NATO Proceeds Strikes on Tripoli, Russia Recants on Gaddafi

NATO launched fresh airstrikes on Libyan capital Saturday, a day after G8 world powers intensified the pressure on strongman Muammar Gaddafi to step down, with Russia finally joining calls for him to leave.

For the fifth successive night, Tripoli has been rocked by a series of NATO air strikes. A number of explosions were heard throughout the night into Saturday, and at least one of the blasts was said to be near a compound used by Gaddafi.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over the skyline of the city and loud booms could be heard. State television said the overnight NATO raids also caused "human and material" damage near Mizda, to the south.

RUSSIA’S SURPRISE
On the other hand and in a dramatic shift, Russia called on the Libyan leader to resign.
Gaddafi “has no future in a free, democratic Libya. He must go", Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister said.
"We think that Gaddafi has stripped himself of his legitimacy and it is necessary to help him leave," Ryabkov went farther.

Russia also made an offer for mediation in the Libyan crisis. President Dmitry Medvedev’s “partners in all bilateral meetings called on Russia to assume a mediation mission in Libya," the Russian president's spokeswoman, Natalia Timakova, told reporters.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
Medvedev held bilateral meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the G8's annual summit.
Obama told the summit that the U.S. and France were committed to finishing the job in Libya.

"We are joined in our resolve to finish the job," Obama said after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G8 summit of industrialized democracies in the French resort of Deauville.
But he warned the "UN mandate of civilian protection cannot be accomplished when Gaddafi remains in Libya directing his forces in acts of aggression against the Libyan people."

For his part, Cameron said the NATO mission against Gaddafi was entering a new phase with the deployment of helicopter gunships to the conflict.
G8 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US called in their final statement for Gaddafi to step down after more than 40 years, in the face of pro-democracy protests turned full-fledged armed revolt.

"Gaddafi and the Libyan government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect the Libyan population and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic Libya. He must go," it said.

LIBYA REJECTS RUSSIAN MEDIATION
But the Libyan regime rejected the call and said any initiative to resolve the crisis would have to go through the African Union.
"The G8 is an economic summit. We are not concerned by its decisions," said Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaaim.
Tripoli also rejected Russian mediation and will "not accept any mediation which marginalizes the peace plan of the African Union," he said. "We are an African country. Any initiative outside the AU framework will be rejected."

Kaaim said it had no confirmation of a change in Moscow's position after Medvedev toughened Russia's stance.
African leaders at a summit in Addis Ababa on Thursday called for an end to NATO air strikes on Libya to pave the way for a political solution to the conflict.
The pan-African bloc also sought a stronger say in resolving the conflict.

Kaaim meanwhile confirmed the visit on Monday of South African President Jacob Zuma, without indicating whether the exit of Gaddafi from power would be discussed as the South Africans have claimed.

On Thursday, the Libyan regime said Tripoli wanted a monitored ceasefire.
But NATO insisted it would keep up its air raids in Libya until Gaddafi's forces stop attacking civilians and until the regime's proposed ceasefire is matched by its actions on the ground.