West to aid rebels,puts pressure on Gaddafi

An International campaign to force Col Muammar Gaddafi out of office gathered pace on Monday as the European Union adopted an arms embargo and other sanctions.

DAVID D KIRKPATRICK & ALAN COWELL

An International campaign to force Col Muammar Gaddafi out of office gathered pace on Monday as the European Union adopted an arms embargo and other sanctions,the Opposition showed increasing signs of organisation in the east,and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Libyan leader to surrender power now,without further violence or delay.

With the rebel and loyalist forces locked in a tense stand-off on the ground,the Prime Ministers of France and Britain echoed Clintons call for Gaddafi to go,Germany proposed a 60-day ban on financial transactions,and a spokeswoman for Catherine Ashton,EUs foreign policy chief,said contacts were being established with the opposition.

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France said it was sending medical aid. Prime Minister François Fillon said planes with doctors and supplies were heading to rebel-controlled eastern city of Benghazi.

Rebels on Monday spoke of tapping revenue from the vast Libyan oil resources now under their control. There were also new reports of fighting. The rebels claimed to have shot down a military aircraft as they repulsed a government bid to take back Libyas third city,Misurata,east of Tripoli. There,as in Zawiyah,one of several breakaway cities near the capital,government forces seem to have encircled rebels but have been unable to dislodge them.

Meanwhile,a government spokesman Musa Ibrahim blamed Islamic radicals and the West for a conspiracy to take over Libya. Islamists want chaos; West also wants chaos, he said.