BENGHAZI: Libya braced for deadly battles on Saturday after veteran strongman Moamer Qadhafi said he was ready to arm civilian supporters as a Yemen crackdown on protesters killed four more people.
The escalating revolt to overthrow Qadhafi, which his deputy envoy to the United Nations said has killed thousands, emboldened tens of thousands of protesters across the Arab world to step up demands for historic reforms.
After massive protests in Tunisia and Egypt forced the resignations of long time leaders Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, Libya's ruler of four decades appeared to dig in for a bitter fight to the end.
In a rabble-rousing speech that presaged a bloody battle for the capital, Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, a childhood friend of Qadhafi, became the latest official to defect as regime loyalists opened fire in shootings that spread through Tripoli, killing several unarmed civilians. "Please, the United Nations, save Libya," Mohammed Shalgham told the Security Council in an emotional speech in which he raised the spectre of Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Libya's deputy UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said he expected more people to be killed and warned that Qadhafi is "psychologically unstable," saying he had the choice between being killed and committing suicide.
US President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Qadhafi and four of his sons in a clear attempt to weaken his teetering regime as French President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first world leader to demand his ouster.
The UN Security Council was to hold a special meeting later on Saturday to consider sanctions against Qadhafi. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that any delay would add to a death toll, which he said had already topped 1,000. Almost the entire east of the oil-rich North African nation has slipped from
On Saturday, four more people were reported dead after security forces used live ammunition against a demonstration in the southern city of Aden. Among the dead was an employee of the state electricity company shot outside his home. In the biggest protests yet in what is the poorest Arab country, tens of thousands took to the streets, demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down after three decades in power.
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