Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.
Warplanes bombed portions of the capital Tripoli on Tuesday in new attacks in the Mediterranean coastal city, and mercenaries fired on civilians, Al Jazeera reported.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry said 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 being 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.
Hundred of refugees streamed into Egypt on Tuesday, piled onto tractors and trucks, describing a wave of killing and banditry unleashed by the revolt. “Five people died on the street where I live,” said Mohamed Jalaly, 40, 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. Security forces have cracked down fiercely on demonstrators across the country, with fighting now spreading to Tripoli after erupting in Libya’s oil-pro-ducing east last week, in a reaction to decades of repression and following uprisings that have toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.
As the fighting has intensified across the country, cracks appeared among Gaddafi supporters. Some ambassadors resigning and calling for his removal, the justice minister resigned in protest and a group of Army officers urged soldiers to “join the people”. Two pilots — colonels in the Libyan air force — flew their warplanes to nearby Malta, and one sought asylum, saying they had refused to carry out orders to strafe protesters from the air.
The Libyan leader, Col. Gaddafi, appeared on television after days of seclusion to dismiss reports he had fled to Venezuela,
ruled by his friend President Hugo Chavez. “I want to show that I’m in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs,” he said.
Later on Tuesday evening, in a live, apparently unscripted speech on television, a defiant Col. Gaddafi said he would remain in Libya as head of its revolution, and that he had no official position from which to resign. “Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of a revolution; Muammar Gaddafi has no official position in order for him to resign. He is the leader of the revolution forever.”
“This is my country, my country,” the 68-year-old leader almost shouted, in a speech full of short, angry bursts of words, which he punctuated by shaking his fist or pointing his finger. Calling himself a “Bedouin warrior”, he said he would “die a martyr in the land of my ancestors”.
World powers have condemned the use of force against the protesters, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accusing Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters. “This must stop immediately,” said Mr Ban, adding he had spoken to Col. Gaddafi and urged him to halt attacks on protesters. The Security Council planned to meet later Tuesday to discuss what action it could take, diplomats said.
Arab League ambassadors will also meet in emergency session in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Libya, and the United States and Europe have demanded a halt to the killing of protesters.
The violence has triggered a revolt by Libya’s diplomats, with its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigning over the crackdown and telling 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.
Demonstrations have 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 protesters.
Residents said anxious shoppers were queuing outside stores to try to stock up on food and drink. Some shops were closed.
In Tripoli, one resident said locals were patrolling their neighbourhood at night to protect it from roaming mercenaries, reporting sniper fire and the use of military transport helicopters to ferry security forces about.
“Gaddafi obviously does not have any limits. We knew he was crazy, but it’s still a terrible shock to see him turning mercenaries on his own people and just mowing down unarmed demonstrators,” one resident told Lisa Goldman, a Canadian-Israeli journalist based in Tel Aviv.
Cairo said Libyan guards had withdrawn from their side of the border. Egypt’s new military rulers — who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February 11 — said the main crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.
— Reuters, AFP
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Indians to be evacuated
New Delhi: The Indian government is making plans to evacuate the 18,000 Indians in Libya by sea and air, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said. The government has sought permission to land planes there. The extent of this will also depend on how many actually want to return.