Britain, France urge Nato to boost up Libya effort

Nato came under pressure to drop more bombs on the strongman's forces while an African Union peace plan for Libya was in tatters yesterday after rebels stuck to their demand that of Muammar Gaddafi's departure step.
Former Libyan foreign minister Mussa Kussa, who is in Britain after defecting from the regime, said Monday the restive nation could become a "new Somalia" if civil war broke out.
"I ask everyone, all the parties, to avoid taking Libya into a civil war," the former minister said in a statement issued to the BBC. "This would lead to so much blood and Libya will be a new Somalia.
Kussa was leaving Britain yesterday to travel to Qatar for talks ahead of a meeting there of an international contact group on Libya.
Having managed to secure Gaddafi's agreement to a ceasefire, the African Union delegation encountered resistance from the rebel leadership in Benghazi.
"Due to a political demand set as a pre-condition by the Transitional National Council (TNC) to launching urgent talks on the implementation of a truce, it was not possible at this stage to reach an agreement on the key issue of a cessation of hostilities," an AU statement said.
In Benghazi, rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the African initiative did not go far enough.
"From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Gaddafi and the fall of his regime," he said. "Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe …”.
The rebels also doubted Gaddafi would adhere to a truce.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Nato allies to intensify military operations in Libya.
"We must maintain and intensify our efforts in Nato, that is why the United Kingdom has in the last week supplied additional aircraft capable of striking ground targets threatening the civilian population of Libya," Hague said. "There is always more to do," he added.
“Colonel Gaddafi needs to leave," he said.
His comments came just hours after his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, had said France's Nato allies were not pulling their weight in Libya and their forces should do more to help destroy Gaddafi's heavy weaponry.
France which, with Britain and the United States, led the drive for air strikes, was sceptical about handing political control of the operation to the NatoWestern alliance.