International powers call on Gaddafi to step aside

INTERNATIONAL powers meeting to discuss Libya’s future have called for the first time on Muammar Gaddafi to step aside, but NATO countries squabbled publicly over stepping up air strikes to help topple him.

In a victory for Britain and France, which are leading the air campaign and pushed for an unequivocal call for regime change, the “contact group” of some 16 European and Middle Eastern nations, plus the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union, said Gaddafi must go.

“Gaddafi and his regime has lost all legitimacy and he must leave power allowing the Libyan people to determine their future,” a final statement read.