Gaddafi pleads with 'our dear son' Obama to halt air strikes on Libya

Published on Wednesday 6 April 2011 18:02

LIBYAN rebels have made another push towards the contested oil port of Brega, as Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi appealed personally to Barack Obama to stop the "unjust war".

The conflict in the east has reached a stalemate, with western air power preventing Col Gaddafi from landing a knockout blow, while the rebels' rag-tag army is unable to push closer towards Tripoli.

In a desperate bid to end the impasse, Col Gaddafi wrote to the US president calling him "our son" and wishing him good luck in his bid for re-election next year.

In a rambling three-page letter, he implored Mr Obama to stop the Nato-led air campaign, which he called an "unjust war against a small people of a developing country".

"You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action," Col Gaddafi wrote, according to a US official who had seen the letter.

"I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that. To serving world peace -friendship between our peoples - and for the sake of economic, and security co-operation against terror, you are in a position to keep Nato off the Libyan affair for good."

In the letter, sent yesterday, Col Gaddafi said his country had been hurt more morally than physically by the Nato campaign, and warned a democratic society could not be built through missiles and aircraft.

He also repeated his claim that his foes are members of al-Qaeda.

He wrote: "Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu Oumama, your intervention in the name of the USA is a must, so that Nato would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair.

"Libya should be left to Libyans within the African Union frame."

The letter is signed, "Mu'aumer Qaddaffi, Leader of the Revolution."

White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed it had received the letter, but dismissed Col Gaddafi's appeal for a ceasefire. "The conditions the president laid out are clear," he added.

Mr Obama has previously told Col Gaddafi to withdraw from rebel-held areas and allow humanitarian aid to get through.

While Col Gaddafi called for Nato to withdraw, the rebels have become increasingly frustrated by what it perceives as a lack of Nato action.

"There have been no air strikes," said Hossam Ahmed, a defector from Col Gaddafi's army. "We hear the sound but they don't bomb anything."

Said Emburak, 43, a resident of Ajdabiyah, added: "What is Nato waiting for? We have cities that are being destroyed. Ras Lanuf, Ben Jawad, Brega, and Gaddafi is destroying Misrata completely."Nato denied the pace of air strikes had abated since it took over from a coalition led by the US, Britain and France on 31 March.

"Libya must be 800 miles wide and in all that airspace we are dominating, so perhaps in one or two areas, if they don't hear us or see us, I can understand how that might lead to a lack of confidence," said Rear Admiral Russell Harding, Nato's deputy commander of operations in Libya.

Meanwhile, Libya's former energy minister has said several members of Col Gaddafi's inner circle want to defect but are too scared about the safety of their families and friends to do so.

Omar Fathi bin Shatwan, who also served as Libya's industry minister, said he had fled by fishing boat to Malta, on Friday, from Misrata.

"Those whose families are outside Libya will flee if they get a chance," he added "But many can't leave, and all the families of ministers are under siege."