NATO says Gaddafi’s regime ‘crumbling’,
ROME (AFP) – Libya’s defected ex-prime minister Abdessalam Jalloud said Sunday he believed it was too late for his former ally Moamer Gaddafi to strike a deal to leave power and he would likely be killed.

“I believe the regime has a week left, 10 days at most. And maybe even less,” Jalloud said in an interview with Italian news programme TG3 after fleeing Tripoli and escaping first to Tunisia and then Italy in recent days.

“He has no way of leaving Tripoli. All the roads are blocked. He can only leave with an international agreement and I think that door is closed,” said Jalloud, a former regime stalwart who helped Kadhafi win power in a 1969 coup.

“I think it would be difficult for Gaddafi to give himself up. And he is not like Hitler who had the courage to kill himself… I don’t think the evolution of the situation in Tripoli will allow him to survive,” he added.

Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa earlier on Sunday confirmed reports about Jalloud’s presence in Italy. “Gaddafi’s former number two is indeed in Italy,” La Russa told reporters.

Jalloud was Gaddafi’s right-hand man in the 1970s and 1980s but had been increasingly distanced from politics starting in the 1990s following a reported fallout with his childhood friend.

In a video statement aired earlier Sunday on Al-Jazeera news channel, Jalloud urged Gaddafi’s tribe to disown the embattled “tyrant” and called on the population of Tripoli to rise up in rebellion.

“Disown this tyrant because he will go and you will end up inheriting his legacy,” he said.

“The people of Tripoli, who account for a quarter of Libya’s inhabitants, should rise massively. It is time to act… overcome fear,” he added.

Libya’s state-run JANA news agency on Saturday downplayed Jalloud’s escape, saying he had remained out of politics for some time.

Kadhafi regime ‘crumbling’, says  NATO

Muammar Gaddafi’s  42-year rule in Libya is “crumbling,” the NATO military alliance said late Sunday as rebels launched a fierce street battle for Tripoli in a final push for victory.

“What we’re seeing tonight is the regime crumbling,” chief NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told AFP. “The sooner Muammar Gaddafi realises there is no way he can win, the better for everyone.”

“What you are seeing tonight is the cumulative effect, over time, of the eroded capabilities of the regime,” Lungescu said, citing more than 4,000 military targets damaged or destroyed in the last four months.

“Clearly we’re into the last stage of the regime — the writing is on the wall,” she added.

“We’re seeing people packing their bags — three top people defecting in the last couple of days, and Kadhafi-controlled territory shrinking before our eyes.”

After rebels claimed “coordinated” action during the capture of a key forest staging post on the road to Tripoli, Lungescu insisted NATO was not actively providing “cover fire” for the rebels — but forces were being scrambled to leap to their defence during resistance.

“We are not taking part in any formal coordination on the ground,” she maintained. “That’s not the mandate — we’re not there to provide immediate assistance, or cover, if you like, yes.

“Obviously, though, we do track what’s happening on the ground — and if we see tanks or other equipment going out to attack, we fire,” she said of the rebels’ aerial umbrella.

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on Aug 21 2011. Filed under Africa & World Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry