Global General

NATO's Rasmussen says Gaddafi rule coming to an end

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-30 16:04

VARNA - NATO's military campaign in Libya is achieving its goals and the rule of Muammar Gaddafi is coming to an end, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday.

NATO powers are ratcheting up their intervention in Libya to try to break a deadlock that has seen Gaddafi hold on to power despite weeks of air strikes and a rebel uprising.

Related readings:  NATO apologizes for Afghan civilian deaths  Russia, NATO far from joint missile shield  NATO air strike kills civilians, mostly children  NATO strikes 1 of Gadhafi's homes in Tripoli

Britain said on Sunday it was adding "bunker-busting" bombs to the weapons its warplanes are using over Libya, adding that this would send the Libyan leader the message that it was time for him to step down.

"Our operation in Libya is achieving its objectives ... We have seriously degraded Gaddafi's ability to kill his own people", Rasmussen told a NATO forum in Varna.

"Gaddafi's reign of terror is coming to an end. He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting."

NATO warplanes have intensified their air strikes on Tripoli and have repeatedly hit Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the centre of the city.

"We will keep up the pressure until all attacks and threats of attacks against civilians have stopped, until the regime has withdrawn its forces and mercenaries to bases and barracks," said Rasmussen.