Qadhafi's 'reign of terror' nearing end: NATO chief

VARNA: Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi's "reign of terror" is nearing its end, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday, as Libya braced for talks on an "exit strategy" for the strongman.

"Qadhafi's reign of terror is coming to an end," Rasmussen told a plenary session of NATO's parliamentary assembly in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Varna.

"He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting. ... It is time for Qadhafi to go as well," the NATO chief said.

His comments came as South African President Jacob Zuma was due to arrive in Libya on Monday for talks that officials said would focus on an "exit strategy" for Qadhafi.

Rasmussen was also upbeat about the results of NATO's military intervention to enforce a UN-backed no-fly zone over the conflict-torn north African country.

"Our operation in Libya, Operation Unified Protector, is achieving its objectives and we are preventing Qadhafi from achieving his," Rasmussen said.

"In just two months we have made significant progress. We have seriously degraded Qadhafi's ability to kill his own people," he added.

He insisted on NATO's readiness to keep pressuring Qadhafi's regime as long as necessary.

"We will keep up the pressure until all attacks and threats of attack against civilians have stopped, until the regime has withdrawn its forces and mercenaries back to their bases and barracks, and until full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access is guaranteed to all those who need it."

But Rasmussen also highlighted the need to make use of military pressure as the basis for shepherding a long-lasting political solution to the crisis in Libya.

"It is clear that the crisis cannot be solved through military means alone. If we are to see genuine peace in the country, then a political solution will need to be found," he said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011