Sue Turton

Giving birth on the frontline

The impact of the drawn out conflict on ordinary people in Sirte was brought into sharp focus for us last night. We had swung by the field hospital on the way back from the fighting on the frontline to ask the surgeon about casualty figures.

We had seen and heard ambulances rushing backwards and forwards all day so feared the toll was high. The doctor shook his head and said it had been a bad day.

Two of the commanders fighting on the northern flank close to the port had been killed by sniper bullets and he had treated many shrapnel injuries.

Then he added that they had also had a labour to deal with. I thought I'd misheard him.

A labour? As in a birth? Yes, he said. A pregnant woman had escaped the fighting in Sirte and was staying in one of the houses behind the field hospital. She was three days overdue and was suffering complications. 

Don't 'call us rebels'

It was getting late for a foray to the front. There was perhaps an hour's light left in the sinking sun. Not much time to negotiate our way up there and back before dark.

But we had run into the same brick wall that was stopping all the media in Misurata from reporting at the frontline.

The military commanders had universally decided that the press did more harm than good after one of our colleagues gave away rebel positions in his report a couple of weeks earlier.

As we hung out at the makeshift hospital just back from the key checkpoint, one of the local tradesmen, who had supported the rebels with supplies since the beginning, lodged a complaint.

"Why do you call them rebels? They are not fighting men. They are civilians forced to pick up weapons." Mohammed was indignant.

"You need to tell the world that these men are normal people. Gaddafi has forced them to take up arms.

Holidays in Misrata

We hit the beach today. Just for a couple of hours before heading back to the frontline.

I've not swum in the sea before with the distant thuds of shelling in the background. It gave us a taste of what life could be like along this beautiful coastline.

Beautiful clear turquoise waters and empty sandy beaches. But the soundtrack was more Apocalypse Now than Summer Holiday.

It’s not just the views that could make this a great holiday destination.

Ajdabiya honours fallen British photojournalist

They didn’t name a street after Tim. Instead they chose the biggest square in Ajdabiya. If the rebels win this war, it will be forever known as Tim Hetherington Square.

He’s not alone. There’s a Sarkozy quarter too. But everyone still left in this devastated city now knows who Tim was, where he died and why he will always be remembered here.

This mild-mannered photojournalist made quite an impact on Dr Suleiman Refardi, the leading surgeon at Ajdabiya’s main hospital. Many journalists have visited him in the past month. It’s about the only place that stayed open whoever was in control of the streets.

Before the doctors and nurses left their posts to march to the square to commemorate it in Tim’s honour, the doctor remembered his professionalism: “Tim Hetherington was one of the people transmitting the light of truth.