Rebels pushing to secure Tripoli

The BBC’s Orla Guerin says rebels are continuing their search of Col Gaddafi’s compound.

There have been fierce firefights in Bab al-Aziziya, as well as in several southern and central areas of the city.

However, foreign journalists have been allowed to leave a hotel where they have been confined for several days.

Col Gaddafi’s whereabouts are unknown, but overnight he vowed in a speech to fight until victory or martyrdom.

A pro-regime television channel, al-Uruba, broadcast an audio
statement in which he said his decision to leave his Bab al-Aziziya
compound was a “tactical” move.

He urged Libyans to cleanse the streets of “traitors,
infidels and rats”, and said he had “been out a bit in Tripoli
discreetly, without being seen”.

“It did not feel like Tripoli had fallen or someone had marched into it.”

Later, the rebel National Transitional Council
(NTC) offered an amnesty to anyone within Col Gaddafi’s “inner circle”
who captured or killed him. It said a Libyan businessman was also
offering a $1.67m (£1m) reward.

Correspondents say it is an obvious attempt to sow divisions among Gaddafi loyalists.

Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi told the UK’s
Channel 4 News that it appeared Col Gaddafi had exhausted all his
options, including fleeing abroad, and that his rule “was over”.

Rebel commanders had earlier said it was vital to capture Col Gaddafi to eliminate any chance he could strike back.

They insisted it was only a matter of time before he was
found, but conceded they had no indication of where he might have taken
refuge.

One rebel official, who gave his name as Abdul Rahman, told
the Reuters news agency that it was thought that Col Gaddafi was still
in Tripoli, possibly in the al-Hadhba al-Khadra area, where there was
fighting.

He is also believed to retain a strong following in two other
cities – Sirte, his hometown 450km (280 miles) to the east of the
capital, and Sabha, 650km to the south in the desert.

Analysts say Sabha has a significant military and air force
base and, if Col Gaddafi and his family can reach it, it would provide
them the option of easy desert escape routes into Niger or Chad.

A rebel spokesman told the BBC that negotiations were going
on with local leaders in Sabha and Sirte seeking a peaceful end to the
conflict.

‘Fight to the death’

Despite thousands of rebel fighters overrunning Col Gaddafi’s
Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli on Tuesday evening, they were still
meeting fierce resistance from well-armed loyalists on Wednesday.

The BBC’s Wyre Davies says the rebels are using artillery to try to flush out gunmen entrenched in the centre of the compound.

Many of the loyalists are members of the fugitive leader’s
tribe or professional soldiers, and are prepared to fight to the death,
our correspondent adds.

“There are snipers above and around the perimeter of Bab
al-Aziziya; there are dozens of them but we don’t know where they are,”
rebel commander Nouri Mohammed told the AFP news agency.

There was also heavy gunfire in the area around the capital’s
Rixos Hotel, where about 35 foreign journalists – including a
five-person team from the BBC – were confined for several days by
Gaddafi loyalists armed with automatic weapons. They have all now been
allowed to leave.

“When we got driven out, we discovered we had
been inside a small piece of Tripoli, where two gunmen believed that
they were fighting still on behalf of Col Gaddafi, and that the battle
was still going on for Tripoli even though the whole world had seen the
city had fallen,” said the BBC’s Matthew Price, who was among those
trapped.

“It was firmly their belief that if we went outside of the hotel, the rebels would capture us, kill us or rape the women.”

There were also reports that that pro-Gaddafi forces had
hidden on the road to the international airport, and that the fighting
had spread to the areas of Abu Salim and al-Zuwara.

Witnesses say armed residents in Tripoli are continuing to man makeshift checkpoints with the help of rebel fighters.

Law and order does not appear to have broken down and celebrations have been continuing in Green Square.

The National Transitional Council estimates that about 400
people have been killed and thousands injured in the battle for Tripoli
since Sunday.

The International Red Cross says the fighting in Tripoli has
left many civilians injured. A spokesman said doctors were finding it
difficult to reach hospitals in and around the capital because of
continuing battles.

Funding appeal

Earlier, an NTC spokesman told the BBC it had started the
process of moving its headquarters to Tripoli from its stronghold of
Benghazi.

He said several council members were already in the capital and others were on their way.

But the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Benghazi said that with Gaddafi
loyalists still fighting back, the NTC seems hesitant about a full move.

The rebels also confirmed on Wednesday that their swift
advance on Tripoli was part of a long-planned operation – Mermaid Dawn –
that was co-ordinated with Nato. Groups of rebels were trained in
Benghazi then sent undercover to the capital, to wait for the signal to
fight.

NTC representatives have also been preparing for high-level
talks in Qatar with envoys of the US, UK, France, Turkey and the UAE to
discuss how to move ahead in a post-Gaddafi Libya.

The head of the NTC’s cabinet, Mahmoud Jibril, said it was seeking $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in immediate aid.

Its immediate priority is to pay employees’ salaries and
cover humanitarian costs but, in the longer term, money will be needed
to repair Libya’s oil infrastructure.

Mr Jibril estimates that Libya has some $160-170bn in frozen
assets. The US has said it will try to release up to $1.5bn, while
British and French diplomats are working with their allies to draft a
resolution that would free funds blocked by UN Security Council
sanctions.

Mr Jibril is expected to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy later.

The uprising against Col Gaddafi’s 41-year rule began in
February. The rebels held the east of the country and pockets of the
west, before making their push towards the capital at the weekend.

Nato air strikes have been targeting Col Gaddafi’s forces,
acting on a UN mandate to protect civilians. Critics accuse it of siding
with the rebels.