Libya: Gaddafi vows to 'let Libya burn' as he defies calls for his surrender
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 1, 2011, 11:55:17 PM9/1/11
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Libya: Gaddafi vows to 'let Libya burn' as he defies calls for his surrender
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi promised to "let Libya burn" as he defied calls from world leaders gathered in Paris for his surrender.
Britain's Defence Secretary has bluntly told Colonel Muammar Gaddafi that he must go and that military action will not stop until he does.
By Richard Spencer, in Tarhouna
8:24PM BST 01 Sep 2011
Speaking from his hiding place, believed to be in southern Libya, he said Libya's "armed tribes" were still loyal to him and would fight on and expel the "colonisers".
"We will not surrender," he said. "We are not women and we are going to keep on fighting.
"If they want a long battle, let it be long. If Libya burns, who can govern it? So let it burn."
His message to his followers, along with a similar cry of rage from his son Saif al-Islam to Syrian television on Wednesday night, sets the stage for a last stand of Gaddafi forces in the stronghold towns of Sirte on the coast, Bani Walid south of Tripoli and Sabha in the southern desert.
Col. Abdulrazzaq al-Nadouli, a rebel commander in Tarhouna, the new frontline south of Tripoli, told The Daily Telegraph yesterday(thurs) that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his brother Mutassim, head of national security in the Gaddafi regime, were known to be leading loyalist forces in Bani Walid.
He said informers in Bani Walid and people fleeing to the safety of Tarhouna had told his men of the presence of the two brothers there as recently as earlier in the day. Although rebel leaders in Tripoli had said on Wednesday they believed Col Gaddafi to be in the town too, Col Nadouli said he believed he was no longer there but had gone further south, possibly to Sabha.
Although the rebels now control most of the more heavily populated and fertile coastal strip of Libya, all except a zone of about 100 miles around Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace, there are still an unknown number of Gaddafi forces holding out in the scattered southern desert settlements.
Bani Walid is a key access point from Tripoli to these desert towns, to the east of the Nafusa mountains that held out for the rebels from the start of the uprising.
Traditionally in these towns tribal loyalties remain stronger, though this has yet to be tested, and rebel leaders say they are negotiating with leaders of Libya's largest tribe, the million-strong Warfalla, whose headquarters are in Bani Walid.
Mahmoud Abdulaziz, representative for Bani Walid on the National Transitional Council, who is involved in the negotiations, admitted the town was divided in its loyalties and they were unable to guarantee immunity from prosecution for Gaddafi loyalist militias.
Col Gaddafi insisted these tribes were still loyal. "Who can overcome Bani Walid, Sirte or Tarhouna?" he said, in his message to a loyalist television station. "These towns are home to armed tribes and nobody can govern Libya without their consent.
"At the end of the day, we will win the battle, the colonisers will go back to their countries and the agents will be finished with."
A senior rebel leader last night said that Gaddafi's speech revealed the Libyan leader's "despair" in the face of a successful revolution,
"Gaddafi's speech is a sign of misery and despair," Ahmed Darrat, who is overseeing the interior ministry for the rebels until a new government is elected, said.
Tarhouna is now in rebel hands but local officials admit it still contains many Gaddafi loyalists.
The former dictator urged his followers to fight on even if they could not "hear his voice", a call to an Iraq-style posthumous insurrection.
Col. al-Nadouli said Bani Walid had been given till tomorrow night to surrender in advance of a rebel attack. "Eighty per cent of people in Bani Walid don't like Muammar Gaddafi," he said. "There are people in Bani Walid who come here every day. They come to give details of the movements of Saif al-Islam and Mutassim.
"We think the town will surrender. Saif al-Islam and Mutassim will run away."
Libya: Gaddafi vows to 'let Libya burn' as he defies calls for his surrender
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi promised to "let Libya burn" as he defied calls from world leaders gathered in Paris for his surrender.
Britain's Defence Secretary has bluntly told Colonel Muammar Gaddafi that he must go and that military action will not stop until he does.
By Richard Spencer, in Tarhouna
8:24PM BST 01 Sep 2011
Speaking from his hiding place, believed to be in southern Libya, he said Libya's "armed tribes" were still loyal to him and would fight on and expel the "colonisers".
"We will not surrender," he said. "We are not women and we are going to keep on fighting.
"If they want a long battle, let it be long. If Libya burns, who can govern it? So let it burn."
His message to his followers, along with a similar cry of rage from his son Saif al-Islam to Syrian television on Wednesday night, sets the stage for a last stand of Gaddafi forces in the stronghold towns of Sirte on the coast, Bani Walid south of Tripoli and Sabha in the southern desert.
Col. Abdulrazzaq al-Nadouli, a rebel commander in Tarhouna, the new frontline south of Tripoli, told The Daily Telegraph yesterday(thurs) that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his brother Mutassim, head of national security in the Gaddafi regime, were known to be leading loyalist forces in Bani Walid.
He said informers in Bani Walid and people fleeing to the safety of Tarhouna had told his men of the presence of the two brothers there as recently as earlier in the day. Although rebel leaders in Tripoli had said on Wednesday they believed Col Gaddafi to be in the town too, Col Nadouli said he believed he was no longer there but had gone further south, possibly to Sabha.
Although the rebels now control most of the more heavily populated and fertile coastal strip of Libya, all except a zone of about 100 miles around Sirte, Col Gaddafi's birthplace, there are still an unknown number of Gaddafi forces holding out in the scattered southern desert settlements.
Bani Walid is a key access point from Tripoli to these desert towns, to the east of the Nafusa mountains that held out for the rebels from the start of the uprising.
Traditionally in these towns tribal loyalties remain stronger, though this has yet to be tested, and rebel leaders say they are negotiating with leaders of Libya's largest tribe, the million-strong Warfalla, whose headquarters are in Bani Walid.
Mahmoud Abdulaziz, representative for Bani Walid on the National Transitional Council, who is involved in the negotiations, admitted the town was divided in its loyalties and they were unable to guarantee immunity from prosecution for Gaddafi loyalist militias.
Col Gaddafi insisted these tribes were still loyal. "Who can overcome Bani Walid, Sirte or Tarhouna?" he said, in his message to a loyalist television station. "These towns are home to armed tribes and nobody can govern Libya without their consent.
"At the end of the day, we will win the battle, the colonisers will go back to their countries and the agents will be finished with."
A senior rebel leader last night said that Gaddafi's speech revealed the Libyan leader's "despair" in the face of a successful revolution,
"Gaddafi's speech is a sign of misery and despair," Ahmed Darrat, who is overseeing the interior ministry for the rebels until a new government is elected, said.
Tarhouna is now in rebel hands but local officials admit it still contains many Gaddafi loyalists.
The former dictator urged his followers to fight on even if they could not "hear his voice", a call to an Iraq-style posthumous insurrection.
Col. al-Nadouli said Bani Walid had been given till tomorrow night to surrender in advance of a rebel attack. "Eighty per cent of people in Bani Walid don't like Muammar Gaddafi," he said. "There are people in Bani Walid who come here every day. They come to give details of the movements of Saif al-Islam and Mutassim.
"We think the town will surrender. Saif al-Islam and Mutassim will run away."
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