"This Sarkozy is a war criminal who has stained the history of the French nation and destroyed his country's ties with Libya and Muslim countries," Qadhafi said in a message to supporters in an eastern district of Tripoli.

"He's mentally disturbed," he charged in the message relayed over loudspeaker.

"By leading a crusade against the Libyan people, he has led his country into a lost war," said Qadhafi. "He is not a Frenchman. The (French) people should ban this criminal."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011