Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed to fight to the "last drop of blood" in a fist-pounding address to the nation on Tuesday, as rebels claimed to have captured the country's east.
Gadhafi appeared for the second time in a week of upheaval, making a defiant address on state TV amid signs that his four-decade-old regime was crumbling under his feet. Several of Libya's ambassadors around the world openly condemned their government for a bloody crackdown against protesters, while Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens.
"Libya wants glory; Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world," Gadhafi thundered, pounding his fist on the podium.
"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents. ... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said, saying he would fight "to my last drop of blood."
Dressed in black robes and turban, the Libyan leader spoke from behind a podium in the entrance of his bombed-out Tripoli residence hit by U.S. airstrikes in the 1980s and left unrepaired as a monument of defiance.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, who was able to cross into Libya from Egypt, said the Libyan side of the border post was controlled by armed men who described themselves as "free Libyan troops." She said there were no signs of police or any Libyan authorities.
"They say they have liberated all of eastern Libya," she said via satellite phone. "They are very anxious to speak to the media. They say they have been waiting to tell their story." She told NPR's Michele Norris that people there who watched Gadhafi's speech on televisions scoffed and laughed at the leader.
Garcia-Navarro described "people stuffing possessions into burlap sacks" as they readied to cross the border into Egypt.
Libya's unrest continued as protesters remained active in Bahrain, where the king ordered the release of some political prisoners. Thousands of anti-government protesters also rallied in Yemen. Meanwhile, the Arab League and United Nations were discussing Libya in emergency sessions.
About 5,000 Egyptians have returned home from Libya by land, and about 10,000 more were preparing to cross the Libya-Egypt border, an Egyptian security official said. Egypt says it will also send six commercial and two military planes to repatriate more citizens.
Earlier, reporting from the Egyptian side of the border, Garcia-Navarro said: "It seems to be almost a secession. They are declaring themselves to be — as the young men fleeing across the border told me — 'Free Libya.' "
Oil Prices Rise
The unrest in Libya sent oil prices sharply higher around the world. In New York, prices reached a 2 1/2-year high of nearly $94 per barrel.
Libya produces about 2 percent of the world's oil output. Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., said even if Libya stopped producing oil altogether, there's enough spare capacity in other countries such as Saudi Arabia to make up for the loss.
But, he said, "In a tight market, for whatever reason, any perception of supply disruption will have an impact on price."
Gadhafi's decision to declare force majeure — which allows his regime to break any contracts it's signed with oil companies — was seen as worrisome.
"It usually indicates there are deeper troubles, so I think many people are watching now to see what is the reason for this and what does it mean for Libyan exports into the marketplace," said David Pumphrey, an oil expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Pumphrey says the markets are being scared by what the unrest means for the area as a whole. The first two countries to be swept up in the unrest, Tunisia and Egypt, weren't big players in the oil business and markets could shrug off their impact. Since then, however, the violence has spread to Bahrain and Libya.
"We're beginning to see an accumulation of situations," he said. "Individually none of them should be a problem. Taken together I think it causes more concern especially if there is a risk that some of this spreads to the really big producers in the Gulf states."
Resignations and Defections
In a sign of the extent of the breakdown in Gadhafi's regime, one of his closest associates, Abdel Fattah Younis, his interior minister and commander of the powerful Thunderbolt commando brigade, announced in Benghazi that he was defecting and other armed forces should join the revolt.
"I gave up all my posts in response to the February 17 Revolution and my conviction that it has just demands," Younis, who was among the army officers who joined Gadhafi in his 1969 coup, told Al Jazeera, referring to the date of the start of the protests.
Meanwhile, Libya's ambassadors to India, Bangladesh and Indonesia resigned in protest over the crackdown that Human Rights Watch said had killed at least 233 people, mainly in the capital, Tripoli, and eastern Benghazi. Ambassador to the U.S. Ali Aujali joined nearly the entire diplomatic office representing Tripoli at the United Nations in urging Gadhafi to step down after more than four decades in power.
Aujali told NPR that he had decided to resign after Gadhafi's forces used "all kinds of weapons to kill" the demonstrators.
"I can't understand it, and I can't take it," he said.
The United States and other Western governments should "raise their voice ... about what is happening in Libya," he said. "They have to move quickly. There is no time to waste."
Nearly all Libyan diplomats at the United Nations backed deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi's pleas to Gadhafi to step down and for the international community to intervene.
The Arab League in an emergency meeting here in Cairo on Tuesday harshly reprimanded the regime.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa condemned what it said were violations of human-rights law by the Libyan government and "crimes" against peaceful demonstrators. It denounced the use of mercenaries, live ammunition and heavy weapons against the protesters.
