oil cell" was run by the international development minister Alan Duncan and helped to strengthen sanctions against the oil-rich country, blocking supplies of crude oil to the dictator's side while allowing petrol and diesel to flow to the rebels. The unit was involved in linking the rebels to a Swiss oil firm, Vitol, which has been credited with keeping the revolutionary engine running through the war. Duncan was previously a consultant with the firm.

• Troops loyal to Gaddafi are holding children as human shields on the frontline as they prepare to make a desperate stand in the deposed leader's hometown, rebel fighters have claimed. "They put the families between our guys and theirs so we can't fire," said Mohammed Abobaker.

• Muammar Gaddafi was last sighted near Bani Walid a town south east of Tripoli and close to his son Khamis was reported to have been killed. Martin Chulov has been speaking to bodyguards who saw him and witnessed the death of Khamis. Abdul Salam Tahrar, a 17-year-old from Sabha, said: "I was assigned to be [Khamis's] main guard that day. I was in the truck behind him on the [heavy weapon] when his car was hit. He was burned." He also saw Gaddafi senior leave the area last Friday.

He was there for around 15 minutes. He was wearing civilian clothes and a headscarf, but his face was open and very clear. His wife and daughter were with him and so was Saadi. They left in a convoy of around 25 cars and he was in a Toyota pick-up. They all left together and they went south.

Syria

Hama's attorney general, Adnan Bakkour, has defected to the opposition in protest at the killing and torture of anti-government activists in the city, according to video statement. Syrian state media claimed Bakkour had been kidnapped by protesters and forced to make the statement. It accused the international TV stations of being "partners in the crime" by broadcasting the video. In an interview with al-Jazeera Bakkour denied that he had been forced to make the statement.

The broadcaster has this translated version of Bakkour's video statement.

In message to Al-Rai TV Saif Gaddafi alsio claimed 20,000 soldiers are ready to defend Sirte, the birthplace of his father, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The town has been given until Saturday to surrender. The BBC's Ian Pannell, who has been tweeting on the road to Sirte, claims residents of the town have offered to surrender but were turned back.

Families from #Sirte waving white flag turned back on the road to #Misrata by rebels under orders. Wont b allowed thru 'til Sat.

Algeria's foreign minister Mourad Medelci claimed Muammar Gaddafi has not followed members of his family to Algeria, according to CNN.

Earlier this week an Algerian newspaper claimed that Gaddafi would be handed over to the international criminal court if he appeared in the country. His wife Safia, daughter Aisha and two sons Hannibal and Muhammed were given sanctuary in Algeria on Monday.

While rebels observe a temporary truce around Sirte, the town continues to bear the brunt of Nato's continuing bombardment of positions held by Gaddafi loyalists.

Thirteen targets were hit in the town on Wednesday, according to Nato's latest update. I make that 147 targets hit in the town in the last week alone.

Bani Walid, the town south-east of Tripoli near to where Gaddafi was last sighted, was also hit in the latest raids.

Here are the details [pdf]:

Key Hits 31 August In the vicinity of Sirte: 1 Command and Control Node, 5 Surface to Air Missile Transloaders, 1 Armed Vehicle, 1 Tank, 4 Surface to Air Missile Launchers, 1 Multiple Rocket Launcher.

In the vicinity of Bani Walid: 1 Ammo Storage Facility, 1 Command and Control Node.

In the vicinity of Hun: 1 Radar, 1 Military Support Vehicle.

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof makes a short road movie from the newly reopened Tunisian border to Tripoli. He contrasts the insecurity of the start of the ride with scenes of celebration at the end, where he appears to get carried away with the mood.

"Tripoli is still a war zone, but on this brief journey I saw progress, a trajectory from anxiety and insecurity to a capital filled with jubilation, exuberance and hope for the future. I'm relieved to in Tripoli and delighted to partake in some of that joy."

Algeria's foreign minister Mourad Medelci has confirmed that Muammar Gaddafi has not crossed the border and would not be offered sanctuary if he did.

"There was never a question and never did we consider the idea that one day Gaddafi could come knocking at our door," he told the French broadcaster Europe 1.

He also announced that Algeria would recognise the National Transitional Council when it forms a government.

Gaddafi's former foreign minister, Abdel Ati al-Obeidi, who was reported captured yesterday, has appealed to Gaddafi loyalists to surrender.

Al-Jazeera's James Bays was allowed to interview Obeidi in custody. He said Gaddafi's supporters should now lay down their weapons, Bays reported. Obeidi said he had handed himself in and had no idea where Gaddafi was hiding, Bays said.

