Libyan rebels were facing a new battle yesterday, struggling to provide Tripoli’s residents with water, electricity, petrol and food, amid power outages and with much of the capital’s water cut.

Mountains of rubbish have piled up on the sweltering city’s streets since rebels entered the capital over a week ago, battling Muammar Gaddafi’s forces until they stormed his compound on Tuesday and then mopping up after that.

Electricity is out for several hours a day, many districts have no water, and others only have undrinkable ground water. The price of food and petrol has skyrocketed, when it can even be found.

“We have 30,000 tons of gasoline to distribute to the public starting today,” National Transitional Council spokesman Mahmud Shammam said yesterday, adding that rebels would also provide cooking gas within the next 48 hours and were working to restore the Zawiyah refinery.

A litre of petrol that used to cost 0.15 dinars (eight euro cents) now costs around three dinars (€1.70). Petrol can only be bought on the black market from those who stocked up before the conflict reached Tripoli.

The price of milk has gone from one dinar a litre to 2.50 dinars.

“When the revolution started in February, Gaddafi doubled many salaries to try to show that he is good. If you made 300 dinars, you got 600,” Tripoli resident Abdel Rahman Hamza told AFP. “But it’s not enough.”

Rebels have captured the Ras Jdir border post on the frontier with Tunisia, which it was feared Gaddafi might use to escape, but it is also a potentially vital gateway to resupplying the capital. However, they still need to capture Zuwarah, 90 kilometres west of the capital, to fully free-up the coastal highway to Tripoli. The situation is all the more acute because Muslims will end the fasting month of Ramadan with the feast of Eid al-Fitr tomorrow or Tuesday, traditionally a time of heavy consumption and the giving of gifts such as clothes.

Some shops outside the centre have reopened, but it is not clear how they can be resupplied.

He called on all public, private and oil sector workers to return to work to help restore basic services to the capital, which faces shortages of electricity, water and fuel that have disrupted everyday life and hit the health sector hard.

Mohammed Ben Ras Ali, a member of the stabilisation team that has been working under Infrastructure Minister Ali Jihani with the EU and US for post-Gaddafi scenarios, nevertheless remained upbeat.

“Everything turned out better than we expected,” he told AFP. “Water is a major concern, it is our number-one priority. We have 32 ships waiting to enter with water, medical supplies and fuel.”

Battle for Tripoli: key developments

August 20: Fighting erupts in Tripoli as rebels, backed by Nato air strikes, close in on the Libyan capital.

August 21: Rebels infiltrate the capital by sea from the coastal enclave of Misurata. Other rebels enter Tripoli from the west. Overnight rebel fighters enter symbolic Green Square in the heart of the city, where a jubilant crowd waves the red, black and green rebel flag.

August 22: Heavy fighting in several areas of the capital, witnesses say, while snipers loyal to the strongman are reported on the rooftops. The rebels seize control of the state broadcaster in Tripoli.

- Rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil declares the Gaddafi era “over”. The international community says the Gaddafi regime is “coming to an end”. - Overnight, Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam reappears after being reportedly arrested by rebels and defiantly says Tripoli is “under control” of the regime. His brother Mohammed escapes after having been arrested by rebels.

August 23: Rebels capture Gaddafi’s compound and headquarters in Tripoli after a day of heavy fighting. Rebels say there is no trace of Gaddafi and his sons.

- Gaddafi says in audio messages he has abandoned his Tripoli compound in a “tactical withdrawal.” He says he walked incognito in Tripoli.

August 24: Gaddafi’s regime has lost control of 90 to 95 per cent of the country, a rebel military spokesman says. But rebels advancing towards Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, are blocked as loyalists keep up a stiff resistance. - “The Gaddafi era is over, even if it will only really end with his capture and his conviction for the crimes he has committed,” Abdel Jalil says. Rebels put a price of €1.2 million on the head of Gaddafi, dead or alive.

- France says it has invited countries who see themselves as “friends of Libya” to talks in Paris on September 1.

August 25: A rebel offensive largely clears the strongly loyalist district of Abu Slim, near to Gaddafi’s compound, after fierce fighting.

- Nato is contributing intelligence and reconnaissance equipment to the search for Gaddafi, Britain says. A Nato spokeswoman says Nato is not targeting Gaddafi or coordinating with rebels. French and British operatives have been working with Libyan rebels on their eastern front, AFP discovers.

- Gaddafi calls in an audio message for an armed struggle to defeat the “enemies” and to “liberate Tripoli”.

- More than 20,000 people have been killed in the rebellion: Abdel Jalil.

- The UN Security Council agrees to release $1.5 billion of seized Libya assets to buy emergency aid.

- Rebels announce they have transferred their political leadership to the capital Tripoli from their base in Benghazi.

- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urges the “new Libya” to be firm against “violent extremism” and says the next days and weeks in Libya are “critical”.

August 26: British planes fire missiles at a bunker in Gaddafi’s home town of Sirte, the Ministry of Defence says.

- Forces loyal to Gaddafi killed more than 150 prisoners in a “mass murder” as they fled the rebel takeover of Tripoli, a rebel military chief says.

- Amnesty International says both rebels and Gaddafi’s forces were responsible for torture and bad treatment of prisoners.

- The AU calls for the formation of all inclusive transitional government.

August 27: Rebels say they have full control of Tripoli airport but with pockets of resistance on the outskirts.

- Algerian regional official says unlikely a road convoy that could have had Gaddafi on board crossed from Libya into Algeria.