Tripoli, Libya: A hunted Muammar Gaddafi called on his remaining loyalists on Thursday to keep fighting, as the country's acting premier appealed from the capital for national unity to rebuild the North African nation after six months of civil war.
Rebel forces effectively ended Gaddafi's rule in August when they seized the capital Tripoli, sending the 42-year autocrat into hiding. Libya's new rulers have been searching for him while trying to negotiate the surrender of towns still held by Gaddafi supporters.
On Thursday, Gaddafi loyalists fired at least 10 rockets from inside one of the towns at former rebel forces amassed outside.
Former rebels have been waiting outside Bani Walid for days while their leaders try to negotiate the town's surrender before a deadline this weekend.
Speaking to reporters in Tripoli on Thursday, Mahmoud Jibril, the acting prime minister, called the negotiations an opportunity to avoid further bloodshed, but said his forces would respond if attacked.
"The right to self-defense will remain a right even before this issue concludes," he said. He also criticized the town's leaders, saying they had shown "no real initiatives or intentions to give peace a chance and bring unity back to the Libya people."
Bani Walid, a dusty town of 100,000 some 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, has emerged as a focus in the fight against pro-Gaddafi holdouts. Some say prominent regime loyalists, including Gaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, could be inside.
Regime loyalists also still control Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte and the southern city of Sabha.
In Tripoli, Jibril said that a new government can be formed only after the whole country is "liberated."
"I hope that we as Libyans, just as we fought to free the land and its people, will be able to join hands to fight the battle to rebuild," he said.
Thursday's appearance was Jibril's first since rebel forces stormed the capital on August 21. Since then, Libya's new leaders have been scrambling to establish an interim administration to run the country's affairs until a new constitution can be written and elections can be held.
Many high-level leaders in the National Transitional Council, including its head, have yet to move to the capital. Jibril said the delay was for security reasons.
"Don't forget that many elements of the regime and pockets of the regime are still present," he said. "And it is our right as Libyans to protect the leaders of this revolution."
From hiding hours earlier, Gaddafi denied rumors he had fled Libya, vowed never to leave the land of his ancestors and exhorted followers to keep fighting. The message was broadcast on a pro-Gaddafi satellite TV channel based in Syria.
Gaddafi hasn't been seen in public for months. Finding him would help seal the new rulers' hold on the country and likely trigger the collapse of remaining loyalist resistance.
In Thursday's five-minute audio message, aired on Al-Rai TV, a man who sounded like Gaddafi said he was still in Libya.
"We are ready to start the fight in Tripoli and everywhere else, and rise up against them," he said. "All of these germs, rats ... they are not Libyans, ask anyone. They have cooperated with NATO."
Gaddafi tried to counter what he called a propaganda war, telling followers in the message broadcast Thursday: "They are trying to demoralize you."
"Gaddafi won't leave the land of his ancestors," he said, referring to himself in the third person, a rhetorical habit.
The authenticity of the recording could not be verified, but the voice and style strongly resembled those of Gaddafi, who has used the TV channel in the past.
Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of crimes against humanity for the crackdown on dissent that began in February.
The court has no police force, and its chief prosecutor asked Thursday for Interpol to help in arresting the men by issuing "red notices." The notices allow warrants to be circulated worldwide with a request that the wanted suspect be arrested.
Jibril refused to discuss Gaddafi's whereabouts or to send a message to the ousted ruler.
"My message is only to the Libyans because they are more important to me, they are the future and they will build the country," he said. "I won't talk about things of the past."
The high cost of bringing down Gaddafi's regime, meanwhile, came into sharper relief, as the country's interim health minister announced that at least 30,000 people were killed and 50,000 wounded during the six-month civil war.
The figures, though incomplete, were based on body counts from some areas and estimates from others, said Libya's interim health minister, Naji Barakat. Libyan has just over 6 million people.
It may take several more weeks to get a complete count, Barakat told The Associated Press.
The economic costs have also been high for the oil-exporting nation.
In Tripoli Thursday, the new governor of Libya's central bank told reporters the former regime sold about 20 percent - or 29 tons - of the country's gold reserves to cover salaries during the uprising. Qassim Azzuz also said none of the bank's roughly $115 billion in assets "went missing or were stolen" during the uprising. He said the figures did not include still unknown sums of money accumulated by Gaddafi and his family, which were held outside the local banking sector.
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