Libyan deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged to keep up the fight until “victory” as his loyalists waged fight backs on three fronts and interim leader called for “moderate” and civil state.
Libyan deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi pledged to keep up the fight until “victory” as his loyalists waged fight backs on three fronts and interim leader called for “moderate” and civil state.
A Syrian-based television station, Al-Rai, said that Gaddafi was still in Libya, but it was unable to air a televised appearance for security reasons.
"It was meant to show the leader among his fighters and people, leading the struggle from Libyan lands, and not from Venezuela or Niger or anywhere else," Mishan Jabouri, owner of the Arrai channel, said.
He read out a text quoting Gaddafi as saying: "We cannot give up Libya to colonization one more time ... There is nothing more to do except fight until victory."
"All that remains for us is the struggle until victory and the defeat of the coup," added the statement.
BATTLES ON GROUND
On the battlefield, Gaddafi’s remaining forces launched ferocious counterattacks Monday on the oil refinery town of Ras Lanuf in the east, on the road towards the leader’s hometown of Sirte, and at Bani Walid southeast of the capital Tripoli.
Striking deep behind enemy lines, gaddafi fighters killed at least 12 NTC soldiers at Ras Lanuf, an National Transitional Council military spokesman told AFP news agency.
The oil infrastructure along the Mediterranean coast between Sidra and Brega was a key battleground of the seven-month uprising against Gaddafi, as the mainly rebel-held east and mainly government-held west fought it out.
But since Tripoli's fall, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometers west towards Sirte, which remains in Gaddafi's hand, moving to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which its post-war reconstruction plans depend.
CIVIL STATE
Meanwhile, NTC Head, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, received a hero’s welcome late Monday when he made a public speech in Tripoli's main square.
"No retribution, no taking matters into your own hands and no oppression. I hope that the revolution will not stumble because of any of these things."
He defined the government the NTC hopes to create.
"We strive for a state of the law, for a state of prosperity, for a state that will have Islamic sharia law the basis of legislation," Abdul Jalil, who served as Gaddafi's justice minister before joining the rebels at the uprising's start said.
NIGER CONFIMS SAADI GADDAFI’S DETENTION
On the other hand, the government of Niger confirmed to the United States that it had detained Gaddafi's son, Saadi, and is studying what to do with him, the US State Department said on Monday.
"We have confirmed with the government of Niger that Saadi crossed over [and] that they are either in the process or have already brought him to the capital of Naimey and intend to detain him," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told the Reuters news agency.
