Thursday, March 3, 2011

Muammar Gaddafi offers rebels an amnesty

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi drives his personal cart in Tripoli after making a speech in which he sought to defuse tensions after days of anti-government protests. Photograph: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has offered an amnesty for rebels who hand back weapons, promising they would be "forgiven and not pursued" even as he warned that his country would be turned into "another Vietnam" if foreign countries intervened.
In a three-hour speech to supporters and international journalists in Tripoli, Gaddafi offered a handful of concessions aimed at those supporting the opposition forces who control more than half the country.
Faced with the threat of armed intervention by the west, he said: "We will enter a bloody war and thousands and thousands of Libyans will die if the United States enters or Nato enters."
Although the defiance had been anticipated, what was surprising was a series of concessions designed to divert support for the escalating uprising and head off the growing threat of military intervention.
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