Tripoli, Libya - A defiant Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi on Friday told Western countries that neither air strikes nor the use of force had been useful after NATO fighter jets had bombed various Libyan cities and regions for more than 100 days. Speaking at a rally in Green Square, down town Tripoli, he said the rally was a sharp response to NATO and a display of courage and dignity of the Libyan people. Kadfhafi told Western leaders that if they wanted peace and to see things return to normalcy...they must agree with the Libyan people. In this regard, he indicated that the Libyan people were represented by basic people's congresses, some 2,000 tribes embodied in the national forum and the popular and social commandments and not by him who was only a symbol.

The Libyan leader praised the country’s existing political system, namely, the direct popular democracy embodied in the basic people's congresses that took decisions as well as committees in charge of executing such decisions, saying it was the final stage of democracy.

He called upon Libyans to march in their million in Jabal Al-Gharbi, south-west region of the country, to disarm rebel groups and those he called 'traitors'. They should do the same in Musertha, 200 km east of Tripoli.

The Libyan leader also discussed the resolutions of the 17th summit of the African Union (AU) in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, saying African leaders had rejected the arrest warrants issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Pana 02/07/2011