By Maria Golovnina
REUTERS

BANI WALID, Libya: Hundreds of Libyans fled a desert town held by Moammar Gadhafi’s forces Tuesday, complaining of hardship and intimidation, as fighters backed by the country’s new rulers warned of a full onslaught in the coming days.

Forces of the new ruling National Transitional Council that overran Tripoli on Aug. 23 have met unexpectedly stout resistance in five days of fighting for the town of Bani Walid 180 km southeast of the capital.
Along with Gadhafi’s hometown Sirte on the central Mediterranean coast and Sabha in the remote southern desert, Bani Walid counts among the last strongholds of old regime fighters and their resistance has impeded NTC efforts to normalize life in the oil-rich North African state.

Residents fleeing the town have reported days of intense firefights and NATO warplanes backing up NTC fighters with air strikes on pro-Gadhafi rocket positions.
Families trapped there for weeks started to slip out after Gadhafi forces abandoned some checkpoints on the outskirts, resulting in scores of cars packed with civilians streaming out of the area Monday and Tuesday.

NTC field commanders said people in Bani Walid, dominated by a tribe, the Warfalla, that was a pillar of Gadhafi’s rule, had been told via broadcast radio messages they had two days to leave town before it came under full-blown attack.
“I think only 10 percent of the people are Gadhafi supporters. They are fanatics. And the rest are waiting to be liberated. We have given them two more days to leave the city,” NTC fighter Abumuslim Abdu told Reuters.

But 25-year-old resident Abdulbaset Mohammad Mohammad painted a slightly different picture of Gadhafi support as he drove toward Tripoli dressed in a football kit and sporting freshly slicked-back hair.
“It’s too dangerous to go outside. Militia men are hiding around the city and [pro-Gadhafi] green flags are everywhere,” he said.

The United Nations said it was worried about the plight of civilians marooned inside besieged pro-Gadhafi towns.
“Our big concern right now is Sirte, where we are receiving reports that there’s no water and no electricity,” U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told Reuters in Dubai.

Some NTC combatants said they suspected local fighters of the Warfalla tribe, Libya’s largest, were passing tips to Gadhafi forces in Bani Walid. “We believe there are traitors among them,” said Mohammad al-Gahdi, from the coastal city of Khoms.
But efforts to get Libya running again were also gathering pace, especially in its life-blood oil sector.

The Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco) said Tuesday that production from the eastern oilfield of Sarir had reached 160,000 barrels per day and that it had begun to send crude oil to the export terminal of Tobruk.
NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil also made his first public speech in Tripoli late Monday – just hours after Gadhafi loyalists attacked the gate of an oil refinery.

Despite the assault, Abdel Jalil felt confident enough to address a crowd of about 10,000 people in the central Martyrs’ Square and use the speech to call for restraint.

“We seek a state of law, prosperity and one where Shariah [Islamic law] is the main source for legislation, and this requires many things and conditions,” he said, adding that “extremist ideology” would not be tolerated.
Human rights group Amnesty International warned in its report Tuesday that the Libyan security vacuum risked plunging Libya into a bloody vortex of attacks and reprisals. “We need to open the courts to anyone who harmed the Libyan people in any way. The judicial system will decide,” Jalil said in Tripoli, urging NTC fighters to respect that principle.

NTC sources said Tuesday that Abdel Hafid Zlitni, a former Central Bank governor and finance minister, was captured in Zawiyah, 50 km west of Tripoli.

They also said Mohammad Zwei, parliament speaker and former ambassador to Britain had been captured in the past week.
Kharroubi is a veteran Gadhafi official and one of the few remaining officers who participated in Gadhafi’s 1969 coup. It is believed he handed himself over to NTC officials late last month but this could not immediately be confirmed.

Gadhafi’s entourage in Libya is dwindling. One of his sons, Saadi, arrived in neighboring Niger Sunday after crossing the southern Sahara desert frontier.

Two other sons and Gadhafi’s only biological daughter have made their way out to Algeria. One son is reported to have died in the war and three others are still on the run.
The NTC has said it will send a delegation to Niger to seek the return of anyone wanted for crimes under Gadhafi’s rule.