The Obnoxious Muammar Gaddafi

Despite the international pressure on Muammar Gaddafi, he vows to remain in power.

Gaddafi repeated his intention to remain in power amid hopes he could be persuaded to seek asylum in Equatorial Guinea.

A weekend decision by the US and other nations to recognise Libya's rebels as the legitimate government was a another setback for Gaddafi as it could hand billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds to his enemies.

"They are asking me to leave. That's a laugh. I will never leave the land of my ancestors or the people who have sacrificed themselves for me," he said in a loudspeaker address to supporters in Zawiya, about 50km west of Tripoli. "I'm ready to sacrifice myself for my people, and I will never quit this land sprinkled with the blood of my ancestors who fought Italian and British colonialists.

"After we gave our children as martyrs, we can't backtrack, or surrender, or give up, or move an inch. Rest assured in your tombs, our martyrs, we will not betray you ever."

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Officials discussing the end game in Libya hope Gaddafi can be encouraged to seek asylum in Equatorial Guinea, an African country whose dictatorship and disregard for human rights could make it seem a home from home for the "Guide" and his family.