World turns screws on as Gaddafi tells of a show of love by protesters

TRIPOLI, Tuesday

The West heaped pressure on Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi today after loyalists tried to retake a key city near the capital following a show of defiance by the veteran leader the US dubbed “delusional.”

Washington said it had blocked around $30 billion in Libyan assets, the largest amount ever frozen, while the European Union also imposed its toughest international sanctions yet on Gaddafi ’s crumbling regime.

US and European leaders weighed the use of Nato air power to impose a no-fly zone and stop Gaddafi from using air strikes against his own people to crush protests that in the past 15 days have left much of the country outside his control.

The UN refugee agency said the situation at Libya’s western border with Tunisia was reaching crisis point as desperate expatriate workers poured across, fearful of a bloody rearguard action by diehard regime elements.

Overnight heavily-armed pro-Gaddafi militiamen attempted to retake Zawiyah, a middle-class dormitory town just 60 kilometres west of the capital where several of the veteran leader’s lieutenants have homes, residents told AFP by telephone.

But they fell back when they met resistance from armed opposition supporters in control of the city centre.

“Today, it’s very calm, I’m able to get around town as normal,” one resident said, reached by telephone.

“The militiamen did not enter the city centre. They are still on the outskirts. They are heavily armed and have tanks with them.”

The cities of Misrata east of the capital and Gherian to its south also appeared to remain in opposition hands, as was virtually all of the east of the country, including several key oil fields.

Human rights groups say at least 1,000 people have been killed in the regime’s harsh fight to retain its four-decade grip on power.

But Gaddafi was unrepentant in an interview with Western journalists in Tripoli on Monday.

“They love me. All my people with me. They love me all. They will die to protect me,” Gaddafi said laughing off suggestions that he might leave Libya as the White House aired the prospect of exile for him.

US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the interview showed “how unfit he is to lead and how disconnected he is from reality”.

“It sounds just frankly delusional, when he can talk and laugh to an American and (an) international journalist while he is slaughtering his own people,” Ms Rice said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have jointly called for a special meeting of leaders to “consider further European Union action” against the Libyan regime, as the US military said it was repositioning its naval forces in the Mediterranean.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied that military action was imminent but said Gaddafi should quit power “now”.

Meanwhile, Germany said today it was freezing a bank account held by a son of Gaddafi containing two million euros ($2.8 million).

“Germany is working hand in hand with the European Union and is on the side of all those pressing for democracy and the rule of law,” Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.

Contacted by AFP, the economy ministry declined to say which of Gaddafi’s sons was the account holder or to name the German bank concerned.

The European Union on Monday imposed the toughest international sanctions yet on Gaddafi’s crumbling regime, ordering an asset freeze and visa ban against the Libyan leader and 25 others for brutalising civilians. The 27-nation bloc banned the supply to Libya of arms. (AFP)