Gaddafi's son warns of civil war in Libya as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir says he will not seek re-election

By BBC

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Sayf al-Islam, has warned that civil war could hit the country.

His comments came in a lengthy TV address to the nation broadcast as anti-government protests spread to the capital Tripoli.

Despite criticising protesters, he also held out the promise of significant political reforms.

He admitted that the police and army had made "mistakes", but said the death toll was far lower than reported.

He said opposition groups and outsiders were trying to transform Libya into a group of small states. If they succeeded, he said, foreign investment would stop and living standards would drop drastically.

Sayf Gaddafi also criticised the foreign media for what he termed their exaggeration of the extent of the violence in Libya.

Earlier reports said Col Gaddafi had fled Libya, prompting crowds to come out on to the streets of Tripoli to celebrate, but his son told state TV viewers that his father remained in Libya "leading the battle".

Elsewhere, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will not stand in the next presidential election due in four years, a ruling party official has said.

The move is part of a package of reforms aimed at democratising the country, Rabie Abdelati said.

Mr Bashir, aged 67, has been in power since a coup in 1989.

Mr Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide in the Darfur region. He denies the charges.

As day broke over Tripoli on Monday, the central area of the city appeared quiet, although sporadic bursts of gunfire could still be heard.

On Sunday evening, witnesses spoke of tear gas and live ammunition being used against protesters by the security forces.

Unconfirmed reports that African mercenaries were being deployed against protesters again surfaced, as they have in Benghazi.

In the hours before Sayf Gaddafi's speech was broadcast, crowds in Tripoli could be heard chanting slogans calling for the toppling of the regime.

Verifying information from Libya has been difficult amid a government crackdown on the internet and media communications, but credible reports suggest a police station in the capital was burnt down and a building belonging to the country's ruling party was also attacked and set ablaze.

Security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition in the Gourghi area of the city, according to witnesses, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Hundreds of Libyans, some armed with knives and guns, attacked a South Korean-run construction site in Tripoli, an unnamed official at South Korea's foreign ministry told Reuters news agency. It sparked a clash in which at least three South Korean and 15 Bangladeshi employees of the site were hurt.

Benghazi, the country's second city, appears to be largely under the control of protesters after four days of unrest. Unconfirmed reports say an army general there has defected to the opposition.

Hospitals in the city are said to be struggling to cope with casualties, with one doctor saying he had received 50 bodies on Sunday afternoon alone.

Fresh demonstrations have been reported in cities including Tobruk, al-Bayda and Misrata.

In another blow to Col Gaddafi's rule, representatives of the Warfla tribe, Libya's biggest, have endorsed the protests.

Libya's envoy to the Arab League, Abdel Moneim al-Honi, announced he was "joining the revolution" and its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, told the BBC he was resigning in protest at his government's violent crackdown on demonstrators.

'Drunkards and thugs'

In his rambling TV address - the first comment on the unrest by a senior figure from the Libyan leadership - Sayf Gaddafi poured scorn on protesters, talking of "drunkards and thugs" driving tanks about the streets of Benghazi.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969

Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km

Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%

Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)

"Libya is not Tunisia or Egypt," he declared.

He accused "opposition elements" living abroad of trying to initiate an Egypt-style Facebook revolution and said security forces had pre-empted the plot.

Troops had opened fire on protesters because they were not trained to handle civil unrest, he argued.

But he warned that if a civil war started, Libyans would be "mourning hundreds and thousands of casualties", and Libya would slide back to "colonial" rule.

A US official quoted by Reuters news agency said Washington was weighing "all appropriate actions" in response to Libya's violent crackdown, and was analysing Sayf Gaddafi's speech.

European Union foreign ministers were set to condemn the repression of protesters in Libya, according to the draft of a joint statement to be agreed at their meeting later on Monday.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier told the Libyan leader's son in a phone call of London's "grave concern" at the escalation of violence.

Col Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-serving leader, having ruled the oil-rich state since a coup in 1969.

The Middle East region is seeing a wave of pro-democracy protest, fuelled by the fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak on 11 February, and long-time Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January.