Gaddafi vows: ‘We won’t surrender again; we are not women’

Deposed dictator insists his forces remain loyal, armed and ready to turn the country ‘into a hell’ A defiant Muammar Gaddafi vowed to fight to the end against Libya’s new government and its Nato backers, warning that his forces would turn the country “into a hell” rather than surrender like “women”. The old dictator’s audio message on Syrian TV came as the country’s new leaders presented themselves to a global summit in Paris, promising a swift transition to democracy and asking for immediate UN help in organising elections. But Gaddafi’s intervention, made from an unknown location, stressed that the war was not over. “If Libya goes up in flames, who will be able to govern it? Let it burn,” he said, declaring that his forces were armed and ready for battle. “We will fight in every valley, in every street, in every oasis, and every town,” he said. “We won’t surrender again; we are not women; we will keep fighting,” he said, referring to loyal tribes in the towns of Sirte and Bani Walid. Pro-Gaddafi forces control a central axis in the country, from Sirte in the north to Sabha in the southern desert. Nato said it was ready to support Libyan and UN efforts to rebuild the country, but would continue its military operations until the last remnants of the pro-Gaddafi forces were routed. Speaking on the 42nd anniversary of Gaddafi’s seizure of power in a military coup, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), told the summit in Paris that his movement would keep its promise not to cling on to power but to hold elections within eight months. In a meeting with the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, Abdul Jalil put planning for the elections alongside restoring water supplies and maintaining law and order on his list of urgent priorities, according to a source at the meeting. Ban promised that a UN assessment team due to arrive in Tripoli over the weekend would include election specialists, as well as water engineers and security experts. David Cameron, who was acting as co-host of the “Friends of Libya” meeting alongside France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, said the NTC commitment to elections proved that democracy was not being imposed on Libya by outsiders. “This is not being dropped out of a Nato aeroplane, this is being delivered by the Libyan people,” the prime minister told CNN. “Young children in Libya in decades to come will learn about the bravery of how they overturned a dictator and delivered democracy. Yes, they were helped by Nato, they were helped by countries like Britain – and I’m incredibly proud of what our pilots did night after night to stop the Gaddafi war machine – but there won’t be democracy in Libya because of what we’ve done; there’ll be democracy in Libya because of what the Libyans are going to do.” In his remarks to the meeting, Abdul Jalil addressed the fears of international backers that the unity of the former rebels could fall apart as they took power, and that what one European official described as a “second phase civil war” might break out. Abdul Jalil and the NTC’s acting prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, promised the political process would be inclusive and multi-ethnic. In return, the 31 heads of state at the summit urged the lifting of UN sanctions that have kept more than $100bn (£62bn) in formerly Gaddafi-controlled state funds frozen around the world. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, also promised support for the NTC taking Libya’s seat at the UN. The NTC and its backers made a breakthrough in that direction on Thursday when it won recognition from Russia. But China has so far not followed suit and could veto the necessary UN security council resolution. An attempt to put a resolution to a vote is expected next week. The NTC has promised elections within eight months of taking power, but observers at the meeting with Ban expressed surprise that Abdul Jalil appeared to give the same priority to election planning as to the immediate needs of water and security. “It shows how committed they are to that agenda,” an official close to the NTC delegation said. Abdul Jalil is under pressure from his western backers to demonstrate the NTC is an inclusive force representing the ethnic and social groups in the country, not just an eastern-dominated rebel movement. Ban told Abdul Jalil the UN intended to provide the help the Libyans needed immediately and that it was ready to lead the international effort to help rebuild the shattered country. At the Paris meeting with Ban, which took place before a French and British-hosted summit on Libya, Jalil also made clear his dissatisfaction with the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for his decision earlier this week to offer safe haven to Muammar Gaddafi’s second wife, daughter and two of his sons. “Algeria is no friend of the Libyan people,” Jalil told Ban. The Algerian newspaper, El Watan, reported today that Bouteflika had refused to take a telephone call from the ousted Libyan leader himself, but it was unclear whether that call was intended to seek asylum for him too. Jalil also voiced concern that the African Union had so far not recognised the NTC as the new Libyan government, although some members have. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Luke Harding Julian Borger guardian.co.uk

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