LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron told Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi that it was "time to go", saying there was no role for the long serving ruler in the troubled country's future.
Speaking after Britain's successful mission to rescue 150 nationals from the Libyan desert, the British leader said: "All of this sends a clear message to this regime: it is time for Colonel Qadhafi to go and to go now. "There is no future for Libya that includes him," Cameron added. Britain earlier Sunday froze the assets which Qadhafi and his family have held in the European country and revoked the embattled leader's diplomatic immunity.
"We are now putting serious pressure on this regime," Cameron said. "The travel ban and the asset freeze are the measures we are taking against the regime to show just how isolated they are."
Earlier, finance minister George Osborne said in a statement that the decision to freeze Qadhafi's British-held assets had been taken "so that they cannot be used against the interests of the Libyan people".
Two Royal Air Force C130 Hercules transport planes involved in Sunday's rescue landed in Malta after picking up civilians from multiple locations in the desert, with the third expected to land soon after, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said. Former British leader Tony Blair, who helped bring Qadhafi back into the international fold, told Monday's Times newspaper that he rang the Libyan leader twice on Friday and said he believed the colonel was in "denial." "What is happening shocks everyone," he told the paper. "We want to see it brought to an end."
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