Talks fail for surrender of Gaddafi bastion

Negotiations for the surrender of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the Libyan town of Bani Walid have failed and will not resume, the chief negotiator for the National Transitional Council said yesterday.

“I am leaving the military commander to resolve the problem,” Abdullah Kenshil said when asked if an attack would now be launched on the town southeast of Tripoli where at least one of Colonel Gaddafi’s sons is reputed to be hiding.

Mr Kenshil said the pro-Gaddafi fighters wanted to come out with their weapons but were refused.

“They demanded that the revolutionaries enter Bani Walid without their weapons,” he added, charging that it was a pretext for an ambush.

Mr Kenshil also said Col Gaddafi himself, his sons and many of his family had been in Bani Walid, without specifying when.

Two of Col Gaddafi’s sons, Saadi and Mutassim, are suspected of being still in Bani Walid.

Negotiations through the intermediary of tribal leaders began several days ago with the hope of taking Bani Walid without bloodshed.

Mr Kenshil said earlier that the pro-Gaddafi forces numbered between 30 and 50 men, “very well-armed, with machine-guns, rocket-launchers and snipers”.

Anti-Gaddafi fighters yesterday night had moved to within 15 to 20 kilometres of the town with a view to launching an assault if the talks broke down.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi family members who fled Libya for neighbouring Algeria are under the supervision of the Algerian people, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said yesterday.

The fugitive leader’s daughter Aisha crossed the border a week ago on Saturday with her brother Hannibal, their mother Safiya – Col Gaddafi’s second wife – and his eldest son Mohammed.

Mr Ouyahia told the press on the fringes of the opening of the Senate’s autumn session that the family members were “under the supervision of Algerians”.

Their reception by Algeria is a “humanitarian case”, he was quoted by APS news agency as saying.

The National Transitional Council, Libya’s interim government, previously criticised the move, saying that allowing Gaddafi family members refuge went against the Libyan people’s interests.