Hidden Gaddafi vows 'no surrender'

In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Muammar Gaddafi has warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle, a show of defiance hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader’s home town.

The rebels, who have been moving troops towards remaining Gaddafi bastions across Libya, had shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

“We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gaddafi’s forces,” said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi.

“In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity” and let Nato pound it with airstrikes.

World leaders meeting in Paris to discuss Libya’s future after Gaddafi said the Nato military operations would continue as long as needed.

The rebels say the advance on Sirte is going well, and that their forces have already captured one nearby city. They also say they are closing in on Gaddafi, who came to power 42 years ago in a military coup that toppled King Idris.

The rebels have been hunting for Gaddafi since he was forced into hiding after they swept into Tripoli on August 20 and gained control of most of the capital after days of fierce fighting.

“We won’t surrender again; we are not women. We will keep fighting,” Gaddafi said in a blustery tone in the audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV. His voice was recognisable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast statements by Gaddafi and his sons.

Gaddafi said the tribes in Sirte and Bani Walid are armed and “there is no way they will submit”. He called for continued resistance, warning “the battle will be long and let Libya burn”.

In a second late-night audio also broadcast on the Syrian channel, Gaddafi spoke in more measured tones and called for a long insurgency.

“We will fight them everywhere,” he said. “We will burn the ground under their feet. ... Get ready to fight the occupation.”

He said the Nato alliance is trying to occupy Libya and steal its oil.

The rebels, who have effectively ended Gaddafi’s rule, dismiss his threats as empty rhetoric.

The rebels believe he may be in one of their three key targets. The rebel fighters, backed by Nato airstrikes, have been pushing in recent days toward Sirte as well as toward Bani Walid, 90 miles south-east of Tripoli, and the southern city of Sabha.

All three were given a Saturday deadline to surrender. While the deadline extension was officially only for Sirte, rebels said it would also apply to Bani Walid and Sabha.

Pro-Gaddafi forces control most of Sabha and large numbers of soldiers - including mercenaries from other African countries – are camped on its outskirts, said Abdul Awidat, a Sabha resident currently in Tripoli.

Awidat said he has spoken by satellite phone with people in the southern area in the past two days who said pro-Gaddafi forces have taken up positions in buildings and are recruiting young men as fighters and handing out weapons.

“There is no information that Gaddafi or any of his senior leadership are in Sabha,” he added.

Some anti-government protesters have taken over a small part of the town of Gorda, and there has been fighting in the area with several people killed, Awidat said.

He said there is no electricity, running water or regular telephone service, and medicine is running out.

In a boost to the rebel cause, the last prime minister under Gaddafi said he now supports the opposition.

Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi told Al-Arabiya television that had had been in contact with the rebels “and we notified them that we are with the people and we are ready to serve our country in the future”.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Said, an adviser to the interior minister in the rebels’ interim government, said Gaddafi’s foreign minister had been captured. He did not identify him by name, but “can confirm that he is in custody”.

A week ago, foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi told Channel 4 that Gaddafi’s rule was over.

Algeria, which gave refuge to Gaddafi’s wife and three of his children this week, has indicated it will not do the same for the long-time dictator.

The Algerian newspaper El Watan reported Gaddafi had also sought sanctuary in Algeria, but the president refused to take his phone calls. Asked if Gaddafi could be given asylum, Algerian foreign minister Mourad Medelci said: “I don’t believe so.”