Nigerian Ike Emanuel buried his 6-month-old baby girl in the desert last week after she died of exposure on a desperate trek to escape Libya as it lurched closer to all-out civil war.

He was among thousands who reached the safety of Tunisian soil on Wednesday, hungry, exhausted and mostly destitute.

"I lost my baby. She died and we buried her in the desert," Emanuel, 35, told Reuters. "We spent three days in the desert and she was a little baby of six months and she could not endure the cold," he said. "I am going home with nothing, going home again without my baby which can be my future.

The rebel National Libyan Council said it believed Niger, Mali and Kenya were sending troops to support Gaddafi.

Holy Wakili, a 31-year-old Nigerian, said he and other black Africans had fled the west Libyan city of Zuara last week when reports of "African mercenaries" first spread and angry Libyans began to bang on their doors, rob them and chase them out.