MISRATA (Reuters) – The United States accused some NATO allies on Friday of failing to pull their weight in the campaign against Muammar Gaddafi's forces, as the Libyan leader kept up shelling of the rebel-held town of Misrata.
"The mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly-armed regime in a sparsely-populated country -- yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the U.S., once more, to make up the difference," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a valedictory speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Gates said the alliance, prosecuting an air campaign against Libyan forces, risked "collective military irrelevance" unless European partners deepened their commitment and spending.
"The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling (U.S.) appetite and patience ... to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense," Gates said.
World powers gave mixed signals on how the deadlocked civil war might play out, with Russia trying to mediate reconciliation after Western and Arab nations pledged more than $1.1 billion for the rebels and asked them to plan for post-Gaddafi rule.
When asked about fatigue among NATO partners, Dirk Brengelmann, the organization's assistant secretary general for political affairs, told Reuters in Rabat that despite difficult discussions in recent days, the alliance was still "sober and committed" to Libya.
Gates's exasperation has been echoed by rebels, who control the east of the country and some other areas but do not appear to pose an imminent threat to Gaddafi's rule.
Though NATO warplanes have stepped up their attacks on the capital Tripoli, rebels said the Libyan ruler was pressing offensive operations in several areas, apparently unhindered by the foreign military intervention.
In Misrata, doctors said at least 17 people were killed and 80 wounded in government shelling deep in the besieged port city. Al-Jazeera reported the death toll at 30.
Clashes also broke out in the town of Zlitan, some 40 km (25 miles) west of Misrata.
"Large numbers of troops are surrounding Zlitan from all directions and are threatening its residents with having their women raped by mercenaries if they do not surrender," Ahmed Bani, military spokesman, told Reuters by phone from Benghazi.
He added that 22 rebels had been killed on Thursday after fighting. Zlitan could act as a stepping stone to allow the anti-Gaddafi uprising to spread from Misrata, the biggest rebel outpost in western Libya, to Gaddafi's stronghold in Tripoli.
Accounts from Zlitan could not be independently verified because reporters have not been given access.
Juma Ibrahim, a rebel spokesman in the western mountain town of Zintan, said Gaddafi's forces had also resumed shelling in the region on Friday and criticized NATO for not doing more.
"We are unaware of any air strikes in the Western Mountains in the last four days," he said. "We don't know why they are ignoring our alerts. We told them of clear military targets that post a clear threat to civilians and they still haven't acted."
NO CLEAR WAY FORWARD
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appearing at the Abu Dhabi meeting of the Libya contact group, said talks were under way with people close to Gaddafi who had raised the "potential" for a transition of power but added: "There is not any clear way forward yet."
Under pressure to come up with plans for a transitional government while still in disarray, the rebels have said the onus is on foreign powers to hasten assistance.
"Our people are dying," rebel Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said. "So my message to our friends is that I hope they walk the walk."
Rebels hosted the first foreign leader in their Benghazi stronghold on Thursday, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
Wade said of Gaddafi, his former African Union ally:
"It is in your own interest ... that you leave power in Libya and never dream of coming back."
World consensus on the need to see the long-time leader gone has been amplified by accounts of his regime's depredations.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week cited evidence linking Gaddafi to a policy of raping opponents, and issuing Viagra-like drugs to troops to encourage such assaults.
Gaddafi describes the rebels as al Qaeda terrorists and says foreign intervention is a front for a grab at the country's oil.
Another visitor to Benghazi was Mikhail Margelov, Russia's Africa envoy, who on Friday said he would travel to Tripoli as soon as NATO provided a corridor through its Libyan no-fly zone.
Russia has voiced misgivings over the foreign intervention and has extensive commercial interests in Libya. It wants to mediate reconciliation between Tripoli and the rebels.
But Margelov said Gaddafi had "lost the moral right to play a role in Libya's political life in the future by bombing his own people."
A memo leaked to the Financial Times suggested U.S. operations in Libya had cost $664 million by mid-May, putting it on course to exceed the original $750 million projection.
Gates's remarks followed two days of NATO meetings at which he said too few nations were bearing the burden in Libya, and singled out five that he urged to do more.
Officials said he asked Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands to fly strike missions in addition to the air operations they currently undertake. He urged Germany and Poland, which are not contributing, to find ways to help, the officials said.
On Friday, Norway said it was cutting the number of its F-16 fighter jets involved in the NATO operation over Libya to four from six, and would end its military contribution from August 1.
(Additional reporting by Peter Graff in Tripoli, Ahmed Tolba and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Sherine El Madany in Benghazi; Joseph Nasr and Zakia Abdennebi in Rabat, David Alexander in Brussels and Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Writing by Tim Cocks and John Irish; Editing by Andrew Roche)
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