France has rejected an offer by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to mediate in Libya and dismissed talk of any solution that would allow embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi to stay in power.

"Any mediation that allows Colonel Gaddafi to succeed himself is obviously not welcome," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in response to Chavez's proposal, speaking after talks with his British counterpart William Hague.

Chavez and Gaddafi have discussed plans for an international peacekeeping mission to mediate the crisis in Libya, rocked by two weeks of bloody clashes with protesters seeking to topple his 41-year-old regime.

Both leaders regularly make public condemnations of US "imperialism" and have exchanged visits in recent years. Ties are so close that Gaddafi was rumoured at one point to have fled to Caracas, claims later denied.

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