Libya's Gadhafi refuses to give up power

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Libya's Gadhafi refuses to give up power

Libya attacks 'may amount to crimes against humanity,' UN rights official says

CBC News Posted: Feb 22, 2011 7:29 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 22, 2011 11:16 AM ET

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Defiant Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi insisted Tuesday he will not relinquish

control of his country's " revolution " and said he would " die as a martyr. "

In a lengthy and fiery address broadcast on state television, Gadhafi dismissed

widespread reports of a violent crackdown on protesters demanding his ouster,

saying the demonstrators were " serving the devil. " " Revolution means sacrifice, a

continuous sacrifice until the end of one's life, " Gadhafi said. " I will not

leave the country. I will die as a martyr. "

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council will hold a

closed-door meeting to discuss the bloodshed in Libya.

International leaders and even some Libyan officials have been calling on

Gadhafi to reign in his security forces amid reports that warplanes and

helicopters have been used to fire on protesters in the capital Tripoli, a claim

Gadhafi's son denied.

The precise death toll from the unrest in Libya is not clear, but Human Rights

Watch estimated that some 233 people have died since Feb. 17. Opposition groups

have said the death toll is much higher.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the violence " unacceptable " and said it

must stop immediately.

" This is a serious violation of international humanitarian law, " he said.

Ban said he spoke to Gadhafi on the phone and urged him to respect human rights,

freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.

Libya's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that he no longer

represents Gadhafi's " dictatorship regime. "

Aji Aujali told ABC's Good Morning America that he is resigning from serving the

regime, but will continue to serve Libyans.

" I will never resign from serving our people until their voices reach the whole

world, until their goals are achieved, " he said.

Aujali said Gadhafi, who has ruled the country for more than 40 years, should

" go and leave our people alone. "

Gadhafi's security forces have unleashed the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab

country against the wave of protests sweeping the region, which toppled leaders

of Egypt and Tunisia.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the widespread and

systematic attacks against the civilian population " may amount to crimes against

humanity. "

In a statement released Tuesday, she condemned the " callousness with which

Libyan authorities and their hired guns are reportedly shooting live rounds of

ammunition at peaceful protesters. "

European Union, U.S. and Canadian officials have also expressed concern about

the mounting violence in the North African state.

The UN Security Council will meet in New York at 9 a.m. ET. The Arab League is

also hosting a high-level meeting on Libya in Cairo.

A Libyan opposition activist and a Tripoli resident told The Associated Press

the streets of a restive district in the Libyan capital are littered with the

bodies of scores of protesters shot dead by security forces loyal to Gadhafi.

Mohammed Ali of the Libyan Salvation Front and the resident said Tripoli's

inhabitants are hunkering down at home Tuesday after the killings and warnings

by forces loyal to Gadhafi that anyone on the streets would be shot.

Ali, reached in Dubai, and the Tripoli resident say forces loyal to Gadhafi shot

at ambulances and some protesters were left bleeding to death. The resident

spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Reports suggested that police were in control of the capital on Tuesday, while

opposition groups were reportedly in control of Benghazi, Libya's second-largest

city.

Benghazi residents, however, remained in fear of a regime backlash. One doctor

in the city said Tuesday that many spent the night outside their homes, hearing

rumours that airstrikes and artillery assaults were imminent, The Associated

Press reported.

" We know that although we are in control of the city, Gadhafi loyalists are

still here hiding and they can do anything anytime, " he said.

Western media are largely barred from Libya and the reports couldn't be

independently confirmed.

Foreigners flee

As the bloody unrest continues, governments are scrambling to send planes and

ships to pick up their stranded citizens, with thousands of Turks crowding into

a stadium to await evacuation and Egyptians gathering at the border to escape

the chaos.

Two civilian ferries from Turkey and one military ship were expected to arrive

in Benghazi on Tuesday to evacuate about 3,000 Turkish citizens after the

country was unable to get permission to land at the airport.

About 5,000 Egyptians have returned home from Libya by land and about 10,000

more are waiting to cross the Libya-Egypt border, an Egyptian security official

said.

Egypt said it will also send six commercial and two military planes to

repatriate thousands more citizens caught in the deadly revolt against the

Gadhafi's regime.