Fugitive Gadhafi denies fleeing to Niger

TRIPOLI—Defeated Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Thursday slammed reports he had fled to Niger as “psychological warfare and lies,” while vowing to defeat NATO and the “rats” who have overrun his country.

As pockets of fighting continued, Libya’s new leadership and the United States called on neighboring countries to close their borders to members of the Gadhafi regime.

In his first address for several days the ex-leader remained defiant, telling his countrymen: “They have nothing else to resort to apart from psychological warfare and lies.”

Speaking by telephone on the Damascus-based Arrai Oruba television channel, he added: “They last said Gadhafi had been seen in a convoy heading towards Niger.

“They want to weaken our morale. Do not waste time on this weak and ignoble enemy.”

Gadhafi also said NATO, which since March 31 has been carrying out daily air raids against Gadhafi’s military under a UN mandate, “will be defeated” as its “logistical capacities will not allow it” to press on with its campaign.

“We are ready in Tripoli and everywhere to intensify attacks against the rats, the mercenaries, who are a pack of dogs,” he said.

Since his Tripoli complex was overrun on August 23, Gadhafi has made several appeals for resistance in tapes aired by Arrai, which is run by Iraqi Sunni former MP Mishan al-Juburi.

Juburi, the only media personality able to contact Gadhafi since he went into hiding after forces of the National Transitional Council (NTC) took Tripoli, said the ex-leader and his son Seif al-Islam were still in Libya.

“I can tell you that I spoke with Gadhafi very recently,” Juburi told Agence France-Presse.

“He is in Libya, in very good spirits, feels strong, is not afraid, and would be happy to die fighting against the occupiers,” Juburi said by phone.

“His son Seif al-Islam is in the same state of mind,” added Juburi, whose channel has broadcast a number of audio messages from the Gadhafis.

The NTC fears Gadhafi will try to slip over one of Libya’s borders and Niger strongly denied he was in the country after a convoy carrying other senior ousted regime officials fled there on Monday.

The US said Gadhafi was not believed to be among them.

Bidding to cut off Gadhafi’s potential escape routes, the NTC said it had dispatched a team to the Niger capital Niamey and the United States said Gadhafi aides who entered Niger were being detained.

None of those crossing into Niger earlier this week appeared to be on a list of persons subject to United Nations sanctions, said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

“Our understanding is that the convoy included some military and senior officials under Gadhafi’s former regime,” she said. “They are now being held in the capital… and they are being monitored closely by Nigerien officials.”

Also, Washington “is in contact with Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Burkina Faso to emphasize the importance of respecting the UN Security Council resolutions and of securing their borders”, Nuland said.

Niger’s Foreign Minster Mohammed Bazoum, attending a Sahel conference in Algiers, said neither Gadhafi nor any other wanted fugitives had arrived in his country.

Gadhafi, Bazoum said, could cross into Niger but “to go where? It doesn’t make sense.” He added that if Gadhafi has “to roam, he would roam around Libya, not across Africa.”

The US ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, said Wednesday that Gadhafi will pose a “danger” for the country’s new leadership as long as he and his family remain at large.

“Having them continue to be free anywhere in Libya or outside of Libya poses a danger to whatever efforts the (NTC) is going to make in terms of establishing a government,” he said at an event in Washington.

New regime forces, meanwhile, were poised to battle loyalist troops still holding out in the strongholds of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, Sabha in the deep south and the coastal city of Sirte, Gadhafi’s hometown.

Libya’s new rulers are anxious to arrest Gadhafi and put him on trial, sealing their hold on the country.

His remaining forces have been given a Saturday deadline to surrender, in a bid to spare further bloodshed.

In preparation for a transfer to government once the final holdouts have fallen, NTC number two Mahmud Jibril arrived in Tripoli, acting deputy information minister Khaled Najm said.

But an NTC spokesman in Benghazi said the new authorities would not complete their move to the traditional capital until Libya was “fully liberated”.

“We still have work to do here” in Benghazi, said Fathi Baja, head of the NTC’s political affairs committee.

But in a sign of the struggle the new government will have in rebuilding the country’s economy the International Energy Agency said the key oil exports are unlikely to return to their pre-war level before 2013.

“Our experts think that 2013 or beyond will most probably show the complete full restoration of the Libyan supply to the market, but not before that,” Maria van der Hoeven told AFP in an interview.

Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels per day before the rebellion against Gadhafi broke out in mid-February.