Allies prepare Libyan action

TRIPOLI, Libya - Trying to outmaneuver international military intervention, Moammar Gadhafi's regime declared a cease-fire Friday against rebels whose uprising was faltering against his artillery, tanks, and warplanes.

But the opposition said shells rained down well after the announcement and accused the Libyan leader of lying.

Wary that the cease-fire could be a ruse, Britain and France took the lead in making plans to enforce a U.N.-approved no-fly zone, sending British warplanes to the Mediterranean, within striking distance of Libya, and announcing a weekend crisis summit in Paris that would include Arab allies.

In Washington, President Obama ruled out the use of American ground troops but warned that the United States, which has an array of naval and air forces in the region, would join in military action.

At the White House, the president did not refer specifically to Gadhafi's cease-fire declaration, but listed demands, including an immediate halt to all attacks against civilians and to military action against Benghazi and other cities, and permission for humanitarian supplies to reach civilians.

"Let me be clear: These terms are not negotiable," Obama said.

In a statement late Friday, the United States, Britain, and France - backed by unspecified Arab countries - said a cease-fire must begin "immediately" in Libya, the French presidential palace said.

The statement called on Gadhafi to end his troops' advance toward Benghazi, an eastern city of 700,000 that is the rebel headquarters; pull them out of the cities of Misrata, Ajdabiya, and Zawiya; and restore water, electricity, and gas in all areas - or "suffer the consequences."

Parts of eastern Libya, where the once-confident rebels this week found their hold slipping, erupted in celebration at the passage of the U.N. resolution that cleared the way for international military intervention.

But the timing and scope of any such military action remained unclear.

Misrata, Libya's third-largest city and the last held by rebels in the west, came under sustained assault well after the cease-fire announcement, according to rebels and a doctor there.

The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals, said Gadhafi's snipers were on rooftops and his forces were searching homes for rebels.

"The shelling is continuing, and they are using flashlights to perform surgery. We don't have anesthetic to put our patients down," said the doctor, who counted 25 deaths since the morning.

In Tripoli, Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, denied that government forces had violated the cease-fire and invited four nations to send observers to monitor compliance: Germany, China, Turkey, and Malta.

He said that military forces were positioned outside Benghazi but that the government had no intention of sending them into the city. He also invited the U.N. chief to send a fact-finding mission and accused the rebels of committing crimes against humanity.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Gadhafi already was violating the U.N. resolution. She told CNN the resolution demanded an immediate end to all offensive operations.

The rebels still hold eastern Libya, which has most of the country's oil reserves.

Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebels, said the opposition was considering calling Gadhafi's bluff by holding new protests in Tripoli and elsewhere in Gadhafi's western strongholds to see if his forces open fire.

"The idea is that when he cannot bomb civilians, the whole world will see that Libya does not want him," Gheriani said. "I believe his troops in Tripoli will leave him. We want to make our revolution a peaceful one again, just surround his compound and make him leave."

Gheriani and Khaled Sayh, another rebel spokesman, said shelling continued late Friday in Zintan, a western mountain town, as well as in Misrata and Ajdabiya.

It was possible that not all of Gadhafi's frontline troops had received the cease-fire directive by late Friday. Even in advanced militaries, orders can take time to make it through to front lines.

The U.N. resolution, which passed late Thursday, set the stage for air strikes, a no-fly zone, and other military measures short of a ground invasion.

Within 12 hours, Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa announced "an immediate cease-fire and to stop all military operations."

The United States proceeded cautiously in the face of the announcement, as Obama attempted to navigate between flexing U.S. military power too much and doing too little to help the rebels.

Still, Western powers faced pressure to act quickly.

"We're extremely worried about reprisals by pro-government forces and security agents in Libya," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. "No one knows what's going on in the towns recaptured, and what's going on in prisons and other state security premises across the country."

However, there were mixed messages about the ultimate ambition of a no-fly zone.

British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the aim was to save lives, not regime change. But in Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that while the immediate objective of the intervention was to halt violence against civilians, the "final result of any negotiation would have to be the decision by Col. Gadhafi to leave."

Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said getting rid of Gadhafi left unanswered "the question of what takes his place."

"What they [the Libyans] lack is any structures - Gadhafi has deliberately destroyed them. There is no civil society, there are no parties."