Cameron in bid to end Libya chaos
DAVID Cameron and Obama last night vowed to finally bring an end to dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year regime in Libya.
In a statement, after the Prime Minister spoke to the US?President, Downing Street said that it “had agreed to work together closely on the swift evacuation of nationals and co-ordinate on possible multilateral measures on Libya.”
Foreign secretary William Hague is understood to have told the Libyan regime directly that Gaddafi should go.
The Swiss government froze all the colonel’s assets held in the country yesterday and the White House said that a no-fly zone was being seriously considered to stop air strikes against Libyans.
But Gaddafi yesterday remained opposed to any concessions and in a rambling 30-minute speech on state television blamed Osama bin Laden and teenagers on drugs for the violence even as protesters closed in on the capital Tripoli.
At the same time, forces loyal to Gaddafi continued brutal counter-attacks against rebels holding towns near the capital and moved into defensive positions on the roads in and out of Tripoli. Anti-Gaddafi factions had taken control of the majority of Libya by nightfall with only the capital and outposts in the south and central regions still apparently under the leader’s control.