THE son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has warned his country is on the verge of civil war after protesters seized control of military bases and tanks.

But while he admitted mistakes had been made in a brutal crackdown by his father’s regime, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi said there would be “rivers of blood” if protesters refused to accept offers of reform.

“At this moment there are tanks being driven by civilians in Benghazi,” Gaddafi said in an appearance on Libyan state television, broadcast as gunfire rang out in the capital Tripoli.

Gaddafi conceded that Libya’s second city – the epicentre of the protests – was now out of government control as fighting erupted in Tripoli for the first time since the anti-regime uprising.

Speaking in Arabic, Gaddafi branded the protests as a foreign plot and blamed Arab and African expatriates for fomenting unrest in the country.

He said the violence was aimed at installing Islamist rule, and pledged a new constitution with liberal laws in a bid to appease the protesters.

But Gaddafi said that any uprising would be ruthlessly suppressed, warning protesters they would be crushed in a “bloodbath” if the government’s offer of reform was rejected.

“Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia. There are no political parties in Libya,” he said.

“We have arms, the military has arms and the forces which want to destroy Libya have arms,” he said.

“If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other.

“We will take up arms… we will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet,” he said. “We will destroy seditious elements.”

He added that his father would lead the fight against the protesters and that he had the backing of the army, insisting “we will win.”

In the tough-talking, finger-wagging speech, Gaddafi’s son said the north African country was at a crossroads and blamed foreign media of inflating the death toll.

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 173 people have died in Libya since the anti-regime protests broke out on February 15 after similar uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt which ended the long rule of two veteran leaders.

“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms, we will not be mourning 84 people, but thousands of deaths, and rivers of blood will run through Libya,” Gaddafi’s son said in a speech that gave a lower death toll.

Gaddafi acknowledged the army had made mistakes in containing the riots, saying they were “not trained to contain riots” and were responding to attacks by “people on drugs.”

He offered to put forward reforms within days that he described as a “historic national initiative.”

He said the regime was willing to remove some restrictions and to begin a discussion of the constitution. He offered to change a number of laws, including those covering the media.

“If you want us to change the flag and national anthem, we will,” he said.

In a performance which veered between threats and concessions, Gaddafi underscored Libya’s vast oil wealth and issued a trenchant warning to foreign companies.

“We have one resource that we live on and that is petrol,” he said. “All the foreign companies will be forced to leave the country.”

Intense gunfire rang out in the heart of Tripoli and intensified after Gaddafi’s speech, but sounds of celebration also rang out to produce a confused picture.

“We are hearing bursts of gunfire everywhere and they are approaching the city centre,” a resident of the Al-Andalous quarter said.

Another resident reported gunfire in the Mizran area, near downtown Tripoli.

A local of the working-class Gurgi area said security forces fired tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters.

“There are demonstrations. We are hearing anti-regime slogans and firing. Our house is filled with tear gas,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, witnesses said security forces clashed with anti-regime protesters in the Mediterranean city of Misrata, 200km from Tripoli.

The witnesses said security forces, backed by “African mercenaries,” fired on crowds “without discrimination.”

Protests continued in the eastern city of Benghazi, lawyer Mohammed al-Mughrabi said.

“Lawyers are demonstrating outside the Northern Benghazi court; there are thousands here. We have called it Tahrir Square Two,” he said, referring to the Cairo square central to protests that brought down Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Separately, others are “storming the garrison” and “taking fire from snipers,” Mughrabi said, without elaborating.

He said “at least 200 have been killed altogether (since the unrest began) but we can’t verify from hospital. We are pleading for the Red Cross to send field hospitals. We can’t take it any more.”

Speaking to Al-Jazeera television, one resident spoke of “out-of-sight massacres” in Benghazi.

Libya’s premier earlier defended the crackdown on anti-regime protests, also denouncing them as part of a plot to turn his country into a terrorist base.

Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi told EU ambassadors in the capital Tripoli, without elaborating, that there are “very precise plans, destructive and terrorist, that want Libya to become a base for terrorism.”

Mahmudi said Libya has the “right to take all measures to preserve its unity, stability and people, and to assure the protection of its riches and preserve its relations with other countries,” state news agency Jana reported.

Mahmudi also lashed out at “foreign news media,” whose reports he said were a “mixture, without distinction, of reality and lies.”

While Mahmudi gave no details to support his claims, an official said security forces had foiled an attempt by saboteurs to set fire to oil wells at the Sarir field.

He said six Libyans had been arrested and that the “gang received its weapons from outside Libya and got its instructions through the Internet.”

And another official told AFP that Islamist gunmen had stormed a military depot and the nearby port of Derna on Wednesday and Friday and seized weapons and vehicles after killing four soldiers.

They also took hostages, both soldiers and civilians, and were “threatening to execute them unless a siege by security forces is lifted” in nearby Al-Baida.

In a significant crack in the regime’s public face, Libya’s envoy to the Arab League announced he was “joining the revolution.”

“I have submitted my resignation in protest against the acts of repression and violence against demonstrators (in Libya) and I am joining the ranks of the revolution,” Abdel Moneim al-Honi said.

Libya currently holds the rotating presidency of the 22-member Arab League.

As the death toll from the crackdown continued to rise, world leaders stepped up their pressure on Muammar Gaddafi, who is facing an unprecedented challenge to his four-decade rule of the oil-rich North African country.

While Gaddafi’s son addressed the nation, the 68-year-old leader – who renounced terrorism and declared in 2003 that he was giving up the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction to try to improve ties with the West – has made no public comment since the deadly protests erupted.

The United States strongly condemned the use of lethal force in Libya and called on Tripoli to allow peaceful protests after “credible reports” of hundreds of casualties.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would raise the crackdown with EU ministers this week, and urged Arab nations to speak out.

“I think we have to increase the international pressure and condemnation,” Hague told Sky News television.

“The United Kingdom condemns what the Libyan government has been doing and how they have responded to these protests, and we look to other countries to do the same.”

Meanwhile, Australia has raised its travel warning for Libya, urging visitors to leave the country after an iron-fisted crackdown on anti-regime protests was said to have cost hundreds of lives.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade lifted its advice on Libya to “reconsider your need to travel”, its second-highest level, yesterday following the anti-government protests.

“We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Libya because of the unsettled security situation and the threat of terrorist attack,” the advisory said.

source: theaustralian.com.au

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