Rebels surround Gaddafi in cluster of apartments in Tripoli

A Libyan rebel celebrating by climbing the statue of Gaddafi in Bab Al-Aziziya compound. In latest news, a group of rebels besieging a cluster of apartment buildings near the compound of Muammar Gaddafi said they believed the man who led Libya for four decades was hiding in the buildings with some of his sons. Rebels were exchanging fire with Gaddafi loyalists inside the buildings. They did not say why they believed Gaddafi and his sons were inside. "They are together. They are in a small hole," said one of the fighters involved in the battle, Muhammad Gomaa. "Today we finish. Today we will end that."
The head of Libya’s rebel government warned on Thursday of dangerous destabilization in the country without urgent financial aid from the West to restore services to the population.
Mahmoud Jibril spoke after meeting Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who said Rome had begun unfreezing 350 million euros of Libyan funds in Italian banks to help the rebel government run the country. Berlusconi said the unfreezing was a first step in a broader effort to unblock all of the country’s assets in Italy, the former colonial power. Italy, once Libya’s biggest ally in the West, froze around 800 billion dollars of Libyan assets as part of sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi.
“The biggest destabilizing element would be the failure of the (rebel) National Transitional Council to deliver the necessary services and pay the salaries of the people who have not been paid for months,” Jibril said at a news conference in Milan.
“Our priorities cannot be carried out by the government without having the necessary money immediately,” he said.
Tripoli, taken by the rebels in a lightning advance earlier this week, was without water supplies, Berlusconi said. He added that Eni, the biggest foreign oil operator in Libya, is expected to sign a deal to supply gas and petrol for the immediate needs of Libyans.
“Eni and the provisional government will sign a deal as early as Monday in Benghazi that allows us to supply upfront without payment large quantities of gas and petrol for the immediate needs of the Libyan population,” he said. Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni told reporters the supply of natural gas and gasoline would be in exchange for “future payments in oil which we will receive when the oil fields have restarted.”
Libyan commandos fighting Muammar Qaddafi came close to capturing the toppled leader on Wednesday when they raided a private home in Tripoli where he appeared to have been hiding, Paris Match magazine reported on Thursday. Citing a source in a unit that it said was coordinating among intelligence services from Arab states and Libyan rebels, the French weekly said on its website that these services believed Qaddafi was still somewhere in the Libyan capital. Qaddafi was not in the unassuming safe house in central Tripoli when agents arrived about 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday after a tip-off from a credible source. But, the magazine said, they found evidence that he had spent at least one night there – though it did not say how recent that might have been. NATO is contributing intelligence and reconnaissance equipment to the search for Qaddafi, Britain’s Defense Minister Liam Fox told Sky news on Thursday. “I can confirm that NATO is providing intelligence and reconnaissance assets to the NTC (National Transitional Council) to help them track down Colonel Qaddafi and other remnants of the regime,” who fled before advancing rebel forces on Tuesday, he said.
The defense ministry said Mr. Fox was referring to “various assets such as military planes.” A ministry spokesman would not say whether SAS special forces members had been deployed in the search, as reported by the Daily Telegraph. The newspaper quoted defense ministry sources as saying SAS members were sent to Libya several weeks ago and played a key role in coordinating the battle for Tripoli. Camouflaged in civilian clothes and armed with the same types of weapons used by the rebel forces, the commando members have been tasked primarily with finding Qaddafi, the paper said. “We can't comment on special forces at the moment,” the ministry spokesman responded.
The Arab League gave its full backing to Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people on Thursday and said it was time for Libya to take back its permanent seat on the League’s council. “We agreed that it is time for Libya to take back its legitimate seat and place at the Arab League. The NTC will be the legitimate representative of the Libyan state,” the League’s Secretary General Nabil Elaraby told reporters in Cairo. The NTC’s representative at the League, Abdelmoneim el-Houni, said Libya would resume its League membership at a meeting of Arab ministers on Saturday. More than 40 countries have recognized NTC, set to take power and move to Tripoli after rebels forced veteran leader Muammar Qaddafi to abandon his headquarters in the capital. The Arab League suspended Libya’s membership after Qaddafi’s forces launched a bloody crackdown to try to stop an uprising spreading in the east of the country in February. The League then backed a no-fly zone over Libya patrolled by mostly western powers, a historic move given the bitter memory of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Since then the League has only sent medical aid to Libya and stopped short of formal dealings with the rebel council.
Sue Turton, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tripoli, said locals are very worried that there are going to be attacks by pro-Gaddafi supporters across the city. "There are checkpoints popping up all over the city. Locals are managing to get hold of weapons to police their streets," said. "There is a lot of nervousness … people are very worried that there are Gaddafi loyalists coming through these streets. "They are worried there are going to be some sort of attacks across the city, not just in areas we know about, but even in areas like this that look quite sleepy. They are checking every car. "It's safe to say there are a lot of people in Tripoli who were still very pro-Gaddafi when the rebels basically took control of the city over the weekend. "Even though finding Gaddafi is a symbolic move now as his government is no longer in control of this country, not until he is found or killed will many people who are pro-Gaddafi realise that this is the end. "We don't think the attacks are going to stop until Gaddafi goes," our correspondent said.
