MISRATA (AFP) - Libya's tribes urged Moamer Gaddafi on Wednesday to cede power, as rebels backed by NATO air strikes said they forced the strongman's missiles out of range of the lifeline port of Misrata. Chiefs or representatives of 61 tribes from across the North African country called for an end to Gaddafi's four-decade rule, in a joint statement released by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy. "Faced with the threats weighing on the unity of our country, faced with the manoeuvres and propaganda of the dictator and his family, we solemnly declare: Nothing will divide us," said the statement, released on Wednesday in Benghazi. "We share the same ideal of a free, democratic and united Libya. "The Libya of tomorrow, once the dictator has gone, will be a united Libya, with Tripoli as its capital and where we will at last be free to build a civil society according to our own wishes," it said. Levy has become an unofficial spokesman in Paris for the revolt and is credited with pressing President Nicolas Sarkozy to mobilise international political and military support for it. "Each of the tribes in Libya is represented by at least a representative. In this list of 61 signatures, some tribes are represented 100 percent, others are still divided," he said. Their call came as rebels said they had managed to push back Gaddafi's forces and secure the port of besieged Misrata, a day after it came under sustained rocket fire. The insurgents said NATO raids overnight enabled them to force Gaddafi's troops 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the port of Misrata, which is encircled by regime forces to the east, west and south. That put Gaddafi's Grad rockets out of range of the port, an aid conduit for rebels in the western city of half a million people under siege for more than seven weeks. "Gaddafi's men are dead. There are still vehicles and burned bodies, and we seized many weapons," said a rebel leader. Meanwhile, influential US Senator John McCain warned Wednesday that the revolt against Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi could stall unless the United States arms the rebels battling his regime. "There is a possibility if not a probability of a stalemate, and that should be of deep concern to us," the former presidential candidate and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee told AFP. "The US needs to recognise the TNC as France and Italy have done. They need to get supplies and equipment into the liberation forces and we need to get American air power back into the fight," he said. Meanwhile, Brazil's foreign minister said Wednesday targeting Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi in air strikes is striving for regime change and probably does not comply with UN Security Council resolutions,. A NATO raid destroyed Gaddafi offices in Tripoli on Sunday night and the United States and Britain have said that the strongman's compound is a legitimate target. Such bombardments have "a questionable compatibility with the terms of the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council," Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota told a Senate committee meeting in Brasilia. "We do not see how attacking those buildings helps to protect the civilian population," he said, suggesting the strikes were "a deviation towards an attempt at regime change." A United Arab Emirates fighter jet taking part in NATO-led military operations over Libya crashed on landing at a NATO air base in Italy on Wednesday and its pilot was forced to eject, officials said. "An F-16 crashed on landing at Sigonella air base," a NATO official told AFP, adding that he could not reveal the nationality of the plane involved. The pilot "ejected safely and is in good condition," a second official said. On Tuesday, Gaddafi loyalists fired a volley of Grads at the port, killing at least three African refugees and forcing an aid ship to stay out to sea. Farther west, pro-Gaddafi forces were massed in force Wednesday in an apparent bid to recapture the Dehiba border post with Tunisia, a Western military source said. Witnesses said the area was rocked by artillery and mortar fire. "There is a lot of fire in the area at the foot of the mountains," said a taxi driver at the border, 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Ras Jdir, the main crossing point into Tunisia that the rebels seized on Thursday. Loyalists also again blasted the western rebel-held town of Zintan with rockets, medics and a witness said. They have been pounding the town with Grad rockets and gunfire since Sunday, when four people were killed and nine wounded. British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the rebels appeared to be gaining ground against Gaddafi, despite Tuesday's deadly attack on Misrata's port. "We've seen some momentum gained in the last few days. We've seen some progress made in Misrata, and it's very clear that the regime is on the back foot," Fox said on Tuesday. Speaking to AFP before the rebels claimed they drove regime forces back from Misrata, the military spokesman in the rebels' eastern stronghold of Benghazi said Gaddafi was determined to destroy the port. "This port is too much of a headache for Gaddafi so he wants to destroy it at whatever cost," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, military spokesman of the Transitional National Council (TNC). Hitting Gaddafi's troops, he said, remained a challenge even for NATO's forces as loyalists were using civilian areas in the outskirts - schools, shops and farms - to hide troops and weapons. "It is still hard for NATO to catch them. Gaddafi is staying far from the centre because it is safe for him," he said, warning that losing the port would be a "real disaster," leaving civilians stranded without aid. He warned that Gaddafi could take "revenge" on the city that rose up against him on February 19, two days after Benghazi. "This is the culture of Gaddafi: revenge, revenge, revenge," he said. Separately, TNC vice chairman Abdel Hafid Ghoqa said the rebels would free five captured Gaddafi soldiers, turning them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. He said the rebels are holding 32 Libyan prisoners of war alongside 72 foreign mercenaries who are still being questioned and will likely face criminal charges before a justice minister once the conflict is over. Meanwhile, the African Union urged an end to military actions targeting senior Libyan officials and key infrastructure, after Washington and London had said it was legitimate to strike Gaddafi's compound, as NATO did two days ago. "Council urges all involved to refrain from actions, including military operations targeting Libyan senior officials and socio-economic infrastructure, that would further compound the situation and make it more difficult to achieve international consensus on the best way forward," the AU said. Gaddafi's chief ally in Latin America, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, accused NATO of trying to kill his "friend." On Tuesday, Gates and Fox insisted command centres for the regime's forces were legitimate targets. "We have considered all along command and control centres to be a legitimate target and we have taken those out elsewhere," Gates told reporters. Fox agreed and said "as long as that government continues to target civilians ... we will continue to regard all their command-and-control mechanisms as legitimate targets." Tripoli said late Tuesday it had asked Russia to convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council over what it called an "assassination attempt" on Gaddafi when the NATO raid destroyed his office on Sunday night. Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, said Wednesday it will arm eight of its planes for NATO-led military operations against the Gaddafi regime. And NATO allies agreed to establish a civilian post in Libya's eastern rebel bastion of Benghazi in an effort to step up political contacts with the opposition, an alliance source said. The representative would likely be a diplomat from a NATO country that already has a presence in the rebel capital. As the United States and its allies pondered how to help the rebels, US President Barack Obama formally ordered a drawdown of $25 million (17 million euros) in urgent, non-lethal aid to the Transitional National Council. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Gaddafi's regime "has lost both legitimacy and credibility, particularly in terms of protecting its people and addressing their legitimate aspirations for change."