Libya's new leaders believe Gaddafi is hiding in Bani Walid, according to Reuters, but the sourcing still appears sketchy.

Ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is believed to be in the desert town of Bani Walid, about 150 (95 miles) southeast of Tripoli, a top military commander of Libya's interim council said on Thursday. Abdel Majid, the coordinator of the Tripoli military operations room, told Reuters "someone we trust" had said Gaddafi had gone there with his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi three days after Tripoli fell last week.

The Gaddafis are not thought to be in Sirte, according to al-Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid.

The Guardian has new video of the RAF flying in bank notes worth £140m (280 million dinar) to Libya to help its new rulers pay public workers and banks to replenish cash machines.

The cash, printed in the UK, is the first batch of £950m that will be handed to Libya's banks. The funds were frozen in February when the uprising in Libya began.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, has said Britain expects the new Libyan government to stick to its plan to hold elections within eight months, writes Andrew Sparrow.

But, in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hague also hinted that this deadline could slip. Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) would have to make its own decisions, he said. Hague was speaking before an international conference in Paris on Thursday, jointly hosted by David Cameron, the British prime minister, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, which will allow the NTC to set out what humanitarian and other aid it needs as it seeks to rebuild the country after 42 years under Colonel Gaddafi's rule.

Black Libyans facing reprisal attacks for their perceived role as mercenary fighters, need protection, an EU humanitarian team in Tripoli has warned.

In a briefing on the team's work, the EU's humanitarian office, said the team had identified civil protection for this group and others as a key priority.

It said:

Protection of the civilian population (a major concern is the Sub Saharan African population) and ex-combatants, as abuses by both parties to the conflict are being reported and evidence of mass killings is being discovered;

On Wednesday Amnesty warned that black Libyans were in danger of abuse after its team witnessed black Libyans being targeted in Tripoli.

The EU team also expressed growing alarm about water supplies.

Much of Tripoli's water supply has been disrupted. The damaged installations are awaiting the safe passage of engineers. 30 wells have reopened allowing a limited amount of water to get into the distribution system. Bottled water is still available in Tripoli, but becoming increasingly expensive. It is reported that many houses in the city still have private wells. Some water trucking is already taking place from the wells in and around Tripoli. The water supply situation is still of major concern to the international humanitarian community, and we are ready to intervene on a short notice if the situation does not improve. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has launched a pre-alert, asking Member States to indicate whether they can provide water tankers or bottled water in case the water crisis deteriorates and further needs are confirmed.

Reuters has more on the surrender negotiations with Saadi Gaddafi.

The head of Tripoli's military council, Abdul Hakim Belhadj, told Reuters he had spoken to Saadi by telephone and had promised him decent treatment if he surrenders. "We want to spare bloodletting, therefore negotiation and surrender is preferable," Belhadj said. "If this does not happen there is no other way except a military solution."

There are fears for safety of the family of Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour, the attorney general of the embattled Syrian city of Hama, after he resigned in protest against the Assad regime's violent crackdown against demonstrations, writes Nour Ali.

In an online video posted by activists, a man who identifies himself as Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour said he was standing down because of the continued suppression of peaceful protests against the regime of the president, Bashar al-Assad. According to Bakkour, 72 prisoners were killed in Hama's central prison on 31 July at the start of a three-day assault on the city on the eve of Ramadan. Bakkour said a further 420 people had been buried in mass graves in public parks by security forces and loyalists, which he was then asked to report as having been killed by "armed gangs". He said that around 320 people had died under torture. If verified, Bakkour's resignation would be one of the highest level defections in a regime that has remained remarkably cohesive in the face of rising domestic and international pressure. The Syrian state news agency, Sana, said Bakkour had been kidnapped by armed men on his way to work and forced to "present false information". But a resident of Hama who knows Bakkour denied that he had been abducted, and confirmed to the Guardian that he had resigned: "It was a surprise that he did this but I have spoken to people and it is true. We are now worried the regime will attack his family.

"

Nour Ali is the pseudonym for a journalist based in Damascus

Bakkour has issued a new video denying Syria government claims that he was captured by protesters and forced to resign as attorney general of Hama.

"What Syrian TV broadcast that I had been kidnapped by armed groups is untrue," CNN quoted Bakkour as saying.

"I am now protected by the rebels and I am in good health. Today is Wednesday 31 August. Shabiha (pro-government militia) tried to kidnap me today but they failed to do so. I will make live statements as soon as I leave Syria, soon."

