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John Kerry

A huge fuel depot in Libya’s capital burned out of control yesterday, set ablaze in fighting between rival militias that has driven the country to chaos three years after the Nato-backed revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.Combat over control of the nearby airport forced firefighters to withdraw, abandoning their attempts to extinguish the blaze ignited by a missile strike that hit millions of litres of fuel.

Foreign governments have looked on powerless as anarchy sweeps across the North African oil producer. Western countries have urged their nationals to leave, shut their embassies and pulled diplomats out, after two weeks of clashes among rival factions of former rebels killed nearly 160 people in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi.

The Netherlands, the Philippines and Austria yesterday prepared to evacuate diplomatic staff. The United States, United Nations and Turkish embassies have already shut operations after the worst violence since the 2011 uprising.

Two rival brigades of former rebels fighting for control of Tripoli International Airport have pounded each other’s positions with Grad rockets, artillery fire and cannons for two weeks, turning the south of the capital into a battlefield. “It is out of control. The second tank has been hit and the firefighters have withdrawn from the site as the fighting has resumed in the area,” said Mohamed Al-Harrai, a spokesman for the national oil company said of the blaze, which choked the sky above the city with black smoke.

In the three messy years since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya’s fragile government and fledging army have been unable to control heavily armed former anti-Gaddafi fighters, who refuse to hand over weapons and continue to rule the streets.

Libya has appealed for international help to stop the country from becoming a failed state. Western partners fear chaos spilling across borders with arms smugglers and militants already profiting from the turmoil.

After the US evacuation, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the “free-wheeling militia violence” had been a real risk for American diplomats on the ground, and called for an end to the violence. US ambassador Chris Stevens was killed by militants along with three others in Benghazi in September 2012. In neighbouring Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly warned about militants capitalising on Libya’s chaos to set up bases along their mutual frontier.

Libya’s government has asked for international help to try to contain the disaster at the fuel depot on the airport road, close to other tanks holding gas and diesel. The conflict has forced Tripoli International Airport to shut down. Airliners were reduced to smouldering hulks on the tarmac and the aviation control centre was knocked out. “This crisis is causing lots of confusion, lots of foreigners are leaving and diplomats are also departing through here,” said Salah Qahdrah, security controller at Mitiga air base, now a secondary airport operating limited flights.

Yesterday was the start of Eid el-Fitr festivities to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and fighting had eased in the morning. But fuel supplies were growing scarce in the capital with power cuts increasingly frequent.

The health ministry said on Sunday nearly 160 people had been killed in fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi where regular forces and militias have clashed in open street battles with Islamist militants entrenched there.- Reuters.