Germany recognizes rebels as representing Libya

Libyan rebels Benghazi - AFP Germany recognises the rebel National Transitional Council as the \"sole legitimate representative\" of the Libyan people, Berlin\'s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Monday. \"The NTC is the sole  legitimate representative of the Libyan people,\" Westerwelle told reporters after meeting council officials, including the rebel \"foreign minister\" Ali al-Essawi.
\"We want a free Libya, in peace and democracy without (Moamer) Kadhafi,\" he said in the rebels\' eastern bastion of Benghazi, Libya\'s second city.
Germany becomes the 13th nation to recognise the NTC as \"sole legitimate representative,\" after Australia, Britain, France, Gambia, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Qatar, Senegal, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrived on Monday in the Libyan rebel capital of Benghazi for talks with the National Transitional Council, an AFP correspondent said.
Westerwelle went straight to the headquarters of the NTC to meet its head Mustafa Abdul Jalil, for talks to be followed by a press conference.
Germany abstained from a UN Security Council resolution voted on March 17 backing intervention in Libya and chose not to join the NATO-led air war in support of the rebels.
But German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said last week his country would be ready to consider sending peacekeeping troops to Libya if and when strongman Muammar Gaddafi falls from power.
Libyan rebels are smuggling weapons through Tunisia to fight Colonel Muammar Gaddafi\'s forces in western Libya. One Libyan smuggler told the BBC that AK47s and grenade launchers are
being taken across the border by individuals, in small but frequent consignments.
Gaddafi forces are on the Tunisian border, and shelling often spills over.
The fledgling Tunisian government is fearful of giving overt support to the rebels.
Tunisian border guards are under orders to search each car going in to Libya.
But members of the Libyan diaspora are funding the purchase of small arms to send to western Libya, said the Libyan smuggler, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.
He said that many Tunisians are sympathetic and help get the arms in to the rebels.
A rebel commander in western Libya said his forces kept a record of each fighter and the serial number of their weapons, so they could be collected when the war was over.
Commander Ahbeel Dody appealed for Nato countries to send more and heavier weapons through Tunisia officially.
He said a shortage in the Nafousa mountains, where towns have gained ground in frequent clashes with Col Gaddafi\'s forces, was prolonging the war.
Sources: Arabstoday and AFP