Muammar Qaddafi may still be on the run, but representatives of around 60 nations and several multinational organizations met in Paris today nonetheless to discuss Libya's post-Qaddafi future. World leaders highlighted outstanding challenges, pledged financial support to Libya's new government, and urged Libyans to practice reconciliation rather than retribution. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (pictured above meeting with National Transitional Council heads Mustafa Abdul-Jalil and Mahmoud Jibril) said NATO's military campaign will continue so long as civilians are threatened and called for the country's new leaders to get a U.N. seat. She also informed NTC officials that the U.S. was closely monitoring the status of Libya's ailing Lockerbie bomber, whom she said "should be behind bars" (the rebels previously announced that they don't plan on extraditing him).

Behind the scenes of the Friends of Libya conference, Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports, countries are "jostling for very lucrative contracts for the rebuilding of Libya and also its enormous energy sector. The NTC has promised that those countries that gave it the most support will take significant rewards. That should put France and the United Kingdom, perhaps the United States as well, at the top of the queue."

Qaddafi, meanwhile, followed up on his "we are not women" address earlier today with another audio message,  in which he accused "imperialist" powers of occupying Libya to deprive the country of its natural resources. "We prefer death to being subjugated under western control," he declared, warning of a long campaign ahead. ""We will fight in every valley, in every street, in every oasis, and every town."

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Uri Friedman