US senator McCain to meet Libya rebels

US Senator John McCain is travelling to Libya to meet rebel forces.

Brooke Buchanan, press secretary for the senator, said Mr McCain was scheduled to arrive in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi today.

Mr McCain, defeated by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, is the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He pressed for US military intervention in Libya long before the UN Security Council voted on March 17 to authorise military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone.

He has backed Mr Obama’s military moves without full-blown congressional approval, saying the president could not wait.

But Mr McCain has been critical of the withdrawal of US combat aircraft from the regular cycle of Nato strikes.