Italian FM arrives in Benghazi

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini arrived in Benghazi , Libya ,Tuesday where he is expected to open a new consulate. Frattini is scheduled to inaugurate the consulate at noon after holding a joint news conference with Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the Libyan National Transitional Council (LNTC) and his Libyan counterpart Ali Al Issawi as well as other rebel leaders. The visit comes a day after the press conference held yesterday in Rome by a group of top Libyan army officers defected from Gaddafi's regime. Former Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam, who now backs the anti-Gaddafi rebels, told the news conference that the eight officers are part of 120 other officials who left and abandoned the regime and are now out of Libya.'' On the other hand ,a dissident top officer , estimated that Gaddafi''s military forces were now ''only 20 per cent as effective'' as compared to before the revolt broke out in mid-February. He said that ''not more than 10'' generals remained loyal to Gaddafi.