Gaddafi tours Tripoli streets as world powers struggle to stay united

The world powers struggled to stay united over a NATO-led air campaign that has so far failed to budge Gaddafi from power in Libya.In an open-top 4x4, Gaddafi hailed bystanders with clenched fists in the streets of Tripoli. Supporters chanted slogans as loud explosions rocked the Bab al-Aziziya, neighbourhood home to Gaddafis residence and a base for most foreign journalists in the capital.The NATO initially denied that it had again bombed Tripoli, but an alliance spokesman later acknowledged that raids had targeted the outskirts.A NATO official said that late mission reports from pilots returning from Libya indicated that there appeared to be two additional strikes that were conducted at targets closer to the city of Tripoli.Cracks opened up in the Western alliance as Washington rebuffed French appeals for more assistance with the enforcement of the UN Security Council resolution authorising all necessary means to protect Libyan civilians. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe made a personal appeal to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resume major air raids in Libya, but he said his plea was rebuffed.In a bid to put on a united front, however, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama penned a joint article dismissing a Libyan future with Gaddafi as unthinkable and an unconscious betrayal by the rest of the world.Responding, Gaddafis daughter Aisha said that calls for her father to step down were insulting for all Libyans.To speak of Gaddafis resignation is a humiliation for all Libyans, she said in a brief statement at her fathers Tripoli residence before hundreds of young supporters.