Russia advises Gadaffi to quit

out of control and indicated that Muammar Gadaffi needed to resign.
Speaking in an interview with Chinese television, a transcript of which was published by the Kremlin, Medvedev said no-one appeared to be able to control the situation in Libya including Gadaffi, rebels or Nato.
Reiterating Russia’s position, he criticised NATO’s military campaign saying the plan to enforce a no-fly zone over the country had been reduced to the use of force.
“Nevertheless the result has been achieved and as far as I understand, everyone has different plans in this regard. The Europeans say one thing, the Americans says another thing, one day ‘we will participate’, another day ‘we will not participate’.”
On Medvedev’s orders Russia abstained from the UN Security Council resolution that authorised the military action, refraining from using its veto which would have prevented the motion being adopted.
Russia has earlier said the time had come for Gadaffi to step down and Medvedev appeared to reiterate that sentiment.
“All the politicians, who are there, should make responsible decisions for the sake of the Libyan people,” Medvedev said.
“Someone has to take a serious, maybe fateful decision to leave, give his country an opportunity to develop.”
Libyan government artillery bombarded the besieged city of Misrata yesterday and rebels said they had beaten back two separate offensives by troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. Misrata rose up in revolt against Gaddafi’s four-decade rule along with other cities in mid-February and is the lone rebel stronghold in the west of the country.
France and Britain, who first launched air attacks on Libya in coalition with the United States, yesterday criticised Nato’s bombing campaign, saying it must do more to stop Muammar Gaddafi bombarding civilians. Nato took over air operations from the three nations on March 31 but heavy government bombardment of the besieged western city of Misrata has continued unabated with hundreds of civilians reported killed.
The criticism by London and Paris followed new shelling of Misrata on Monday and the collapse of an African Union peace initiative. He said Nato must stop Gaddafi shelling civilians and take out heavy weapons bombarding Misrata. In a barbed reference to the alliance command of the operation, Juppe added: “Nato must play its role fully. It wanted to take the lead in operations, we accepted that.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said Nato must intensify attacks, calling on other alliance countries to match London’s supply of extra ground attack aircraft in Libya. Nato, is operating under a UN mandate to protect civilians, stepped up air strikes around Misrata and the eastern battlefront city of Ajdabiyah at the weekend. It rejected the criticism. – Reuters-AFP.