Refugees clog Libya’s borders

Libya is at the centre of a refugee crisis with tens of thousands having already fled and the exodus growing daily.

More than 140,000 people have now crossed into Egypt and Tunisia, refugee officials said.

A UN refugee agency spokeswoman said the situation was “reaching crisis point” at the Libya-Tunisia border.

The situation was made more volatile, other aid officials said, with humanitarian aid workers blocked from reaching western Libya and patients reportedly being executed in hospitals and others struck by hidden gunmen riding in ambulances.

Fleeing migrant workers were also being targeted by rebels, mistaking them for mercenaries being used by the government in its attempt to quash the rebellion.

Meanwhile, anti-government fighters and troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi clashed in three cities.

Zawiya, the rebel stronghold 30 miles from Libya’s capital, celebrated with a victory march after repelling an overnight attack by Col Gaddafi’s forces.

The dictator’s troops also were stopped as they tried to retake two other opposition-held cities: Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city 125 miles east of Tripoli, and Zintan, 75 miles south of the capital.

The rebels have been fighting to consolidate their gains as the international community weighed new moves to isolate Col Gaddafi, including the possibility of creating a no-fly zone over the country.

International pressure to end the crackdown has escalated dramatically in the past few days.

However, Russia’s top diplomat ruled out a no-fly zone as “superfluous” and said the world must instead focus on fully using the sanctions the UN Security Council approved over the weekend.

Russia’s consent is required as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, urged Col Gad­dafi to consider exile, saying she was worried the country could plummet into a “humanitarian disaster”. “It’s important that he get off the stage,” she said.

She said that exile “may be an option that he looks at.” But added that not even that scenario would inoculate Col Gaddafi from possible prosecution “for the crimes that he and those closest to him have committed”.

People in Tripoli said the city was calm today but that some were anxious over what is seen there as a growing chance of foreign intervention.

“People are worried about foreign intervention,” said one who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals. “Many Libyans see this as a conspiracy that will lead into dividing Libya to an eastern and western sectors. There will be massacres.”

Col Gaddafi’s regime sought to show that it was the country’s only legitimate authority and that it continued to feel compassion for areas in the east that fell under the control of its opponents.

A convoy of 18 trucks loaded with rice, flour, sugar and eggs left Tripoli for Benghazi, the country’s second largest city 620 miles east of the capital. Also in the convoy were two refrigerated cars carrying medical supplies.

In Benghazi, the centre of the opposition-controlled east, activists said they had no objection to a no-fly zone over eastern Libya, but were divided whether to accept relief from the Gaddafi regime.