US President Barack Obama has warned Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi may still hang onto power despite 
suffering strikes on his regime.
suffering strikes on his regime.The embattled Libyan leader ‘‘may try to hunker down and wait it out, even in the face of a no-fly zone."
‘‘Unless he is willing to step down ... there is still going to be potential threats toward the Libyan people," Mr Obama said, adding that a military approach was not the only way Washington could push for his ousting.
‘‘But keep in mind that we don’t just have military tools at our disposal in terms of accomplishing Gaddafi’s leaving,’’ he said.
‘‘We put in place strong international sanctions. We’ve frozen his assets. We will continue to ply a whole range of pressure on him.’’
President Obama also cautioned that the military approach to enforcing the no-fly zone was constrained ‘‘specifically’’ under last week’s UN
Security Council resolution to ensure ‘‘that the people of Libya aren’t assaulted by their own military.’’
Security Council resolution to ensure ‘‘that the people of Libya aren’t assaulted by their own military.’’
The US leader, in El Salvador as part of Latin America tour, earlier told reporters that he believed the air strikes launched by US, British and French forces at the weekend had already saved lives in Libya, where Gaddafi has vowed to show ‘‘no mercy’’ to opposition rebels.
Gaddafi pledges victory in TV address
Mr Obama's comments follow the broadcast of what Libyan TV says was a brief live address by Colonel Gaddafi before supporters at his encampment near the capital Tripoli.
In his first public appearance in a week, Gaddafi was shown standing on a balcony before a crowd of supporters.
Denouncing the coalition bombing attacks on his forces, he told them, "in the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them."
The state TV said Gaddafi was speaking from his Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound, the same one hit by a cruise missile on Sunday night.
Fighting is raging between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and insurgents, despite a UN-mandated no-fly zone and amid reports associates of the Libyan leader may be looking for a way out of the conflict.
As a senior US officer said Gaddafi forces were still attacking civilians, doubts persisted over the best way to continue the campaign to stop Gaddafi, and where it was leading.
However, President Obama said there has been a "significant reduction" in US flights over Libya, and he expected "clarity" on the future command structure of allied military operations "over the next several days."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News in the US that people close to Gaddafi have been contacting Libya's allies worldwide to see how they can "get out of this."
"We've heard about... people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world - Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, beyond - saying what do we do? How do we get out of this?" she said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said earlier that future actions of the coalition, which began air strikes on Saturday on Gaddafi military installations, depend in part on the embattled Libyan leader.
"The military operations could stop at any moment. All it
would take is for the Tripoli regime to adhere precisely and completely with UN Security Council resolutions, and to accept a genuine ceasefire," Juppe said.
would take is for the Tripoli regime to adhere precisely and completely with UN Security Council resolutions, and to accept a genuine ceasefire," Juppe said.
He called on Gaddafi to withdraw troops engaged in military advances and send them "back to their barracks."
However, Libyan anti-aircraft fire opened up over the capital after nightfall again on Tuesday, amid the sound of far-off explosions, AFP journalists reported.
Residents of Yafran, 130 kilometres southwest of Tripoli, said at least nine people had been killed in clashes between the two sides.
Rebels also said they were under intense attack in their Misrata enclave, east of Tripoli, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces for weeks, with four children killed on Tuesday.
But rebels also said they had managed to repulse loyalists and retake the outskirts of the western town of Zintan.
A US F-15 jet crashed in rebel-held eastern Libya late on Monday following a malfunction, but the two crew members ejected and were safe.
A standoff persisted in eastern Libya, where Gaddafi forces in and around Ajdabiya, south of the insurgents' capital of Benghazi, easily repulsed attempts by the disorganised and ill-armed rebels to advance.
Obama told a news conference in El Salvador that he believed that Washington will "fairly shortly" be able to say that the goal of imposing a no-fly zone in Libya had been reached.
"I have absolutely no doubt that we will be able to transfer the control of this operation to an international coalition," he added.
Earlier, his Defence Secretary Robert Gates said after Monday's third night of strikes on Gaddafi's strongholds and defence structure that "significant military fighting that has been going on should recede in the next few days."
Destroying radar and missiles under Gaddafi's control would pave the way for a no-fly zone that could be patrolled by combat aircraft, with the United States assuming a supporting role, Gates said in Moscow.
Coalition forces, led by the United States, France and Britain and including some other European states and Arab country Qatar, are acting under UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorising "all necessary means" to protect civilians.
There is coordination but no unified command, and moves to hand over control of the operation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are dividing the alliance.
Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that NATO should play a key role in the command structure of the Libya mission, the White House said.
"They reviewed the substantial progress that's been made in terms of halting the advance of Gaddafi's forces on Benghazi as well as the establishment of a no-fly zone," spokesman Ben Rhodes said.
Conflict over who will take control
NATO ambassadors resumed talks on Tuesday after "very difficult" discussions on Monday which failed to overcome their divisions.
But a diplomat said they had agreed to use the organisation's naval power to enforce an arms embargo on Libya ordered under UN Resolution 1973.
France has doubts about the impact on Arab countries of NATO taking control - though the Arab League has backed the no-fly zone - while Germany refused to vote for Resolution 1973.
Belgian and Spanish warplanes began patrolling Libyan skies on Monday, British Typhoon fighters and Canadian jets launched their first missions from Italian bases, and a Greek source said France's aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle should join in from waters off Crete, probably by Wednesday.
The Netherlands will contribute six F-16 fighters, about 200 soldiers, a mine hunter ship and a tanker plane to the NATO effort, the government said on Tuesday.
Italian pilots said they had helped suppress air defences, despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country has close ties with former colony Libya, saying Italian planes "are not firing and will not fire."
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said the Western-led air strikes were disproportionate, amid US and British efforts to bring more Arab states on board.
A spokesman for the British Prime Minster said London was talking to Arab nations in a bid to "develop" the coalition.
And the White House said Obama and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to seek a "broad-based international effort, including Arab states."
source : theage
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