TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? A senior U.S. envoy, visiting Tripoli on Wednesday to show support for Libya's new leaders, said they were getting the country's many armed groups under control and would not end up dominated by Islamist factions.
Jeffrey Feltman, an assistant secretary of state who runs policy for the Middle East and North Africa, also said Washington was committed to continuing military operations with NATO as long as they were needed to protect Libyan civilians.
NATO has said it will keep bombing any Gaddafi loyalists who threaten civilians, but says it is not taking an active role in hunting ousted strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who, his spokesman said, was still in Libya organizing his forces to hit back.
In a statement following talks with the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, Feltman said: "We remain encouraged by growing command and control over security and police forces.
"We understand that this is a difficult task. Libya's interim leadership is solidifying the steps and integrating militias under one civilian authority."
Asked later about the strength of Islamist groups in the rebel coalition which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi last month, he said: "We are not concerned that one group will be able to dominate the aftermath of what has been a shared struggle."
He also said he expected the new rulers in Tripoli to "share concerns about terrorism" with Washington. Some senior Islamists among the rebel forces have in the past been allied with enemies of the United States, though they have since welcomed cooperation with the Western military alliance.
In his statement, Feltman also said: "The United States and our international partners have an enduring commitment to supporting the Libyan people as they chart their country's future. This includes working with NATO and our coalition partners to continue operations to protect Libyan civilians until they are no longer under threat."
GADDAFI HOLDING OUT
Feltman's visit to Tripoli, two days after the arrival of Abdel Jalil himself and only three weeks after Gaddafi was put to flight, was a very visible statement of support. He said Washington aimed to reopen a full embassy as soon as possible.
Diplomats from other Western powers who backed February's uprising have visited the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, as well as Tripoli itself in recent days, but Feltman's is the most high profile official visit from abroad.
Compared to other parts of the country, Tripoli has been relatively stable since forces of the NTC overran it on August 23. But NTC fighters backed by NATO are still trying to capture at least three towns held by Gaddafi loyalists.
Gaddafi himself has not been seen in public since June. His fugitive spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, speaking on a satellite phone, told Reuters the 69-year-old leader was still in Libya, in good spirits and gathering his forces for a fightback.
"The leader is in good health, in high morale ... of course he is in Libya," said Ibrahim, who declined to give his own location. "The fight is as far away from the end as the world can imagine. We are still very powerful, our army is still powerful, we have thousands upon thousands of volunteers."
While his opponents would scoff at the idea of a successful Gaddafi comeback, they have been concerned at the difficulties they have had in taking the final bastions of his support.
BANI WALID
Interim government forces are besieging one of those last bastions, Bani Walid, 180 km (110 miles) south of Tripoli, along with Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast and Sabha, deep in the southern desert.
After a week of fighting NTC forces at Bani Walid have been urging people to leave before they try to storm the town. Scores of cars packed with families left Bani Walid on Wednesday as NTC forces broadcast messages telling them to go and handed out free petrol to help them evacuate.
"There is a lot of random shooting. It is much safer for my children to leave. Gaddafi militia men do not want to negotiate," Fathalla al-Hammali, 42, said, driving away from the town with his three young children.
Gaddafi's whereabouts are unknown. NTC officials have said he could be hiding in one of the outposts like Bani Walid, helping to rally a last stand against NATO-backed forces.
NTC field commanders said people in Bani Walid had been told in radio messages on Tuesday they had two days to leave town, though it was unclear when any deadline might finally expire.
"I think only 10 percent of the people are Gaddafi supporters. They are fanatics. And the rest are waiting to be liberated. We have given them two more days to leave the city," NTC fighter Abumuslim Abdu said.
NIGER REFUGE
NTC leaders say that, along with taking pro-Gaddafi enclaves, capturing or killing the fugitive leader is a priority and only then can Libya be declared "liberated."
The U.S. State Department said one of his sons, Saadi Gaddafi, who arrived in neighbouring Niger on Sunday across the Sahara desert, was being held under house arrest there.
A Niger government source said on Tuesday that Saadi had been transferred from the northern desert town of Agadez to the capital Niamey late on Tuesday: "He is in a secure place. Like the others he is here on humanitarian grounds. He is not being sought after. He is under surveillance, not imprisoned."
However, the source added that he was not free to move: "You do not have freedom of movement when you are under surveillance," he said.
Gaddafi and his fugitive son Saif al-Islam are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), though NTC officials have said Libyans would like to try them first.
(Reporting by Maria Golovnina near Bani Walid, Libya, Alexander Dziadosz and Joseph Logan in Tripoli, Sherine El Madany in Ras Lanuf, Emma Farge in Benghazi, Mark John and Bate Felix in Niamey and Barry Malone and Sylvia Westall in Tunis; Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110914/wl_nm/us_libya
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