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Gaddafi vows not to surrender
China.org.cn, September 2, 2011
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In a TV audio message Thursday the toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed not to surrender and urged his loyalists to continue resistance against the rebels.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
"Let this be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames," Gaddafi said in a message broadcast on Syria's Al- Rrai TV channel.
He called on his loyalists in the Libyan capital Tripoli to fight back and "set ambushes" against the "collaborators" of NATO. He also urged the tribes who supported him to continue fighting even if they could not hear from him again.
"All Libyan tribes are heavily armed and cannot be brought to their knees," Muammar Gaddafi said. "We'll be awarded victory ultimately. We can never surrender."
Gaddafi also vowed to fight "a long, drawn-out war."
"The Libyan people would rather die than be suppressed. This is something we will not allow the traitors to do -- let Libya be occupied and suppressed and humiliated."
"Prepare yourselves for a gang and guerrilla war," the embattled Libyan leader said in the second message on Syria's al-Rai TV later Thursday.
He also said that currently the country's capital has been moved from Tripoli to Sirte and vowed that Tripoli would be "liberated inch by inch".
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Gaddafi's whereabouts remain unknown since the rebels captured his headquarters in Tripoli on Aug. 23.
In an audio message broadcast on a Syrian TV channel Wednesday, Gaddafi's second son, Saif al-Islam said his father was doing well and vowed to continue the resistance against the rebels.
While Gaddafi's third son Saadi sent a contradictory message, claiming that he was authorized by his father to negotiate with the rebels to end the bloodshed in Libya.
Earlier on Thursday,The National Transitional Council (NTC) announced to give the Gaddafi forces in Sirte one more week to lay down their arms.
Meanwhile, officials from 63 countries gathered in Paris for a "Friends of Libya" conference, which was jointly hosted d by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
The meeting is for a "new era of cooperation with the democratic Libya," Sarkozy said on the eve at an annual conference gathering ambassadors.
Clinton urged the new leadership of Libya to stand against violent extremism and ensure that weapons from Gaddafi's stockpiles impose no threat to Libya's neighbors and the whole world.
"NATO and our allies will continue our operations... for as long as it is necessary to protect civilian lives," British Prime Minister David Cameron said, noting that the struggle is not yet over.
The EU Thursday announced that it had lifted sanctions on 28 entities, including oil firms and port authorities, to help the NTC get the economy moving again. The decision will take effect on Friday.
The UK, US and France have unfrozen more than $5bn (£3bn) in Libyan assets this week, and other countries are making similar moves.
On the diplomatic front, Russia is the latest nation to agree to recognise the NTC as Libya's legal government.
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