Libyan former minister Omar Fathi bin Shatwan, who fled to Malta last week on board a fishing vessel which had ferried aid to Misurata, has complained that Nato forces are not doing their job well enough to bring an end to the crisis.

He said the international community could find a quicker end if it were to simply strike down all of Col Gaddafi’s military equipment, rather than stopping at imposing a no-fly zone.

He stressed that the conflict in Libya was “not a civil war” but a battle waged by Muammar Gaddafi against the Libyan people.

“These are not rebels. They are Libyan people and some happen to have guns.”

He said the only way for the conflict to end was for Col Gaddafi to leave the country, and once this happened, Libya would become free and democratic.

Mr bin Shatwan, 59, had served as minister for both energy and industry, leaving the government in 2007. His ministry had been based in Misurata. He had also chaired the Libya-Malta mixed commission.

He said he spent 40 days in the besieged city and only left in order to be able to “help the people” by being in a position to secure more aid and to raise awareness about the situation in his country.

“We need to tell people what is happening,” he said.

Misurata is being fired upon every day by heavy artillery, anti-aircraft weapons and tanks as Col Gaddafi’s forces surround the city.

“They bombarded food stores, supermarkets, water supplies and the harbour,” he said, adding that supplies were now very low.

“It has been like this for so long that it has become natural for people. It is scary, but the fear becomes normal after a while,” he said, adding that the sight of dead people in the streets had become all too common.

People were fighting back with homemade bombs and by igniting spilled oil on the streets. But Col Gaddafi’s forces would retaliate by positioning snipers on the roof, firing at anyone randomly.

Speaking to reporters on the fishing vessel that brought him to Malta, Mr bin Shatwan had said Col Gaddafi’s regime seemed to have gone crazy and was behaving worse than Hitler by firing at people in the streets.

Asked whether Col Gaddafi’s history had given him any clues to the dictator’s mental instability, Mr bin Shatwan acknowledged that students and opposition leaders had been systematically hanged in the 1970s.

“But those were his enemies – the people who were opposing him. Today it is even worse, because he is killing innocent people. His forces shoot people just for being in the street, just because they see movement. These are not his enemies. They are Libyan people. This is madness. They are just creating enemies.”

He said Libyan people had no problems with one another and denied the often cited fear that Libya would disintegrate into tribal conflict because of the numerous tribes that exist.

Mr bin Shatwan thanked the Maltese government for allowing him and his family to enter the Maltese port and for giving them visas.

“The Maltese know me very well,” he said, mentioning a number of previous prime ministers, presidents and high-profile politicians whom he had close contact with in the past.

He admitted that the Maltese authorities were initially hesitant when the vessel said it had a number of people on board but things were soon settled once Mr bin Shatwan identified himself.

Mr bin Shatwan came to the island on board the Al Entisar early last Friday morning, with his wife and three of his children, one of whom holds a British passport.

When asked why his visit was kept a secret, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry played down the incident, saying the former minister had a Schengen visa but had left it at home. Once this matter was cleared, this was simply a matter of a private citizen being evacuated, the spokesman said.

The ship’s captain Tarek Tarhuni said Mr bin Shatwan did not pay for his voyage and the evacuation was “normal” because his family claimed to be British citizens and the ship’s practice was to evacuate foreign nationals still caught up in the conflict.

“I did not even know who he was until we arrived in Malta. I don’t really follow Libyan politics,” Mr Tarhuni admitted.