Obama says Libya in stalemate, but “Gaddafi will go”

Barack Obama

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama  acknowledged yesterday there was a “stalemate” on the ground in  Libya, but said he still expected the three-week-old air  campaign to succeed in ousting Muammar Gaddafi eventually.

Barack Obama

Obama and the leaders of France and Britain earlier yesterday published a joint newspaper article pledging to continue  the military campaign until Gaddafi leaves power, effectively  making regime change the officially-stated aim of their air war.

More than a hundred government rockets crashed into Misrata  yesterday, a second day of heavy bombardment of the city, the  lone major bastion of the rebels in the western part of Libya.  Rebels said government forces had reached the city’s centre.

“I didn’t expect that in three weeks, suddenly as a  consequence of an air campaign, that Gaddafi would necessarily  be gone,” Obama said in an interview with the Associated Press.

He said the mission had succeeded in stopping large-scale  civilian casualties, especially in the rebel-held city of  Benghazi, and would eventually succeed in ousting Gaddafi.

“You now have a stalemate on the ground militarily, but  Gaddafi is still getting squeezed in all kinds of other ways. He  is running out of money, he is running out of supplies. The  noose is tightening and he is becoming more and more isolated.

“My expectation is that if we continue to apply that  pressure and continue to protect civilians, which NATO is doing  very capably, then I think over the long term Gaddafi will go  and we will be successful.”

A rebel spokesman in Misrata said pro-Gaddafi forces had  shelled both the centre and the road leading to the port, a  lifeline for trapped civilians and the main entry point for  international aid agencies, killing eight people on Friday.

“Today was very tough … Gaddafi’s forces entered Tripoli  Street and Nakl al Theqeel road,” he said by phone, referring to  a main Misrata thoroughfare, scene of heavy clashes in recent  weeks, and the road to the port.

“Witnesses said they saw pro-Gaddafi soldiers on foot in the  city centre today. Except for snipers, they usually stay in  their tanks and armoured vehicles,” the spokesman added.

A government reconnaissance helicopter had flown over the  city, he said, despite a no-fly zone mandated by the U.N.  Security Council and enforced by NATO warplanes.

Hundreds are believed to have died in Misrata, under what  Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President  Nicolas Sarkozy described in their article as a “medieval siege  as Gaddafi tries to strangle its population into submission”.

“It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre  his own people can play a part in their future government,” they  wrote in the article, published on both sides of the Atlantic.

They acknowledged that their new goal of regime change went  beyond the explicit terms of a U.N. Security Council resolution  authorising force to protect civilians, but said Libyans would  never be safe as long as Gaddafi remained in power.

PRESSURE

The United States led the bombing campaign in its first  week, but has since then taken a back seat, putting NATO in  command with the British and French responsible for most strikes  on Gaddafi’s forces. Obama made clear Washington was not  planning to resume to a more active military role.

“What we’re doing is still providing jamming capacity,  intelligence, refuelling, so we still have a lot of planes up  there. We’re just not the ones who are providing strikes on the  ground for the most part,” he said.