Tripoli's battered airport is due to rebuilt by migrant workers, civil servants are returning to work, and policemen are beginning to appear on the streets, according Channel 4 News' Alex Thomson.

In a blog post on the gradual recovery of the city, he writes:

We saw a couple [of policemen] yesterday in a patrol car, for the first time in Tripoli. In fact for me it was for the first time in Libya. How far their writ runs isn't clear. But they are coming out and the gunmen are going indoors it seems. Britain recently cleared over a billion Libyan dinars to pay such public employees ... The average cop, civil servant and so forth from the Gaddafi regime is welcome back at their desks. True, the desk might well have been pulverised by a Nato 1000lb bomb along with the entire department building – but the point is that the NTC says it is learning from the mistakes of Iraq; sweep away the entire system and you further destroy the country. Welcome the bureaucrats back (when the bureau's rebuilt) and you've got the know-how. Plus a bunch of public employees appreciative of the fact they still have jobs, rather than being strung up from the nearest lamp-post. Public-service political impartiality gearing up for action in Tripoli, of all places.

Speculation about the whereabouts of Gaddafi and how he got out of Tripoli has begun to focus on an underground network of water tunnels.

The German newspaper Sued Deutsche, carried this report, translated by Wrold Crunch.

This gigantic system of tunnels linking different parts of the country are part of a €17bn project called the 'Great Man-Made River' that Gaddafi ordered built in 1984. What it does – in high concrete tubes -- is carrying fossil water beneath the desert to Tripoli and Benghazi. European and Korean engineers were involved in the construction that Gaddafi likes to portray as one of the modern wonders of the world. However, the American secret services have long suspected that the installation, which also purifies water, has some sort of military purpose. They do not exclude that Gaddafi has some tanks and rockets stashed there, away from the reach of the destruction by NATO bombs. So perhaps right now, Gaddafi is tucked somewhere along his artificial underground river. After all, Iraq's Saddam Hussein was found in a hole in the earth.

A 1997 New York Times article on the project reported engineers' suspicion that the project was built for military purposes.

Nato will remain on a war footing in the skies over Libya until the last remnants of the Gaddafi regime have been defeated, European diplomats have said, Julian Borger in Paris reports.

World leaders are converging on Paris today for a "Friends of Libya" summit intended to acclaim the National Transitional Council (NTC) as the country's new interim government, and mark a pivot point in the international community's efforts in Libya from war to reconstruction. The leaders will discuss a new UN security council resolution which will endorse the new status quo, lifting the sanctions regime on Libya to allow the NTC to get access to over $100bn (£62bn) in state assets frozen abroad since the start of the conflict, while handing the United Nations the lead international role in rebuilding the country. However, the NTC's western backers, led by France, Britain and the US, want to continue Nato's legal mandate to conduct military operations in Libya laid down in UN resolution 1973. The resolution, agreed in March, allows the alliance to use "all necessary measures", short of deploying ground troops, to protect civilians.

The Guardian's video team has put together subtitled version of those conflicting messages from Saif and Saadi Gaddafi on the prospects for the surrender.

Compare and contrast.

Gaddafi's former foreign minister, Abdel Ati al-Obeidi urged Gaddafi loyalists to surrender in an interview with al-Jazeera.

"I think it's over. I think they [loyalists] should give up the fight to save more bloodshed," he said. Speaking after handing himself in, Obeidi also said the NTC should be given time to form a government to secure peace and stability.

"I feel OK. I'm well treated," he said.

Here's a lunchtime summary:

Libya

• In separate audio messages one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, has offered to surrender while another, Saif al-Islam, has vowed to fight to the death (see 12.49pm). The NTC has confirmed it has been negotiating with Saadi. Gaddafi's foreign minister, Abdel Ati al-Obeidi, has handed himself in and urged Gaddafi loyalists to surrender (see 12.57pm).

• World leaders have gathered in Paris for a "Friends of Libya" summit where they are expected to lifting sanctions against Libyan ports and companies (see 12.47pm). Diplomats said Nato would remain on a war footing until the last remnants of Gaddafi's regime have been defeated.

• Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said he accepts that plans to hold elections within eight months may slip (see 10.45am). Russia, an ally of the Gaddafi regime, has announced that it has officially recognised the National Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate authority.

• The hunt for the Gaddafi clan is focused on the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Tripoli, and an underground irrigation system, known as the Great Man-Made River. Nato has confirmed it has bombarded the town in its latest raids.

