Fugitive Libyan leader Gaddafi says he will not surrender

Tripoli: Fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed again on Thursday not to surrender, in a message broadcast on the 42nd anniversary of the coup which brought him to power.

In the message put out by the pro- Gaddafi Syria-based Arabic-language Arrai Oruba television channel, the fallen strongman said he was prepared for "a long battle" even if Libya burns.

He urged his supporters to keep up their resistance to the insurgency that has conquered most of the country and forced him into hiding, as a major conference opened in Paris on aiding the rebel National Transitional Council to set up a new administration.

"Even if you cannot hear my voice, continue the resistance," Gaddafi said.
"We will not surrender. 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," he added in the message sent from an unknown location.

Gaddafi claimed there were splits between Nato, "the alliance of aggression" whose warplanes have paved the way for the insurgents' advance, and the rebels, "its agents."

His message followed similar defiant words from his son Seif al-Islam overnight, who said he, his father and "the whole family" were still in Tripoli, which fell to the rebels on August 20 after days of fierce fighting.

But rebel sources said unconfirmed reports put the Gaddafis in the loyalist-held town of Bani Walid, southeast of the capital.

"We have reports that Muammar Gaddafi has been in Bani Walid for the past two days, but these reports are not totally confirmed," NTC vice-chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told AFP.

He said clashes were still going on between rebel and pro-Gaddafi forces near the town.

"The revolutionary fighters are making progress and we are hoping for an end to the conflict soon," he said.

A rebel commander, Abdul Raziq, said he believed Saif Al Islam and another son, Mutassim, were in Bani Walid.

"According to our most recent information Seif and Mutassim are in Bani Walid," Raziq said in Tarhuna, between Tripoli and Bani Walid.

"About 80 per cent of the people in Bani Walid are with the rebels and only 20 per cent are with Gaddafi," he said. "We expect them to surrender, but if they don't we will attack from three fronts," he added without giving other details.

Conflicting appeals

Two men claiming to be Muammar Gaddafi's sons have made conflicting appeals from hiding, one of them calling for talks with anti-regime leaders and the other urging the regime's loyalists to fight to the death.

The duelling messages on Wednesday night reflected the growing turmoil in Gaddafi's inner circle on the eve of the 42nd anniversary of his rise to power.

This year, the dictator is a fugitive from opposition fighters who have seized most of the country in a six-month civil war. Now, they say they're hot on his trail.

The rebels are pooling tips about Gaddafi's whereabouts from captured regime fighters and others, and believe he is most likely no longer in Tripoli, said Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the revolutionaries' military chief in the capital.

Anti-regime forces have been advancing toward three regime strongholds: the town of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, as well as the towns of Bani Walid and Sabha, the latter hundreds of miles south of the capital of Tripoli.

Speculation

There has been speculation that Gaddafi is hiding in one of them.

In telephone calls to Arab TV stations within minutes of each other Wednesday night, two men claiming to be Gaddafi's sons sent messages to the Libyan people.

A man identifying himself as Saif Al Islam Gaddafi urged his father's supporters to fight the rebels "day and night." He told the Syrian-based Al Rai TV station that residents of Bani Walid agreed that "we are going to die on our land."

He said Nato carried out several airstrikes in Bani Walid that killed people.

"All, move right now," said Saif Al Islam, once considered the moderate face of the Gaddafi regime and the leader's heir apparent.

"Attack the rats," he said, referring to the rebels.

He said he was calling from a suburb of Tripoli and that his father "is fine".

Surrender

The caller dismissed comments by Belhaj that another Gaddafi son, Al Saadi, was negotiating the terms of his surrender. Saif Al Islam said his brother was under pressure, in part out of concern for his family.

In a separate phone call to the Al Arabiya TV station, a man identifying himself as Al Saadi said he was ready to negotiate with the rebels to stop the bloodshed.

Anti-regime leaders have repeatedly said they won't negotiate until Gaddafi is gone.

AlaSaadi said he spoke for his father and regime military commanders in calling for talks. He said that the rebels could lead Libya.

