Libyan rebels broke despite pile of gold

... the cash crunch weighs heavily on his mind, especially as "not one dollar has reached us" of the money promised by other countries.

Qatar has pledged $400 million. Kuwait promised $180 million. Other friendly nations, led by France and Italy, promised a fund of at least $250 million last month.

The rebels are asking for loans secured by billions of dollars in assets that were frozen under sanctions imposed on Gadhafi and the Tripoli government.

...

Another concern may be that the rebels, despite their best efforts, remain a largely untested quotient.

The rebels have offered no accounting of how they spent the money the provisional government borrowed from the Central Bank. Also unclear is how they spent the roughly $129 million they got from the one tanker of oil they were able to sell with the help of Qatar. Oil sales have since stopped because of damage to the fields from the fighting.

They have also not disclosed what they have done with the millions of dollars donated by Libyans living abroad.