The international community was quick to respond to the confirmation of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi\'s death on Thursday by saying it hoped the National Transitional Council (NTC) would start to organize a democratic government. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Gaddafi\'s death and the end of fighting in the North African country mark \"a historic transition for Libya.\" \"Yet let us recognize immediately that this is only the end of the beginning -- the road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges,\" the Secretary-General said in an interactive dialogue on global sustainability, which was organized by the UN General Assembly. \"Combatants on both sides must lay down their arms in peace,\" he said. \"This is a time for healing and rebuilding, for generosity of spirit, not for revenge.\" In a White House statement Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama said that Libya had a \"long and winding road to full democracy\" and the Libyan people \"have a great responsibility\" to build an \"inclusive and tolerant and democratic Libya that stands as the ultimate rebuke to Gaddafi\'s dictatorship.\" The United States would act as a partner to Libya\'s interim government, Obama said, and urged a swift transition to democratic elections. The Elysee Palace, the French president\'s office, issued a statement saying \"the liberation of Sirte marked ... the beginning of the process approved by the NTC to establish in Libya a democratic system in which all parts of the country will have their place and where fundamental freedoms will be guaranteed.\"