Mounting pressure

NATO has been ratcheting up the pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi over the last four days, with new air raids carried out Thursday against key installations in the capital, Tripoli.

As the UN broadly denounced alleged war crimes committed by Libyan forces, Gadhafi's government and military have been hemorrhaging key leadership figures.

Libya's top oil official, Shokri Ghanem, became the latest person to turn his back on Gadhafi. Ghanem, who previously had also served as prime minister, said he could no longer bear the violence against his people.

"I left the country and decided also to leave my job and to join the Libyan youth to create a modern constitutional state respecting human rights and building a better future for all Libyans," Ghanem said at a news conference in Rome. He was joined by the Libyan ambassador to Italy, who also defected.

Ghanem's desertion of Gadhafi came two days after the defections of eight army officers, including five generals. Ghanem said Libya's oil production had also almost come to a complete standstill due to the international embargo imposed on Gadhafi's government.

NATO raids intensified

NATO, meanwhile, has increased the intensity of its air war in Libya over the last few days and said it hoped to see the conflict resolved by the end of September. After meeting in Brussels, ambassadors to the Western alliance said the mission had been lengthened by 90 days.

On Thursday, local residents said hefty explosions rocked Tripoli and its suburbs overnight as the alliance targeted more government installations.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters it was only "a matter of time" before the alliance would free the Libyan people.

"This decision sends a clear message to the Gadhafi regime. We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya," Rasmussen said.

"We will sustain our efforts to fulfill the United Nations mandate" to defend civilians from Gadhafi's forces, he said in a statement, adding, "we will keep up the pressure to see it through."

A UN special committee has also accused Gadhafi's forces of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, while trying to crush the country's popular uprising. The committee added, however, that it believed rebel forces had also carried out some acts that constituted war crimes.

"The commission received fewer reports of facts which would amount to international crimes by opposition forces; however, did find some acts which would constitute war crimes," it said.

Author: Gregg Benzow, Darren Mara (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Martin Kuebler