Tribal elders, bottom, speak to Abdalla Kenshil, chief rebel negotiator, not in the picture, during negotiations in a mosque at a checkpoint between Tarhouna and Bani Walid, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011. - AP Photo

TRIPOLI: Libya’s oasis town of Bani Walid is ready to come under the National Transitional Council’s authority despite pockets of resistance, a chief negotiator told AFP on Wednesday.

“The negotiations were successful yesterday and we are waiting for the NTC to give us the green light to go in,” said Abdullah Kenshil who held talks with Bani Walid elders on Tuesday.

“The elders have joined the revolution,” he said, adding that some of them were now in Tripoli, and others were back in Bani Walid, where pro-Moamer Qadhafi armed men initially prevented them from returning.

He said the aggression against the elders had angered members of the community.

“Armed men waved their weapons at the elders... and this angered the community,” Kenshil said.

Witnesses reported seeing the tribal elders heading away from Bani Walid, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, towards the nearby town of Tarhuna late on Tuesday.

A field commander saw the rebuffing of the elders as a bad omen.

“I think there will be a fierce battle in Bani Walid. Armed groups are occupying Bani Walid so we must free it,” Commander Colonel Abdullah Abu Asara said.

The outcome of negotiations concerning Bani Walid, a bastion of the powerful Warfalla tribe and hometown of NTC leader Mahmud Jibril, has created some anxiety.

Pro-Qadhafi forces in Bani Walid, Sabha in the south and Sirte, Qadhafi’s hometown on the coast have been a given a Saturday deadline to surrender and lay down their arms, in a bid to spare further bloodshed.