Allies say Libya campaign on until Gaddafi goes

David Cameron

TRIPOLI,  (Reuters) – Leaders of Britain, France and  the United States vowed yesterday to keep up their military  campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi leaves power, and rebels  said his forces pounded the city of Misrata with missiles.

David Cameron

In a strongly worded, jointly written article published in  newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, British Prime Minister  David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S.  President Barack Obama said leaving Gaddafi in power would be an  “unconscionable betrayal” of the Libyan people.

“It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre  his own people can play a part in their future government,” the  leaders wrote.

“So long as Gaddafi is in power, NATO and its coalition  partners must maintain their operations so that civilians remain  protected and the pressure on the regime builds,” they said.

“Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive  constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation  of leaders. For that transition to succeed, Colonel Gaddafi must  go, and go for good.”

The reaction from the Gaddafi camp was swift in coming as  the Libyan leader’s daughter Aisha told a rally in Tripoli, at a  family compound bombed by the Americans in 1986, that demanding  her father’s departure was an insult to the Libyan people.

“Talk about Gaddafi stepping down is an insult to all  Libyans because Gaddafi is not in Libya, but in the hearts of  all Libyans,” she said in a speech broadcast live on Libyan  television to mark the 25th anniversary of American strikes on  the huge complex, which includes military barracks.

The article by the Western allies appeared at a time when  diplomatic efforts have failed to paper over divisions between  NATO allies about how intensively they should prosecute the  three-week-old air war, and the situation on the ground has  shown signs of stalemate.

Washington, which led the campaign in its first week, has  since turned over command to NATO and taken a back seat role.

Britain and France complain that other NATO allies have not  provided enough fire power to take out Gaddafi’s armour and  allow the rebels in control of the east to sweep him from power.

Libyan rebels begged yesterday for more air strikes and  said they faced a massacre from government forces, who blasted  the besieged city of Misrata with missiles.

NATO planes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli, where  state television showed footage of a defiant Gaddafi cruising  through the streets in a green safari jacket and sunglasses,  pumping his fists and waving from an open-top vehicle.

“MEDIEVAL SIEGE”
Rebels said a hail of rockets fired by besieging forces into  a residential district of Misrata, Libya’s third largest city,  had killed 23 civilians, mostly women and children.

“Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including  residential neighbourhoods near the port. They shelled this area  because the port is Misrata’s only window to the outside world,”  a rebel spokesman using the name Ghassan said by telephone.

“The destruction there was huge. I was there and saw for  myself,” he said, adding that the port had been shut.
In their article, the U.S., British and French leaders said  Misrata was “enduring a medieval siege as Gaddafi tries to  strangle its population into submission”.

Aid organisations warn of a humanitarian disaster in the  city, the lone major rebel bastion in western Libya, where  hundreds of civilians are said to have died in a six-week siege.

NATO foreign ministers in Berlin promised on Thursday in a  joint declaration to provide “all necessary resources and  maximum operational flexibility” for the air campaign to  maintain a “high operational tempo against legitimate targets”.

But several allies rebuffed calls from France and Britain to  contribute more to the air attacks, conducted under a United  Nations mandate to protect civilians.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the  Berlin meeting he was hopeful more countries would contribute to  the strike force. “It’s not unreasonable to ask other  nations…to make additional contributions,” he said.