Libyan forces backed by NATO bombers struck at loyalist troops dug in around Muammar Gaddafi's home town on Wednesday, and refugees streamed out of the besieged bastion, fearing a bloody showdown in the coming days, Reuters reported. A week after they overran the capital, forcing Gaddafi into hiding, the irregular troops of the new ruling council have paused in a drive to take Sirte and Gaddafi strongholds in the desert, giving defenders of his native city until Saturday to surrender. But frontline clashes continued, as did air strikes. Despite shortages and disruptions, people in Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi and other cities took to the streets to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a high point of the Muslim calendar marking the end of the Ramadan fast. For most Libyans, it was the first Eid they could remember without Gaddafi. Anxious to aid -- and steer -- the new rulers of the oil-rich North African state, and to consolidate their own victory over a man who has baffled and infuriated them for 42 years, Western governments will hold a "Friends of Libya" meeting in Paris on Thursday. The date, Sept. 1, is laden with symbolism as the anniversary of Gaddafi's seizure of power in 1969. Until the 69-year-old fugitive is hunted down, dead or alive, the National Transitional Council's leaders say they will not count their country's "liberation" as complete. But though there is much talk of closing in on Gaddafi and his sons, of tempting loyalists to betray them and of tracking their communications, it is unclear where the key figures are. Hisham Buhagiar, a senior NTC official who is coordinating the hunt, told Reuters he believed Gaddafi was either in the Bani Walid area, southeast of Tripoli, or in his home town of Sirte, 450 km (265 miles) east of the capital. The arrest in Tripoli on Wednesday of Gaddafi's foreign minister, Abdelati Obeidi, as witnessed by a Reuters journalist may provide more clues: "We trace a lot of people who are not in the first inner circle with him, but the second or third circle. We're talking to them," said Buhagiar. "They want to strike deals ... Everyone who helps us is on the white list." In another twist, one of Gaddafi's sons, Saadi, told an Arab television channel that he was in touch with his father's enemies to try and end the bloodshed -- though it was unclear whether he was with his father or speaking on his behalf. At Tawarga, where anti-Gaddafi forces are dug in and readying an assault on Sirte to the east, most of the residents were black African rather than Arab in origin and have recently fled -- apparently in fear of reprisals by fighters from the city of Misrata who see Tawarga as a pro-Gaddafi town. Also fleeing their homes were hundreds of people from towns around Sirte, who streamed through a frontline checkpoint set up by NTC forces on the coastal highway at Tawarga. Ali Faraj, a fighter, said he doubted people in Sirte would willingly join the revolt: "There will be a big fight for Sirte. It's a dangerous city. It's unlikely to rise up," he said. "A lot of people there support Gaddafi. It's too close to Gaddafi and his family. It is still controlled by them." There is no independent confirmation of conditions in Sirte, which was developed into a prosperous city of 100,000 during the 42 years Gaddafi ruled Libya. NTC officials say power and water are largely cut off and supplies are low. The NTC, keen to assert its grip and relieve hardship after six months of war, won a $1.55 billion cash injection when Britain's air force flew in new dinar banknotes to Benghazi. They had been printed in Britain but then held there by U.N. sanctions imposed on Gaddafi's government. France, which with Britain took a lead role in backing the revolt and will host Thursday's conference, has asked the committee to unfreeze some $2 billion of Libyan assets in France, a French government source said on Wednesday. Despite the killing and shortages of fuel, power and water that Tripoli has endured since Gaddafi's fall, worshippers in Martyrs' Square were mostly ebullient about the future. NTC leaders have told their forces to treat prisoners with respect -- in contrast with the reported killing and torture of detainees by Gaddafi's forces. -- SPA
