The Libyan government has announced an immediate ceasefire, less than two hours after Prime Minister David Cameron said British fighter jets would be deployed to enforce a United Nations no-fly zone.Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa said Libya was declaring an immediate ceasefire and stopping all military operations against rebels.
Mr Kousa said the government would also "open dialogue channels" to ensure there was sustained peace in Libya.
But government forces continued to fire on the rebel-held western city of Misurata, witnesses said, where an earlier attack had claimed the lives of at least 25 people.
Abdulbasid Abu Muzairik, a resident in the western coastal town, told Al Jazeera there was shelling from artillery and tanks."The Gaddafi forces are at the outskirts of the city but they continue to shell the centre of the city," he said. "The ceasefire has not taken place; he [Gaddafi] is still continuing up until now to shell and kill the people in the city."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for the U.N. resolution, and said Turkey stands on the side of the oppressed in Libya.
The Germans, who are opposed to any military intervention in Libya, are considering sending German-manned NATO airborne warning and control planes to help monitor Afghanistan's airspace - a move that would free up scarce AWACS to be dispatched to Libya's airspace.
Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle confirmed that such a decision was considered, but stressed there was no decision yet.Imposing a U.N.-authorized no-fly zone over Libyan air space will be just a matter of "perhaps hours, perhaps a day or two," said CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
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