The leaders of France and Britain were feted in Libya for
their support of the uprising which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi while forces of
the new government closed in on his hometown Sirte in an effort to complete
their victory.
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose air forces helped end
Gaddafi's 42-year rule, flew in to Tripoli to be told their support may be
repaid in business contracts with the oil-rich North African state.
Fighters loyal to the interim
National Transitional Council (NTC) meanwhile attacked Gaddafi's birthplace
Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, facing determined
resistance from forces still defending the ousted leader.
"They have now entered
the city. There was a coordinated push from the south, east and west and from
along the coast. I'm not sure how far they have been able to enter," NTC
military spokesman Abdulrahman Busin said.
"They are coming under
heavy fire. There is a particular problem with snipers."
After nearly seven months of
fighting, NTC forces backed by NATO air power control most of Libya, including
oil-producing centers and the capital Tripoli, which they seized last month.
They have met fierce
resistance in a handful of pro-Gaddafi bastions such as Sirte, the desert town
of Bani Walid and southern outpost of Sabha.
Gaddafi, wanted by the
International Criminal Court, has also gone into hiding and is rumoured to be
hiding in one of the loyalist strongholds.
LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND
FRATERNITY?
In Benghazi, seat of the
uprising which early intervention by French and British jets helped to save
from Gaddafi's army in March, Sarkozy and Cameron were treated to a rowdy
welcome on Freedom Square, shouting to be heard over a cheering crowd.
"It's great to be here
in free Benghazi and in free Libya," said Cameron as he strained to be
heard above the chants in scenes from the former rebel stronghold televised
live across the globe.
The French president,
struggling for re-election next year, beamed at grateful chants of "One,
two, three; Merci Sarkozy!" while the two leaders, flanking NTC chairman
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, held his arms aloft like a victorious boxer.
"France, Great Britain,
Europe, will always stand by the side of the Libyan people," said Sarkozy,
whom many Libyans credit with making a decisive gamble, pulling in a hesitant
United States and securing U.N. backing for NATO air strikes to halt Gaddafi's
tanks as they closed in to crush Benghazi.
"Your city was an
inspiration to the world as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom," Cameron
said. "Colonel Gaddafi said he would hunt you down like rats but you
showed the courage of lions."
Hajja, a 70-year-old swathed
in the rebel tricolour, watched the two leaders with a rapture they rarely
experience at home: "If we could give them anything, we would -- our
lives, our souls ... But for them, we would be history."
SUPPORT OFFERED
In Tripoli, Libyan interim
premier Mahmoud Jibril spoke at a news conference of "our thanks for this
historic stance" taken by France and Britain to launch the West into a war
that did not always look set to end well for the rebels.
Both countries offered
continued military support against Gaddafi loyalists holding substantial parts
of Libya as well as in hunting the former strongman and others wanted for
crimes against humanity.
Sarkozy said he would raise
the issue with neighbouring Niger, a former French colony where some of
Gaddafi's senior aides and one of his sons have sought refuge.
"This is not over,"
Cameron said. "There are still parts of Libya that are under Gaddafi's
control. Gaddafi is still at large and we must make sure that this work is
completed."
At the beseiged loyalist
stronghold of Bani Walid, residents were still trying to flee and reporting
that others were trapped by gunmen.
REMEMBERING "FRIENDS"
Although Sarkozy denied talk
among Arabs of "under the table deals for Libya's riches," Jalil said
key allies could expect preferential treatment in return for their help in
ending Gaddafi's rule.
"As a faithful Muslim
people," he told reporters in Tripoli, "we will appreciate these
efforts and they will have priority within a framework of transparency."
Other states which did
business with Gaddafi, notably China and Russia, have been concerned that
their lukewarm attitude to the NTC may cost them economically. While Jalil
stressed a desire to allocate contracts on the best terms for Libya, and to
honor existing contracts, he said some could be reviewed.
The need for Sarkozy and
Cameron to visit Benghazi as well as Tripoli is a sign of the obstacles Libya
still faces in transforming itself into a peaceful, unified democracy. The NTC
has not yet been able to establish a government safely in a capital still
bristling with militiamen from disparate groups.
(Reporting by Maria Golovnina
near Bani Walid, Libya, William MacLean, Alexander Dziadosz, Joseph Logan and
Emmanual Jarry in Tripoli, Sherine El Madany in Ras Lanuf, Emma Farge in
Benghazi, Mark John and Bate Felix in Niamey, Barry Malone and Sylvia
Westall in Tunis, Keith Weir and Alastair
Macdonald in London, Catherine
Bremer and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Alastair
Macdonald; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
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Source : Reuters
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