THE Libyan government’s Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim has scornfully rejected a ‘rebel’ ultimatum to surrender or face an all-out military assault on the city of Sirte.
In response to a demand by the counter-revolutionary ‘Transitional National Council’ that forces loyal to Colonel Gadaffi have until Saturday to surrender, Moussa Ibrahim dismissed the council as an unlawful group.
He said Muammar Gadaffi’s son Saadi is willing to negotiate and form a transitional government in coordination with the ‘rebels’, but scorned the TNC demand.
‘No dignified, honourable nation would accept an ultimatum from armed gangs,’ Ibrahim said in a telephone interview.
Moussa Ibrahim confirmed that Colonel Gadaffi is in Libya and has no plans to leave.
He said that NATO was launching missile strikes in Sirte, probably because ‘rebels’ have told them Colonel Gadaffi is inside.
Moussa Ibrahim, who said he was speaking from somewhere south of Tripoli, said missile attacks on Sirte by NATO bombers have killed 1,000 people and have left many others injured.
‘Maybe they have been advised by some of the leaders of the rebels to attack the city with such vigour and power in hope that the leader is there praying with his people,’ Ibrahim said.
The majority of Libya remains firmly in the hands of Gadaffi loyalists, as does Sirte, 278 miles east of Tripoli, along the Mediterranean coast, and so does Sabha, to the south of the capital.
South Africa has declined a French invitation to attend today’s conference of the jackals ‘on Libya’s reconstruction’, which is taking place in Paris.
Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the SA Department of International Affairs and Cooperation, confirmed yesterday that no South African officials would attend the meeting organised by French President Sarkozy.
Monyela declined to explain why, as he declared curtly: ‘South Africa is not attending.’
A French government official said yesterday that delegations from about 60 countries and international institutions are expected to take part, including Russia and China.
The government doesn’t ‘want to be associated in any way with what NATO’s doing,’ said Thomas Wheeler, a former South African diplomat.
