Libya rebels reject truce plan, say Gaddafi must go

Libyan rebels yesterday rejected an African Union initiative for a ceasefire accepted by Muammar Gaddafi, and said the only acceptable solution was the ouster of the veteran strongman.

The rebel rejection came after Nato chiefs warned that any deal must be “credible and verifiable,” and as alliance warplanes were again in operation against Colonel Gaddafi armour pounding the cities of Ajdabiya and Misurata.

Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil will visit Rome on Friday for talks with Italian leaders about the future of the country, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also stuck to US demands for Col. Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya as part of a peaceful transition, but declined to comment on the proposed African Union deal until being fully briefed.

“We have made it very clear that we want to see a ceasefire, we want to see the Libyan regime forces pull back from the areas they have forcibly entered,” Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Washington.

“We want to see humanitarian assistance reach the people of Libya. These terms are non-negotiable,” she said.

“We believe, too, that there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Col. Gaddafi from power and from Libya.”

Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil told reporters in Benghazi that the African initiative has been surpassed.

“From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Col. Gaddafi and the fall of his regime,” he said at a news conference in the rebel bastion.

“Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe... Any initiative that does not include the people’s demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise.

“We cannot negotiate with the blood of our martyrs. We will die with them or become victorious and with God’s will we will be victorious,” he said.

Meanwhile, Seif al-Islam, Col. Gaddafi’s son, said yesterday that it was time for “new blood” in his country’s leadership but said talk of his father stepping down was “ridiculous”.

“He does not want to control everything. He is at an advanced age. We would like to bring a new elite onto the scene. We need new blood, but talk of the guide leaving is truly ridiculous,” he told French news network BFM.

Nato said it struck more loyalist targets around Ajdabiya and Misurata on Sunday and yesterday, destroying 11 Gaddafi regime tanks and five military vehicles.