Syria

There are fears for safety of the family of Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour, the attorney general of the embattled Syrian city of Hama, after he issued a video statement resigned in protest against the Assad regime's violent crackdown against demonstrations (see 11.54am). Bakkour issued a second video denying government claims that he had been kidnapped (see 12.08pm).

Gaddafi loyalists have been given another week to surrender from their stronghold of Sirte, according to Reuters.

They were warned of a military assault against the town on Saturday if they had failed to surrender by then. But Reuters quoted an unnamed official as saying that this deadline has extended by a week.

A series of EU sanctions against Libya have now been lifted foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has announced.

In a statement [pdf] she said:



Today, the EU has lifted its asset freeze on 28 Libyan entities. Our goal is to provide resources to the interim government and the Libyan people and help to make the economy function again. Today's decision concerns in particular Libyan ports, as well as the energy and banking sectors. The EU has acted swiftly in the light of the developments on the ground.



This is a clear sign of the EU's determination to do its utmost to support the people of Libya and the interim authorities during the transition.

The scale of Gaddafi's Great Man Made River project can be seen in this photo gallery from Foto Zanetti.

Those tunnels look big enough to drive a convoy of Mercedes through.

The NTC has confirmed that it is extending the deadline for Sirte to surrender by a week, and is spinning the move as a sign of progress in the negotiations.

Reuters quoted spokesman Mohammad Zawawi as saying:

They have extended the deadline by a week. That means there's progress in the negotiations. We're not in a rush to get in to Sirte. It has no economic importance and we're not going to lose casualties for it. We can cut supplies and wait, even more than a week.

William Hague has confirmed EU plans to seek an oil embargo against Syira, according to AP.

Ian Traynor, the Guardian's Brussels correspondent, was briefed about the plan on Tuesday. He wrote:

The decision will halt more than €3bn (£2.6bn) a year in Syrian crude oil and petroleum products being exported to Europe. "This is trying to hit the oil that's a critical financial lifeline to the regime," said an EU official. While the move will barely have any impact on EU energy needs, it is likely to hurt elite business and government circles in Damascus close to the regime of the president, Bashar al-Assad, since Syria's trade relationship with Europe is almost entirely oil-based.

The Arab news channel Al-Arabiya claims Muammar Gaddafi is due to speak in the next ten minutes.

It tweeted this at 3.03pm.

BREAKING: Muammar Qaddafi to speak in 10 Minutes #AlArabiya #Libya #gaddafi

That's all we know.

Here's a little more...

The contents of Gaddafi messages is coming out in dribs and drabs via al-Arabiya's Twitter feed. It is unclear, at this stage whether he has an issued an audio message or simply a statement.

Reuters says the message is based on reports from the Syria's Arrai television, the channel Saif al-Gaddafi called last night.

FLASH: Gaddafi calls on his supporters to keep fighting even if they do not hear his voice -al Arabiya reports from Arrai channel

Zaid Benjamin, a writer who has worked at al-Arabiya, has more on Gaddafi's statement:

Urgent: I wont surrender once again and we will continue fighting - #qaddafi on Rai TV #Libya #Tripoli Urgent: I insist on my Jamaheryai state, it is the only way to rule - #qaddafi on Rai TV #Libya #Tripoli Urgent: The only way to end this crisis is to free the Libyan People - #qaddafi on Rai TV #Libya #Tripoli Urgent: Gaddafi is congratulates his people on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr #Libya #Tripoli

Sexist to the last, Gaddafi says: "We won't surrender again; we are not women; we will keep fighting," according to a preview of his statement by Arrai TV.

AP has this:

A TV station is quoting Moammar Gadhafi as warning that tribes loyal to him in key strongholds are armed and won't surrender to Libyan rebels. Thursday's report on Syrian-based Arrai TV comes as the rebels who have seized control of most of the country extended by a week a deadline for the surrender of Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte - originally set for Saturday. Al-Rai says Gadhafi will issue a statement and quotes him as saying "we won't surrender again; we are not women; we will keep fighting."

Gaddafi's defiant audio address to Syrian TV is currently being aired on al-Jazeera, BBC News and Sky News.

He says the tribes in Bani Walid and Sirte are "heavily armed".

Speaking through a translator he says:

They cannot be bought to their knees. You cannot even pass through their soil, can you imagine ruling them. The Libyan people are not a herd of sheep, they cannot be defeated. My voice represents danger to them [the international community] now they are working to jam our radio stations. They fear our voices. This proves that the occupiers are weak. Stand up to them from city to city, mountain to mountain, valley to valley. It will continue to be a long battle. Libya will turn into a hell. How can the Libyan people surrender - continue to fight. We enjoy grass roots supports. Collaborators cannot survive.

