Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - European Union leaders renewed calls on Friday 24 June for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to relinquish power, and threw their weight behind the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC). At a two-day summit in Brussels, the leaders said that Gaddafi was under heavy pressure to step down, even as the Europeans struggle to keep up the momentum of their attacks with limited US backing. “We've real unity of purpose and political will when it comes to the vital issue of Libya. We must be patient, and we must be persistent”, British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters after the summit talks. He said that Gaddafi's ministers and officers had been deserting him, and that it was important to push ahead with sanctions. “The time pressure is on Colonel Gaddafi and his regime, it is not on us”, said Cameron, whose country, along with France, is leading the charge against the regime in Tripoli. When asked how long the campaign, which started in March, would continue, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declined to respond, saying: “Anything I could say would only inform Gaddafi about our intentions”. Cameron called for “real support” for the rebel TNC. He said they were not Islamists, extremists or tribal, but merely people who wanted a united and more democratic Libya.
The EU leaders also condemned “the ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its own citizens”. They said that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is “calling its own legitimacy into question” with its crackdown. They also noted with “grave concern” reports of Syrian military activity close to the border with Turkey, and renewed calls for maximum restraint. As they met, a new round of sanctions took force. The EU is now targeting 30 people, including al-Assad with an asset freeze and visa ban. Four companies have also been hit. Added to the list on Friday were three senior members of Iran's Republican Guard, accused of supplying equipment to help the Syrian regime crack down on its own citizens. (LoC)