Gates questions NATO resolve as Misrata pounded (Reuters)

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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Pounded Libya rebels plead for help

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Rebel forces in the Nafusa Mountains of western Libya were under heavy attack Tuesday by forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi and had issued a call for help, the National Transitional Council said.

"Representatives have confirmed that Gadhafi forces are using GRAD missiles, snipers, and a previously unseen type of mortar," it said, adding that three locals were killed and another nine wounded on Tuesday.

The Tunisian border is a portal for the delivery of humanitarian aid, which can no longer reach civilians in the area, it said.

Pro-Gadhafi forces were also attacking the northwest Libyan city of Yafren, focusing on the hospital there, the statement said.

Tunisia's state-run news agency corroborated the attacks, but cited different casualty figures. It said at least two people were wounded, two of them seriously, in shelling that began Monday night and continued until Tuesday afternoon in the Nafusa Mountains, the state-run Tunisian news agency said.

But the focus of shelling, the Wazin crossing point, remained under rebel control, said Tunis Afrique Presse.

Some of the shells fired by Libyan government forces fell inside Tunisia, TAP said, citing a security source.

Libyan state television reported late Tuesday that government forces had exchanged fire with NATO vessels that were shelling west of Misrata, striking one of them directly.

But the claim was flatly denied by NATO. "No NATO vessels in that area have been engaged today," said a mission spokesman for the organization who, citing security reasons, declined to identify himself.

Meanwhile, fighting continued in Misrata, where seven people died and 32 were wounded Tuesday, said Khaled Abu Falgha, a physician at Al Hikma Hospital in the city.

Most of the casualties were among the rebels and occurred on Misrata's eastern edge, near the Tawergha area. Fighting there has been going on for three days, since rebels took control of the nearby airport and civil defense base, he said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said fighting in Misrata and other cities was keeping medical aid from reaching civilians and causing casualties among health personnel.

The continued attacks came as TAP reported that two former high-level Libyan government officials had crossed the border into Tunisia in the past few days.

Abdallah Mahmoud al-Hijazi, the former adviser to the Foreign Affairs General Secretariat and deputy-director of Libyan military intelligence, entered Tunisia on Tuesday through the Ras Jedir border crossing, said TAP.

He headed for the Tunisian tourist island of Djerba accompanied by four former civil servants, it said.

The news agency also reported that the Libyan oil minister, Choukri Ghanem, had gone through the same crossing Saturday.

Their intentions were not immediately clear. Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim denied Monday that Ghanem had defected, and said he was still on the job.

Early Tuesday, in the capital city of Tripoli, crowds gathered outside two burning buildings, the aftermath of what a Libyan official said were NATO airstrikes on government facilities.

Ibrahim said the buildings housed the Ministry of Popular Inspection and Oversight, a government anti-corruption body, and the head of the police force in Tripoli. There were no reports of casualties.

Some people ventured outside to inspect the damage. Others, including a group of young men carrying a portrait of Moammar Gadhafi and waving the country's green flag, marched in front of the buildings chanting slogans of support for the Libyan leader.

Documents were strewn over the grounds of the ministry building. Ibrahim told reporters that in the last few days, the ministry had put together corruption files against leaders in the Libyan opposition's Transitional National Council. He said the files "fortunately survived."

The area teemed with security forces, and men in civilian clothing carrying AK-47s. Some shot into the air in a show of anger.

"Is this their (NATO's) protection of civilians or terrifying civilians?" one of the men asked CNN. "This is a civilian neighborhood. ... Residents are terrified."

NATO on Tuesday said that, during the previous 24 hours, planes had hit a command-and-control center and a military training facility in Tripoli and struck radar systems in the vicinity of Tripoli.

The damage in the capital is one of the latest developments in Libya's see-saw war, which has raged for months with no end in sight.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force and any means -- except occupation -- to protect civilians. Allied forces have conducted airstrikes on Gadhafi's resources for almost two months.

The Libyan Red Crescent reported that three of its ambulances had been hit in separate incidents in recent days, resulting in the death of a nurse and wounds to a patient and three volunteers.

It has also received allegations concerning the misuse of the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems to support military operations and the use of ambulances to transport arms and fighters.

"All parties to the conflict must refrain from harming injured people, medical personnel, medical vehicles and medical facilities," said Georgios Georgantas, the ICRC's deputy head of operations for North and West Africa.

"Medical personnel and ambulances must be allowed to reach the wounded. We reiterate our call to the authorities and to all weapons bearers to respect medical services and the emblems of the Red Crescent and Red Cross."

Libyan opposition members are demanding freedom and an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has sought the arrest of Gadhafi and two relatives, linking them Monday to "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters his office has "direct evidence" linking Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi to crimes against humanity.

Ibrahim, the government spokesman, denied accusations against the regime. Judges on the international court must now decide whether to issue the arrest warrants Moreno-Ocampo wants.

Security forces in Libya are accused of using sexual enhancement drugs as a "machete" and gang-raping women they stop at checkpoints, Moreno-Ocampo said.

Meanwhile, the government spokesman said four Western journalists detained by Libyan authorities were to appear Tuesday in court.

Ibrahim said Monday night he expected the American and Spanish journalists to be fined and released. He said he could not confirm the names of the journalists because he did not have the list.

Ibrahim said the journalists were detained for entering the country illegally from the east. Libyan authorities have threatened to detain journalists passing through the rebel-controlled eastern part of the country.

Many people have been working out ways to flee Libya.

The U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday that hundreds of people who had fled Libya for Tunisia and Egypt "have crossed back into Libya with the intention of boarding boats to reach Europe."

Members of the Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean communities in camps at Shousha near Tunisia's border with Libya are among them. About 14,000 people have been taken by boat from Libya to Italy and Malta, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

The agency said most have made the journey in boats "overladen with passengers and in a very poor state of repair." Frequently, there's "no qualified skipper or crew to operate the boat."

"UNHCR has met with refugees in Tripoli who are planning to make this treacherous journey," the agency said.

"UNHCR repeats its call to all vessels on the Mediterranean to consider all boats departing Libya to be in need of assistance, and likely to face a situation of distress at some point in the journey."

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Ben Brumfield and Amir Ahmed contributed to this report.

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