Muammar Gaddafi said he would not surrender and leave Libya Libya’s Gaddafi offers Nato talks
Muammar Gaddafi said he would not surrender and leave Libya Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has called for a ceasefire and talks with Nato to stop the coalition’s air strikes against his country.
The Western alliance is acting under a UN mandate to protect civilians amid an uprising against Col Gaddafi’s rule.
Previous Libyan offers of ceasefires have either not been implemented or have been quickly broken.
In a TV speech, Col Gaddafi said he would not be forced from Libya – a key condition of rebels leading the revolt.
State TV later implied that Nato strikes on a government complex in the capital Tripoli had targeted Col Gaddafi while he was speaking. There is no Nato confirmation.
“The door to peace is open,” Col Gaddafi said in his overnight speech.
“You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you. Come, France, Italy, UK, America, come, we will negotiate with you. Why are you attacking us?”
He said there could be no preconditions, such as his own surrender and exile, as rebels and some Nato countries have demanded.
Analysis
Col Gaddafi’s speech was an odd mixture of concession and defiance.
On the one hand there was more conciliation in his tone. The way he referred to rebels was softer.
In the past he has called them rats who would be hunted down street-by-street.
This time he urged them to lay down their weapons and that all Libyans should talk together.
He blamed the fighting on foreigners and what he called mercenaries instead and said Nato had gone beyond its mandate.
The US and its allies have reportedly tried to sound out countries which might be willing to offer Col Gaddafi asylum.
“We will not surrender, but I call on you to negotiate… Between Libyans, we can solve our problems without being attacked, so pull back your fleets and your planes,” he said.
The rebels battling his forces in the east of Libya, and in the city of Misrata, in the west, were “terrorists who are not from Libya, but from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Afghanistan,” he said.
Meanwhile, Libya said it will not allow any more sea deliveries to the besieged city of Misrata.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim also said rebels in the city would be given four days to lay down their arms in return for an amnesty.
If they continued to fight they would face “total fire” he said.
His comments came after Nato said Col Gaddafi’s forces had been trying to lay mines off Misrata. A Nato commander said the mines were being disposed of.
Government forces have been trying to take Misrata from rebels for weeks The port is a lifeline for rebels and citizens in the city, allowing them to receive supplies of food and medicine, and enabling the evacuation of the wounded and of stranded migrant workers.
Mr Ibrahim said rebels in Misrata were receiving shipments of weapons through the port and that any attempt to enter the port would be attacked.
Aid supplies should come overland, he added.
The BBC’s Ian Pannell reports from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, that despite claims that loyalist forces are now in control of almost all of Misrata, it seems that the government is on the back foot, under pressure from Nato and desperate to reverse recent losses.
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