President Barack Obama called on Tuesday (September 20) for the last of Muammar Gaddafi's loyalist forces to lay down their arms as he announced the return of the U.S.
ambassador to Tripoli and pledged to help Libya rebuild. The president made his remarks at a high-level U.N. conference on Libya.
Obama's message came as transitional government forces confronted stiff resistance in the last strongholds of Gaddafi loyalists and the provisional leadership faced questions about
whether it can unify a country divided on tribal and local lines.
"Those still holding out must understand-the old regime is over, and it is time to lay down your arms and join the new Libya," Obama said nearly a month after Gaddafi was driven from
power with the help of a NATO-led bombing campaign.
Seeking to bolster Libya's new leaders, Obama said the U.S. ambassador was now on his way back to Tripoli.
