NATO's operation in Libya can be considered over now that Moamer Kadhafi is dead and the new regime is in control of the entire country, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Friday.

"I think we can say that the military operation is finished, that the whole of Libyan territory is under the control of the National Transitional Council and that, subject to a few transitory measures in the week to come, the NATO operation has arrived at its end," Juppe told Europe 1 radio from India.

The Libyans "have their destiny in their hands," Juppe said.

"The operation must now conclude because our objective, which was to accompany the forces of the National Transitional Council in the liberation of their territory, has now been reached," Juppe said.

"Our goal was not to kill Kadhafi. When I say us, I'm talking about the coalition, of France within NATO. Our goal was to force him to relinquish power. It was then up to the National Transitional Council to capture and judge him," he said.

French, US and British forces spearheaded the air campaign against Kadhafi's military by the NATO military alliance, which has launched nearly 1,000 strike sorties since March 31.

France was even involved in the ex-strongman's capture when one of its aircraft fired a warning shot at a convoy of vehicles to stop Kadhafi's escape attempt.

President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday hailed Kadhafi's death as "a major step forward" for Libya and urged the country's new regime to pursue democratic reforms.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis, is due to issue a recommendation, "probably (Friday), for the end of the operation" in Libya, a NATO official said earlier.

Another senior official also said Thursday that military planners would recommend "within a day or so" whether to call a complete halt to the mission or "to halt the strikes and continue monitoring for a couple of weeks."

A final decision to end the NATO mission will rest with the ambassadors of the 28-nation alliance.

Since March 31, NATO warplanes prevented Kadhafi from crushing a rebellion that erupted in February while daily bombing runs left the fugitive former leader's military in tatters, allowing the ragtag rebel army to take over the country in August.

NATO to meet 1430 GMT to mull ending Libya campaign
Brussels (AFP) Oct 21, 2011 - NATO ambassadors gather at 1430 GMT on Friday to discuss an end to the alliance's six-month air campaign in Libya following the death of Moamer Kadhafi and the fall of his last bastions, diplomats said.

A NATO official said ambassadors from the 28-member alliance would meet in Brussels "with Libya on the agenda of talks".

The meeting was originally set for 1300 GMT but NATO then pushed it back to 1430 GMT.

A diplomat said that "for NATO, the essential military development to take into account is the fall of Sirte and not Kadhafi's death, which was never an aim of the mission."

The nations most involved in the war, including Britain and France, "do not want to rush but to halt the operation in orderly fashion."

NATO could in consequence decide to maintain part of its naval and air capacity over the next two weeks "to ensure capability for intervention should the situation require," a diplomatic source said.

In a statement the previous day, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen hailed the end of Kadhafi's "rule of fear" and said NATO "will terminate (its) mission" in coordination with the UN and the National Transitional Council (NTC).

He pinpointed a need for the NTC "to prevent any reprisals against civilians and to show restraint in dealing with defeated pro-Kadhafi forces."

But he added of an end to the mission: "With the reported fall of Bani Walid and Sirte, that moment has now moved much closer."