World to Gaddafi: Surrender

“The future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people,” Obama said in a statement from Martha’s Vineyard,where he’s vacationing. He promised to work closely with rebels.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the only path Gaddafi must take is that of surrender.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a vacation to chair a meeting Monday of the country’s special security committee on Libya. His office said Sunday that it was clear “the end is near for Gaddafi,” and called on him to go now to avoid any further suffering for his own people.”

In Denmark,Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said “the Libyan people’s struggle for freedom has gone into the play-offs.”

The European Union said it would help Libya’s transitional administration carry out necessary reforms ”in the months and years ahead.”

EU spokesman Michael Mann said on Monday that Libya is at the beginning of a long process of transition. Mann called on Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi to relinquish power immediately to avoid further bloodshed.

Meanwhile,clashes broke out early on Monday near Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli,a day after rebels poured into the Libyan capital in a stunning advance that met little resistance from the regime’s defenders.

Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman said government tanks emerged from the complex,known as Bab al-Aziziya,early Monday and opened fire. A reporter at the nearby Rixos Hotel where foreign journalists stay could hear gunfire and loud explosions from the direction of the complex.

Tripoli resident Moammar al-Warfali,whose family home is next to Bab al-Aziziya,said tanks rolled out from the compound in the early morning after a group of rebels tried to get in. He said there appeared to be only a few tanks belonging to the remaining Gaddafi forces that have not fled or surrendered.

Bab al-Aziziya,a sprawling compound that long served as the command center for the regime,has been heavily damaged by repeated NATO airstrikes over the past five months,al-Warfali said.

“When I climb the stairs and look at it from the roof,I see nothing at Bab al-Aziziya,” he said. “NATO has demolished it all and nothing remains.”

The rebels seized control of most of Tripoli in a lightning advance on Sunday,and euphoric residents celebrate in the capital’s Greet Square,the symbolic hear of the Gaddafi regime. Gaddafi’s defenders quickly melted away as his 42-year rule crumbled,but the leader’s whereabouts were unknown and pockets of resistance remained.

Abdel-Rahman,who is in Tripoli with rebel forces,cautioned that Gaddafi troops still pose a threat to rebels,and that as long as Gaddafi remains on the run the “danger is still there.”

The startling rebel breakthrough,after a long deadlock in Libya’s 6-month-old civil war,was the culmination of a closely coordinated plan by rebels,NATO and anti-Gaddafi residents inside Tripoli,rebel leaders said. Rebel fighters from the west swept over 20 miles (30 kilometres) in a matter of hours on Sunday,taking town after town and overwhelming a major military base as residents poured out to cheer them. At the same time,Tripoli residents secretly armed by rebels rose up.

By the early hours of Monday,opposition fighters controlled most of the capital. The seizure of Green Square held profound symbolic value the plaza was the scene of pro-Gaddafi rallies organized by the regime almost every night,and Gaddafi delivered speeches to his loyalists from the historic Red Fort that overlooks the square. Rebels and Tripoli residents set up checkpoints around the city,though pockets of pro-Gaddafi fighters remained.