Gaddafi pushed to brink as int leaders mount pressure to quit

Cairo/Washington, Feb 28 (PTI) Embattled Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi was pushed further to the brink as
opposition forces on Monday stormed close to the capital
Tripoli and the international community stepped up pressure on
him to leave the country to bring an end to the fighting that
has claimed at least 1,000 lives.
Unrest continued in and around the capital, with three
key areas close to the east of Tripoli falling to opposition
forces advancing from Az-Zawiyah, just 50 kms west of the
capital, Al-Jazeera channel reported.
As the anti-Gaddafi forces moved close to Tripoli for
a final showdown with militia still loyal to Gaddafi, the US
and its European allies readied plans for a possible
imposition of a 'no-fly zone' over the embattled country.
"Gaddafi was reported to be holed up in the heavily
fortified Bab al-Aziziya area of the capital with his
mercenaries militia men ringing him," the channel said.
Quoting its correspondent moving with the opposition
forces, the channel said heavily armed Gaddafi's forces were
manning check-posts between Az-Zawiyah and Tripoli.
It said there were also reports of Gaddafi loyalists
demonstrating in small towns on the periphery of the capital.
It claimed that Gaddafi loyalists were also venturing to
launch probing attacks outside the capital and said that at
the moment "the capital was still in his control".
As Gaddafi and opposition forces seemed to be locking
into a final battle, US and its European allies appeared to be
stiffening their attitude to fast paced developments in Libya.
In a tough message, US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton asked Gaddafi to leave the country and end his regime
as soon as possible.
"We think he must go as soon as possible without
further bloodshed and violence," Clinton told reporters as she
headed towards Geneva to attend the UN Human Rights Council
meeting on Monday.
"We want him to leave and we want him to end his
regime and call off the mercenaries and those troops that
remain loyal to him. How he manages that is obviously up to
him and to his family," Clinton said.
Obama administration officials were in talks with
European and other allied governments for a possible
imposition of 'no-fly zone' over Libya to prevent further
killings of civilians by troops loyal to Gaddafi, New York
Times reported.
US officials are also discussing whether the American
military could move to disrupt communications to prevent Col
Gaddafi from broadcasting in Libya.
British Prime Minister David Cameron asked Gaddafi
that it was "time to go". "There is no future for Libya that
includes him," Cameron added.
Britain, which has already revoked Gaddafi's
diplomatic immunity on Monday, has frozen assets worth about
20 billion pounds that the Libyan leader and his family held
in the country.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Libya had
"failed shamefully in its responsibilities to its people".
The BBC quoted Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov as
saying that the use of military force against the civilian
population was "unacceptable".
Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief of EU, said
the the organisation had agreed to slap an asset freeze and
travel ban on Gaddafi and 25 members of his family and inner
circle. She said the EU will meet later on Monday to implement
UN sanctions against Libya as well as other restrictions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was scheduled to meet
US President Barrack Obama in White House to discuss the
deteriorating situation in Libya.
France on Monday declared it would send "massive" aid
to opposition held territories in Libya and did not rule out
supporting the NATO enforcement of a no-fly zone.
The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the
country's air force plane would start leaving for Benghazi to
start a massive humanitarian and relief operations.
The French announcement followed as British and German
military planes flew clandestinely into the Libyan desert
rescuing hundreds of civilians stranded in the country.
The dramatic rescue by planes came after a secret
commando raid by Britain's famed SAS which plucked 150 oil
workers from multiple locations from the remote Libyan
desert, 'The Sunday Telegraph' reported.
The paper quoting unnamed Whitehall officials said the
secret military mission into the strife torn country signalled
the readiness of western nations to disregard Libya's
territorial integrity when it comes to the safety of its
citizens.
Three British Royal Air force C130 Hercules Aircraft
swooped into the eastern Libyan desert to pluck out 150
stranded civilians and flew them to safety to Malta on Sunday,
the British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said in a statement.
Telegraph said, one of the RAF Hercules transport
aircraft suffered minor damages from small arms fire.
In a similar defiant action, Germany said its air
force transport planes had evacuated 132 people from the
Libyan desert during a secret military mission on Saturday.
The UN imposed sanctions as the violence flared up in
the North African country, with the world body saying that
hundreds of pro-democracy protesters lost their lives in the
brutal crackdown launched by forces loyal to Gaddafi to crush
the two-week revolt against his 41-year authoritarian rule.
The sanctions included asset freezes for 68-year-old
Gaddafi and his family, travel ban for the Libyan leader and
his family as well as other leaders of the Libyan regime, a
comprehensive arms embargo and an immediate referral to the
Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for a crimes
against humanity probe.
The prosecutor of the ICC on Monday announced a
preliminary probe of possible crimes against humanity
committed in Libya.
The unrest in the country has killed at least 1,000
people and set off a "humanitarian emergency", the UN refugee
agency UNHCR said, as almost 100,000 people, mostly migrant
workers, fled the North African state. PTI LKJ