The Arab League, in rare criticism of one of its members, called for an immediate halt to the violence in Libya and said Gadhafi's government must respond to the "legitimate" demands of the Libyan people.
The U.N. Security Council meanwhile also met in an emergency session Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
The council condemned the violence but stopped short of taking concrete steps to prevent it. Some activists wanted to see the body impose a no-fly zone to stop Libyan aircraft from firing on demonstrators.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the international community was coming together on this issue and speaking with one voice.
"We join the international community in strongly condemning the violence as we've received reports of hundreds killed and many more injured," she said. "This bloodshed is completely unacceptable."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Beverly Hills, Calif., that he had spoken to Gadhafi on Monday for 40 minutes and "forcefully urged him to stop violence against demonstrators and again strongly underlined the importance of respecting the human rights of those demonstrators."
In India, Libyan Ambassador Ali al-Essawi told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had resigned his post, effective Tuesday.
"We have to stop the bloodshed. It's the responsibility of the international community to stop the bloodshed," he said.
Libya's ambassador to Indonesia was quoted in the English-language Jakarta Post as saying he had also stepped down from his post.
"Soldiers are killing unarmed civilians mercilessly, using heavy weaponry, fighter jets and mercenaries against its own people. It is not acceptable," Salaheddin M. El Bishari said.
"I have enough of it. I don't tolerate it any more," he said.
Gadhafi: 'I Will Die Here As A Martyr'
The diplomatic revolt and hasty evacuations came as sketchy reports from elsewhere in the country paint a picture of a regime on the brink of collapse.
Before Tuesday's address, Gadhafi appeared for less than a minute on Libyan state television early Tuesday, apparently to show he is still in control. He was wearing a fur hat and struggling with an umbrella as he assured his audience that he had not fled the country.
"I am not going to leave this land. I will die here as a martyr,'' he said.
State TV said Gadhafi was to address a crowd of dozens of his supporters later Tuesday in Tripoli's main Green Square.
Governments were scrambling to send planes and ships to bring their citizens home from strife-torn Libya. At least two airlines, British Airways and Emirates — the Middle East's largest — said they were canceling flights to the capital.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. government had ordered the evacuation of the approximately 35 employees at the Libyan Embassy and their families.
"The safety of all American citizens in Libya remains our paramount concern," he told reporters.
More than 200 Turkish companies are involved in construction projects worth more than $15 billion in Libya, State Minister Zafer Caglayan, who oversees foreign trade, said Monday. Some of the construction sites reportedly came under attack by protesters, but no Turkish citizens have been harmed so far, authorities said.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said 10 other countries have asked for help from Turkey to evacuate their citizens. He did not identify the countries. He said Turkey was also evaluating options to evacuate its citizens through Tunisia or Egypt.
The Anatolia news agency said two more ships would set sail Tuesday and Wednesday.
Italy, the Netherlands and Russia were all making arrangements for air transport of their citizens out of Libya.
Jordan joined Qatar in condemning the violence, as terrified Libyans called into satellite TV channels to describe what was happening.
More Protests In Bahrain
In Bahrain, the scene of another crackdown against anti-government protesters last week, the king conceded to opposition demands and ordered the release of some political prisoners Tuesday.
The royal decree covers several Shiite activists accused of plotting against the state.
While a government spokeswoman said it was unclear how many prisoners will be freed, she said those released would include some of the 25 Shiite activists on trial for allegedly plotting against the country's Sunni leadership.
The Persian Gulf country has seen protesters keep up the pressure despite violence that killed several last week. On Monday, activists staged another massive pro-government rally.
Another Rally In Yemen
In Yemen, where unrest has also reportedly resulted in a number of deaths in recent days, about 5,000 anti-government protesters rallied Tuesday in a town in the country's east, calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In the capital of Sanaa, thousands rallied at a university campus while hundreds continued to camp out in a nearby square.
Demonstrators set up checkpoints around the square and searched those trying to enter.
Police stood by Tuesday as demonstrators marched in the eastern town of Al-Shihr, chanting, "Down, down with Saleh."
After three weeks of protest, Saleh still insists he will not step down before the end of his term in 2013. He has, however, pledged that security forces will not fire on protesters. Medical officials have said 11 people have been killed in protests this month.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in eastern Libya, Jason Beaubien and J.J. Sutherland in Cairo, Deborah Amos in Doha, Jim Zarroli in New York and Michele Kelemen in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. Material from The Associated Press was also used.
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