Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is willing to start talks about a transition of power to someone else amid fierce fighting between loyalist forces and rebels, according to a report.
As Gadhafi's forces launched a fresh bombardment on rebel positions in Libya, the Portuguese daily newspaper Publico on Thursday quoted a diplomatic source as saying Gadhafi was open to the idea of negotiations. The report followed a meeting between Portugal's foreign minister, Luis Amado, and Gadhafi's envoy in Lisbon.
The source told Publico that the message had to be taken with caution as it was given in response to Amado's proposals for a cessation of hostilities against the rebels and a peaceful change of power in the north African country.
"The emissary of the Libyan leader told Amado that Tripoli would accept 'to begin a negotiations process for a transition'," Publico said.
"It is too early, however, to evaluate the real intention of this message and to what extent it is not just a circumstantial declaration ... the message was not presented at the start of the meeting," it said.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is willing to start talks about a transition of power to someone else amid fierce fighting between loyalist forces and rebels, according to a report. Full story
..The Portuguese Foreign Ministry said the envoy met Amado to explain Tripoli's view of the conflict. Portugal was chosen this week to chair the United Nations Security Council's committee on sanctions.
The ministry did not name the envoy and did not give further details of the meeting, saying only it was "part of the preparation of the extraordinary meetings of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council and the European Council to be held in the next few days."
A Libyan envoy, Mohamed Tahir Siala, was also due to meet with Greece's deputy foreign minister, Dimitris Dollis, on Thursday as part of a diplomatic drive by Gadhafi ahead of talks by NATO and the European Union on a possible no-fly zone over Libya.
The Greek ministry said the talks were arranged in agreement with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton ahead of the meeting in Brussels.
NATO said it could react quickly to any decision, but sounded a note of caution.
"If requested and if needed we can respond at very short notice. There are a lot of sensitivities in the region as regards what might be considered foreign military interference," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the U.K's Sky News.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made it clear imposing a no-fly zone is a matter for the United Nations and should not be a U.S.-led initiative.
The White House Wednesday defended its response to the turmoil in Libya, insisting it had taken dramatic action and rejecting criticism that it had been too cautious.
"There has never been a situation where the international community, with leadership by the United States, has acted as quickly as it has to respond to this kind of situation," spokesman Jay Carney said.
..A senior U.S. general said the United States military was prepared to quickly establish a no-fly zone over Libya if the international community decided on that option.
"I believe within a couple days, we would probably be able to implement a no-fly zone," General Raymond Odierno, commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command said.
Russia and China, permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, are cool to the idea, which could entail bombing Libyan air defenses as a first step.
However, Russia said in a statement Thursday that it was banning all weapons sales to Libya.
An order signed by President Dmitry Medvedev "bans the export from the Russian Federation to Libya as well as the sale, delivery and transfer... of all types of arms and related materials, including weapons and ammunition, combat vehicles and military hardware," it said.
.The NATO and European talks about a no-fly zone come amid some of the fiercest fighting of the three-week-old uprising against Gadhafi.
This appeared to be continuing Thursday with government forces launching a new attack on the eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf.
Bombs or missiles were landing a few miles from an oil refinery and close to a building of the Libyan Emirates Oil Referiny Company (LERCO) building, a Reuters witness said.
"One bomb landed on a civilian house in Ras Lanuf," rebel fighter Izeddine Sheikhy told Reuters.
He said the bombardment seemed to have come from the direction of the sea. A warplane was circling over Ras Lanuf, the Reuters witness said.
source:msn.com
