Defiant Gaddafi vows to die as martyr, fight revolt

Muammar Gadaffi

TRIPOLI,  (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi vowed to die in  Libya as a martyr in an angry television address today, as  rebel troops said eastern regions had broken free from his rule  in a burgeoning revolt.
“I am not going to leave this land, I will die here as a  martyr,” Gaddafi said on state television, refusing to bow to  calls from his own diplomats, soldiers and protesters clamouring  in the streets for an end to his four decades at the helm.
“I shall remain here defiant,” said Gaddafi.
Earlier, witnesses streaming across the Libyan border into  Egypt said Gaddafi was using tanks, warplanes and mercenaries in  an effort to stamp out the growing rebellion.

Muammar Gadaffi
Muammar Gadaffi

In the eastern city of Tobruk, a Reuters correspondent there  said sporadic blasts could be heard, the latest sign that  Gaddafi’s grip on the oil and gas exporting nation was  weakening.
“All the eastern regions are out of Gaddafi’s control now  … The people and the army are hand-in-hand here,” said the now  former army major Hany Saad Marjaa.
The White House offered its condolences for the “appalling  violence” in Libya and said the international community had to  speak with one voice on the crisis.
The U.N. refugee agency meanwhile urged Libya’s neighbours  to grant refuge to those fleeing the unrest, which was triggered  by decades of repression and popular revolts that toppled  leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.
On the Libyan side of the border with Egypt, anti-Gaddafi  rebels armed with clubs and Kalashnikov rifles welcomed  visitors. One man held an upside-down picture of Gaddafi defaced  with the words “the butcher tyrant, murderer of Libyans”, a  Reuters correspondent who crossed into Libya reported.
Hundreds of Egyptians flowed in the opposite direction on  tractors and trucks, taking with them harrowing tales of state  violence and banditry.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry  told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother  Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
“They shoot you just for walking on the street,” he said,  sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
“The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender,  no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not.  It is clear that they don’t care whether we live or not. This is  genocide,” said Mahry, 42.
Human Rights Watch said 62 people had died in clashes in  Tripoli in the past two days, on top of its previous toll of 233  dead. Opposition groups put the figure far much higher. U.N.  rights chief Navi Pillay said the killing could amount to crimes  against humanity and demanded an international probe.
The revolt in Libya, the third largest oil producer in  Africa, has driven oil prices to a 2 1/2 year high above $108 a  barrel, and OPEC said it would produce more crude if supplies  from member Libya were disrupted.
With no end in sight to the crisis, refugees fled to Egypt.
“Five people died on the street where I live,” Mohamed  Jalaly, 40, told Reuters at Salum on his way to Cairo from  Benghazi. “You leave Benghazi and then you have … nothing but  gangs and youths with weapons,” he added. “The way from Benghazi  is extremely dangerous,” he said.
Libyan guards have withdrawn from their side of the border  and Egypt’s new military rulers — who took power following the  overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on Feb.11 — said the main  crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick  and wounded to enter.
Groups of rebels with assault rifles and shotguns, waved  cheerily at the passing cars on a stretch of desert road,  flicking the V-for-victory sign and posing with their guns, a  Reuters correspondent reported.
Libyan security forces have cracked down fiercely on  demonstrators across the country, with fighting spreading to  Tripoli after erupting in Libya’s oil-producing east last week,  in a reaction to decades of
As the fighting has intensified some supporters have  abandoned Gaddafi. Tripoli’s envoy to India, Ali al-Essawi,  resigned and told Reuters that African mercenaries had been  recruited to help put down protests.
“The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in  streets,” he said. The justice minister also quit and a group of  army officers urged soldiers to “join the people”. Two pilots  flew their warplanes to nearby Malta.

DEFIANCE AND CONDEMNATION
Gaddafi’s son Saif on Sunday vowed his father would keep  fighting “until the last man standing” and the Libyan leader  appeared on television after days of seclusion to dismiss  reports he had fled to the Venezuela of his ally Hugo Chavez.
“I want to show that I’m in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do  not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs,” said Gaddafi,  who has ruled Libya with a mixture of populism and tight control  since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
World powers have condemned the use of force against  protesters, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accusing Libya of  firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters. The Security  Council met in closed session to discuss Libya.
Washington and Europe have demanded an end to the violence  and Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: “A ruling  family, threatening its people with civil war, has reached the  end of the line.”
Demonstrations spread to Tripoli from the second city  Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that has engulfed a number of  towns and which residents say is now in the hands of protestors.
Residents said anxious shoppers were queuing outside stores  to try to stock up on food and drink. Some shops were closed.
Spain’s Repsol suspended all operations in Libya and sources  said operations at cargo ports at Benghazi, Tripoli and Misurata  had shut due to the violence.
Trade sources said Libyan oil port operations had also been  disrupted and others said gas supplies from Libya to Italy had  slowed since Late Monday, though Italy said they had not yet  been interrupted..
Shell said it was pulling out its expatriate staff from  Libya temporarily and a number of states were seeking to  evacuate their nationals.