A LIBYAN envoy dispatched to Europe has said the regime in Tripoli wants to negotiate a political settlement to end the fighting, but western governments and rebels have ruled out any deal that involves Muammar Gadafy or his family remaining in power.
With the military standoff between rebels and forces loyal to Col Gadafy locked in stalemate, Libyan deputy foreign minister Abdelati Obeidi held meetings with government officials in Greece and Turkey and is due to visit Malta today.
“The Libyan envoy wanted to convey that Libya has the intention to negotiate,” a Greek official told journalists after Mr Obeidi’s visit. “We don’t think that there can be a military solution to this crisis.”
There were no indications of what Libya might offer to end the war, however.
Diplomatic activity has intensified with the growing realisation that neither side to the conflict is strong enough to win militarily. Turkey said it was in contact with Tripoli and the Libyan opposition, both of whom have “some opinions about a possible ceasefire”, according to a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman.
After speaking to Greek officials, however, Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said Mr Obeidi had not mentioned that Col Gadafy intended to step aside, a position Mr Frattini said was unacceptable.
Italy, the former colonial power, yesterday became the third country after France and Qatar to recognise the opposition Libyan National Council as the legitimate interlocutor of the Libyan people.
“A solution for the future of Libya has a precondition – that Gadafy’s regime leaves and is out and that Gadafy himself and his family leave the country,” Mr Frattini said after a meeting with Ali Essawi, a member of the council.
An interim government headed by one of Col Gadafy’s sons was “not an option”, he added, alluding to reports of one proposal from Tripoli.
Shamseddin Abdulmelah, a spokesman for the national council, said it “completely rejected” any solution that would involve Saif al-Islam Gadafy and his brother Saadi Gadafy emerging as interim leaders.
“Gadafy and his sons have to leave before any diplomatic negotiations can take place,” he said.
Neither the Gadafy troops nor the disorganised rebel force have been able to gain the upper hand on the frontline, despite western air strikes limiting Tripoli’s military means and aiding the insurgents.
After chasing each other up and down the coast road linking the oil ports of eastern Libya with Col Gadafy’s heartland further west, the two sides are stuck around Brega, a sparsely populated settlement.
Rebels pushed the army out of much of Brega and towards the outskirts of the sprawling oil town yesterday in a slow advance west, but were still facing bombardment with each step.
As the stalemate continued in the east, reports circulated of Gadafy forces using tanks and snipers in their assault on Misrata, a western city under rebel control for a number of weeks. Evacuees from Misrata told Reuters in Tunisia of a “massacre”, describing corpses in the streets and hospitals full of the wounded.
A Turkish ship that sailed into Misrata to rescue 250 wounded was protected by Turkish warplanes and warships and had to leave in a hurry after thousands pressed forward on the dock, pleading to be evacuated.
Another ship operated by Médecins Sans Frontières docked in Sfax in Tunisia with 71 wounded from Misrata. It reported that many had bullet wounds and broken limbs.