Libya: John McCain calls on US to recognise rebel leadership

Libya: John McCain calls on US to recognise rebel leadership

John McCain, the US senator, became the first senior Western politican to visit Benghazi, Libya's rebel capital, where he called for Washington to recognise the uprising's leadership as Libya's sole legitimate government.


John McCain tours the Libyan rebel headquarters in the city of Benghazi Photo: AFP

By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent 7:37PM BST 22 Apr 2011
Mr McCain, one of the first American advocates of military intervention in Libya, also called for Nato to escalate its attacks on Col Muammar Gaddafi's military, saying he feared a stalemate could lead to the emergence of Islamic extremists.

His visit to the rebel-held east provided the flailing Transitional National Council in Benghazi with a significant moral boost.

"I would encourage every nation, especially the United States, to recognise the Transitional National Council as the legitimate voice of the Libyan people," Mr McCain, who is the senior Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters.

"They have earned this right and Gaddafi has forfeited it by waging war on his own people."

The Transitional National Council has so far been recognised by only five states, among them France and Italy.

Mr McCain also called on the United States and its Nato allies to provide the rebels with weapons.

"I've just come from a hospital where I saw the dead and the dying, and it argues for us to help them and get this thing over with and Gaddafi out," he said.

But the top American military officer, Adm Mike Mullen, ruled out such an eventuality yesterday, insisting that it was "not going to happen." Mr McCain's visit came as Libya's rebel leadership welcomed a US decision to deploy Predator Drones in Misurata, where revolutionary forces are desperately clinging on to their hold of the town despite a major onslaught by Col Gaddafi's loyalists.

"We hope that this can bring some relief to the people in Misurata," said Mustafa Gheriani, the Transitional National Council's spokesman.

The rebels have lost considerable territory gained in eastern Libya during the initial phase of Nato's aerial offensive, which was led chiefly by US air and naval forces. Since then, US fighter jets and bombers have flown just a quarter of the sorties into Libya.

Although the US contribution was deepening, Adm Mullen acknowledged yesterday that there was a growing danger of "stalemate" in Libya, raising fears of a protracted western military engagement in the country.

But he insisted that Nato's mission was yielding dividends and that over one-third of Col Gaddafi's ground troops had been rendered inoperable.

"It's certainly moving towards stalemate," he said. "At the same time, we've attrited somewhere between 30 and 40 per cent of his main ground forces, his ground force capabilities. Those will continue to go away over time."

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, yesterday signaled his willingness to follow Mr McCain to Benghazi. Like the senator, he also backed calls for frozen Libyan government assets to be handed to the rebels.