Rebels' govt shifting base to capital

TRIPOLI: The Libyan rebels’ interim government announced it is moving from the country’s second city of Benghazi to the capital Tripoli, another step toward taking control as bursts of heavy gunfire erupted around Muammar Gaddafi’s last stronghold on Friday.
Before daybreak, eruptions of gunfire were heard coming from near the Tripoli neighborhood of Abu Salim, where rebels had battled Gaddafi’s fighters holed up in residential buildings.Smoke rose from the area but a rebel at the scene said the fighting in Abu Salim had ended by nightfall on Thursday.
Gaddafi is still on the run, but a minister in the rebel government said his capture is not a prerequisite for setting up a new administration in the capital.
“We can start rebuilding our country,” finance minister Ali Tarhouni of the National Transitional Council said. “He (Gaddafi) is the one who is basically in the sewer, moving from one to another.”
Even with his regime in tatters, Gaddafi has tried to rally his followers to kill the rebels who waged war for six months to bring down Libya’s ruler of 42 years.
“Don’t leave Tripoli for the rats. Fight them, and kill them, ” Gadhafi said in a new audio message broadcast on Al-Ouroba TV, a Syria-based satellite station.
Since taking over Tripoli rebels have been struggling to take complete control.