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ISTANBUL: The Libyan people will take up arms against Western powers if they seek to enforce a no-fly zone in their country's airspace, Moamer Kadhafi said in an interview with Turkish state-run television.
“If they take such a decision it will be useful for Libya, because the Libyan people will see the truth, that what they want is to take control of Libya and to steal their oil,”
Kadhafi said in the interview by broadcast by TRT news channelon Wednesday.
“Then the Libyan people will take up arms against them,” Kadhafi said. The interview was conducted in Arabic and aired with Turkish subtitles.
Embattled Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi accused Western nations of wanting to control Libya's oil, in a television interview in which he also branded rebels seeking his ouster as “traitors.”
“The colonialist countries are hatching a plot to humiliate the Libyan people, reduce them to slavery and control the oil,” Kadhafi said in the interview broadcast early Wednesday on state television.
In a separate interview screened by France's LCI television, the strongman accused the West, epecially France, of plotting to “colonise” his oil-rich nation.
When questioned on the stand taken by Western powers, and France in particular, Kadhafi said they “want to colonise Libya again”, adding: “It's a colonialist plot.” Britain and France have made the most aggressive calls among Western powers for a no-fly zone to stop Kadhafi's troops attacking opposition forces staging a rebellion now into its fourth week.
The United States has said any such move would need to have full UN backing. Paris has also praised the national council set up by the rebels.
Libya was annexed by Italy in 1912 after an Italian invasion of the north African country ostensibly to safeguard its interests.
When asked if he envisaged “reprisals” against France, Kadhafi replied: “We'll see”.
