Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has called on his followers to prepare for the “battle to liberate” rebel-held towns in an audio message on Libyan television.
In what Libyan state television said was a live speech, Gaddafi urged the Libyan people to arm themselves to liberate the country from “traitors and from NATO.”
“The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (which brought Gaddafi to power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from Nato,” he said.
“Get ready for the fight … The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battlefield.”
He also predicted a swift end for “the rats” and the “coloniser”, referring to the rebels and Nato.
“The end of the coloniser is close and the end of the rats is close. They (the rebels) flee from one house to another before the masses who are chasing them,” he said via telephone in his first public address since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan two weeks ago, spoke by telephone.