‘We will not be ruled by traitors’ says defiant Gaddafi

“We will not be ruled after we were the masters,” said the brief statement attributed to Col Gaddafi read out on Syria’s al-Rai TV by its owner, Mishan al-Jabouri, a former Iraqi MP who is a Gaddafi supporter.

The message described the opposition forces as “traitors” who are willing to turn over Libya’s oil riches to foreign interests.

“We will not hand Libya to colonialism, once again, as the traitors want,” said the statement, which also contained a pledge to fight against the “coup”.

The firebrand words by Col Gaddafi contrast sharply with the losses for his regime in recent weeks, including being driven from the capital Tripoli and left with only a handful of strongholds that are surrounded by former rebel forces.

Col Gaddafi’s whereabouts are unknown, but his followers claim he is still in Libya. Some of his family have fled to neighbouring Niger, most recently his son, al-Saadi.

Although Col Gaddafi’s opponents now hold sway over most of Libya – and remain backed by Nato airstrikes – there are signs that the Libyan strongman’s backers can still strike back.

At the oil terminal at Ras Lanuf, suspected loyalists staged back-to-back attacks. Colonel Hamid al-Hasi, the commander for anti-Gaddafi forces in eastern Libya, said a group of 15 staff set fire to the facility, located on the Mediterranean coast about 380 miles south-east of Tripoli. He said five of the saboteurs were killed and the rest were arrested.

In a possibly co-ordinated attack, the port was then targeted by a convoy of armed men apparently based in a refugee camp south of Ras Lanouf. Revolutionary commander Fadl-Allah Haroun said a total of 15 people were killed in the attacks.

Meanwhile, former rebels have been facing stiff resistance from Gaddafi supporters in Bani Walid since last week and have captured most of the northern half of the town, which is one of three significant remaining bastions of Gaddafi loyalists.

The main battle front in Bani Walid is now a bridge that links the town with the port city of Misrata to the north-west. Gaddafi supporters have covered it with oil slicks and fuel spills to hinder vehicles trying to cross.

Loyalists captured by rebels from Bani Walid have told The Scotsman that the men battling to halt a rebel advance into the city are civilian volunteers.

But, dismissing rebel claims they are fighting a hard-core loyalist brigade, possibly led by Col Gaddafi’s most notorious son, Saif al-Islam, captives said they were protecting their homes.

“We heard the muezzin in the mosque in the rebel territory calling to attack Bani Walid, to raid the houses and arrest the men,” said one captive, a former colonel in Col Gaddafi’s army.

“People are afraid, and they will defend their honour and their women to the death.”

The colonel was captured with a team of five others during a reconnaissance mission. One had volunteered for the army in March; another of the captured men that The Scotsman spoke with was a vegetable seller.

Their resistance comes from a deep mistrust – fuelled by relentless accusations on the regime’s TV and radio stations, many in Bani Walid still view the new interim government as an occupying, and partly foreign force.

The colonel said: “Most Libyans think that Gaddafi is right. But I am not fighting for him, I am fighting for my country.”

Fractures and tribal tensions among the rebels have stalled the advance on Bani Walid.

After days of failed negotiations interspersed with attempted military advances, Libya’s interim government has sent back-up from the new National Liberation Army. But the arrival of units made up of men from tribes across Libya appeared only to have increased tensions.

A counter-attack by Gaddafi forces on rebel-held parts of Bani Walid on Sunday ended with five dead and dozens injured.

In the chaos, the fighters turned on each other. “You did this! You are not welcome here!” shouted a fighter from the Warfalla, the dominant tribe in Bani Walid, to a leader from the Tripoli brigade.