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to topple him, as an anti-regime revolt entered a fourth month.
The head of Britain’s armed forces, meanwhile, said NATO should widen its bombing campaign to ensure Gadaffi doesn’t manage to cling to power, while Pope Benedict XVI called for negotiations to end the violence.
Abdul Ilah al-Khatib said in Athens he would travel to Tripoli after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the week had said the special envoy would hold talks in the Libyan capital with prime minister Baghdadi Mahmudi.
A Greek foreign ministry source said Khatib would be flying aboard a Greek military aircraft to Tripoli.
Ban in Geneva said he had urged Mahmudi last week to halt attacks on civilians immediately and called for “immediate verifiable ceasefire negotiations towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict and unimpeded access to humanitarian workers.”
General David Richards, Britain’s chief of the defence staff, told the Sunday Telegraph more military action was needed against the Libyan strongman.
“The vice is closing on Gadaffi, but we need to increase the pressure further through more intense military action,” he said.
The general said he wanted NATO member states to support the targeting of Gadaffi’s regime, not just targets which pose an immediate threat to civilians, such as tanks and artillery.
“The military campaign to date has been a significant success for NATO and our Arab allies. But we need to do more. If we do not up the ante now there is a risk that the conflict could result in Gadaffi clinging to power,” Richards said. – Reuters.