Post date: May 30, 2011 3:52:32 PM
South African President Jacob Zuma arrives in Tripoli in another attempt to solve Libya's conflict.
TRIPOLI, LIBYA (MAY 30, 2011) REUTERS - South African President Jacob Zuma flew into Tripoli on Monday (May 30) to try to broker a peace deal with Muammar Gaddafi, just hours after NATO's secretary-general said the Libyan leader's "reign of terror" was coming to an end.
Zuma was met by a host of dignitaries, not including Gaddafi himself, who has not been seen since May 11 when he was shown by Libyan state television meeting what it said was tribal leaders.
His walk down the red carpet at Tripoli airport was accompanied by a band and children chanting "We want Gaddafi!" in English while waving Libyan flags and pictures of the leader.
Zuma's visit is his second since the conflict began. His previous trip made little progress because Gaddafi has refused to relinquish power while rebel leaders say that is a pre-condition for any truce.
NATO warplanes have been raising the pace of their air strikes on Tripoli, with Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the centre of the city being hit repeatedly.
Britain said on Sunday it was to add "bunker-busting" bombs to the arsenal its warplanes are using over Libya, a weapon it said would send a message to Gaddafi that it was time to quit.
During a NATO meeting in Bulgaria, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance was achieving its objectives in Libya, and said Gaddafi's "reign of terror" is coming to an end.
Gaddafi denies attacking civilians, saying his forces were obliged to act to contain armed criminal gangs and al Qaeda militants. He says the NATO intervention is an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's plentiful oil reserves.
Britain and other NATO powers are ratcheting up the military intervention to try to break a deadlock that has seen Gaddafi hold on to power despite a rebel uprising against his four-decade rule and weeks of air strikes.
U.S. Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of the Joint Operations Command at Naples, declined to comment on whether NATO would put forces on the ground but suggested a small force may be needed to help the rebels once Gaddafi's rule collapses.
The military alliance says it is acting under a mandate from the United Nations to protect civilians from attack by security forces trying to put down the rebellion against Gaddafi.