WASHINGTON (AFP) – Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has lost legitimacy and must leave office, US President Barack Obama said Thursday, and warned he was studying all options in dealing with the three-week crisis.
"The United States and the entire world continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people," Obama told a pressconference at the White House in some of his toughest comments on the deadly unrest in the North African nation.
"Going forward, we will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Moamer Kadhafi has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave," he said, after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Warplanes struck the Libyan town of Brega on Thursday, as a rag-tag army of rebels holding the eastern strategic city manned machine-guns on pick-up trucks after two bombs fell near the local oil refinery.
The attack sparked fears of a new bid by troops loyal to Kadhafi's regime to recapture the key port, 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of the main eastern city of Benghazi.
Libya has been rocked by the revolt against Kadhafi's four-decade rule which erupted on February 17 following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia which ousted their long-time leaders.
Obama also said he has authorized the use of US military aircraft to move Egyptian refugees who have fled Libya to Tunisia, adding that Washington was examining the "full range of options" when asked whether the United States would impose a no-fly zone in Libya.
The United States was helping "to lead an international effort to deter further violence" and trying to respond quickly to the developing humanitarian crisis, he said.
A major European operation was under way Thursday to airlift out of Tunisia thousands of people, most of them Egyptian workers, stranded at the border after fleeing the bloodshed in Libya.
The first French plane involved in the mass evacuation took off from the Djerba airport mid-afternoon, carrying 168 Egyptians to Cairo, following airlifts by British crews that took hundreds out overnight, officials said.
Obama said the United States has already moved swiftly to implement "the most rapid and forceful set of sanctions that have ever been applied internationally," freezing some $30 billion of Libyan assets in the United States.
"Let me just be very unambiguous about this. Colonel Kadhafi needs to step down from power and leave. That is good for his country. It is good for his people. It's the right thing to do," Obama stressed.
"Those around him have to understand that violence that they perpetrate against innocent civilians will be monitored and they will be held accountable."
And he warned that those still loyal to the regime should know "that history is moving against Colonel Kadhafi."
"I've instructed the Department of Defense, as well as our State Department and all those who are involved in international affairs to examine... a full range of options," Obama said.
He warned there was "a danger of stalemate that over time could be bloody," adding he did not want to be hamstrung if the situation degenerated.
"So what I want to make sure of is that the United States has full capacity to act, potentially rapidly, if the situation deteriorated in such a way that you had a humanitarian crisis on our hands."
