http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12608941
1 March 2011 Last updated at 16:14 GMT
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The BBC's Jim Muir: "There are thousands upon thousands of people waiting desperately to cross that border"
The situation on Libya's border with Tunisia has reached crisis point, as tens of thousands of foreigners flee unrest in the country, the UN says.
Aid staff are battling to cope with an exodus that has seen some 140,000 people crossing into Tunisia and Egypt.Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has played down protests in the country and insisted that all his people love him.
His comments came amid reports that he is attempting to regain control of rebel areas in western Libya.
Col Gaddafi is facing a massive challenge to his 41-year rule, with protesters in control of towns in the east.
Witnesses said pro-Gaddafi forces tried to retake the western cities of Zawiya, Misrata and Nalut on Monday but were repulsed by rebels helped by defecting army units.
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There are scenes of total chaos here. This is no-man's land. This area controls access through a narrow passage to the Tunisian passport control. There are just thousands upon thousands of people waiting desperately to cross. Some of those who are at the front have been overcome, they've been crushed, they're in a condition of complete exhaustion and hardly able to breathe.
Many have had a long and difficult journey to get here and there are more coming all the time. Once they get to the Tunisian side their problems are not over. In a way they're only just beginning.
There are thousands who've been stranded, sleeping out on the tarmac on the approach roads and in the car park as they wait for transport to move them on. It's increasingly overloaded. The facilities there are completely swamped. Neither the Tunisians nor the international community have been able to keep pace with this exodus that is taking place.
At the scene
Many have had a long and difficult journey to get here and there are more coming all the time. Once they get to the Tunisian side their problems are not over. In a way they're only just beginning.
There are thousands who've been stranded, sleeping out on the tarmac on the approach roads and in the car park as they wait for transport to move them on. It's increasingly overloaded. The facilities there are completely swamped. Neither the Tunisians nor the international community have been able to keep pace with this exodus that is taking place.
The rebels said they had killed eight pro-Gaddafi militia, but there were no opposition fatalities. There has been no word from the government on casualties.
There are fears in Zawiya that the city may be attacked from the air, but the rebels remained defiant."We're not here for power, authority or money," they said in a message aimed at Col Gaddafi.
"We are here for the cause of freedom and the price we are willing to pay is with our own blood. It's victory or death."
'Deep stress'
Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said 70-75,000 people had fled to Tunisia since violence began in Libya on 20 February. A similar number have gone to Egypt, where most have been able to continue their journeys onward.
"Our staff on the Libya-Tunisia border have told us this morning that the situation there is reaching crisis point," she told the AFP news agency.
About 2,000 people are crossing into Tunisia every hour but once in Tunisia many of them have nowhere to go. Another 20,000 are said to be backed up on the Libyan side.
Most are Egyptian, but there are also significant numbers of Chinese and Bangladeshis.
There are also concerns about thousands of registered refugees from Iraq, Somalia and Sudan, many of whom have said they feel trapped, threatened and hunted.
One black African refugee told the BBC he had fled the rebel-controlled eastern city of Benghazi because of threats against him by opposition supporters who thought he was a mercenary hired by Col Gaddafi.
"They don't want to see blacks in Benghazi," he said.
World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran told the BBC food was being brought in by road and air, and bought locally, but supplies were under "deep stress".
"This will be a very pressured situation for some time - that's why we have launched an emergency appeal for funds to back up the system here," she said.
Tented transit camps are being set up hurriedly on the Tunisian side, while frantic efforts are being made to charter aircraft and ships to repatriate the stranded.
In other developments:
- The European Union is calling an extraordinary summit for 11 March to discuss the situation in Libya and unrest in other parts of North Africa and the Middle East
- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in testimony to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, urged lawmakers not to cut funds on dealing with overseas crises. She said Libya "could become a peaceful democracy or it could face protracted civil war"
- The Red Cross is requesting access to western Libya, amid unconfirmed reports of attacks on doctors and summary killings of patients
- Austria has frozen assets of the Libyan leadership worth 1.2bn euros ($1.65bn; £1.02bn) as Germany freezes the bank account of one of Col Gaddafi's sons
Col Gaddafi gave an interview in the capital Tripoli for BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, US TV network ABC and the UK's Sunday Times newspaper.
Col Gaddafi accused Western countries of abandoning Libya and said that they had no morals and wanted to colonise the country.
Col Gaddafi challenged those, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who have accused him of having money abroad, to produce evidence. He said he would "put two fingers in their eye".
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“Start Quote
End QuoteI would think Mr Obama would want at least one big ally in the region to join in if any action was taken”
Col Gaddafi said true Libyans had not demonstrated but those who had come on to the streets were under the influence of drugs supplied by Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
But in response to the interview, the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the fact he was laughing at questions while "slaughtering his own people" showed that he was disconnected from reality.Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, on Tuesday condemned Ms Rice's comments and added that Mr Cameron's handling of the situation was "like a joke".
Mr Cameron has frozen Gaddafi assets and called for the Libyan leader to go.
Saif Gaddafi told Sky News that the east had not fallen and he denied that the people there wanted his father out, saying it was just local difficulties.
World foreign ministers on Monday condemned attacks on Libyan civilians and the European Union imposed sanctions including an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on Col Gaddafi and his close entourage.
che is vindicated at last. people power showing for real. hope the west doesnt spoil it by meddling in. time to prove people can do it.
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