•'Democracy? I think not'
An embattled Muammar Gaddafi has taken a defiant stand, urging supporters to join the battle as Tripoli is cut off.
By Hannah Allam, AAP
August 21, 2011, 1:42 pm
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says the rebels trying to bring down his regime are "traitors".
Beleaguered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says the rebels trying to bring down his regime are "traitors" and he's accused the Western powers of intervening for oil and destroying the country's infrastructure.
"Is this democracy? I think not," Gaddafi said in an audio address that aired on state TV before dawn on Sunday as the channel broadcast apparently archived footage of his supporters.
Calling himself the "father of Libya," Gaddafi urged his followers to "go forward, go forward" - perhaps a battle cry as anti-government forces encroached upon Tripoli, where unusually heavy clashes and explosions fuelled reports that the battle for the capital had begun.
Gaddafi's comments came after a dizzying day in Libya with widespread rumours of the dictator's flight from power and a resurgent rebellion that threatened to topple Gaddafi.
Earlier, rebels fighting against the Libyan leader claimed to have captured three crucial cities in their advance toward Tripoli this weekend.
It was unclear, however, how extensive the fighting was in the capital.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the rebels' National Transitional Council, urged calm in a brief televised address on Saturday evening.
He didn't address reports of an uprising inside central Tripoli or the widespread and unverifiable talk that Gaddafi and his family departure.
Instead, he urged residents to safeguard their property and vowed that the end was near for Gaddafi's four-decade stranglehold on the oil-rich North African nation.
"We have always called Tripoli the capital of a free Libya," Abdul-Jalil said in a short speech that aired on the rebels' satellite channel.
"We are depending on you to protect your wealth, your ports and your national institutions."
Washington was monitoring the developments in Libya and one State Department official speaking in the rebel city of Benghazi predicted on Saturday that Gaddafi's "days are numbered."
Earlier on Saturday, rebels said they'd seized control of the coastal city of Zawiya, about 50 kilometres from Tripoli, in a hard-won victory that capped months of false starts and heavy casualties.
Still, news agencies reported, the rebels in Zawiya came under heavy shelling from government troops and it was unclear whether they'd be able to hold the refinery city.
The rebels' grasp on the eastern oil port of Brega similarly appeared tenuous, with rebel officials telling news agencies that they were forced to leave some territory in the industrial part of the city after a fresh push from Gaddafi loyalists.
Ziltan, 120 kilometres southeast of the capital, also was in rebel hands Saturday after more than two months of fighting.
"Ziltan is now completely liberated after a severe fight, and for the first time I can say we have control over it," said rebel military spokesman Col. Ahmed Bani, according to the Associated Press.
Tripoli residents were on edge late on Saturday, with rumours flying that Gaddafi and some of his family members had fled their fortress-like compound.
Pentagon officials said they hadn't heard of Gaddafi leaving. The months-old NATO-led bombing campaign against regime targets in Tripoli resumed after nightfall, with explosions echoing throughout the city, witnesses said.
"I've been hearing a lot of gunfire, but I don't know where it's coming from. We also hear the NATO planes," said a woman reached by telephone in Tripoli.
"An hour or two ago, the government came on TV saying that the situation was calm and everything was under control," she said.
"They even addressed the revolutionaries as rats and militant armed groups, like they always do."
Libyan state television channels made no mention of the rumoured clashes in Tripoli, and a government spokesman told CNN that the capital remained under Gaddafi's control.
Three state-backed channels broadcast religious programming or pro-Gaddafi videos that showed the defiant leader and the landmark Green Square in Tripoli.
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21 COMMENTS
3Thumbs UpThumbs Down2
Lucian
2 hours, 19 minutes ago
Hope the whole country burns in hell
2Thumbs UpThumbs Down5
Norm Wallington
2 hours, 16 minutes ago
Gaddafi IS God !!!!!! the Arab world will slaughter your white world rape & murder all your lose white women & lovely little boys. Mmmmm i'd love a little boy right now.
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Lucian
2 hours, 13 minutes ago
I wonder how long it will take Yahoo to take down the comments ability on this one.Time 1538hrs
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Lord Ian of Glencoe
2 hours, 12 minutes ago
Ok Gadaffi , then hold a ballot & find out who is the favoured leader ! With our biased media , for all we know you might be the most popular one ! Follow through with your democratic opinions !!!
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sirstumpyy
2 hours, 4 minutes ago
Yes this whole thing is about oil, the yanks are taking a back seat as BP and various other Euro interests bomb the forces, and their families. Just ask the question:: Why would the yanks take a back seat if this conflict was just about protecting the innocent??..When the yanks take a step back and think this is unjust.then something is fishy. ::
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Hager
1 hour, 51 minutes ago
ahhhhh Im not even going to bother replying to all your STUPID comments and I hope you burn in hell Lucian...I am Libyan and proud, and I pray that Tripoli becomes free soon, this tyrant has been here way too long and all those lives lost all those women raped and all those children murdered - IT's Enough!
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Michael
1 hour, 51 minutes agoReport Abuse
Gaddaffi would be better than Abbott.
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Captain Bligh
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Careful what you say people we have truckies here doing the same thing, and all the people are calling for the heads of our country as well. And we are not using guns.
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harry
1 hour, 36 minutes ago
Who'll be gone first, gidafi or gilardafi... close thing.
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