Gaddafi stays defiant with battle call to supporters

As opposition forces stepped up their search for the despot, an audio message from him was broadcast on Al-Arabiya TV as fighters loyal to him continued to offer resistance in fierce gun battles.

“Don’t leave Tripoli for the rats,” Gaddafi said. “Fight them, fight them and kill them.”

Despite Foreign Secretary William Hague insisting that Gaddafi’s rule was “finished”, the dictator’s spokesman claimed he was safely in hiding and orchestrating his forces’ battle against the rebels.

Moussa Ibrahim said Gaddafi had remained in Libya, his morale was high and he was “indeed leading the battle for our freedom and independence”.

He refused to say where Gaddafi was hiding and added that he himself was in an undisclosed location in Libya and constantly on the move.

“All of the leader’s family are fine,” Ibrahim said, adding that top military and political aides remained with the dictator.

Businessmen have placed a £1m bounty on Gaddafi’s head, but Ibrahim said he was capable of continuing resistance for “weeks, months and years”.

Rebels advanced into Tripoli at the weekend and stormed Gaddafi’s heavily fortified compound, but they have struggled to take full control of the capital after meeting resistance from loyalists.

Opposition fighters yesterday surrounded a flats complex, claiming Gaddafi or some of his sons were inside, although this could not be verified.

One of the rebels’ key targets is believed to be Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, about 250 miles from Tripoli, but they have acknowledged that capturing the city will not be easy.

Gaddafi’s fellow tribesmen were expected to put up a fierce fight, and opposition leaders said they were trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender of the city.

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, head of the rebel National Transitional Council, called on people living in loyalist-held towns to join the fight against Gaddafi’s soldiers.

“I am appealing to the areas not yet liberated to join the revolution,” he said. “There is no excuse for them not to join.”

Mr Hague admitted the battle for control of Libya was “not over yet” but he insisted that Nato would continue to protect civilians as fighting continued.

The alliance has helped the search for Gaddafi by sharing reconnaissance and intelligence material with the rebels.

Mr Hague, who chaired a meeting of the Government’s National Security Council yesterday, said: “There is no way back for the Gaddafi regime and clearly many of its key members are on the run.

“But there remain forces active loyal to the Gaddafi regime, concentrated particularly in the south of Tripoli and around the city of Sirte.

“As long as that remains the case and they remain a threat to the civilian population, the Nato operations will continue.

“So this is not over yet. The regime is finished but fighting, as everyone can see from their TV screens, is not over yet.”

Mr Hague insisted that “enormous progress” had been made in recent days and the priority now was to give the NTC diplomatic support to build a “free, democratic and inclusive future for Libya”.

The UK was also “highly active” in efforts to unfreeze $1.5bn of Libyan assets following the Gaddafi regime’s collapse, he said.

Scottish Government officials contacted the NTC in London last night as they tried to track down the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released Megrahi on compassionate grounds two years ago after medical advice that the prisoner was months from death.

Megrahi is supposed to be monitored by East Renfrewshire Council under the terms of his release, but that authority’s leader Jim Fletcher admitted earlier this week that officials were in “uncharted water” in trying to track the bomber.

Mr MacAskill said: “Hospitals are overrun, the British embassy is having difficulties operating, so I think East Renfrewshire have done a good job to date and I fully support their efforts.”