In other news, Four Italian journalists who were abducted near Az Zawiyah in Libya on Wednesday have been freed, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on its web site. Two of the journalists worked for Corriere della Sera, while the others were reporters for La Stampa and Avvenire newspapers. The Italian consul in Benghazi, Guido de Sanctis, said after the kidnap that they were being held in an apartment in Tripoli. He said their driver was killed during the abduction and they were believed to have been held by gunmen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
It is thought that Muammar Gaddafi will try to sell part of Libya's gold reserves to pay for his protection and sow chaos among tribes in the north African country, according to his former central bank governor Farhat Bengdara. Bengdara, who has allied himself with the Libyan rebels, told the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, that an ally of Gaddafi had offered 25 tonnes of gold to his friend "a little time ago". "My friend referred it to me and I suggested that he refuse and my friend immediately rejected the approach. But it is a clear indication," Bengdara said in the interview published today. He said his friend was not Libyan but gave no further details. There are gold reserves worth $10 billion in Tripoli and Gaddafi could have taken some of that amount, he said.
Bengdara said he believed that Gaddafi had fled Tripoli and could be heading towards the Algerian border. "Now he is looking to pay and corrupt some tribes and some militia to have protection and to create further chaos," he said. The former central bank governor, who is a director of Italian bank UniCredit , said Libya needed $5-$7bn as a bridging loan to get the banking system restarted and to pay for imports. "We don't need donors. Libya is a rich country. The state activities from the Libyan Investment Authority, the central bank and gold reserves are worth $168 billion. But it is all frozen," Bengdara said. It will take months and a UN Security Council resolution before these sums are freed up, he said.
Meanwhile, fighters loyal to Gaddafi continued to put up stiff resistance in several Tripoli neighbourhoods early on Thursday, against rebels seeking to consolidate their grip over the capital, two days after they seized the Libyan leader's heavily fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound. Maram Wafa, a resident of Tripoli, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that rebels controlled the majority of the city but that there was still heavy fighting in pockets of the city. "I'm in contact with many of the freedom fighters, three or four hours ago there was fighting [with Gaddafi loyalists] one [of them] told me on the phone," she said. "The city is full of snipers, the streets are not safe, and everyone is staying indoors." According to Al Jazeera correspondents on Wednesday, snipers also posed a threat to rebel fighters in Bab al-Aziziya, even after the compound was overrun by rebels.
Al Jazeera's Sue Turton, reporting from inside the compound, said rebels were attempting to flush out snipers still inside the compound with heavy weaponry.
"We do think that the rebels really are in control of the majority of that compound, and are in control of the majority of this city, but at the moment all they can do is focus on these pockets of resistance," she said. "As soon as you say the word 'sniper', it puts fear into people; people can't go about their businesses here. The streets are still pretty empty." Rebels say at least 400 of their men have been killed and 200 injured in the battle for Tripoli. "The vast majority of the city is in opposition control, but it is still a very dangerous place," Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Tripoli's central hospital on Wednesday, said. Bays said the central hospital is struggling to cope with the wounded and the staff is overwhelmed. Doctors gave Bays a long list of medical supplies they are in urgent need of.
Libyan rebels have offered a million-dollar bounty for the capture of Muammar Gaddafi, after he urged his men to fight on in battles across parts of the capital, Tripoli. Gaddafi's location was still unknown on Thursday and rebels said they would offer amnesty and reward to anyone who kills or captures the 69-year-old Libyan leader. In Benghazi, the National Transitional Council (NTC) told a news conference on Wednesday that Libyan businessmen had contributed $1.7m for the cash reward. But as a reminder that he remained on the loose, Gaddafi made an audio address broadcast earlier on Wednesday by the al-Rai television channel. In the address, the defiant leader called on Tripoli residents to repel the rebels' advance. "All Libyans must be present in Tripoli, young men, tribal men and women must sweep through Tripoli and comb it for traitors," he said. "I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and ... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger."
Al-Rai television channel quoted the Libyan leader as saying that he had retreated from his Tripoli compound in a "tactical move" after blaming NATO for 64 air strikes that reduced his compound to rubble. "These gangs seek to destroy Tripoli," Gaddafi said, referring to the rebels. "They are evil incarnate. We should fight them."
Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who heads the NTC and was a minister in Gaddafi's government until the February uprising against his rule, cautioned: "It is too early to say that the battle of Tripoli is over. That won't happen until Gaddafi and his sons are captured." Reports had circulated of Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, being captured by the rebels but he made a defiant public appearance on Tuesday, smiling and shaking hands with supporters. The whereabouts of five of Gaddafi's other sons is unknown.
Even as Moammar Gadhafi's forces appeared in disarray, there was no letup Wednesday in casualties in the war with rebels here. A National Transitional Council official said four rebels from Zintan were killed Wednesday in Tripoli. The humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres, also called Doctors Without Borders, said support facilities in the capital were overwhelmed with patients. "Almost all of the hospitals around the city are receiving wounded, but some of the hospitals have not been accessible due to the fighting, which means that other hospitals have an added burden," said Jonathan Whittall, MSF head of mission in Tripoli. He described scenes of chaos inside institutions short of doctors and nurses, many of whom have been afraid to travel unsafe streets to get to work. But, he added, "there is a huge number of people who are responding as volunteers and who are going to the hospitals to try and support and assist where they can." At one clinic, nearby houses had been converted into inpatient departments, with patients lying on the floor or on desks and "essentially caring for themselves." Ambulance workers are hamstrung by the fuel shortage in the capital. With electricity only sporadic, hospitals have been running on generators, but they too require gas. Still, he said, "The health facilities are stretched, but by no means are they completely collapsed or not functioning at all."