leader Moamer Gaddafi’s “reign of terror” is nearing its end, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday, as Libya braced for talks on an “exit strategy” for the strongman. “Gaddafi’s reign of terror is coming to an end,” Rasmussen told a plenary session of NATO’s parliamentary assembly in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Varna. “He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting. … It is time for Gaddafi to go as well,” the NATO chief said.
His comments came as South African President Jacob Zuma was due to arrive in Libya on Monday for talks that officials said would focus on an “exit strategy” for Gaddafi. Rasmussen was also upbeat about the results of NATO’s military intervention to enforce a UN-backed no-fly zone over the conflict-torn north African country. “Our operation in Libya, Operation Unified Protector, is achieving its objectives and we are preventing Gaddafi from achieving his,” Rasmussen said.
“In just two months we have made significant progress. We have seriously degraded Gaddafi’s ability to kill his own people,” he added. He insisted on NATO’s readiness to keep pressuring Gaddafi’s regime as long as necessary. “We will keep up the pressure until all attacks and threats of attack against civilians have stopped, until the regime has withdrawn its forces and mercenaries back to their bases and barracks, and until full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access is guaranteed to all those who need it.”
But Rasmussen also highlighted the need to make use of military pressure as the basis for shepherding a long-lasting political solution to the crisis in Libya. “It is clear that the crisis cannot be solved through military means alone. If we are to see genuine peace in the country, then a political solution will need to be found,” he said. He urged NATO countries to give greater contributions and other partners to “keep a high military pressure on the Gaddafi regime.”
“At the same time the international community must reinforce the political pressure on the regime and the support for the opposition.” “The combination of strong military pressure and reinforced political pressure will eventually lead to the collapse of the Libyan regime,” Rasmussen said, adding that he was “quite optimistic about the future perspectives.” The commander of NATO’s Naples headquarters of the Libyan mission, US Admiral Samuel Locklear III, however highlighted the volatility of the situation and admitted that a ground operation might be needed at some point. “The unknown question is what will happen assuming that Colonel Gaddafi … steps down or leaves power. And then what happens during that vacuum that might occur.”
“There might be a need at some point for a small force … a small number of people there that would help them in some way,” he added. Locklear said these could be provided by the United Nations, the European Union or NATO. “We are not pursuing planning on that, we are having discussions about it because we may or not have to do something quickly,” he said. The current UN mandate on Libya’s no-fly zone does not allow for the deployment of any foreign ground forces in Libya, but some EU member states have called for a ground operation.
