Let Libya burn: Gaddafi in challenge to world leaders

Muammar al-Gaddafi, driven into hiding by his foes, last night urged his supporters to fight on, even as Libya’s new interim rulers met world leaders in Paris to discuss reshaping a nation torn by 42 years of one-man rule and six months of war.

“Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to place, from town to town, from valley to valley, from mountain to mountain,” Gaddafi said in a message broadcast on Arab satellite television channels.

“If Libya goes up in flames, who will be able to govern it? Let it burn. They don’t want to rule Libya. They cannot rule it as long as we are armed. We are still armed. We will fight in every valley, in every street, in every oasis, and every town.”

He added: “How can we give ourselves up again? Are we women surrendering ourselves to our husbands or what?”

The fugitive leader was speaking on the 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 – before he subsequently promoted himself to colonel. A senior military commander from the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) said Gaddafi was in the desert town of Bani Walid, 90 miles south-east of Tripoli.

Abdel Majid Mlegta, co-ordinator of the Tripoli military operations room, said “someone we trust” told them that Gaddafi had fled to Bani Walid three days after Tripoli fell.

Dr Mahmoud Abdulaziz, the representative for Bani Walid on the NTC yesterday told The Scotsman that Saif Gaddafi, the dictator’s most prominent son, is also in the town.

He said: “This is sure. The last time he was seen was the day before yesterday.”

Saif delivered his own message of defiance on Wednesday, saying through a Syrian broadcaster: “We must wage a campaign of attrition day and night until these lands are cleansed from these gangs and traitors.”

Saif also slammed Nato for dealing with a former member of al-Qaeda, who he said had been appointed to a senior position in the capital Tripoli. “You will regret this a lot,” he said.

However, Dr Abdulaziz said loyalty to Gaddafi in Bani Walid was limited.

He said: “Now only 25 per cent of the population in Bani Walid support the regime. Every day we are receiving calls from the heads of families there. They tell us we are with you. We are waiting for you. Leaders of the police have contacted us too.”

The NTC, trying to mop up pro-Gaddafi forces, has extended by a week a Saturday deadline for the surrender of the coastal city of Sirte, Gaddafi’s birthplace, and the other hold-out towns Bani Walid and Sabha, in the southern desert.

Opposition fighters, backed by Nato airstrikes, have been advancing toward the three. While the deadline extension was officially only for Sirte, rebels said it would also include Bani Walid and Sabha.

“That means there’s progress in the negotiations,” said Mohammed Zawawi, an NTC spokesman in the eastern city of Benghazi. “We’re not in a rush to get in to Sirte. It has no economic importance and we’re not going to lose casualties for it. We can cut supplies and wait, even more than a week.”

Mr Mlegta, the NTC military leader, said Gaddafi wanted to set up a base in Bani Walid to orchestrate attacks. Appeals to notables in the town to hand him over had so far gone unanswered.

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 at about a million strong among a population of six million, but by no means solidly pro-Gaddafi.

“We are capable of ending the crisis but military action is out of the question right now,” Mr 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.”

NTC fighters are close to Bani Walid. Nato air strikes hit several rocket launchers near Sirte on Wednesday, as well as an ammunition storage facility and a military command post near Bani Walid, a Nato spokesman said.

Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, the Libyan prime minister under Gaddafi, gave the rebels another boost yesterday, telling al Arabiya television that he supports the insurgents. He said he was in touch with the rebel leadership “and we notified them that we are with the people and we are ready to serve our country.”

The NTC also said another two top officials loyal to Gaddafi were confirmed as having fled to Algeria and Egypt. It said they included Omran Abukraa, who was Libya’s oil chief, and an official identified as al-Tayyeb al-Safi.

Yesterday marked the coup against the monarchy of King Idris by Gaddafi and a group of military officers. Gaddafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of anti-Western defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers.