20110314
xinhua

TRIPOLI, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of foreign laborers were still stranded at the airport in Tripoli on Saturday, as troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stormed into the eastern town of Ras Lanuf.

About 200 Pakistani workers were boarding a government-chartered plane when the four-member Xinhua journalist team arrived in Tripoli after a 30-hour flight from Beijing.

Outside the crowded and chaotic airport, 5,000 migrants, mostly from African countries, were waiting to leave the violence-wracked nation. Thousands of others were living in transit tents along the roadside.

Kali, a 29-year-old Nigerian, told Xinhua that he had been staying at the airport for two weeks but could not get a plane ticket.

Between 200,000 to 300,000 migrant workers had been fleeing Libya since fighting between Gaddafi's forces and rebels who seek to end his 41-year -long rule broke out last month.

Posters of Gaddafi can been seen along the 25-km road to downtown Tripoli, where shops were open with normal business.

Also on Saturday, the Arab League appealed to the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone on Libya, in an effort to prevent civilians from further airstrikes by Gaddafi's troops.

"The Arab League has officially requested the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone against any military action against the Libyan people," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told a news conference in Cairo.

The League said it had opened contacts with the Libyan opposition leaders.

The United States also voiced its backing to the League's call, saying it was preparing for "all contingencies."

An EU leaders' meeting in Brussels shunned the issue of imposing the no-fly zone Friday, but called for a three-way summit with the African Union and the Arab League to discuss the crisis further.

Events on the ground were moving more quickly than international diplomatic efforts, as Gaddafi's troops launched offensive on rebel-held towns.

A Xinhua reporter in Tripoli said Gaddafi forces retook the eastern town of Ras Lanuf on Saturday, forcing the rebels to retreat to the outskirts of the strategic oil town.

The government troops backed by air jets and heavy artillery pushed the rebels out of Ras Lanuf, 615 km southeast of Tripoli.

The frontline now stands between the rebel-held town of Uqaylah and Ras Lanuf, where oil storage tanks were hit during Friday's fighting.

The next big oil town of Brega was alive with rumors that Gaddafi forces would be advancing shortly, mounting another overwhelming show of military force.

The assault came one day after Gaddafi's loyalists crushed rebels in Zawiyah, a town 40 km west of Tripoli.

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