US President Barack Obama said on Thursday it was inevitable Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi would have to leave power and only then could a democratic transition in the North African state proceed. Obama was speaking as part of a major address in Washington about the Middle East, which has seen a series of uprisings this year including ones that have toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt as well as a three-month-old revolt in Libya.
"Time is working against Qadhafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible Interim Council," Obama said. "When Qadhafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end, and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed.
"Had we not acted along with our Nato allies and regional coalition partners, thousands would have been killed. The message would have been clear: keep power by killing as many people as it takes," he said.
His comments echoed those of Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who said on Thursday military and political pressure were weakening Qadhafi's hold on power and would eventually topple him. Nato allies including the United States, Britain and France, acting under a UN mandate, are conducting air strikes on the oil producer since Qadhafi used force to put down a revolt inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.
"We have significantly degraded Qadhafi's war machine. And now we see results, the opposition has gained ground," Rasmussen told a news conference in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. Libya's government denied persistent rumours that Qadhafi's wife, daughter and top oil official had left the country.
Libyan officials have produced no evidence of the whereabouts of the three, raising questions about Qadhafi's ability to hold together his entourage in the face of a widespread rebellion and Nato bombing. Earlier, a Tunisian security source and a Libyan opposition source with links to the ruling circle said Qadhafi's wife Safia and daughter Aisha were staying on the Tunisian island of Djerba, near the border with Libya. Western powers are likely to stress their determination to keep the pressure up on Qadhafi when heads of state from the Group of Eight industrialised nations meet on May 27-28 in the French seaside resort of Deauville.
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