Milan, March 16: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday ruled out negotiations with anti-government rebels, whom he described as “terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden”, but warned that if the West were to attack his country, he would ally his forces with al-Qaida in a “holy war”.
Gaddafi made the remarks in an interview with Milan-based daily Il Giornale from his headquarters in the Libyan capital Tripoli. Asked whether he feared ending up like former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by a US-led invasion and then hanged for war crimes, Gaddafi said: “No, our war is against al- Qaida.”
However, “if they (the West) behave with us as they did in Iraq, then Libya will leave the international alliance against terrorism”. “We will then ally ourselves with al-Qaida and declare a holy war,” Gaddafi said.
Gaddafi had previously accused anti-government rebels of being “hostages” of al-Qaida and warned that no dialogue with them was possible. “They (the rebels) don’t have any hope. Their cause is lost. They only have two possibilities: to surrender or to flee,” Gaddafi said.
-IANS