Serbian TV broadcasts exclusive Gaddafi interview

Belgrade-based Pink TV aired late on Sunday a telephone statement which it said was an exclusive interview with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi. In the interview, given in Tripoli, Gaddafi said that he considers as void the UN Security Council Resolution on sanctions against Libya which freezes his property and calls on the International Criminal Tribunal to examine the regime's violence against the population, which the resolution says can be qualified as crime against humanity. Serbian TV broadcasts exclusive Gaddafi interview But Gaddafi said the UN Security Council adopted its document "based on media reports", and said the body should have sent a fact-finding mission to Libya before passing a resolution. The Libyan leader also accused Al Qaeda in north Africa for backing "terrorist gangs" that were responsible for the casualties in his country. "Currently there are no incidents and Libya is completely calm. There's nothing unusual, there is no unrest," he said in the interview broadcast late on Sunday. Gaddafi said that gangs invaded army barracks and police stations and took weapons, saying these were "small groups of young people under the influence of narcotics". "They entered the camps, and we refused to shoot at them. However, they then took weapons and started shooting at army and police, and killed a number (of officers). Both soldiers and policemen exchanged fire with them. A small number of individuals died on both sides, unlike what is being said abroad," he stated. Gaddafi added that "these gangs" afterwards started taking over mosques and intimidating residents, especially in Benghazi, where they prohibited free movement for women. "Whoever moved was killed by them. Whoever opposed them had their throat slit. We let them be and said - surround them, and let them be. Now they're demonstrating in the streets and killing people." Gaddafi also stated that residents of the towns where unrest is taking place are "sending appeals to the government to rescue them". "They can't wait to be freed from the armed gangs," said the Libyan leader, and added that demonstrations in support of the revolution were currently ongoing in Libya. Miodrag Popovic was in the team of journalists who interviewed Gaddafi, while Gaddafi's long-time friend and Milosevic-era Yugoslav president Zoran Lilic also commented on the situation for the Belgrade TV. Lilic is in Libya to assist in efforts to evacuate Serbian citizens from that country. Muammar Gaddafi (Beta, file)

Serbian TV broadcasts exclusive Gaddafi interview

But Gaddafi said the UN Security Council adopted its document "based on media reports", and said the body should have sent a fact-finding mission to Libya before passing a resolution.

The Libyan leader also accused Al Qaeda in north Africa for backing "terrorist gangs" that were responsible for the casualties in his country.

"Currently there are no incidents and Libya is completely calm. There's nothing unusual, there is no unrest," he said in the interview broadcast late on Sunday.

Gaddafi said that gangs invaded army barracks and police stations and took weapons, saying these were "small groups of young people under the influence of narcotics".

"They entered the camps, and we refused to shoot at them. However, they then took weapons and started shooting at army and police, and killed a number (of officers). Both soldiers and policemen exchanged fire with them. A small number of individuals died on both sides, unlike what is being said abroad," he stated.

Gaddafi added that "these gangs" afterwards started taking over mosques and intimidating residents, especially in Benghazi, where they prohibited free movement for women.

"Whoever moved was killed by them. Whoever opposed them had their throat slit. We let them be and said - surround them, and let them be. Now they're demonstrating in the streets and killing people."

Gaddafi also stated that residents of the towns where unrest is taking place are "sending appeals to the government to rescue them".

"They can't wait to be freed from the armed gangs," said the Libyan leader, and added that demonstrations in support of the revolution were currently ongoing in Libya.

Miodrag Popović was in the team of journalists who interviewed Gaddafi, while Gaddafi's long-time friend and Milošević-era Yugoslav president Zoran Lilić also commented on the situation for the Belgrade TV.

Lilić is in Libya to assist in efforts to evacuate Serbian citizens from that country.