Libya crisis: Gaddafi loyalists warn of tribal conflict

Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime mobilised loyal crowds throughout his strongholds to denounce foreign military intervention as the opening act in a bloody civil war.

They said the attacks from outside in support of rebels were bound to pitch Libya's tribes and regions into bloody conflict.

Hundreds of people waving green flags and chanting pro-regime slogans gathered at airports and other strategic sites thought to be on the target list drawn up by British, French and American military planners. The development raised the prospect that the protesters would effectively serve as human shields at strategic targets.

Demonstrators, some as young as five, gathered around Tripoli to vow to defend Col Gaddafi, who took power in 1969 and is the only leader most of the population have ever known.

State television showed tribal chiefs, with shaking hands but loud voices, declaring their loyalty to the "state of the masses" in which Col Gaddafi plays only the role of "Brother Leader".

Marching across Tripoli demonstrators were quick to warn that military action would plunge Libya into a cycle of confrontation, repeating events of Iraq, where air strikes upheld a UN-backed no-fly zone from 1991 until the Iraq war in 2003. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8392872/Libya-crisis-Gaddafi-loyalists-warn-of-tribal-conflict.html