MISRATA: Libya's rebels gained on the diplomatic front Wednesday by securing China's recognition as a “dialogue partner”, but suffered on the battlefield where Muammar Gaddafi's forces were able to shell their stronghold of Misrata. Four months into the uprising, and three months since NATO war planes joined their fight to topple Gaddafi, the rebels are making only slow gains in their march on the capital Tripoli. But they have made steady progress winning support abroad and isolating Gaddafi on the international stage. “China sees you as an important dialogue partner,” Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told Mahmoud Jibril, diplomatic chief of the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council, who visited Beijing. The comments were published in a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn). “(The Council's) representation has been growing stronger daily since its establishment, and it has step-by-step become an important domestic political force,” Yang said, adding China was worried about the Libyan people's suffering. The comments came hours after Gaddafi's forces landed rockets in the centre of Misrata for the first time in several weeks. No one was reported hurt by that strike, but it undermined a relative sense of security among residents who believed that a siege on the city had been broken last month. NATO and the rebels hope that Gaddafi's diplomatic and economic isolation will eventually bring his government down. Winning international recognition could eventually help the rebels secure access to frozen Libyan funds, and the right to spend money earned by exporting the country's oil. Rebels drove loyalist forces out of the third-biggest city Misrata in mid-May and are using it as a base for an advance westwards on Tripoli. Gaddafi forces' ability to hit it with shells early on Wednesday is a setback in a city that had experienced relative calm after months of siege and fighting. Rebels have been trying to advance west toward the town of Zlitan, where Gaddafi's soldiers are imposing a tight siege. Libyan television said on Wednesday that “dozens” of people were killed in Zlitan after NATO naval ships shelled the town. Rebels are trying to inch towards Tripoli from Misrata, east of the capital, and from the Western Mountains region to its southwest. The going has been tough. “Gaddafi's forces have moved forward about a kilometre,” Dr Mohammed Grigda said at the field hospital in Dafniya just outside Misrata. It was impossible to verify the information but a Reuters reporter in Dafniya saw that rebel mortar positions had pulled back slightly.
