Libya conflict: Rebels vow to resolve Tripoli shortages
Libyan rebel leaders have announced measures to tackle shortages of water, fuel and medicines in Tripoli, which the UN says are threatening lives.
Mahmoud Shammam of the National Transitional Council (NTC) promised diesel fuel to restore electricity and water supplies would arrive on Sunday.
But he warned residents not to expect miracles after such a swift victory against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
Meanwhile, the rebels took control on the main border crossing with Tunisia.
Locals said the pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag was raised at Ras Jidir late on Friday, opening a path for humanitarian supplies to enter Libya.
However, regime loyalists are firing rockets at the road to the border.
Overnight, Nato aircraft carried out strikes on Tripoli, and Sirte, where Col Gaddafi's supporters are continuing to hold out.
A rebel advance on Sirte has halted outside the oil port of Ras Lanuf.
The biggest crisis now is a shortage of basic goods, our correspondent adds.
There is no running water and hardly any electricity in a city of two million people. The supply of water, which usually comes from aquifers in the desert, has been disrupted by the fighting and restoring it will take some time.
At the NTC's first news conference in the capital since the uprising began six months ago, Mr Shammam said fuel was being distributed, and that water and medical supplies would be delivered by sea from Misrata.
"We have 30,000 tonnes of gasoline. We'll start to distribute it to the public starting today. We have diesel fuel [which] will be arriving tomorrow, to support the electricity [power stations]," he said.
"Also, we are going to provide within two days the gas for cooking. And we are working hard to reactivate [the] Zawiya refinery."
"Tripoli was under the tight control of the dictatorship for 42 years. We are starting from point zero in this situation. Do not ask for miracles, but we promise to try to make this difficult period as short as we can."
Mr Shammam also called on all public, private and oil industry employees to return to work to help restore basic services to the capital.
Dr Aref Ali Nayed, operations director for the NTC's Libya Stabilisation Team, told the BBC from the Libya-Tunisia border that "multiple teams" were "working around the clock" to resolve the water shortages.
 Fuel needed to restore electricity and water supplies would arrive on Sunday, rebels say
Our correspondent says that most people will tolerate such shortages for now as the majority of people are happy to see the back of the brutal Gaddafi regime, even though the colonel himself has not been captured or killed.
Earlier, the UK government said it was giving the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) £3m ($4.9m) to provide surgical teams to treat 5,000 wounded people, and provide food for 690,000 forced to flee their homes.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) meanwhile said it was desperate to reach sub-Saharan migrant workers caught up in the fighting.
The head of the IOM in Benghazi, Martin Jerrett, told the BBC that Africans were facing deep hostility from the population of Tripoli because they were generally viewed as "mercenaries and/or close to the regime".
He said most were isolated and had no embassy representation. A ship carrying 260 evacuees has now arrived in Benghazi.
Cut in two On the coast east of Tripoli, the rebel advance on Col Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte is deadlocked.
 The rebels remain as confident convinced that they have the momentum
The BBC's Paul Wood says there have been steady duels between the two sides, clouds of black smoke hanging over the main coastal road and the intermittent thump of shells or rockets exploding.
Nato has been carrying out multiple airstrikes to try to restore the rebels' momentum, hitting 21 targets overnight in and around Sirte, including armoured vehicles, gun emplacements, bunkers and a surface-to-air missile launcher.
In the previous 24 hours, 29 targets were hit from the air, including a command-and-control facility, Nato said.
Our correspondent says the rebels need to gain control of Sirte because without it, the country will effectively remain cut in two.
The rebels remain as confident, even jubilant, as ever, convinced that they have the momentum as they approach what may be the final big battle of this war and their revolution, he adds.
"There is intensive consultation and negotiation with the community leaders of Sirte," Mr Shammam told reporters in Tripoli.
"We can take it militarily, but we want to take it peacefully."
Asked about the fate of Col Muammar Gaddafi, who some believe may be in Sirte, Mr Shammam said the fugitive leader would be caught.
"He's running from place to place - we're going to get Gaddafi, we are following him and we're going to find him but we're not going to stop everything waiting for the capture of Gaddafi or his sons."
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