Food, fuel in dire shortage in Tripoli amid continued fighting
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Xinhua, August 27, 2011
Four days after Libyan rebels entered Tripoli, their battle with forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi continued Friday, creating a crippling dearth of basic supplies.
Although major fighting had moved to the airport and the suburbs, most shops inside the capital remained closed for fear of surprise gunfire and stray bullets from both sides of the conflict. So it was quite difficult for local residents to replenish their larders.
"Although we made full preparations for fierce clashes in the city, we are running out of food due to prolonged fighting," said a shopkeeper who gave his name as Saoud and who reopened his store as fighting moved out of the downtown area.
"It is dangerous to sell things to people now, because you don't know when and where the bullets will come. But people need food and water, so I have to take the risks," he said.
After more than five months of fighting, the country's oil facilities have been seriously damaged, almost all gas stations in the western region destroyed, and food supplies from other countries disturbed.
Food and cooking oil were sold out merely several hours after Saoud opened his shop. "As food from Italy and Malta cannot arrive in Tripoli at the moment, I have to close the shop after all things are sold out," he said.
There is another way to get food and fuel. Some people drove more than 400 km across the western desert to buy daily necessities in Tunisia. But the lack of gasoline and the soaring prices prevented many from traveling that far.
Gasoline prices are now about 10 times as high as before the unrest erupted in February, a restaurant owner who preferred not to be named told Xinhua.
"Now 20 liters of gasoline is sold at 120 Libyan dinars (about 132 U.S. dollars). And all diesel is sent to the front line for military trucks of the rebels. Even though you have money, you cannot buy any," she said.
Libyan rebels stormed the Abu Salim district in southern Tripoli on Thursday night, one of the strongholds of pro-Gaddafi forces in the capital.
Rebel fighters swept through houses and streets to drive out government troops. Sounds of gunfire and explosions rocked the city overnight.
On Friday morning, local residents, carrying their children, rushed out of the district to areas fully controlled by the rebels, while dozens of trucks carrying rebel forces streamed in.
Witnesses said NATO warplanes struck several targets at night to help rebels eliminate snipers in roadside buildings.
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