Libya ‘not over yet’ says President Obama

The President’s comments echoed words from David Cameron about the situation in Libya. The two leaders talked over the phone earlier on Monday.

“The Gaddafi regime is coming to an end and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people,” Obama said in a statement to reporters on the farm where he is on vacation.

He said the fighting was “not over yet” but added it was clear that Colonel Gaddafi’s rule is over.

Loyal remnants of Gaddafi’s forces made last-ditch stands in the capital Tripoli as world leaders rushed to embrace the rebel movement as new masters of Libya.

Two days after their fighters launched into Tripoli, Gaddafi’s tanks and snipers appeared to hold only small areas, including his Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound.

Civilians, who mobbed the streets on Sunday to cheer the end of dictatorship, stayed indoors as machine gun fire and explosions punctuated some of the heaviest fighting of the Arab Spring uprisings that have been reshaping the Middle East.

President Obama said the US will be a friend and partner of Libya and will work to help on a humanitarian front.

He added that the sacrifices of the Libyan people had been “extraordinary” but that there were still “huge challenges ahead”.

In pictures: The rise and fall of Gaddafi