Bani Walid is under increasing scrutiny as the refuge of senior regime officials and possibly Muammar Gaddafi himself, writes David Smith.

I remember going there on 28 June as part of a government organised trip that took a couple of hours from the Rixos hotel in Tripoli. Dry and dusty with some modest buildings, it had the trappings of a tribal stronghold in the remote desert. As so often, we were taken to see a crowd of a few hundred people waving Gaddafi pictures and green flags outside a college. Middle aged women with headscarves fired rifles into the air, a little unsteadily, or carried rocket-propelled grenade launchers. One man, a teacher, told me Gaddafi had done great things for the country and life without

him would be unbearable. Then we boarded the bus and were taken to Zaitouna hotel, where I counted 35 pictures of Gaddafi, if you include a photocopied A4 sheet on a glass door which repeated his image with Warholian insistence. Lunch was waiting in silver foil on a patterned table cloth. We tried to work out whether it was goat meat or something else. The hotel overlooks a rather beautiful desert valley. Its wooden furnished lobby had TV and other conveniences and it seems conceivable that it could be hosting some regime officials now.

For Arabic speakers Zaid Benjamin has uploaded Gaddafi's audio statement to SoundCloud.

PA has translated more of what he said:

Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to place, from city to city, from mountain to mountain. Let it be a long battle so that we can show to them that they cannot rule the Libyan people, they cannot subjugate our tribes.

Here's a summary of today's main developments:

Libya

• Muammar Gaddafi has vowed not surrender and urged his supporters to fight on. In a new audio message he predicted that Libya would descend into "hell" as "heavily armed" followers would fight on. In an audio message to Syria's Arrai TV he said claimed Nato was weak and was trying to censor his messages. "We won't surrender again; we are not women; we will keep fighting," he said.

• In separate audio messages one of Gaddafi's son, Saadi, has offered to surrender while another, Saif al-Islam, has vowed to fight to the death (see 12.49pm). The NTC has confirmed it has been negotiating with Saadi. Gaddafi's foreign minister, Abdel Ati al-Obeidi, has handed himself in and urged Gaddafi loyalists to surrender (see 12.57pm).

• The National Transitional Council has extended by a week a deadline it gave for Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte to surrender (see 2.21pm). It claimed the move showed that peace negotiations were working.

• World leaders at a "Friends of Libya" summit in Paris have vowed to lift sanctions against Libyan ports and companies (see 12.47pm). Diplomats said Nato would remain on a war footing until the last remnants of Gaddafi's regime have been defeated.

• Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said he accepts that plans to hold elections within eight months may slip (see 10.45am). Russia, an ally of the Gaddafi regime, has announced that it has officially recognised the National Transitional Council as Libya's legitimate authority.

• The hunt for the Gaddafi clan is focused on the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Tripoli, and an underground irrigation system, known as the Great Man-Made River. Nato has confirmed it has bombarded the town in its latest raids.

Syria

There are fears for safety of the family of Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour, the attorney general of the embattled Syrian city of Hama, after he issued a video statement resigned in protest against the Assad regime's violent crackdown against demonstrations (see 11.54am). Bakkour issued a second video denying government claims that he had been kidnapped (see 12.08pm).

AP has a little more on the worrying treatment of black Africans in Libya:

Rebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, accusing them of fighting for Gaddafi and holding them in makeshift jails across the capital. Virtually all of the detainees say they are innocent migrant workers, and in most cases there is no evidence that they are lying. But that is not stopping the rebels from placing the men in facilities like the Gate of the Sea sports club, where about 200 detainees, all black, clustered on a soccer field this week, bunching against a high wall to avoid the scorching sun. Handling the prisoners is one of the first major tests for the rebel leaders, who are scrambling to set up a government that they promise will respect human rights and international norms, unlike the dictatorship they overthrew. The rebels' National Transitional Council has called on fighters not to abuse prisoners and says those accused of crimes will receive fair trials.There has been little credible evidence of rebels killing or systematically abusing captives during the six-month conflict. Still, the African Union and Amnesty International have protested the treatment of blacks inside Libya, saying there is a potential for serious abuse.

