AFP, BENGHAZI, Libya
A delegation of African heads of state met Libyan rebel leaders in their stronghold of Benghazi yesterday to try to sell a peace plan already accepted by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s regime, but NATO chiefs warned that any deal must be “credible and verifiable.”
However, the rebels were demanding that any ceasefire should require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets and freedom of expression.
Near Ajdabiya, one of two rebel helicopters shot down over the weekend was found with three bodies inside, but one man had survived, a doctor said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Qaddafi and his sons should play no role in Libyan politics when a resolution is found to the current conflict.
About 200 people waving rebel flags were gathered outside the airport at Benghazi when the high-level African Union (AU) delegation arrived, welcoming its efforts, but demanding Qaddafi’s overthrow.
“The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks,” said Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a spokesman for the rebels’ Transitional National Council. “If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that’s it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments.”
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people who have gone missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and are believed to be held by Qaddafi’s forces.
South African President Jacob Zuma said Tripoli had accepted the AU’s plan for a ceasefire that would halt a NATO bombing campaign that destroyed 26 loyalist tanks on Sunday alone.
“We also in this communique are making a call on NATO to cease the bombings to allow and to give a ceasefire a chance,” Zuma said.
However, the rebels doubt the Libyan strongman would adhere to such a deal.
“The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes [Qaddafi] starts shooting again,” Abdulmolah said.
The rebels have said they would negotiate a political transition to democracy with certain senior regime figures, but only on the condition that Qaddafi and his sons leave the country.
The South African leader is taking no further part in the talks as he was leaving Libya to return home because of prior commitments.
The other members of the AU team — Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, as well as Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, representing Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni — all arrived in Benghazi, 1,000km east of Tripoli.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels: “Any ceasefire must be credible and verifiable.”
He noted that the UN Security Council resolution authorizing military action in Libya calls for a “complete end to violence” against civilians.
He added that any solution to the crisis “must respond to the legitimate demands of the Libyan people for political reforms.”
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