Live Blog - Libya Feb 23

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

February 23, 2011

1:46pm A British oil worker stranded with others in a camp in eastern Libya has called on his government to rescue them from a "nightmare" scenario. James Coyle told the BBC that he and around 300 other Britons, Germans, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Austrians and Romanians were stranded at the desert camp with only enough food and water to "maybe" last one day.

Residents of nearby towns armed with AK-47s have come to the camp multiple times to take supplies, he said.

"They've looted ... the German camp next door, they've taken all their vehicles, all our vehicles ... everything. So we are here desperate for the British government to come and get us," Coyle said.

1:25pm The Wall Street Journal newspaper has weighed in on Libya with a fiery editorial that argues the West should be asserting itself more forcefully to end Gaddafi's 42-year reign, beginning by offering humanitarian aid to protesters and enforcing a no-fly zone in the country and extending to threatening to bomb Libyan airfields and arming the protesters.

1:08pm Al Jazeera's Harry Smith reports from Rome on the Italian and European reaction to the revolt in Libya. We've already heard the foreign ministers remarks (see below). Smith says a council of six nations, including France, Spain, Malta, Cyprus and Greece, will be meeting soon in Italy to discuss the increased flow of emigrants into Europe from northern African nations; Libya has put another huge problem on their plate.

Smith also says that the direct oil pipeline between Libya and Italy - the so-called "Green Stream" - has completely "dried up".

12:56pm More video paints a frightening portrait of Tripoli at night these days, with armed troops - allegedly "mercenaries" who open fire freely on anyone outside - enforcing some kind of deadly curfew:

12:35pm Martin Chulov is a reporter for the Guardian newspaper tweeting from Benghazi. Here's what he's reported in the past hour:

Amazing scenes in yard of ransacked police hq in benghazi. Massive armoury looted from barracks by defecting troops. #libya

Camp site set up at benghazi. Large anti-ghadaffi demo here. Effigies of him hanging from looted govt buildings.

Old independence flag still flying above looted and scorched court house in central benghazi. #libya,#feb17.

12:11pm Around 20,000 people left Libya last night through the Salloum crossing with Egypt, Jamal Elshayyal reports today from the border, citing Egyptian military sources.

The border, which Jamal said was "almost a free-for-all" yesterday, is now under tighter Egyptian military control, at least on the Egypt side. Soldiers appear only to be allowing medical supplies into Libya, he said.

It's a rough time for Egypt to deal with a refugee crisis, since the country remains in flux following the uprising that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak

URL du live: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2011/02/22/live-blog-libya-feb-23