by NPR Staff and Wires
August 27, 2011
Libyan rebels fought to gain control of a major supply road to Tripoli on Saturday, seizing a border crossing with Tunisia and strengthening their hold on the oil-rich country as they hunt for Moammar Gadhafi.
Controlling the road from the Tunisian border to the capital would help ease growing shortages of fuel and food, particularly in the battle-scarred city.
Mahmoud Shammam, information minister in the rebels' transitional council, said the rebels already control most of the road, but that regime fighters are shelling it in the area of the city of Zwara, midway between Tripoli and the Tunisian border. Rebels had captured the border crossing known as Ras Ajdir, the gateway to the road to Tripoli.
"We hope to be able to control the road today," he told reporters.
Algeria Denies Reports Of Convoy
Also Saturday, Algeria denied a report that a small convoy had entered the country from Libya, Reuters reported.
The news agency cited reports from Egypt's state-run media that six Mercedes vehicles had crossed its border Friday morning, perhaps containing top Libyan officials, Gadhafi's sons or the former leader himself. But Algerian officials told Reuters the reports were not true.
The Egyptian media reported that rebels in the area were unable to pursue the cars, believed to have been armored, because they didn't have ammunition or the necessary equipment. The report could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press.
Enlarge Francois Mori/AP A man photographs the courtyard of Abu Salim prison in Tripoli on Saturday. One of those released from Libya's most notorious prison was American writer and filmmaker Matthew Van Dyke, who had been held in solitary confinement for six months.
American Is Freed From Prison
In Tripoli, American Matthew Van Dyke, a freelance writer and filmmaker captured by government soldiers, says he thought he was going to die when a crowd wrestled open his jail cell after six months of solitary confinement.
Instead of an angry gang fired by government propaganda, however, it was rebels and prisoners breaking him out of Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison, he told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Van Dyke was captured in the eastern oil town of Brega and then held incommunicado for six months in Tripoli — a third of it in a small cell.
The 32-year-old says he plans to stay in Libya until the whole country is free.
Oil Refinery Repairs Under Way; Prices High
In the western city of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, a manager for the key oil refinery there said officials hoped to have it operational soon.
Restarting the rebel-held refinery, which was shut down after Libya's rebellion flared, should help ease skyrocketing fuel prices.
Mohammed Aziz, a longtime operations manager, said it should be working by Monday.
In Tripoli, the cost of a 20-liter (about five gallons) can of gas has jumped to about 120 dinars ($100) — 28 times the price before fighting began.
Much of the capital's water service has been out all week. Electricity is sporadic. Most shops, including groceries, are shut. And frustrations are growing among the residents of Tripoli.
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