REUTERS: Muammar Gaddafi's forces wrested back part of a town in western Libya from rebels, but his foes said they had seized the oil port of Ras Lanuf, expanding their grip in the east of the country in a two-week-old uprising.
Counter-attacks by Gaddafi loyalists this week suggest the flamboyant autocrat in power for 41 years will not go quietly or relatively quickly as leaders in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia did in a tide of popular unrest rolling across the Middle East.
An upsurge of fighting appears to be cementing a de facto split of the oil-producing desert state, Africa's fourth biggest, into a government-held western area round the capital Tripoli and an eastern region held by ragged but dedicated rebel forces.
In diplomacy aimed at quelling upheaval that has jacked up oil prices, a group of mostly Latin American states in a leftist bloc behind Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez endorsed his plan on Friday for an international mediating mission on Libya.
But Chavez's chances looked slim for now since the rebels have ruled out talks unless they lead to Gaddafi's resignation or exile, outcomes he has categorically ruled out.
Disaffected Libyans see Chavez as too close to Gaddafi, whom the Venezuelan leader calls a friend. It was unclear whether the plan has gained any traction with other countries. >>> Mohammed Abbas, Ajdabiyah, Libya | Friday, March 04, 2011
