Al Jazeera – 2011-09-02 00:41:30
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/09/201191141151339449.html
Deposed Leader Calls for Libya To Be “Engulfed in Flames”
Al Jazeera
TRIPOLI (September 2, 2011) — Muammar Gaddafi has issued a defiant audio message, accusing international forces of seeking to occupy Libya for its oil and other resources and warning them to prepare for guerrilla war.
In a message broadcast on a Syria-based television channel on Thursday, the deposed Libyan leader called on NATO and the UN to end their intervention in Libya and said that Libya’s tribes would not accept their presence in the country.
The international community has forced Libya into a civil war, he said. “Imperialism is hated by Libyan people, who can accept it? All people will fight against imperialism,” he said. Gaddafi called on NATO to end air strikes.
In another message broadcast earlier during the day, he urged his supporters to keep up their resistance to the uprising in Libya that has forced him into hiding, the Syria-based Al-Rai television channel said. He asked his supporters to continue what he called “struggle against foreign aggression” and said those against him were divided.
He vowed again not to surrender, saying he would carry on fighting. “Even if you cannot hear my voice, continue the resistance,” Gaddafi said. “We will not surrender. We are not women and we are going to keep on fighting,” the message said.
Gaddafi called on his supporters to set Libya alight, vowed that his backers would not give up, he said in the message. “Let there be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames.” He said the “balance of power is now levelled as all tribes are now armed”.
Al Jazeera‘s Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, said: “It is hard to see what it exactly is he [Gaddafi] thinks he can achieve, unless Colonel Gaddafi doesn’t understand that it really is the end game being played out here, and that the rest of the country almost no longer cares about him anymore.”
Gaddafi’s Location
Gaddafi was speaking on the 42nd anniversary of the military coup that toppled King Idris and brought him to power in 1969 when he was a 27-year-old army captain.
There have been conflicting reports about Gaddafi’s location since his Tripoli compound was overrun on August 23. A senior military commander of the Libyan interim leadership said Gaddafi was in a desert town outside Tripoli, along with his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, planning a fightback.
All three men are wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Abdel Majid Mlegta, co-ordinator of the Tripoli military operations room, told the Reuters news agency “someone we trust” had said Gaddafi had fled to Bani Walid, 150 km southeast of the capital.
He said Ali al-Ahwal, Gaddafi’s co-ordinator for tribes, was also in Bani Walid, a stronghold of the powerful Warfalla tribe, Libya’s biggest tribe among a population of six million, but many say their loyalty is divided.
“We are capable of ending the crisis but military action is out of the question right now,” Mlegta said. “We cannot attack this tribe because many of our brigades in Benghazi and Zintan are from Bani Walid. The sons of Bani Walid hold the key.”
An Algerian newspaper said Gaddafi was in the border town of Ghadamis and had tried to call Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to appeal for refuge. Bouteflika would not take the call, even though Algeria gave sanctuary to Gaddafi’s wife and three of his children when they crossed the border on Monday.
Gaddafi’s Son:
‘Libya like McDonald’s for NATO —
Fast War as Fast Food’
RussiaToday
(July 1,2011) — With the war in Libya at the focal point of international relations, RT’s gained access to Colonel Gaddafi’s son in NATO-targeted Tripoli. Saif al-Islam thinks his country’s wanted for its riches, but says the people won’t let Libya fall under foreign control.
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