Libya Rebels Extend Deadline for Loyalist Surrender

Libyan rebels have extended a deadline for forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi to surrender by a week to September 10, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday.

"We give them one week more," Mohammed Zawawi told AFP, stating that the ultimatum applied to towns holding out in the south and the center, as well as to Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

"Sirte is not that strategic so that we rush," he said. "We give them more time to make some progress on the negotiations."

Sirte, Gadhafi's coastal hometown between Tripoli and Benghazi and the main center still in loyalist hands, is besieged by rebel forces from east and west.

"We are trying to make them surrender by cutting water and electricity there," Zawawi said.

The rebels had said on Tuesday they were ready for the final battle of their more than six-month uprising after their leaders gave Gadhafi's last loyalists a Saturday deadline to surrender.

The head of the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said the respite was offered to mark the three-day Eid al-Fitr feast which follows the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"From Saturday, if no peaceful solution is in sight on the ground, we will resort to military force," Abdel Jalil had said.

The rebels said earlier on Thursday they no longer believed fallen strongman Gadhafi is hiding in Sirte, and are talking with tribal chiefs for the city's peaceful surrender.

Jalal al-Digheily, defense minister in the NTC, was speaking at Nofilia, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Sirte.

"There will be no attack on Sirte just now. We continue to negotiate to enter the city peacefully," Digheily said. "We are negotiating with tribal leaders and seek a peaceful solution for all Libyans."

"The tribal chiefs agreed with us that we must not wage war in the city," said rebel commander Yunes al-Abderi. He said he was "very optimistic" about a peaceful surrender, although "some units (of Gadhafi loyalists) still do not want to go."