BENGHAZI: An African Union (AU) peace plan for Libya was in tatters Tuesday after rebels stuck to their demand that Muammar Gaddafi step down, as NATO came under pressure to drop more bombs on the strongman's forces. The British Foreign Office, meanwhile, said former Libyan foreign minister Mussa Kussa was traveling to Qatar for talks ahead of a meeting there of an international contact group on Libya. However, an official for the insurgents said Tuesday, that Kussa will not be representing rebels in any way at talks in Qatar. With outgunned rebel forces making little headway in their bid to oust Gaddafi, British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged NATO allies to intensify military operations in Libya. “We must maintain and intensify our efforts in NATO, that is why the United Kingdom has in the last week supplied additional aircraft capable of striking ground targets threatening the civilian population of Libya,” Hague said. “Of course it would be welcome if other countries also do the same,” he told reporters in Luxembourg. “There is always more to do.” His comments came just hours after his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, had said France's NATO allies were not pulling their weight in Libya and their forces should do more to help destroy Gaddafi's heavy weaponry. “NATO must fully play its role, and it is not doing so sufficiently,” the minister told France Info radio. France which, with Britain and the United States, led the drive for airstrikes, was skeptical about handing political control of the operation to the NATO Western alliance. Now, Juppe said, it feels that the full coalition is not taking a robust enough attitude in pushing forward with the bombardment of Libyan government forces besieging rebel-held cities.
