A medical crisis is looming in eastern Libya with hospitals in Benghazi running short of supplies, the rebels' health minister says.

Stocks of drugs and other items such as surgical gloves are said to be running out.

Dr Nagi Barakat told the BBC that most emergency aid donated from abroad went straight to the front line.

He said that if a new offensive broke out, hospitals would face a major crisis.

On the cancer ward of Benghazi's children's hospital, most patients are not getting the right dosage. There aren't enough drugs to go round.

Dr Amina Bayou says she and her colleagues juggle supplies to give everyone a little.

"We try to divide the drugs between this patient and that patient. It's not good," she said.

"We are treating more than 200 children. We ask parents to go to Egypt to buy medicines and when they bring them back, we divide them up like parcelling out food."

In one room, a two-year-old called Bubaker lies listlessly. His leukaemia is advanced and he is not responding to treatment, says Dr Bayou, because the dose isn't strong enough.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13937817

My local newspaper informed me this morning that with the killing of Muammar Gaddafi the "Libyan people can finally turn the page on 42 years of vicious oppression."

The oppression began with Gaddafi liberating Libya from the tyranny of the puppet ruler King Idris I, whose flag has become the banner of the rebels.

It continued with Gaddafi's expulsion of foreign military bases and his nationalization of the country's oil.

Further oppression was heaped upon Libyans when under Gaddafi's rule living standards rose to surpass those of every other country in Africa.

Certainly, Gaddafi's fight to suppress the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group-whose members fought the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq and struggled alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviets in Afghanistan-added to the oppression.

The leader of the LIFG, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, once jailed by the Americans for terrorism, is now the military ruler of Tripoli.

Gaddafi's insistence over the objections of US oil company executives and State Department officials that the Libyan economy be "Libyanized" (that foreign investment be turned to the advantage of Libyans) cranked up the oppression a notch or two further.

And Gaddafi's generous aid to national liberation movements and to sub-Saharan African countries expanded his oppressions worldwide.

Which pro-democracy forces fought back against these oppressions? 

• Qatar, an absolute monarchy, which sent guns and ammunition to Islamist rebels.
• Monarchists, still incensed at the overthrow of their king.
• Islamists, who for years had struggled to bring an Islamist regime to power in Tripoli.
• CIA-connected dissidents, who hold key positions in the National Transitional Council, and promise Western oil companies first dibs on oil concessions.
• Nato, whose warplanes and special operation forces proved decisive in toppling Gaddafi.

Over the last few weeks, Nato warplanes occupied themselves with reducing the town of Sirte to rubble - in the name of protecting civilians. It turns out that it's all right for Nato to bomb civilians, but not for the leaders of independent governments to put down insurgencies.

While these forces battled Gaddafi's oppressions, US-provisioned Saudi tanks rolled into Bahrain to crush a popular uprising, the US-backed ruler of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, turned his guns on his own people, and US-approved Mubarakism continued in Egypt, under Mubarak's henchmen.

These events-all involving US allies-have been little remarked upon. More importantly, none have been met with military intervention or indictments by the International Criminal Court, these attentions being reserved uniquely for Gaddafi.

It's true that the Libyan people can finally turn the page on 42 years, but of independence, not of vicious oppression.

Nato military bases, an economy subservient to Western oil companies, and the oppressive yoke US imperialism, await them.

"Gaddafi's Oppressions"

This was anextrajudicial killing, supported by the war criminals, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama & their numerous accessories.

It's very unfortunate. But the issue, I think, in Libya today is not so much about Gaddafi, but that this symbolizes the final occupation, the re-colonization of Libya by the US & NATO forces.

It is now a question of the US government & the Europeans taking hold of Libya & doing with it what it wants. It has access to not only its oil & gas reserves, but something that the media doesn't really cover very often, & that is the huge, huge water resources under the Libyan soil.

I think that Gaddafi's principal crime, at least in relation to how from the perspective of empire, his major crime was that he refused to take any loans. He refused to have any debts. And, you know, you can't be a part of the international club if you don't get yourself in hock to the IMF & the World Bank & to the corporations. And he was very, very agile in preventing any attempt to make Libya take into debts.

The second thing is that he refused to join the club of bankers set up his own bank. Indeed, he had plans to set up a pan-African bank, which would then provide loans to African countries....

A country is in ruins. Months of war.

Not to worry, business opportunities abound. Let a thousand disaster capitalist flowers bloom.

Libya, you are about to be mauled:

The starting pistol for British firms to pursue contracts in Libya has been fired by the new defence secretary, Philip Hammond, who urged companies to "pack their suitcases" and head there to secure reconstruction contracts.

As Nato announced that it plans to wind up operations in Libya, Hammond said that great care had been taken during the campaign to avoid destroying critical infrastructure.

"Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and other companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Libya," he told the BBC in an interview.

"I would expect British companies, even British sales directors, [to be] packing their suitcases and looking to get out to Libya and take part in the reconstruction of that country as soon as they can," said Hammond, who replaced Liam Fox as defence secretary a week ago.

He added that after a "hugely successful" British mission in Libya, Britain now needed "to support the Libyans to turn the liberation of their country into a successful stabilisation so that Libya can be a beacon of prosperity and democracy in north Africa going forward."

The National Transitional Council has already said that it intends to reward countries who showed support for its fight against the Gaddafi regime, with Britain and France likely to lead the way.

The success of British contractors in the country - which could see billions of pounds spent on reconstruction over the next decade - will be seen as a huge victory for prime minister David Cameron, who visited Tripoli and NTC members last month, along with Nicolas Sarkozy.

British gains in Libya include business and reconstruction contracts, as well as oil. As Libya's £100bn in frozen assets around the world are released, it is a sizeable pot.

Lord Green, a trade minister, has already met with British firms to discuss potential opportunities in Libya, and oil company BP is believed to have already held talks with the NTC.

...

France has already begun its own campaign to secure business in the country. French foreign minister Alain Juppé has said it was only "fair and logical" for its companies to benefit.

Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative backbencher and chair of the cross-party parliamentary group on Libya, said Britain should come first when it comes to awarding contracts, which would also pay back some of the cost of some £300m spent on military action.

"The question that remains is, who should ultimately bear this cost?" he said. "Should the burden fall on those who could be counted on? Or should, in time, Libya repay those who fought with her, and for her?"

He added: "In these difficult economic times, it should not be too much to ask a country with Libya's wealth and resources to pay their share of the gold."

Get moving, exploiters; disaster capitalism already running in Libya

Antony Loewenstein