Rebels near Qaddafi’s compound; security concerns delay foreigners’ evacuation

Fierce fighting broke out Tuesday between Muammar Qaddafi’s forces and rebel fighters near the Libyan strongman’s sprawling Bab al-Azizya residence in Tripoli, an AFP reporter said.

Journalists at the nearby Rixos hotel were shaken by a loud explosion at around 9.00 am (1100 GMT) followed by the sound of rocket and heavy artillery fire.

Fighting raged in surrounding neighborhoods while planes thought to be those of NATO flew over the city.

Soldiers from the regime were posted around the hotel, which houses 30 international journalists.

Water and electricity services were cut off at the hotel for a third day on Tuesday after they were restored for an hour during the night.

Foreigners waiting to be evacuated

In related news, a ship chartered to evacuate around 300 foreigners from Tripoli was prevented from docking by rebel forces due to security concerns, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.

“The information we are getting from the (rebels) is that the security conditions in the port area are not good enough for the ship to dock,” IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy told reporters.

“Until yesterday we believed the port was in control of the opposition forces, and overnight they told us to wait and not to dock.

“Our concern is the security not just of the ship and crew, but most importantly the people we are going to evacuate,” he said.

Chauzy explained that the boat, which was due to dock Tuesday, would remain offshore until the security situation improved.

He also said that the IOM had been unable to contact Libyan government authorities with which it had organized previous evacuations of foreigners in Misrata.

The spokesman said around 1,700 Filipinos, 2,000 Bangladeshi and 1,500 to 2,000 Egyptians had registered with their embassies to be evacuated from Tripoli.

He also said that there were many sub-Saharan African migrants in Tripoli’s suburbs who had been unable to reach their embassies, some of which were unstaffed.

“As soon as (permission) is given, the first ship will move in and evacuate 300 people, they will probably be Filipinos,” Chauzy said.

“We have two to three ships that can be mobilized in the area very quickly each with a capacity of around 1,000 people, so we can crank up the operation very quickly as soon as we have clearance to dock,” he said.

With rebels having entered western Tripoli on Sunday after clashes with pro-government forces, foreign journalists in the capital also received IOM passes to be evacuated.

In a statement, IOM director general William Lacy Swing said that “we have seen with our Misrata operations at the height of the conflict there that migrants were often the innocent victims of the violence.”

“This must not be the case again,” Swing said.