Gaddafi signals defiance in TV appearance

Protesters wave a flag in this undated picture made available on Facebook February 21, 2011. The image was purportedly taken recently in Benghazi. Reuters/Handout

TRIPOLI,  (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi  appeared on state television today signalling his defiance  in the face of a mounting revolt against his 41-year rule.
“I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela,” he said, under a  large umbrella, leaning out of the front seat of a van. Reports  on Monday said Gaddafi had fled to Venezuela, ruled by his  friend and fellow revolutionary President Hugo Chavez.
Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi have fought an increasingly  bloody battle to keep the veteran leader in power with residents  reporting gunfire in parts of the capital Tripoli and one  political activist saying warplanes had bombed the city.
Security forces had killed dozens of protesters across the  country, human rights groups and witnesses said, prompting  widespread condemnation from world leaders.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was “time to  stop this unacceptable bloodshed” in Libya.
State TV showed government supporters rallying and  Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said warplanes had hit only  ammunition dumps. He did not say why jets had carried out the  air strikes, but on Sunday he accused protesters of raiding  ammunition depots in the eastern city of Benghazi.
No independent verification of the reports was available and  communications with Libya from outside were difficult.
Cracks were beginning to appear within the ranks of  Gaddafi’s supporters.
A group of army officers issued a statement urging fellow  soldiers to “join the people” and help remove Gaddafi, Al  Arabiya television said.
The justice minister resigned in protest at the “excessive  use of violence” against protesters and diplomats at Libya’s  mission to the United Nations called on the Libyan army to help  overthrow “the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi”. (See other story below)

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi  fought an increasingly bloody battle to hang on to power today when protests against his 41-year rule struck the capital  Tripoli after days of violence in the east.
Residents reported gunfire in parts of Tripoli and one  political activist said warplanes had bombed the city. But state  television showed government supporters rallying in Tripoli.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi had killed dozens of people across  the country, human rights groups and witnesses said, prompting  widespread condemnation from foreign governments.
No independent verification of the reports was available and  communications with Libya from outside were difficult.
But a picture emerged of a leader who has loomed large on  the world stage for decades and controls vast reserves of oil  fighting for survival. Brent crude prices hit $108 a barrel on  fears the violence could disrupt supplies from Libya.

Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi

“What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and  helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another.  There are many, many dead,” Adel Mohamed Saleh said in a live  broadcast on al Jazeera television. “Anyone who moves, even if  they are in their car they will hit you.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was “time to  stop this unnacceptable bloodshed” in Libya.
Both Libya and Venezuela denied reports that Gaddafi had  fled to the South American country ruled by his friend and  fellow revolutionary President Hugo Chavez.
Al Arabiya television said Gaddafi would give a speech  shortly without giving details. Libyan state television news at  2200 GMT did not mention any speech by Gaddafi.
Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi denied reports of  warplanes bombing Tripoli and Benghazi and told the official  Libyan news agency that bombings took place on ammunition dumps  in remote locations away from residential areas.
But two Libyan fighter jets landed in Malta, their pilots  defecting after they said they had been ordered to bomb  protesters, Maltese government officials said.
An analyst for London-based consultancy Control Risks said  the reported air strikes indicated the end was near for Gaddafi.
“These really seem to be last, desperate acts. If you’re  bombing your own capital, it’s really hard to see how you can  survive, ” its Middle East anaylst Julien Barnes-Dacey said.
The demonstrations spread to Tripoli, on the Mediterranean  Sea, after several cities in the east, including Benghazi,  appeared to fall to the opposition, according to residents.
Human Rights Watch said at least 233 people had been killed  in five days of violence, but opposition groups put the figure  much higher.
PARLIAMENT BUILDING ON FIRE

Protesters wave a flag in this undated picture made available on Facebook February 21, 2011. The image was purportedly taken recently in Benghazi. Reuters/Handout
Protesters wave a flag in this undated picture made available on Facebook February 21, 2011. The image was purportedly taken recently in Benghazi. Reuters/Handout

A coalition of Libyan Muslim leaders told all Muslims it was  their duty to rebel against the Libyan leadership because of its  “bloody crimes against humanity”.
The building where the General People’s Congress, or  parliament, meets in Tripoli was on fire on Monday, as was a  police station in an eastern suburb, witnesses said.
Al Jazeera television quoted medical sources as saying 61  people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli.
It said security forces were looting banks and other  government institutions in Tripoli, and protesters had broken  into several police stations and ransacked them.
Saif al-Islam said his father would fight the revolt until  “the last man standing”.
Some analysts suggested Libya was heading for civil war.
“I think what’s going to happen is going to be much more  chaotic than what we saw in Egypt or Tunisia. Gaddafi and his  sons don’t have anywhere else to go … They are going to  fight,” said North Africa analyst Geoff Porter, contributor to  political risk consultancy Wikistrat.
Output at one of Libya’s oil fields was reported to have  been stopped by a workers’ strike and some European oil  companies withdrew expatriate workers and suspended operations.  Most of Libya’s oil fields are in the east, south of Benghazi.
Anti-government protests have also broken out in the central  town of Ras Lanuf, the site of an oil refinery and petrochemical  complex, Libya’s Quryna newspaper said on its website on Monday.  Libyan border guards have withdrawn from their side of the  border with Egypt and people’s committees were now in control of  the crossing, the Egyptian army said, without making if clear if  the groups now in control of the border were loyal to Gaddafi.
In signs of splits within Libya’s ruling elite, the justice  minister resigned in protest at the “excessive use of violence”  against protesters. In India, Libya’s ambassador said he was  resigning in protest at the violent crackdown.

PROTESTERS CONTROL BENGHAZI
Gaddafi supporters were in central Tripoli’s Green Square on  Monday, waving flags and carrying his portrait, Libyan state TV  showed.
The anger unleashed after four decades of rule by Gaddafi  mirrors events in Egypt where a popular revolt overthrew the  seemingly impregnable President Hosni Mubarak 10 days ago.
In Benghazi, cradle of the uprising, protesters appeared to  be largely in control after clashes with troops and police in  which dozens of civilians were killed.
Salahuddin Abdullah, a self-described protest organiser,  said: “In Benghazi there is celebration and euphoria … The  city is no longer under military control. It is completely under  demonstrators’ control.”
At least nine towns in the east  were under the control of  protesters loyal to tribal groups, the president of the  International Federation for Human Rights in France said.
Libya is Africa’s fourth biggest oil exporter, producing 1.6  million barrels a day. The oil price jumped $3 to $89.50 a  barrel for U.S. crude on fear the unrest could disrupt supplies.