Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi warned the West yesterday against intervening to support the rebellion against him, saying that would unleash a “very bloody war” in which “thousands of Libyans would die.”
Speaking live on state television, Qaddafi again blamed al-Qaeda for the challenge to his 41-year iron-fisted rule, saying the objective was to control Libya’s land and oil, and promised to fight to the last man and woman.
He denied that there have been any peaceful demonstrations since the uprising began in Libya on Feb. 15 and challenged calls from home and abroad for him to step down, saying he has “no real power.”
PHOTO: AFP
“Sleeper cells from al-Qaeda, its elements, infiltrated gradually ... They believe the world is theirs, they fight everywhere, the intelligence services know them by name,” he told a ceremony of loyalists in Tripoli.
“Suddenly it started in [the eastern town of] Al-Baida ... The sleeping cell was told to attack the battalion ... and it took arms from police stations,” Qaddafi said.
“The soldiers went home and left their battalion,” while the al-Qaeda cells “took the weapons and control of the town.”
“The women fled ... bullets were everywhere. It was the same situation in Benghazi,” he said of the main eastern city under the control of the rebel forces.
“There are no peaceful demonstrations in Libya,” he said. “If there were why are foreigners fleeing, the embassies closing in Tripoli, [oil company] employees fleeing from the desert?”
On the oil industry, he said “these gangs made oil companies afraid, flee and stop production. Oil production is at its lowest.”
“The conspiracy has become clear,” he said, claiming that the aim is to take control of Libyan land and oil.
“This is impossible, impossible. We will fight to the end, to the last man, the last woman ... with God’s help,” he said.
Qaddafi said the “oilfields are safe and under control, but the foreign firms are afraid.”
He claimed that the people of Benghazi, which has played a key role in the rebellion, “have asked us to help them get rid from the armed gangs.”
The ceremony was aired live shortly after rebels said they had repelled an attack by Qaddafi’s forces in the eastern town of Brega yesterday, with witnesses reporting two civilians killed.
The event was to mark the anniversary of the launch of the People’s Committees, according to the broadcaster.
Qaddafi’s speech was frequently interrupted by chants of support, which he praised.
One woman in a black robe and headscarf broke in, shouting “you are a sword that does not break. You are capable.”
Another person said: “Here is your leader, your beloved ... Here is the leader Muammar Qaddafi, the leader of victory and challenge, standing among his sons, steadfast, like our mountains, great like the greatness of our people.”
Qaddafi criticized media reports about the resignations of senior officials from his regime including several military leaders and ambassadors abroad.
“The resignations from abroad, the statements from inside [Libya] ... don’t believe them,” he said. “As far as Libya is concerned ... nothing happened ... and it is strange that the world received news from correspondents and TV stations not present in Libya.”
“They don’t want any real news from Libya,” Qaddafi said, before adding that “there are no political prisoners in Libya at all.
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