3 Mar : Digging in his heels, a defiant Muammar Gaddafi Wednesday refused to give up power and claimed that the anti-regime protests were part of a conspiracy to grab the oil resources of Libya.
As his forces went on an offensive to wrest key cities from the rebels, 68-year-old Gaddafi appeared at a public gathering for the first time, an event aired live on state television.
“We will fight to the end, to the last man, the last woman … with God’s help,” he said while describing the two-week long protests as being orchestrated by only a minority who were being propped up by “foreign forces, foreign media”.
“Millions of Libyan people support me. They say they are ready to die for me,” he said during his address which saw his supporters frequently cheer him.
Making light of a popular uprising against his rule, Gaddafi joined his loyalists at a ceremony to mark 34 years of “people’s power”, accusing al-Qaeda of being behind the rebellion.
Gaddafi, who had assumed the country’s charge 41 year ago through a coup, had proclaimed “people’s power” on March 2, 1977.
In his address, he repeatedly underlined that there is no question of him quitting as he is not a President. “To step down from what? I am just a symbol. Power is in the hands of the people,” he said. “This is a conspiracy to grab our oil resources.”
Amid growing international isolation, Gaddafi called for the United Nations and NATO to a “set up fact-finding committees” to find out how people were killed and what had happened in Libya.
He blamed the foreign forces for the events in Libya, saying it was “a conspiracy” to colonise the country and seize its oil resources. “Don’t trust the foreign media”.
“I dare you to find that peaceful protesters were killed. In America, France and everywhere, if people attacked military stores and tried to steal weapons, they will shoot them,” he said.
The message of defiance came as the Libyan strongman unleashed his force of heavily armed mercenaries who stormed the rebel-held oil exporting terminal town of Brega, with the US warships taking up positions off the north African country’s coast.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi also regained control of the strategic town in the country’s north west, even as opposition fighters were preparing for a march into the capital Tripoli.
Gaddafi’s forces go on offensive as NATO mulls ‘no-fly’ zone
Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday unleashed his force of heavily armed mercenaries who stormed the rebel-held oil exporting terminal town of Brega as US warships took up positions off the north African country’s coast.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi also regained control of the strategic town in the country’s north west, even as opposition fighters were preparing for a march into the capital Tripoli.
Deploying tanks and heavy artillery, Gaddafi sent hundred cars packed with mercenaries to storm the rebel held Brega as his Russian built warplanes bombed the nearby Ajdabiya, 40 kms from the oil-town.
Though initially Gaddafi’s militiamen managed to recapture the town, they were later overwhelmed by a big force of rebels from the adjoining Ajdabiya.
The Libyan despot used a lull in fighting to time his offensive to break the momentum of popular rebellion against his 41-year-old rule, as top US and NATO leaders mulled over the complexities of enforcing a ‘no-fly’ zone, which would effectively ground Gaddafi’s airpower.
The fast paced developments came as the strife-torn nation’s newly emerged opposition leaders are approaching the United Nations to ask for foreign air strikes to pulverise Gaddafi’s capabilities to hit civilian targets.
The opposition leader based in rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi, Libya’s second largest town, said they wanted to invoke the United Nations, “to preempt more massacres by Gaddafi’s air force in the coming days as the tide turns against the despot.”
Al-Jazeera reported that forces sent by Libyan leader seized back Marsa al-Brega, after fierce fighting lasting overnight as rebel forces had to fall back, under pressure from air-power.
“The town fell after intense fighting due to air-bombardment,” the Arab channel reported quoting eyewitnesses.
The assaults mark the most significant gains made by Gaddafi’s forces who have been on the retreat.
The fresh battles could trigger an intense confrontation which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned could descend the Arab nation into a prolonged civil war, unless the Arab strongman was made to step down.
Al-Jazeera also said that towns of Gharyan and Sabratha had also switched sides after intense battles.
The opposition leaders said Gaddafi’s offensive was aimed at creating a buffer zone around the capital where he is holed up.