Libya is ready for a ceasefire with the rebels battling Muammar Gaddafi, but wants to discuss in advance how it would be implemented, deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaaim said in Tripoli last night.

"We are ready for this decision (a ceasefire) but we require an interlocutor to discuss how to implement it," Kaaim told a news conference shortly after the UN Security Council voted to permit "all necessary measures" to impose a no-fly zone, protect civilian areas and impose a ceasefire.

Gaddafi's supporters were defiant, however. A crowd burst into a Tripoli hotel used by journalists to voice their defiance of the UN.

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