http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=24877
Allies say Libya campaign on until Gaddafi goes
15/04/2011
In this image made from TV , Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is seen in
Tripoli on Thursday April 14 2011. (AP)
A rebel fighter mans an anti-aircraft gun, next to an opposition flag, in
the desert on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, Libya Thursday, April 14, 2011. (AP)
A Libyan anti-Gadhafi protester attends a demonstration in front of the
Arab league headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, April 14, 2011. (AP)
TRIPOLI, (Reuters) - Leaders of Britain, France and the United States vowed on
Friday 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.
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."
France and Britain want to extend air strikes to the logistics and
decision-making centres of Gaddafi's army, rather than start arming Libyan
rebels, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said.
Asked if it was time to send weapons to the rebels, Longuet said: "This is the
reason France and Britain want to show our determination, including with
strikes on military decision centres in Libya or on logistics depots which
today are being spared."
Reaction to the letter 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
armor and allow the rebels in control of the east to sweep him from power.
Libyan rebels begged on Thursday 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 organizations 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.
Spain said it had no plan to join the seven NATO states that have conducted
ground strikes. Italy, Libya's former colonial power, expressed reluctance to
launch attacks.
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