As NATO ended its Libya mission, alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen mingled in a Tripoli hotel with former rebels and young women yearning for democracy after months of air strikes and street battles.

In an unprecedented visit to the Libyan capital, the scene of daily alliance bombings at the height of the conflict, Rasmussen declared Monday that NATO accomplished its mission to defend civilians from Moamer Kadhafi's wrath.

"The NATO operation ends at midnight tonight, and for Libya a new dawn will break," he told scores of young Libyans in the gardens of the Rixos hotel close to the bombed-out compound of the late colonel Kadhafi.

"This is a new day for a new Libya, free, democratic and united. A new Libya based on human rights, rule of law and reconciliation. You are the new Libya, all of you. The future of your country is in your hands," he said during the first visit to Libya by a NATO secretary general.

His meeting with Libya's up-and-coming youth groups came moments after talks with interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil and other members of the new leadership, the National Transitional Council (NTC).

Hours later, the NTC elected academic Abdel Rahim al-Kib as prime minister to head a new transitional government. After 42 years of dictatorship, he vowed to make human rights his priority.

Jalil had raised concerns among NATO allies by declaring that the new Libya would be based on a system of Islamic Sharia law.

Under a late afternoon sun at the Rixos, young revolutionaries talked democracy and women's rights, drinking grape and orange juice as they thanked Rasmussen for NATO's intervention.

"Without you, this could not have been done," Khaled Balaam, a 36-year-old former fighter from the eastern city of Benghazi, told Rasmussen.

"We are greatful for the quick move. You were fast enough to save people," Balaam, a baby diapers wholesaler by day, said of the air strikes that were launched in March to prevent Kadhafi from crushing the revolt.

Another young man asked whether NATO entertained a request by Jalil to continue the mission until the end of the year, but Rasmussen stressed that its UN mandate had expired and the alliance would play no major role in the new Libya.

NATO, he said, could offer to help reform the defence and security sectors -- the former regime's repressive machinery -- if the new leaders request such assistance. But the alliance would not send troops to Libya, he added.

Rasmussen's low-key meet-and-greet contrasted with the ebuliant crowds that greeted British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy when they visited Libya in September.

But the former Danish prime minister had a lively exchange with Libyan youths, asking questions of his own to the assembled group: such as what kind of democracy they envisioned?

"We want free elections, in which all Libyans will decide," replied Zakariay Naas, 38, an engineer who fought in the desert city of Bani Walid but had changed into suit and tie.

"I would very much like to see a very strong role for women," Rasmussen added.

"So do we!" said Alaa Murabit, 22, a Libyan-Canadian who lived in Saskatchewan and moved back to Libya six years ago.

Murabit and fellow Libyan-Canadian Safia El Harezi, 24, lead the Voice of Libyan Women, a group promoting women's participation in politics that met with US Secretary Hillary Clinton during her recent visit of Libya.

"The road to democracy is very new for Libya and it might take longer than people expect," Murabit told Rasmussen, adding that NGOs would have to play an important role in building a democratic society.

After a visit that lasted around five hours, Rasmussen was whisked off to his C-130 military transport plane to return to Brussels, with Danish fighter jets escorting him part of the way.

Hours later, NATO's planes left the skies of Libya.