MASSACHUSETTS/PARIS/UNITED NATIONS: World leaders Monday hailed the rebel takeover of Tripoli, urging Moammar Gadhafi to admit defeat, as Libyans around the world celebrated the veteran leader’s imminent demise.

The dramatic push to wrest full control of the Libyan capital from Gadhafi loyalists was seen as the endgame in the six-month uprising against Gadhafi’s 42-year rule.

While the leaders who supported the uprising stressed that Libya’s fate should be decided by Libyans, pressure was mounting for one of the planet’s longest-standing dictators to be dragged in front of the world court.

President Barack Obama called Monday for Gadhafi to end the bloodshed in Libya as pockets of his loyalist forces continued to fight.

“Although it is clear Gadhafi’s rule is over, he still has the opportunity to reduce bloodshed by explicitly relinquishing power to the people of Libya and calling for those forces that continue to fight to lay down their arms,” Obama said.

While rebels hunted for Gadhafi in Tripoli, some forces loyal to the autocratic leader continued to fight.

“This is not over yet,” Obama warned in a statement from the farm where his family is vacationing on an island off the coast from Boston.

Vowing the United States would be a friend and partner to help a democratic Libya emerge in the post-Gadhafi era, Obama also cautioned the Libyan opposition against acts of revenge for the four decades of Gadhafi’s autocratic rule.

“True justice will not come from reprisals and violence. It will come from reconciliation and a Libya that allows its citizens to determine their own destiny,” he said.

The Western-backed rebels, whose grip around Tripoli tightened over the past two weeks before a final offensive Sunday, said they were still encountering a few pockets of resistance.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged forces loyal to Gadhafi Monday to stop fighting immediately and make way for “a smooth transition” that ensures a free and democratic future for the country.

The U.N. chief told reporters it is important that the conflict ends with no further loss of life and without retribution. He did not specifically call for Gadhafi to step down.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country spearheaded support for the rebels and was the first to recognize their administration, condemned Gadhafi’s “irresponsible and desperate calls for the combat to continue.”

Sarkozy urged “forces still loyal to the regime to turn away from the criminal and cynical blindness of their leader, [and] to cease fire.”

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who signed a 2008 friendship treaty that made the former colonial power Libya’s top trading partner, urged Gadhafi to “put an end to every pointless resistance and to save, in this way, his people from further suffering.”

The Arab League declared “full solidarity” with the rebels and wished them success while Libya’s neighbor Egypt, where Hosni Mubarak had to quit power following a popular revolt earlier this year, officially recognized their administration.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said that the violent fall of Gadhafi’s regime “should teach a lesson to everyone.”

In Damascus, where analysts are closely eyeing an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Libyan Embassy declared that it was siding with the rebel body the National Transitional Council.

“We, the ambassadors and members of the Libyan Embassy in Damascus, announce our total support for the revolution of Feb. 17 and declare our formal adherence to the National Transitional Council,” it said in a statement.

Also Monday the Palestinian Authority said it recognized the rebel National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.

“The Palestinian state, the PalestinianTURN TO PAGE 10FROM PAGE 1Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization recognize the NTC and hope that the Libyan people will quickly go back to a normal life,” a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas said.The United Arab Emirates, which has been mostly silent during a six-month rebellion against Gadhafi, congratulated Libyan rebels on their move into Tripoli Monday.

“Sheikh Mohammad praised the wisdom shown by [rebel Transitional National Council chief] Mustafa Abdul Jalil when dealing with various developments in the Libyan front,” state news agency WAM said a statement, referring to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said “Gadhafi must stop fighting, without conditions, and clearly show that he has given up any claim to control Libya.”

NATO, whose aerial bombing played a key role in weakening Gadhafi’s military infrastructure, urged Gadhafi to give his country a chance to rebuild.

It is “time to create a new Libya – a state based on freedom, not fear; democracy, not dictatorship; the will of the many, not the whims of a few,” Atlantic alliance head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an old Gadhafi ally, was a lone voice of foreign support for the crumbling regime, accusing the West of “destroying Tripoli with their bombs.”

China was more measured than Western powers in its reaction to Gadhafi’s demise and promised to cooperate with whatever government would take over.

Russia’s response was equally cautious, urging any future political dialogue in Libya to take place without foreign interference.

“The dramatic turn of events in the Libyan conflict bears witness, by all signs, to a shift of power into the hands of the rebels very soon,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We hope that this will bring an end to the drawn-out bloodshed between Libyans, which has brought so much misfortune and suffering to the population of the country and caused serious damage to its economy.”

South Africa meanwhile denied rumors it might be a place of exile for a defeated Gadhafi or help him to flee and called for the rapid establishment of “a truly representative and people-centred dispensation” in Libya.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union, which had initially backed its founder and benefactor Gadhafi, was to hold an emergency meeting Monday on events in Libya. The Moroccan Foreign Minister Taeib Fassi Fihri meanwhile announced he will travel to the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi Tuesday to bring a message from Morocco’s King Mohammad VI.