Despite taking in much of his family, Algeria seems strongly averse to sheltering Gaddafi himself, as we noted earlier. The language from the government is hardly ambiguous (via Reuters):

Gaddafi has asked Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for refuge, but he refused to take the call, Algeria's El Watan newspaper reported, citing a source close to the presidency.

It did not say when the call was made. Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said his country would not take in Gaddafi, although it has given sanctuary to his wife and three of his children, enraging Libya's new leaders.

David Cameron has told CNN in Paris that he remains optimistic about Libya's future, but admits the country faces "huge challenges":

I've been an optimist all the way through and I'm optimistic about the National Transitional Council and what they are able to achieve. "I think when you look at Tripoli today, yes, of course, there are huge challenges - getting water to that city, making sure there is law and order - but actually, so far, the cynics and the armchair generals have been proved wrong. "The Libyan people have shown themselves very capable of actually getting their hospitals up and running, getting security back on the streets and we see police officers going back to work. "It is still difficult, but there are very hopeful signs that this is a country with a leadership that wants to work and wants to come together, and they have been given that chance by what the international community, of Britain, France, and others, did, and I think it is very, very positive."

Julian Borger sends this exclusive dispatch from Paris:

The head of Libya's new government has asked the UN to provide immediate assistance in planning an election, as well as urgent help in restoring water supplies and maintaining law and order. In a meeting this afternoon in Paris, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the leader of the National Transitional Council (NTC) that some UN officials were already in Tripoli and that a full UN assessment team would be there this weekend, a source at the meeting told the Guardian. The team would include water engineers, security specialists and election experts. The NTC has promised elections within eight months of taking power, but observers at the meeting with Ban expressed surprise that Jalil appeared to give the same priority to election planning as to the immediate needs of water and security. 'It shows how committed they are to that agenda,' an official close to the NTC delegation said. Jalil is under pressure from his western backers to demonstrate the NTC is an inclusive political force representing the ethnic and social groups in the country, not just an eastern-dominated rebel movement. In response Ban told Jalil the UN intended to provide the help the Libyans needed immediately and that the organisation was ready to lead the international effort to help rebuild the shattered country. At the Paris meeting with Ban — which took place before the French and British-hosted summit on Libya — Jalil also made clear his dissatisfaction with the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for his decision earlier this week to offer safe haven to Gaddafi's second wife, daughter and two of his sons. 'Algeria is no friend of the Libyan people,' Jalil told Ban. Jalil also voiced concern that the African Union had so far not recognised the TNC as the new Libyan government, although some members have. The TNC is also seeking recognition from China, which would pave the way for a Security Council resolution cementing its place as Libya's government and lifting international sanctions on the country.

Luke Harding in Tripoli has just filed this piece on Gaddafi's defiant speech.

Luke writes:

It does indicate that Libya's vanished ex-leader hasn't yet grasped the reality of his situation: that most of the country including Tripoli is now under new management. Nor does he appear understand that, far from wanting to rise up and defend his old regime, most Libyans are glad to see the back of him. There is no indication when the message was recorded. But Gaddafi's broadcast seems deliberately designed to undermine the Friends of Libya conference taking place in Paris.

Here's a slightly fuller version of Gaddafi's apocalyptic speech from Reuters, who point out that today is the 42nd anniversary of the coup which saw the soldier take power:

Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to place, from town to town, from valley to valley, from mountain to mountain … "If Libya goes up in flames, who will be able to govern it? Let it burn. They don't want to rule Libya. They cannot rule it as long as we are armed. We are still armed. We will fight in every valley, in every street, in every oasis, and every town." "How can we give ourselves up again? Are we women surrendering ourselves to our husbands or what?"

This is David Batty - I'm taking over the live blog for the rest of the evening. You can follow me on Twitter @David_Batty.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called on the National Transitional Council to secure weapons amassed by Gadaffi, including mustard gas agent and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.

Speaking at the Paris summit, Clinton said Libya's new leaders must ensure that Gaddafi's arms stockpiles are secure and were not used to threaten the country's neighbours or the rest of the world.

She also called on the NTC to protect the rights of all Libyans, particularly women and minorities.

Clinton also appealed to world leaders to increase their support for and recognition of NTC. She said the UN should allow countries to release frozen assets to the interim regime.

My colleague Martin Chulov says that rebel fighters believe Gaddafi may have fled south towards Sabha.

On his twitter feed, he writes: "Rebels not sure #Gaddafi snr still in Bani Walid. Say he's gone south. Worth exploring Great Man Made River as poss escape route."

"At pow wow last fri, #Gaddafi's guards told son Khamis's guards that they were heading to Sabha in deep south of #Libya."

CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen has posted a photo of rebel forces watching the front line near Bani Walid.

Meanwhile BBC Middle East producer Richard Colebourn has been inside the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli.

he tweets: "Went inside the Abu Salim prison in #Tripoli with investigators going through documents, photos for ICC case against Gaddafi."

"Documents taken away as we saw many had been burnt by staff following the prison being overrun by rebels."

He will be doing a report on the prison on BBC News at 10 tonight.

The Paris summit will urge the UN Security Council to push ahead with a new resolution to help unfreeze billions of Libyan assets worldwide.

A Western diplomat also told AP that world leaders at the international conference would vow to put the UN at the centre of coordinating future assistance to Libya.

Gaddafi loyalists left 29 detainees locked inside metal containers to suffocate in the Libyan summer heat, according to Amnesty International. Nineteen of them died as a result of the ordeal.

Three survivors have told the human rights group how they were tortured by pro-Gaddafi fighters, then imprisoned along with 26 others in two cramped cargo containers on 6 June at a construction site in al-Khums, 120 km east of Tripoli:

The detainees endured temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and drank their own sweat and urine when the limited water supply ran out. Their captors shouted "rats, shut up," ignoring their cries for help.

The incident has only just emerged because the site was was off-limits to independent reporting until rebels took control of the area on 21 August.

Amnesty's team in Libya, who examined the two metal containers used to hold the detainees, said they had no windows and the only ventilation came from dozens of bullet holes along the metal walls.

The larger container held 19 people, ten of whom survived. Only one of the ten people held in the smaller container, which measured just 2m by 6m, emerged alive.

Guards finally opened the containers on 6 June, and the 11 survivors were transferred to other detention centres in Tripoli. They were freed by rebels on 21 August, and one later died of kidney failure. It is unknown what happened to the bodies of those who died.

One of the survivors, school teacher Mohamed Ahmed Ali, told Amnesty:

People were falling on the floor all around me. Our clothes were dripping in sweat. Many were murmuring the shehada [a Muslim affirmation of faith which is recited when expecting to die]. We were screaming: 'we will die in here, let us out'. Eventually, I couldn't even see anymore, and I was getting increasingly weaker. Everything got so blurry. I lost consciousness.

Another survivor, Faraj Omar Al-Ganin, 27, said:

For hours we were screaming for help; the detainees in the second container were doing the same. It then became eerily quiet. I realised that I was the only one still conscious. I screamed: 'They have all died'. The guards finally opened the doors. They then made me drag the bodies out by their feet.

Abdel Rahman Moftah Ali, 24, the only survivor from the smaller container, said:

None of us could stand up straight anymore. Foam was coming out of some people's mouths… I saw my cellmates drop to the ground and become motionless one by one… I think I fell and hit my head… Eventually I regained consciousness, and was covered in blood… It was a day from hell.

In his address to the Paris summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says thousands of lives in Libya have been saved thanks to Nato's intervention.

"Dozens of thousands of lives were spared thanks to the intervention," he said..

He also said there was unanimous agreement to totally unfreeze Libya assets.

"We have committed to unblock funds from the Libya of the past to finance the development of the Libya of the future."

David Cameron has told the summit that the Nato operation in Libya would continue for "as long we are needed to protect civilian life".

The British prime minister also pledged that the Gaddafi regime would be brought to justice for "inexplicable" crimes.

Freedom in Tripoli is bringing to evidence unspeakable crimes... These crimes must be investigated and the guilty brought to justice.

He also said the conference has backed the National Transitional Council's moves to establish an inclusive and democratic Libya.

I don't think anybody should be complacent about what's happening in Libya, but what I've seen every time the NTC has been challenged, it's come up to the mark. You are seeing the Libyan people coming together because they want to rebuild their countries. There is a huge list we have been asked for, but I think we can have confidence they have achieved a huge amount.

"It is the Libyan people who have liberated Libya," he added.

He added: "We cannot afford a failed pariah state on Europe's borders."

Some people warned, as Gaddafi himself did, that the Libyan people could not be trusted with freedom, that without Gaddafi there would be chaos. Some people thought that chaos would start the moment the regime fell so what we are seeing emerging now in Libya, despite the years of repression and the trauma of recent days and months, is immensely impressive. Enormous difficulties lie ahead of course but the Libyans are showing the world their courage, their spirit and their resilience.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the NTC, has thanks the international community for its support.

