CIA-Gaddafi link discovered

CIA-Gaddafi link discovered. Documents found in Tripoli detailing close ties between the CIA and Libyan intelligence suggest that the U.S. sent terror suspects to Libya for questioning despite the reputation of "torture" that country, reported yesterday the U.S. newspaper The New York Times.

The documents, including some files in English about the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and his British counterpart, MI-6-were found Friday in the office abandoned Kousser Moussa, former spy chief of Libya, journalists and people from rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW). The files cover the period 2002-2007. Among other things, the documents reveal that the CIA sent eight times of terror suspects for interrogation in the country. Also the British secret service MI-6 cooperate with the Libyan regime, for which even monitored phone numbers.

The relationship was so close that the CIA was seeking a lasting presence in Libya, said The Wall Street Journal, citing Stephen notes Kappe, then the number two of the secret CIA operations.

According to HRW, the files also indicate that the CIA and MI-6 helped the regime to persecute dissidents Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Western intelligence services have intensified their cooperation with the North African country after Gaddafi abandoned its program to build unconventional weapons in 2004.

Neither the CIA nor the British Foreign Ministry commented on the findings, although the Times quoted a CIA spokeswoman, Jennifer Youngblood saying "no wonder the CIA to cooperate with foreign governments to help protect our country from terrorism and other threats. "

Bastions rebels near

The insurgent forces yesterday approached one of the last bastions of Gaddafi, the city of Bani Walid in the desert, but tried to persuade tribal leaders to surrender without fighting. A rebel commander said the city has until today to surrender. "If they hoisted the rebel flag, enter by force," said Abdel Razak al-Nathori from the town of Tarhunah, halfway between Tripoli and Bani Walid.

According to him, a son of Gaddafi, Muatasim, was yesterday in Bani Walid. Another son of Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam, was in Bani Walid, but fled. The whereabouts of Gaddafi father, but Bani Wali is mentioned as a possible hiding places.

Meanwhile, Russia invited members of the interim government of Libya to Moscow to discuss the future of energy contracts, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Cuba, however, refused yesterday to the new leadership of the National Transitional Council (CNT) in Libya and began to withdraw its diplomats in Tripoli, as confirmed by the government in a statement.