http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/25/3148403.htm
Gaddafi 'preparing to flee' Libyan bloodshed
Updated 52 minutes ago
A political activist says Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is readying to flee the country, as violent civil unrest continues and rebels continue to take power of towns close to the capital Tripoli.
Eyewitnesses in Tripoli say the government is escalating its crackdown on anti-government protesters, and it is hard to know how much ground Mr Gaddafi has lost to local protesters.
Tripoli is still held by pro-Gaddafi forces. Tanks have been seen in the suburbs and the streets are quiet as any protest would almost certainly be crushed.
The picture elsewhere is more uncertain and fluid.
There are reports of gun battles taking place between forces loyal to Mr Gaddafi and his opponents in the town of Zawiyah, 50 kilometres west of Tripoli.
Mr Gaddafi no longer controls much of the east around Benghazi, where there are reports residents have jailed those they say are mercenaries and set up committees to run the city.
London-based Libyan political activist, Guma el-Gamaty, has told the ABC's Lateline that "quite reliable sources" believe Mr Gaddafi is readying to flee his country.
"Gaddifi's own private plane is loaded with gold bullion and lots of hard currency, mainly dollars, and is preparing to flee to Zimbabwe to stay there with his friend Robert Mugabe," he said.
"We think this could happen very shortly because the Security Council is threatening to impose a no-fly zone and we think that Gaddafi will try to escape before this no-fly zone is imposed, possibly by tomorrow.
"So this is the most serious story we've heard today. It's very indicative of the fact that Gaddafi is totally isolated, surrounded more or less and is probably in a state of mind where he's just concentrating and thinking about how to escape and run away and stay alive."
Mr el-Gamaty says Mr Gaddafi's 41-year rule is coming to a close.
"It's just a matter of time. This time could be hours, could be days. The whole of the eastern region is now totally free of Gaddafi's control," he said.
"In the western region, big towns and cities have also fallen. We have confirmation this morning that the third biggest city in Libya, which is Misurata, some 200 kilometres east of Tripoli is totally free of Gaddafi and they have managed to tackle the last security battalion in the city and taken it over.
"In fact, the local radio station in Misurata is now broadcasting free material against Gaddafi and celebrating with the population."
Mr el-Gamaty says Mr Gaddafi's regime has "thousands" of African mercenaries.
"They are Africans who speak French or English. They are totally alien to the Libyan society and they said they have been promised large amounts of dollars to fight for Gaddafi basically," he said.
"These thousands of Africans are within the Bab al-Azizia barrack. It's a huge complex and they unleash them out of the barracks into the streets of Tripoli to terrorise the population and to prevent them from coming out and demonstrating.
"These mercenaries have orders to shoot any people who they see on the streets. So, that is what's holding the huge population of Tripoli, which is about two million people, not to come out en masse. Basically they are held hostages inside their houses."
'Die like Hitler'
Earlier, one of Mr Gaddafi's former ministers predicted the Libyan leader will follow in Adolf Hitler's footsteps and commit suicide rather than give up power.
Mustapha Abdeljalil, justice minister until he quit over the bloody crackdown on protesters, says he expects Mr Gaddafi to make good on his pledge to die on Libyan soil rather than slink into exile.
"Gaddafi's time is up. He is going to go like Hitler. He is going to commit suicide," Mr Abdeljalil told Swedish media.
Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin in April 1945 as he witnessed the disintegration of his Nazi empire.
Mr Mr el-Gamaty says that is "a small possibility".
"We believe that probably Gaddafi doesn't really have the courage to kill himself. We think he still have this grandiose idea that he will go to Africa and rally all the Africans," he said.
"Remember he has the title of the "King of Kings" of Africa, so he thinks he can still go to Africa and rally all the Africans around him and come back to Libya and take it over again.
"But, who knows? That is also a possibility. But whether he flees, whether he kills himself, whether he gets arrested, I think he is doomed and I think his end is very imminent."
The official death toll from the violence stands at 300, but some reports figure the number at more than 1,000.
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