It’s not over warns Cameron as defiant Gaddafi pledges battle

Prime Minister David Cameron warned last night that the “struggle is not yet over” in Libya as deposed tyrant Colonel Muammar Gaddafi issued a defiant warning to rebel fighters that they face a long battle ahead.

World leaders gathered in Paris yesterday to meet members of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) at the Friends of Libya summit, chaired jointly by the Prime Minister and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and designed as a show of support for the country’s fledgling leadership.

Mr Cameron pledged the Nato operation in Libya would continue for “as long as we are needed to protect civilian life”, as leaders unanimously agreed to hand over frozen Libyan assets to the NTC.

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But as the summit got underway, Gaddafi – whose whereabouts remain unknown – released a message on Syrian TV vowing that his forces would fight “in every street, every village and every city”.

His statement said: “Let it be a long battle. We will fight from place to place, from city to city, from mountain to mountain.

“Let it be a long battle so that we can show to them that they cannot rule the Libyan people, they cannot subjugate our tribes.”

But the rebel forces hunting the top officials in Gaddafi’s ousted regime said yesterday they had captured his foreign minister and claimed to be closing in on the Colonel himself.

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The announcement, made on the 42nd anniversary of the coup which brought Gaddafi to power, came as rebels forces pressed toward three major bastions of the crumbling regime, including Gaddafi’s hometown.

“The regime is dying,” rebel council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga said last night, after two of Gaddafi’s sons made conflicting statements on Arab television stations – with one vowing to fight until death and the other offering to negotiate a truce.

“Gaddafi’s family is trying to find an exit,” Mr Ghoga said. “They only have to surrender completely to the rebels and we will offer them a fair trial. We won’t hold negotiations with them over anything.”

In Paris, some 60 international delegations met at a major conference set up by Britain and France to ensure the NTC has the full international support it needs.

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Speaking to reporters, Mr Cameron conceded there were still “huge challenges” in Libya making sure law and order prevails as well as ensuring Tripoli has sufficient water supplies.

But he insisted the “cynics and the armchair generals have been proved wrong” as hospitals and security services began to get back up and running.

Mr Cameron said: “I’m an optimist about Libya.

“I’ve been an optimist all the way through and I’m optimistic about the National Transitional Council and what they are able to achieve.

“I think when you look at Tripoli today, yes, of course, there are huge challenges – getting water to that city, making sure there is law and order – but actually, so far, the cynics and the armchair generals have been proved wrong.

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“The Libyan people have shown themselves very capable of actually getting their hospitals up and running, getting security back on the streets and we see police officers going back to work.

“It is still difficult, but there are very hopeful signs that this is a country with a leadership that wants to work and wants to come together, and they have been given that chance by what the international community, of Britain, France, and others, did.

“I think it is very, very positive.”

Mr Cameron also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take swift action to gather evidence of war crimes while they are still fresh.

He said: “We could see that there was going to be a slaughter.

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“When you see what Gaddafi has done elsewhere in his country, when you see the war crimes and the crimes against humanity he has clearly committed, I hope evidence will be being gathered by the ICC and others right now while that evidence is still fresh.

“We certainly avoided a massacre and a slaughter in Benghazi.”

Mr Cameron and Mr Sarkozy are now calling on more countries and international bodies to recognise the NTC as Libya’s legitimate government.

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