Rebels set conditions for Libya cease-fire
Source: Agencies |
April 2, 2011, Saturday
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LIBYA'S rebels will agree to a cease-fire if Moammar Gadhafi pulls his military forces out of cities and allows peaceful protests against his government.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the opposition's interim governing council based in Benghazi, spoke during a joint press conference with UN envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib. After meeting government officials on Thursday, Al-Khatib was visiting the rebels' de facto stronghold of Benghazi in hopes of reaching a political solution to the crisis embroiling the North African nation.
Abdul-Jalil said the rebels' condition for a cease-fire is "that the Gadhafi brigades and forces withdraw from inside and outside Libyan cities to give freedom to the Libyan people to choose and the world will see that they will choose freedom."
Gadhafi's forces continue to attack rebels in the east, where the opposition in strongest, and have besieged the only major rebel-held city in the west, Misrata.
Abdul-Jalil said Libyan government must withdraw its forces and lift all sieges, stressing the ultimate goal was Gadhafi's ouster.
"Our aim is to liberate and have sovereignty over all of Libya with its capital in Tripoli," he said.
The UN said Al-Khatib arrived on Thursday in Tripoli.
Gadhafi's greatest losses this week were not military but political. Two members of his inner circle, including his foreign minister, abandoned him on Wednesday and Thursday, setting off speculation about other officials who may be next.
Libyan state TV aired a phone interview with intelligence chief Bouzeid Dorda to knock down rumors that he also left Gadhafi.
"I am in Libya and will remain here steadfast in the same camp of the revolution despite everything," Dorda said. "I never thought to cross the borders or violate commitment to the people, the revolution and the leader."
Gadhafi struck a defiant stance in a statement on Thursday, saying he's not the one who should go - it's the Western leaders attacking his military with airstrikes who should resign immediately.
Gadhafi accused the leaders of the countries attacking his forces of being "affected by power madness." "The solution for this problem is that they resign immediately and their peoples find alternatives to them," he said.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the opposition's interim governing council based in Benghazi, spoke during a joint press conference with UN envoy Abdelilah Al-Khatib. After meeting government officials on Thursday, Al-Khatib was visiting the rebels' de facto stronghold of Benghazi in hopes of reaching a political solution to the crisis embroiling the North African nation.
Abdul-Jalil said the rebels' condition for a cease-fire is "that the Gadhafi brigades and forces withdraw from inside and outside Libyan cities to give freedom to the Libyan people to choose and the world will see that they will choose freedom."
Gadhafi's forces continue to attack rebels in the east, where the opposition in strongest, and have besieged the only major rebel-held city in the west, Misrata.
Abdul-Jalil said Libyan government must withdraw its forces and lift all sieges, stressing the ultimate goal was Gadhafi's ouster.
"Our aim is to liberate and have sovereignty over all of Libya with its capital in Tripoli," he said.
The UN said Al-Khatib arrived on Thursday in Tripoli.
Gadhafi's greatest losses this week were not military but political. Two members of his inner circle, including his foreign minister, abandoned him on Wednesday and Thursday, setting off speculation about other officials who may be next.
Libyan state TV aired a phone interview with intelligence chief Bouzeid Dorda to knock down rumors that he also left Gadhafi.
"I am in Libya and will remain here steadfast in the same camp of the revolution despite everything," Dorda said. "I never thought to cross the borders or violate commitment to the people, the revolution and the leader."
Gadhafi struck a defiant stance in a statement on Thursday, saying he's not the one who should go - it's the Western leaders attacking his military with airstrikes who should resign immediately.
Gadhafi accused the leaders of the countries attacking his forces of being "affected by power madness." "The solution for this problem is that they resign immediately and their peoples find alternatives to them," he said.
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