Proclaiming the support of the people, Kadhafi ordered the army and police to crush the popular uprising against his iron-fisted rule that has already left hundreds dead in the past eight days.
He threatened to purge Libya of opponents *”house by house”* and *”inch by inch”* and warned protesters to surrender their weapons or face *”slaughter”*.
Hours later, his government said 300 people, including 58 soldiers, had been killed in protests, which began on February 15.
The figures released late Tuesday ahead of a press conference to be given by Kadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam, were the first official figures released since the unrest began.
Nearly half of the fatalities were said to have been in second city Benghazi, the epicenter of the uprising against Kadhafi.
There have been widespread reports that army, police and militias had killed unarmed demonstrators indiscriminately, even to the point where air force planes have strafed civilians.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the authorities should immediately stop using violence, adding *”widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity”*.
Although government restrictions have complicated the task of compiling a tally, Human Rights Watch has said 233 had been killed in the uprising while the International Federation for Human Rights put the toll at between 300 and 400.
The 68-year-old former army colonel said, *”Moamer Kadhafi is the leader of a revolution; Moamer Kadhafi has no official position in order for him to resign. He is the leader of the revolution forever.”*
*”This is my country, my country,”* he shouted, in a roughly 75-minute speech consisting of short, angry bursts of words, which he punctuated by shaking his fist or pointing his finger.
Kadhafi called on Libyans to demonstrate in a show of popular support on Wednesday. *”Capture the rats,”* he said of anti-regime protesters. *”Go out of your homes and storm them”* wherever they are.
*”Any Libyan who carries arms against Libyans will be punished by death,”* he thundered.
Despite his defiance, Kadhafi’s grip on Libya appeared to be slipping as his interior minister Abdel Fatah Yunes resigned and called on the armed forces to back the week-long rebellion against the veteran leader.
*”I announce my resignation from all my duties in response to the revolution of February 17,”* Yunes said on Al-Jazeera television, dressed in military uniform and seated at a desk.
*”I call on all the armed forces to respond also to the demands of the people,”* he added.
Numerous high level Libyan officials, including ministers, diplomats and military officers, have abandoned the regime and announced their support for the rebellion.
Khadafi’s brutal crackdown on opponents in the OPEC member sent oil prices soaring to their highest level since the 2008 economic crisis amid fears for the impact on oil supplies.
The violence *”has escalated the situation to a point where we are likely to lose, at least for a time, Libya’s 1.1 million barrels a day to the oil market,”* said oil analyst John Kilduff.
New York’s WTI light sweet crude for March delivery closed at $93.57 a barrel, a gain of $7.37, or 8.5 percent, from Friday’s close.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April slipped four cents to settle at $105.78 a barrel, after hitting $108.57, a peak last seen on September 4, 2008.
Libya, which has Africa’s largest oil reserves and is the continent’s fourth largest producer, is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the cartel that produces about 40 percent of global supplies.
Libyan natural gas supplies to its ex-colonial master and top trade partner Italy were halted Tuesday, prompting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to phone Kadhafi and urge him to pursue peace.
Berlusconi, whose government has signed a number of lucrative energy contracts with Libya, has come under fire at home for his failure to pressurise Kadhafi earlier.
In one of many demonstrations held Tuesday outside Libyan embassies across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, protesters burned an Italian flag in Valletta, Malta in anger at Rome’s ties with Kadhafi’s regime.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the crackdown as *”completely unacceptable.”*
*”It is the responsibility of the government of Libya to respect the universal rights of their own people, including their right to free expression and assembly,”* she said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Libyan leader had declared war on his own people.
*”Kadhafi’s speech today was very scary as he has declared war on his own people,”* she said, while warning Berlin would consider sanctions unless he ended the crackdown.
The Arab League said it has barred Tripoli from attending its meetings *”until the Libyan authorities respond to demands, guaranteeing the security and stability of its people.”*
Kadhafi’s sense of isolation was being underlined at a meeting of the UN Security Council, called after Libyan diplomats who have broken ranks from him called for a UN no-fly zone over the country and humanitarian action.
The uprising flared up in the east last week, spreading to the capital on Monday, where protesters attacked police stations and the offices of the state broadcaster and set government buildings ablaze.
