NATO set to keep up pressure on Gaddafi

NATO has vowed to keep up its relentless bombing campaign in Libya until Muammar Gaddafi steps down.

The veteran leader said he would never surrender, even as bombs rained down on his Tripoli residence.

Spain, meanwhile, joined the growing list of countries which recognises the rebels seeking to topple Gaddafi as the sole representative of Libya’s people, leaving him more isolated than ever.

NATO allies meeting in Brussels pledged to stay in Libya “for as long as necessary” and commit the “necessary means” to the military campaign against Gaddafi’s forces as they extended the operation for another 90 days to late September.

They said they were “committed to providing the necessary means and maximum operational flexibility within our mandate to sustain these efforts and welcome additional contributions to our common efforts”.

With only half of the 28 NATO countries taking part in the mission, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and British Defence Secretary Liam Fox called on member states to step up their participation.

NATO defence ministers renewed their demand for the Libyan strongman to leave power. “Time is working against Gaddafi, who has clearly lost all legitimacy and therefore needs to step down,” they said.

The NATO meeting came hours after Gaddafi said he would fight to the death, in a message broadcast by Libyan state television.

“Despite the bombings, we will never submit,” Gaddafi said in the nine-minute message, which was broadcast on his 69th birthday. “I am near the bombing but I am still resisting. We have only one choice — (to stay in) our country to the end. Death, life, victory, no matter what. We will not leave our country or sell it, we will not submit,” he said in his first intervention since May 19.

US admiral Michael Mullen conceded the Libya campaign was slow, but stressed that Gaddafi “has to leave”.

“What I have seen is what I would call very slow progress — more and more individuals from his regime who are defecting, some of whom who are from the military. From a military perspective, everything I see indicates a continued drum beat to continue to raise the pressure, if you will, to force Gaddafi to depart. In that regard, certainly we’d like to see this end as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, Spain announced it was recognising the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) as the “sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people”.

“Spain will help the Libyan people; we want a democratic country with rights and freedoms,” Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said after talks with the rebel leaders in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi.

Other countries which have recognised the NTC as the sole representative of the Libyan people include France, Italy, Britain, Jordan, Qatar, Malta and Gambia.

Adding to Gaddafi’s growing isolation was an African Union call for him to step down, the first crack in the continent’s public stance towards the Libyan leader, who has long championed its various causes.