Wont give up… let Libya be engulfed in flames,says Gaddafi

At the same time,Arabic news channels reported what they called a new message from Gaddafi,exhorting his followers to resist. Let there be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames, he was quoted as saying by Al Arabiya television and others,without saying how,when or where the missing leader had conveyed that message. We will not give up. We are not women. We will continue fighting.

The rebel decision to extend the ultimatum,coming on the anniversary of Gaddafis rise to power in Libya 42 years ago,means that the original deadline set by the rebels,Saturday,has been delayed to September 10. It came as the momentum behind the new government accelerated,with more countries notably Russia and Romania formally recognising it as the legitimate authority in Libya,as an international conference on post-Gaddafi Libyan reconstruction was convened in Paris.

Rebel leaders who have massed forces outside Sirte,the Mediterranean coastal enclave that is Gaddafis hometown,told the BBC that they had been negotiating with tribal elders there and had decided to give the talks another week. Abdel Hafidh Ghoga,deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council,the provisional rebel government,was quoted by The Associated Press as saying the deadline for surrender had been extended because there are good indications that things are moving in the right direction.

Gaddafi has been a fugitive since the rebels invaded Tripoli late last month in what quickly became a decisive turn in the six-month-old conflict. He and his subordinates have consistently rejected calls to surrender,but his second wife,along with three of his children and their families,fled to neighbouring Algeria this week.

Rebel officials said they believed Gaddafi was hiding in the desert town of Bani Walid,150 miles southeast of Tripoli. There has also been speculation he has sought refuge in Sirte,or in a third centre of armed loyalist resistance,the town of Sabha in southern Libya.

The rebels have demanded that Algeria repatriate the Gaddafi relatives who sought sanctuary there,but there has been no indication Algeria will do so. An Algerian newspaper,Al Watan,reported that Gaddafi had also sought asylum in Algeria,but the president,Abdelaziz Bouteflika,refused to take his telephone calls.