Daily Times

A defiant Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Tuesday to die ‘a martyr’ in Libya on state television. He further added that he would call the people to cleanse Libya house-by-house unless protesters surrendered. It is important to note here that this is the first time Gaddafi announced his stance publicly since the revolt broke out. Recently, a lot of rumours were flying that Gaddafi had fled; perhaps he thought that it was important to give a public appearance in order to refute all such rumours. Nevertheless, it is evident that Gaddafi’s regime is crumbling: at least seven Libyan ambassadors are no longer supporting him; his justice minister has resigned; the staff of Libya’s mission to the UN has declared allegiance to the people of Libya; two senior air force fighter pilots defected and flew their jets to Malta when asked to attack protesters. Even his soldiers have turned against him after the people came out on the streets demanding regime change after over four decades of his rule. Moreover, Gaddafi has virtually lost all his strength in the eastern coast and therefore resorted to the oldest trick in the dictator’s book — a brutal crackdown on protesters. On Monday, pro-regime militiamen shot on sight anyone found in the streets and opened fire from speeding vehicles at people watching from the windows of their homes. Almost 62 civilian casualties have been reported in Tripoli in the last two days.

The problem with Gaddafi, like most other dictators who have been in power for a long time, is that they never read the writing on the wall. The thought of giving up never crosses their mind. So much so that they do not even hesitate to massacre their people to prolong their rule. The UN Security Council held an emergency session, and western diplomats pushed it to demand an end to the retaliation against protesters. In addition, the French foreign minister, UN chief and UK foreign secretary strongly opposed the attacks on protesters. In the light of all this, it is becoming quite clear that Gaddafi will not be able to survive. Everyone is waiting for Gaddafi to realise this and spare himself and the people more trouble. The time has come. *