Tripoli in need of food, fuel as Gadhafi forces retreat

Parts of the Libyan capital which saw the fiercest fighting days ago were smouldering scenes of desertion Saturday, as anti-Gadhafi forces continued pushing gunmen hired by the regime to the outskirts of Tripoli.

Block by block, fighters opposing Gadhafi swept through the city to force out the last of the autocrat's armed loyalists. As the violence waned and smoke continued to clear, though, worries of a possible humanitarian crisis in Tripoli gripped the international community.

Most of Libya is now controlled by the anti-Gadhafi forces, but severe shortages of fuel, water and electricty are major concerns. The streets are strewn with torched cars and stinking garbage, and corpses are crowding abandoned hospitals. On the runway of Tripoli's airport lay bombed planes.

Britain announced Saturday it is donating 3 million ($4.7 million Cdn) to the Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to Libyans displaced by fighting. Meidcal teams will be dispatched to treat some 5,000 wounded people and enough food for 690,000 will be provided.

Return to 'normal life'

The aid will be distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and was announced following an urgent appeal from the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called on world leaders to help save millions of Libyan lives at risk.

"At this critical moment it is essential that the international community comes together as one to restore order and issue a stable transition in Libya," Ban said.

Susan Ormiston, reporting for CBC News from Tripoli, said the mood had shifted completely compared to the early days of the week, which were consumed by bloodshed.

"The people are out on the street, and we're seeing some kind of beginning of returning to a normal life inside Tripoli," she reported.

Bodies piled up in hospitals

Even so, Ormiston noted that the evidence of the bloody civil war would be impossible to ignore in some neighbourhoods, where the crack of gunfire can still be heard.

"There are signs of very heavy fighting rocket markets, bullet holes in cars, cars abandoned, people's homes abandoned," she said. "We came upon a rug market that was still smouldering. A whole block of stalls that used to hold rugs, it was on fire."

Some hospitals are functioning well, but one in the Abu Salim district of Tripoli, where there is still some street fighting, was abandoned by frightened medical staff. The ICRC on Saturday said its workers have found the rotting bodies of 200 dead patients there.

Rebel leaders said Friday they'll establish a new interim government in the capital within 30 days, moving their headquarters from the eastern city of Benghazi, which fell into opposition hands early in the six-month civil war.

NATO said it had carried out several air strikes in the capital against Gadhafi forces overnight, targeting military facilities, vehicles and a surface-to-surface missile launcher.

Battle for Gadhafi's hometown continues

There has been some fighting, mainly in and around the city's airport where rebels have claimed control of the nearby district of Qasr bin Ghashir, but central areas of the capital are mostly quiet.

Residents in Qasr bin Ghashir, 32 kilometres south of Tripoli, celebrated on Saturday by firing guns and anti-aircraft weapons into the air and beating portraits of toppled leaders with their shoes.

About 800 kilometres east of Tripoli, the rebel advance on Col. Moammar Ghadafi's hometown of Sirte has made little progress and remained deadlocked Saturday. However, NATO warplanes have been carrying out multiple airstrikes in recent days to assist.

The rebel movement has been halted by Gadhafi loyalists outside the town of Ras Lanuf, more than 200 kilometres east of Sirte. There has been steady artillery and rocket duels between the two sides.

The rebels, or former rebels, say they must take Sirte because its position on the main road to Tripoli cuts the country in two, as long as the Gadhafi loyalists hold it.