Clock is ticking for Gaddafi to agree surrender terms – or Sirte will face the rebel’s full wrath

Libyan forces closed in on Muammar al-Gaddafi’s home town yesterday, saying they would seize it by force if negotiations for its surrender failed.

Libya’s new rulers, trying to establish control over the whole country, set their sights on Sirte – Gaddafi’s birthplace – and two other towns controlled by his supporters, Sabha in the south-west and Jufrah in the south-east.

One commander said his forces were within 60 miles of Sirte from the east and others were advancing from the west.

Colonel Ahmed Bani, military spokesman for the National Transitional Council in Benghazi said: “We will continue negotiations as long as necessary. However, the liberation of these cities will take place sooner or later. In our opinion this is a matter of days.”

The NTC and its western supporters are acutely aware of the need to prevent Libya collapsing into the kind of chaos that plagued Iraq for years after the 2003 invasion.

The NTC, whose leaders plan to move to Tripoli from Benghazi this week, is trying to impose security, restore basic services and revive the oil- and gas-based economy.

In good omens for economic recovery, officials announced that a vital gas export pipeline to Europe had been repaired and that Libya’s biggest refinery had survived the war intact.

In the far west, Tunisian authorities reopened the main border crossing into Libya.

That should help relieve a looming humanitarian crisis in the city, where food, drinking water and medicines are scarce.

Some residents of the capital ventured out to hunt for water, food and fuel. And in Martyrs’ Square, known as Green Square in the Gaddafi era, traffic police reappeared in crisp white uniforms, directing cars amid a sea of bullet casings. “I came back to work on Friday. Life is beginning to come back to normal,” said one policeman.

Gaddafi, 69, is on the run, perhaps intending to lead an insurgency against his foes.

NTC officials rejected any idea of talks with Gaddafi, saying he was a criminal who must be brought to justice. “We did not negotiate when we were weak, and we won’t negotiate now that we have liberated all of Libya,” said information minister Mahmoud Shammam.

The rebels say they would prefer a negotiated handover of Sirte, but will storm it if need be. “Our aim isn’t bloodshed, our aim is liberation,” said Colonel Salem Muftah al-Refaidy.