Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy has urged the public to free the country from "traitors," as rebels in the west began to strangle a major lifeline to the country’s capital.
Col Gadafy’s broadcast appeal was made over a bad telephone line from an undisclosed location. In the following hours, a senior figure in his government showed up in Cairo with his family.
Egyptian sources said Nasser al-Mabrouk Abdullah, identified as Col Gadafy's deputy minister of security, flew to Cairo airport with nine relatives from the Tunisian island resort of Djerba.
He told officials he was on holiday and there was no immediate comment from Tripoli on his move to Egypt.
Unnamed envoys of Col Gadafy's government were reported to have held talks with rebels at a Djerba hotel on Sunday, on a possible resolution of the six-month-old civil war.
A dramatic advance on Saturday won rebels control of the town of Zawiyah, 50 km west of Tripoli on the coast, enabling them to halt food and fuel supplies from Tunisia.
Tripoli was under no immediate threat, but rebels are now in their strongest position since the uprising against 41 years of Gadafy rule began in February.
"The fall of Zawiyah would be the biggest milestone for the rebels since the liberation of Misrata. It's a real morale booster for them and implies a sense of momentum," said analyst Shashank Joshi of the Royal United Services Institute in London.
"It is home to the regime's only functioning oil refinery," he added. But rebels say said Col Gadafy's forces still controlled the Zawiyah oil refinery, which lies on the coast.
A rebel spokesman called Abdulrahman told Reuters that the Western Mountains town of Garyan about 75 km south of Tripoli, had also been taken.
"Garyan is fully in the hands of the revolutionaries. They crushed the Sahban Brigade, the main command centre for Gadafy in the Western Mountains. They took the brigade's heavy and light weapons," he said.
"Gadafy has been isolated. He has been cut off from the outside world after the revolutionaries managed to cut road linking Tripoli to Tunisia. The revolutionaries last night seized three Tripoli-bound vehicles full of foodstuffs."
British prime minister David Cameron, a leading figure in the anti-Gadafy coalition, said via a spokesman that "we think the Nato operation is proving successful in eroding Gadafy's ability to wage war against his own people."
The rebels have help from Nato warplanes which are bombing Col Gadafy's army under a UN mandate to protect civilians.
Medics outside Zawiyah today said sniper and mortar fire by Col Gadafy’s forces had killed three civilians. One man was shot in the head and a 15-year-old girl died of shrapnel wounds.
Waleed, brother of a wounded woman, said Gadafy forces were "shooting at us indiscriminately."
A doctor said Zawiyah teaching hospital, with 600 beds, had been taken over by the military and turned into huge weapons storage area, particularly the floor under the maternity ward.
Libyans fleeing south in their cars reported gunfire in a place called Harsha, between Tripoli and Zawiyah.
"I heard fighting there today on our way here," said one man who declined to give his name. He also said rebels clashed with Gadafy's security forces inside Tripoli last night.
"There is no gasoline, no electricity, food prices are up 300 per cent. We just cannot live like this anymore," he said.
Col Gadafy's latest speech early was delivered over a poor quality telephone and broadcast by state TV in audio only.
"The Libyan people will remain and the Fateh revolution (in which he seized power in 1969) will remain. Move forward, challenge, pick up your weapons, go to the fight for liberating Libya inch by inch from the traitors and from NATO."
"The blood of martyrs is fuel for the battle," said the 69-year-old leader. "The end of colonialism is near. The end of the rats (rebels) is near, as they flee..."
Reuters