Libya Contact Group to meet in Qatar after day of bloodshed in Misrata

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 13, 2011 -- Updated 0650 GMT (1450 HKT)

Libyans shout pro-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi slogans as they stand on top of a tank that was taken from the rebels by the Libyan army in Misrata on April 8, 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ex-Gadhafi official Moussa Koussa will meet with representatives in Qatar
• A doctor says at least 10 people were killed in Misrata on Tuesday in heavy shelling
• An opposition leader describes the situation in Tripoli as "very dire"

RELATED TOPICS

• Libya
• Moammar Gadhafi
• Moussa Koussa

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- As diplomatic and foreign military efforts have yet to stop the fighting in Libya, an international conference on the country's future is set to begin Wednesday in the Qatari capital of Doha.
A delegation from the United Nations, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will attend the first meeting of the Libya Contact Group.
Meanwhile, former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa is expected to meet in Doha with Qatari government officials and Libyan representatives "to offer insights in advance of the Contact Group meeting," the British government said. Koussa, a longtime confidant of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi and a former intelligence chief, fled to London last month and said he had resigned from Gadhafi's regime.
How Koussa will be received by Libya's opposition is unclear.
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council, did not explicitly reject the idea of opposition leaders meeting with Koussa in Doha. But he said such a meeting was "not on the agenda."
The Libya contact group's meeting comes a day after bloody violence in the war-torn city of Misrata. On Tuesday, at least 10 people were killed and 30 others wounded in the heavy shelling, a doctor operating in two central clinics told CNN. The doctor, identified only as Dr. Hakim for safety reasons, said medical teams are exhausted from treating the wounded.
Rebel fighter Moaath al-Misrati told CNN the shelling came after rebels killed several of Gadhafi's snipers.
Witnesses said all telephone communications, including mobile service, had been cut.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe both called Tuesday for NATO to get more aggressive in Libya, and a rebel leader issued a plea for the international community to carry out the U.N. Security Council resolution of March 17, which calls for "all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack" in the North African country.
Hague told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, that "a huge amount has been achieved in Libya, but clearly there is more to be done." Continued