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Gaddafi’s son calls protesters "terrorists" amid tense calm

26 February 2011 20:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The son of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, on Saturday called the country’s pro-democracy protesters ’terrorists’, one day after saying he would be willing to start a dialogue with the opposition, APA reports quoting monstersandcritics.com website.
’These are terrorists. They don’t want a constitution, they don’t want human rights, they don’t want freedom,’ the younger Gaddafi said in an interview with the broadcaster Al Arabiya.
’People are scared because these people have weapons. This will all end soon,’ he added, without elaborating.
In his earlier statements, he had said that negotiations with protesters would start on Saturday, but no steps to reach out to the opposition had been taken by evening.
’After all this killing, people will not negotiate with him,’ a resident of the capital Tripoli told the German Press Agency dpa.
In his interview, the Libyan leader’s son also denied that high- level security officials have defected to side with protesters.
’The interior minister was kidnapped, he was forced to read the statement on television,’ he said, referring to Abdel Fatah Younis’ statement of resignation, which was aired on Al Arabiya.
A tense calm prevailed over major cities across Libya on Saturday, as more aid convoys entered the country from its eastern border with Egypt to tend to the injured and deliver medical aid.
Many have already arrived in the large north-eastern city of Benghazi, where one of the highest death tolls has been reported during the unrest.
Two large tents have been set up in the city, staffed by doctors and volunteers who arrived over the past few days.
Benghazi, which is the country’s second-largest city, has seen its shops and banks reopen. Protesters have taken over the city, among others in the eastern part of Libya, following violent clashes that left hundreds dead.
A convoy from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was expected to enter Libya later on Saturday with more medical supplies. Another convoy with a crew of nearly a dozen surgeons is expected to follow on Sunday.
’The reports we’re getting indicate that the humanitarian situation inside Libya is worsening by the hour,’ said the ICRC’s deputy director of operations, Dominik Stillhart.
The capital Tripoli and cities in the western part of the country featured a tense calm Saturday, following clashes the day before between people loyal to leader Gaddafi and anti-government protesters.
’I’m afraid it is the quiet before the storm,’ one opposition activist wrote on the micro-blogging website Twitter. ’They will try to invade all parts of the country.’
Shops and banks were still closed in the capital. Schools also remained shut down, despite announcements by authorities that they would reopen.
At least 30 government-run checkpoints were set up along the main 250-kilometre-long road leading from Tripoli to the Tunisian border, witnesses told dpa.
While thousands of Egyptian and Palestinian migrant workers were allowed to cross into Tunisia, their mobile phone cards were confiscated at the borders, along with memory cards and cameras that might have photos, witnesses said.
African mercenaries and Libyan border guards were present at the border, added one witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
Gaddafi’s son on Saturday evening again denied that there were mercenaries being used to attack Libyans, despite multiple witness reports to the contrary.
There has been no confirmed death toll in the unrest, which has endured for almost two weeks. However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon on Friday put the number of deaths at 1,000.
Gaddafi has vowed he would open the country’s weapons caches to every Libyan to fight those looking to overthrow his government.
Despite his threat, one Tripoli resident said the city’s inhabitants are determined to unseat Gaddafi, who has been ruling with an iron fist for nearly 42 years.
’We are not very much afraid of death. I am not afraid, I would give all my sons, I would give all my brothers, I would give myself to Libya,’ one woman said in an audio message posted on an opposition website.