Tripoli, February 22: The embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi has made a 40-second appearance on the country’s state-run television, saying that he is in capital Tripoli.
“I want to have some rest. Because I was talking to the young men at Green Square, and I want to stay the night with them but then it started raining,” Gaddafi told the television reporter on Tuesday morning.
“I want to show them that I am in Tripoli, not in Venezuela. Don’t believe those dogs in the media,” he asserted.
Gaddafi has ordered deployment of fighter jets to open fire on the demonstrators in an effort to prevent the revolution in the country.
Witnesses say Gaddafi loyalists also used live rounds against protesters amid reports pointing to the arrival of planeloads of armed foreign mercenaries in the capital, Tripoli.
The International Federation for Human Rights earlier said that as many as 400 pro-democracy protesters have been killed in the popular Libyan uprising against the country’s 68-year leader.
——–Agencies