NATO strikes command center at Gadhafi compound

TRIPOLI, Libya -- NATO warplanes struck Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli on Saturday, as the new rebel administration warned it was fast running out of money because countries that promised financial aid have not come through.

Ali Tarhouni, the rebel finance minister, complained that many countries that pledged aid have instead sent a string of businessmen looking for contracts from the oil-rich country.

"They are very vocal in terms of [offering financial] help but all that we have seen is that they are ... looking for business," Tarhouni said Saturday.

Tarhouni recently returned to Benghazi, the rebel bastion, from a trip overseas to drum up aid that included a visit to Rome where the 22-nation Contract Group on Libya promised to set up a fund to speedily help finance the rebel administration.

"I think even our friends do not understand the urgency of the situation. Either they don't understand, or they don't care," Tarhouni said.

Tarhouni singled out Qatar and Kuwait for their "generous, very generous help." He did not specify the aid these countries have offered, but Qatar has sent fighter jets, airplanes full of food and medical aid as well as helping the rebels market their oil.

Tarhouni also praised France, which was the driving force behind the U.N. no-fly zone. But "other than that, everybody is just talking," he said. "So far, nothing has come through and I am fast running out of cash."

Tarhouni emphasized that the rebels' National Transitional Council will be signing no long-term contracts. While the rebel administration will honor previously signed contracts, Tarhouni indicated a new democratically elected government might do otherwise.

"Right now, I am not going to sign any contract that has any consequences for the future of Libya, with the exception of what I need in terms of food, medicine, fuel," he said.

Before the conflict, Libya, an OPEC member, produced about 1.6 million barrels per day, just under 2 percent of world production.

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen Libyan soldiers, including a colonel and other officers, fled their country in two small boats and took refuge in neighboring Tunisia, where thousands fleeing the fighting in Libya have taken refuge. The group turned over their weapons to the Tunisian Army.

The official TAP news agency said 22 military, some ranking officers, arrived Friday in boats carrying a dozen civilians, two with bullet wounds. Three dissident officers from Moammar Gadhafi's army reached Tunisia in a boat May 15.