Obama warns Gaddafi of no let up

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110525/wl_nm/us_libya

Obama warns Gaddafi of " no let up "

By Matt Falloon and ph Logan Matt Falloon And ph Logan – Wed May 25,

4:55 pm ET

LONDON/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – President Barack Obama warned Libyan leader Muammar

Gaddafi on Wednesday there would be 'no let-up' in pressure on him to go,

following a second successive night of heavy NATO bombing in Tripoli.

Six loud explosions rocked Tripoli late on Tuesday within 10 minutes, following

powerful strikes 24 hours earlier, including one on Gaddafi's complex in which

Libyan officials said 19 died.

Obama told a London news conference with British Prime Minister Cameron he

could not predict when Gaddafi, who is fighting a three-month-old insurgency,

might be forced to go.

" I absolutely agree that, given the progress that has been made over the last

several weeks, Gaddafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be

a let-up in the pressure that we are applying. "

" We have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course that we

are on, that he is ultimately going to step down, " he said. " Ultimately this is

going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the

regime. "

Fighting between Gaddafi's forces and rebels has reached a stalemate, despite

two months of NATO aerial support under a U.N. mandate intended to protect

civilians. Gaddafi denies that his troops target civilians and says the rebels

are criminals, religious extremists and members of al Qaeda.

Strikes drove back Gaddafi's forces shortly after he pledged " no pity, no mercy "

to rebels in their stronghold of Benghazi. But since then, the rebels have been

unable to achieve any breakthrough against better-trained and -equipped forces.

" TURNING UP PRESSURE "

Cameron echoed Obama's calls for Gaddafi to go.

" I believe we should be turning up that pressure and on Britain's part we will

be looking at all the options of turning up that pressure, " he said.

But Obama reiterated that NATO ground troops were not an option, saying: " We

cannot put boots in the ground in Libya. "

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday the NATO bombing should

achieve its objectives within months.

France plans to deploy attack helicopters for more precise attacks on

pro-Gaddafi forces embedded among civilians. Britain said on Tuesday it was

considering doing the same.

The rebel-held town of Zintan, 150 km southwest of Tripoli in the Western

Mountains, was hit by shelling on Wednesday, a witness there said. Rebel

spokesman Abdulrahman said Gaddafi's forces were firing from Zawiyat al Baghoul,

18 km to the east.

Rebel fighters say Gaddafi's forces fire salvos into Zintan, then drive their

truck-mounted rocket batteries into abandoned structures in Zawiyat al Baghoul

to evade detection by NATO.

They also say the troops are using new types of Grad rockets, including

Chinese-made Grads that spread flechettes when they explode to kill as many as

possible.

Doctor Anja Wolz of Doctors Without Borders said a relocation of the hospital in

Zintan was being considered.

" For three days now we've had rockets landing near the hospital, " she told

Reuters by satellite phone from Zintan. " We're looking for a back-up place for

the hospital. My feeling is it's becoming a target. "

Libyan television quoted a military source as saying civilian and military sites

in the Western Mountains town of Nalut had been hit by NATO.

TRIPOLI BOMBED

In the second night of heavy NATO bombing of Tripoli, the alliance hit a vehicle

storage bunker, a missile storage and maintenance site and a command-and-control

site on the outskirts of Tripoli, a NATO official said. Government targets

around the besieged rebel-held city of Misrata had also been hit.

The Group of Eight world powers were to discuss ways to break the impasse at

their summit in France on Thursday and Friday. Some expect Russia to propose a

mediation plan.

The Libya government says NATO air strikes on a Gaddafi compound on April 30

killed his son Saif al-Arab, 29, and three young grandchildren. Thousands

attended Saif al-Arab's funeral.

But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said in a television interview the

story appeared to have been fabricated.

" To the coalition ... it appears that this is propaganda and that Gaddafi's

youngest son is not in Libya but lives in another country, and also the story of

the three grandchildren is unfounded. This is the information we are getting

from our services, " Berlusconi said in the interview, which was recorded on

Wednesday and aired in Italy on Thursday.

South African President Zuma said he would meet Gaddafi in Tripoli next

week on behalf of the African Union.

Zuma led an African Union mission to Tripoli in April but the bid to halt the

civil war collapsed within hours.

Jordan followed France, Italy and Qatar on Tuesday by recognising the rebel

National Transitional Council in Benghazi as a legitimate representative of

Libya's people, and said it would open an office in the city.

The United States bolstered the credentials of the council as a potential

government-in-waiting on Tuesday when a U.S. envoy invited it to set up an

office in Washington.

(Reporting by ph Logan in Tripoli, Brunnstrom in Brussels, Hamid Ould

Ahmed in Algiers, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Mohammed Abbas in Misrata,

Sherine El Madany in Benghazi, Nick Vinocur in Paris, Matt in

Tataouine, Tunisia, Giuseppe Fonte in Rome and ph Nasr in Berlin; Writing by

Ralph Boulton and Jan Harvey; Editing by Liffey)