Gaddafi vows no surrender as Nato jets pound Tripoli

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed in an audio message aired by state television yesterday that he would never surrender as Nato-led warplanes pounded Tripoli with one of the heaviest bombardments so far.

In the message, his first intervention since he appeared on state television on May 19, Col Gaddafi said that he was close to the bombing but was still resisting and called on his people to resist too.

“Despite the bombings, we will never submit,” Col Gaddafi said in the broadcast.

“I am near the bombing but I am still resisting,” he added.

“Have no fear, onward, onward,” the Libyan leader said, adding: “You will never be able to defeat us, an armed people.”

Shortly after the recording was broadcast, fresh air strikes hit the Libyan capital continuing a bombardment that had gone on throughout the day.

An AFP correspondent heard eight loud explosions from the area around Col Gaddafi’s compound in the late morning, followed by more than a dozen in the early afternoon.

A plume of smoke rose over a barracks in the complex which was “once again targeted by Nato,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.

Journalists taken on an escorted tour of the bomb-damaged compound were shown a dead body, draped in a green Libyan flag, which Ibrahim said was among a number of casualties from the air strikes.

Several buildings had been hit. Government officials said they included one of Col Gaddafi’s offices, an administrative building and a power plant. The British Defence Ministry said the targets included a secret police headquarters in the heart of Tripoli and a major military installation on the outskirts.

“The missions were flown as part of a coordinated series of precision attacks throughout the day and night by Nato aircraft targeting intelligence and military facilities in the Libyan capital,” defence staff spokesman Major General Nick Pope said.

At a meeting of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Libya Labour Minister Al-Amin Manfur announced that he was changing sides in the latest high-level defection to hit Col Gaddafi’s regime.

The European Union said that it would extend a freeze on the assets of Col Gaddafi’s regime to six government-controlled port authorities as from today.

US President Barack Obama said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that pressure on Col Gaddafi “will only continue to increase” until the Libyan leader steps down.

“The chancellor and I have been clear. Col Gaddafi must step down and hand power to the Libyan people, and the pressure will only continue to increase until he does,” President Obama told reporters at the White House standing alongside the German leader. (See page 17.)

In Libya’s second city Benghazi, President Dmitry Medvedev’s envoy Mikhail Margelov met rebel leaders in the first trip by a top Russian official to their eastern stronghold.

Mr Margelov, Medvedev’s African envoy, said Russia was prepared to provide financial support to the rebels but opposed any escalation of the conflict.

“Air strikes don’t solve problems. We are in favour of a political solution, not a military escalation,” he said.

The rebels said they were ready to receive Russian aid “tomorrow,” but stressed that they would not enter any negotiations until Col Gaddafi stepped down.

“The only message that he can deliver to Col Gaddafi as far as the rebellion is concerned is ‘Leave’,” rebel spokesman Mahmoud Shammam said.