"We don't mind. We are all Libyans," he said. "We have no problem to give them power."

The voice of Saif Al Islam - who was reportedly captured by the rebels earlier this month only to turn up free and defiant in Tripoli - was easily recognisable, but Al Saadi's was more difficult to confirm.

Regime dying

"The regime is dying," said rebel council spokesman Abdul Hafiz Goga, reacting to the two statements. "Gaddafi's family is trying to find an exit."

"They only have to surrender completely to the rebels and we will offer them a fair trial. We won't hold negotiations with them over anything," he added.

Goga told The Associated Press later Wednesday that the rebels learned two days ago that Gaddafi and his sons Saif Al Islam and Al Saadi were in Bani Walid, but now he doesn't know their whereabouts.

Hassan Al Saghir, a rebel official who oversees an area that includes the southern city of Sabha, repeated an ultimatum for Gaddafi's supporters to surrender by Saturday but said there were no signs of that.

Desperate

"I think they still think they are able to control the south," he said. "It is a desperate attempt and it will not last long."

Earlier, Belhaj said l Saadi called him Tuesday to negotiate the terms of his surrender. Belhaj said he told Al Saadi he would be turned over to Libyan legal authorities after he turns himself in.

"We told him, 'Don't fear for your life. We will guarantee your rights as a human being, and will deal with you humanely,'" said Belhaj, speaking at his headquarters at an air base in Tripoli.

Asked by Al Arabiya if he was offering to surrender, Al Saadi said: "If my surrender will put an end to the bloodshed, I will do that."

Head of intelligence killed

Also Wednesday, two Sabha-area rebel officials said the son of Gaddafi's intelligence chief was killed in fighting last week.

Mohammad Ouydat, a rebel spokesman for Sabha, said the intelligence chief, Abdullah Al Senoussi, one of Gaddafi's closest allies, has set up a tent in Sabha to greet mourners after the death of his son, Mohammad.

The younger al Senoussi and Gaddafi's son Khamis were killed in a clash with rebels on their way to Bani Walid, Ouydat said. There have been conflicting claims about Khamis' fate and neither report could be independently confirmed.

Eight adult children

Gaddafi's eight adult children have played influential roles in Libya, from commanding an elite military unit to controlling the oil sector. Al-Saadi, 38, headed the Libyan Football Federation, and at one point played in Italy's professional league but spent most of his time on the bench.

Gaddafi's wife Safiya, sons Mohammad and Hannibal, and daughter Aisha fled to Algeria on Monday. Aisha gave birth to her fourth child Tuesday in Algeria.

Wednesday was the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Fitr. Libyans marked it by weeping at the graves of those killed in the civil war, then celebrated their newfound freedom with morning prayers and joyous chants.

Men in their finest white robes and gold-striped vests knelt in neat prayer rows in Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, the plaza formerly known as Green Square, where Gaddafi supporters massed nightly during the uprising.

The prayer leader urged the crowd not to seek retribution. "No to revenge, yes to the law that rules between us and those who killed our brothers," he said. "Let there be forgiveness and mercy among us."

'Libya is free'

Women in black robes ululated, rebel fighters fired guns in the air and people burst into spontaneous chants of "Hold your head high, Libya is free!"

On September 1, 1969, the 27-year-old Gaddafi emerged as leader of a group of military officers who overthrew the monarchy of King Idris.

Gaddafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of anti-Western defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers.

A brutal dictator, his regime was unchallenged until the last months of his rule.

Paris

Sixty world leaders and top-level envoys will meet Thursday in Paris on Libya's future. The gathering is likely to focus on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad and reconciling differences over how to deal with the new Libya. The lessons of the US-led war in Iraq and years of insurgent violence there will loom large.

French officials say leaders of Libya's interim National Transitional Council, the main rebel group, are "completely aware of the lessons" from the Iraq war and have emphasized reconciliation in an effort to avoid the kind of revenge killings that spilled so much Iraqi blood.

"We are going to turn the page of the dictatorship and the fighting, and open a new era of cooperation with democratic Libya," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told French diplomats.