Sirte residents queue to leave city during two-day ceasefire

Conditions for remaining residents deteriorating in city still held by Gaddafi loyalists, says doctor Residents trapped in fighting for the Libyan coastal city of Sirte have run out of basic medical supplies and are resorting to drinking contaminated water to survive as conditions deteriorate, a Libyan doctor who was in the city at the weekend said. Dr Siraj Assouri, who was travelling from Sirte to nearby Misrata, said: “The conditions have been getting worse and worse. There is no medicine for heart disease or blood pressure or baby milk or nappies. There is very little water that is drinkable. The water is contaminated with waste oil. Our forces are close to the centre but there are other areas still under the control of Gaddafi loyalists where they have been putting up a very strong fight. They still control 40% of the city.” His comments came as a ceasefire announced by the new government’s forces brought a lull in the fighting and allowed hundreds of residents of the city, whose population is normally around 100,000, to leave via queues at checkpoints. The two-day truce is expected to be followed by an all-out attack on the positions still held by pro-Gaddafi loyalists in an attempt to bring the country’s war to a final conclusion. Residents, many of them supporters of the country’s former leader, confirmed the bleak account of life inside Sirte. Some blamed continuing Nato air raids on Sirte for causing civilian casualties. “The revolutionaries camping at the frontline of Sirte have given residents two days to leave the city, which will allow for the evacuation of large numbers of civilians,” said the National Transitional Council leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil. The truce was declared by Libya’s new transitional authority, which says it had ordered a halt in operations to allow civilians to flee before it launched a final assault. The depiction of conditions in Sirte follows a warning at the weekend by an International Red Cross team of a humanitarian crisis. The team was able to deliver body bags and war wounded kits but was not able to enter the main hospital itself on Saturday – despite negotiating a safe passage from both sides – because of fighting that flared up. According to the Red Cross, some 10,000 people have fled Sirte. “The hospital is facing a huge influx of patients, medical supplies are running out and there is a desperate need for oxygen. On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged,” the ICRC said in a statement. The rapidly deteriorating situation follows several weeks of fighting, with anti-Gaddafi fighters now holding positions about three miles from the city centre, according to commander Mustafa al-Rubaie. Last week, the Libyan defence ministry announced that Sirte’s port, airport and military base were all under its control. Rubaie added that fighters had seized control of Sirte’s first residential district and a hotel where Gaddafi’s snipers were based. “There is heavy fighting going on in the streets of Sirte right now,” he said. “The enemy is besieged from the south, east and west but it’s still in possession of highly sophisticated weapons and a large amount of ammunition.” But Rubaie said Gaddafi forces were in control of strategic positions inside the city, including high-rise buildings where snipers are positioned, making the revolutionary forces’ advance slow and hard.”The plan is that the eastern and western forces will meet in the middle of Sirte,” Rubaie said. “When we reach this point, we will celebrate the liberation of Sirte.” Capture of the city – as well as another loyalist stronghold Bani Walid — has become an increasingly urgent priority for Libya’s new rulers who have vowed not to push ahead with plans for new interim cabinet and elections until the country is fully liberated. Concerns have been growing that slow progress against the last holdouts is contributing to increasing frustration among ordinary Libyans and the vacuum of power as different factions and individuals have jostled for influence. Libya Middle East Africa Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk

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