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President Obama and David Cameron serve up at the barbecue
Barack Obama and David Cameron have said Col Gaddafi will ultimately be forced out of power and Libya’s people allowed to “choose their own future”.
At a joint press conference in London, the UK prime minister vowed to “turn up the heat” on the regime in Tripoli amid suggestions of deadlock on the ground.
But the US President urged people to be “patient”, saying the allied campaign in Libya would be “slow and steady”.
Both men celebrated the US-UK relationship as “stronger than ever”.
Questions about the international community’s strategy in Libya featured heavily the press conference on the second day of President Obama’s state visit to the UK.
‘All options’
Mr Cameron said there was no future for the country – which was seen two months of intense fighting between pro and anti-government forces, with Col Gaddafi in power and he should step down.
“Start Quote
Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying”
End Quote President Barack Obama
“The President and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya,” he said, adding that “all options” for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered.
Mr Obama said the international community had made “enormous progress” in Libya in saving civilian lives under the terms of its UN mandate and the US was “strongly committed to seeing the job through”.
“Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying,” he said.
But he warned against setting any timetable for action and cautioned against the prospect of any decisive change in the military situation on the ground.
“I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain, the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces.”
Downing Street talks
The situation in Libya was one of a number of issues discussed during 90 minutes of talks earlier on Wednesday, including developments in the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen, the fight against terrorism and the global economy.
On a personal note, Mr Cameron said he had come to know the President well over the past year and had come to “value his leadership and courage”.
He described UK-US relations as “a living, working partnership” which were “essential to our security and to our prosperity”.
But he refused to be drawn on comparisons between the two men’s relationship and that between President George W Bush and Tony Blair, saying each personal relationship between world leaders was different.
President Obama, who will later make a key foreign policy speech to MPs and peers on the second day of his state visit, said the US-UK relationship was based on “shared ideals and shared values” not merely “warm sentiment and common history”.
“It is a special relationship and an essential relationship. I believe it’s stronger than it has ever been and I’m committed to making sure that it stays that way,” he said.
Debt issues
More widely, Mr Cameron said the international community needed to seize the “once in a generation moment” to support pro-democracy movements in the Middle East.
He said he would push for a “major programme” of political and economic support for reformist governments in the region at the G8 later this week. President Obama condemned regimes using violence against their people.
President Obama said he believed Nato forces were “turning the corner” in Afghanistan while Mr Cameron urged the Taliban to make a “decisive split” with al-Qaeda if they wanted to participate in a political dialogue and bring about stability.
Asked about the two governments’ approaches to economic recovery and deficit reduction, Mr Cameron said both countries were committed to reducing debt levels over the next few years.
President Obama said that although the pace at which they did this would differ, both shared the same goal of creating “broad-based prosperity” but also ensuring governments “lived within their means” and “never mortgaged our futures”.
Later in the day, Mr Obama will give a setpiece speech on US foreign policy at Westminster Hall – the oldest building within the Palace of Westminster – an honour usually reserved for British monarchs.