He said: "This is something we will never forget. The world staked its reputation in standing up for Libya."

Interim council prime minister Mahmoud Jibril added: "The world bet on the Libyans and the Libyans showed their courage and made their dream real."

UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon told the summit that the UN security council will deploy a civilian mission to Libya as soon as possible.

He added: "We can look forward with optimism to Libya entering into a new era of prosperity and peace for all its people."

Sarkozy says the NTC has asked 63 countries to unfreeze Libyan assets.

The representatives of Libya asked us, the 63 countries present, to unfreeze assets. And after going around the table, its about $15bn of Libyan assets in our countries that are immediately unfrozen. France ... released 1.5bn euros today. We want to give back to the Libyans the money that was frozen and that was stolen. We have committed to unblock funds from the Libya of the past to finance the development of the Libya of the future.

The French president said Gaddafi was still a threat and it was up to Libyans to decide where he should stand trial if captured.



Gaddafi must be arrested and the Libyans will freely decide whether he is judged in Libya or before international jurisdictions. That's not our decision that is the decision for the Libyans.

Ban Ki-moon said 860,000 people have left Libya since the start of the uprising.

The Emir of Qatar said Gaddafi could not have been removed without Nato and added that the Arab League could have done more.

Sarkozy said the success of the uprising in Libya gave hope to the Syrian opposition.

He added: "We have aligned with the Arab people in their aspiration for freedom."

The French president also said he would speak to President Zuma of South Africa to try to bring him round to supporting the NTC. He said it was important for the interim regime to get the full support of the international community.

Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it was "for the Libyan people to shape the future of their own country".

But he added:

The war is not over yet. There is still some fighting. This is the reason why I have stressed tonight that Nato stands ready to continue our operations as long as necessary. On the other hand, we will not stay one day longer than necessary. We want to terminate the operation when the situation allows.

Here's an audio recording of David Cameron's speech at the end of the Paris summit courtesy of BBC World Affairs producer Stuart Hughes.

Hillary Clinton told leaders of the National Transitional Council at the Paris summit that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, "should be behind bars".

She said:

The United States categorically disagrees with the decision that was made two years ago by the Scottish executive to release al-Megrahi and return him to Libya. We have never wavered from our disagreement and condemnation of that decision. He should be behind bars.

A political controversy is growing following the British government's admission that international development minister Alan Duncan took part in meetings between officials operating a Whitehall cell to control the Libyan oil market and Vitol – a company for which Duncan has previously acted as a consultant.

Duncan, a former oil trader and multi-millionaire, has had a 30-year friendship with the managing director of Vitol, Ian Taylor, at one point operating as a consultant to the company and as a non-executive director to a subsidiary firm. Taylor has also been a Tory donor, declared on Duncan's parliamentary register of interests. Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said the government's disclosure of the existence of the oil cell was mired in mystery about Duncan's role in it. "Given Alan Duncan's reported links with Vitol this curious briefing from within government actually raises more questions than it answers," he said. "Libya's oil revenues belong to the Libyan people and as Labour we have supported steps to help the National Transitional Council make use of those resources to rebuild their country after 42 years of Gaddafi's rule."

We're wrapping up this live blog now but coverage will continue later on Friday morning.

In the meantime, here's a round-up of Thursday's main developments:

• World leaders at the Friends of Libya summit in Paris pledged their support for the National Transitional Council. British prime minister David Cameron said Nato airstrikes would continue for as long as was necessary to ensure security. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said Gaddafi was still a threat and it was up to Libyans to decide where he should stand trial if captured. He added that about $15bn of Libyan assets in the 63 countries which attended the summit would be immediately unfrozen.

• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton told the NTC at the Paris summit that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, "should be behind bars".

• UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon told the summit that a civilian mission would be sent to Libya as soon as possible. He added that 860,000 people have left Libya since the uprising began.

• Muammar Gaddafi has vowed to fight to the end against Libya's new government and its Nato backers, warning that his forces would turn the country "into a hell" rather than surrender like "women". In the audio message on Syrian TV, made from an unknown location, the old dictator claimed that the war was not over.

• The hunt for the Gaddafi clan is focused on the town of Bani Walid, south-east of Tripoli, and an underground irrigation system, known as the Great Man-Made River. Nato has confirmed it has bombarded the town in its latest raids. But some rebel fighters believe Gaddafi may have fled south towards Sabha.

• The NTC has extended by a week a deadline it gave for Gaddafi's stronghold of Sirte to surrender. It claimed the move showed that peace negotiations were working.

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