Monday, July 25, 2011

UN envoy to meet Libya rebels over peace plan

The UN envoy to Libya will discuss with rebel leaders informal plans for a negotiated end to the war as Western powers ramp up diplomatic and military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to step down.

Abdul Elah al-Khatib arrived in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi, rebels said, as a diplomatic push to end the conflict gathers steam.

In an apparent further sign of moves towards a political solution, a senior rebel leader was quoted as saying that Gaddafi and his family could remain in Libya provided they gave up power.

Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a four-month-old NATO air campaign and five months of fighting with rebels who have seized large swathes of the North African country.

NATO has continued to hammer Gaddafi's forces around Libya, striking twice in central Tripoli, and Britain has said there would be no let up during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in August. But hopes have grown for a negotiated end to a war that has dragged on longer than many initially expected.

A European diplomat said last week that Khatib would try to persuade warring parties in Libya to accept an informal plan that envisages a ceasefire followed by the creation of an interim power-sharing government, but with no role for Gaddafi.

Khatib, a senior Jordanian politician, told Reuters in Amman last week that he hoped both sides would accept his ideas.

"The UN is exerting very serious efforts to create a political process that has two pillars; one is an agreement on a ceasefire and simultaneously an agreement on setting up a mechanism to manage the transitional period," he said. He did not go into the details of that mechanism.

Khatib's visit comes a day after Gaddafi's foreign minister, Abdelati Obeidi, ended a three-day round of talks in Cairo to seek a negotiated end to the war.

Libya's government has said is representatives are ready to hold more talks with the United States and the rebels, but that Gaddafi himself will not negotiate and will not quit.

Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said on Friday that senior Libyan officials had a "productive dialogue" with US counterparts earlier this month in a rare meeting that followed US recognition of the rebel government.

Complicating Gaddafi's situation is the fact that the world court in The Hague is seeking his arrest for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by his forces. This makes it difficult for him to find refuge outside the country.

Hopes for a negotiated settlement have grown, however, since France said for the first time last week that Gaddafi could stay in Libya as long as he gives up power.

In what appeared to be a significant reverse of policy, opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Gaddafi and his family can stay in Libya as part of a political deal to end the war provided they give up power.

"Gaddafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions," Jalil told the Wall Street Journal. "We will decide where he stays and who watches him. The same conditions will apply to his family."