Gaddafi in ‘truce talks’ as top Libyan army officers desert him
Libyan state news agency JANA said Zuma left the capital after a visit lasting several hours.
Footage was broadcast showing Gaddafi welcoming Zuma at the entrance of his Bab al-Aziziya compound in the Libyan leader’s first public appearance in weeks.
During the talks, Tripoli denounced NATO “violations” of UN resolutions, attempts at “political assassination” and destruction of the country’s infrastructure and the maritime blockade of Libya.
The Tripoli regime also demanded a meeting of the UN Security Council to review “mechanisms for applying resolutions on Libya”.
Before the talks, Zuma told South African television news that the NATO campaign was thwarting African Union attempts to broker a peace deal. “Even going there had to be delayed because of bombing,” Zuma said.
He arrived in Tripoli shortly after state media said NATO-led air strikes on the town of Zliten, west of the rebel-held city of Misrata, had killed 11 people.
The South African presidency said Zuma was seeking an immediate ceasefire and rejected as “misleading” reports the talks would focus on an exit strategy for Gaddafi.
In Rome, meanwhile, five generals, two colonels and a major announced they had defected from Gaddafi’s forces and claimed the regime’s army was now at 20% capacity.
Abdel Rahman Shalgham, a former foreign minister and Libya’s UN representative before switching sides, said: “These officers are among 120 who left Gaddafi and Libya over the last few days.
“We hope more will join us and the Libyan people, and leave the side of this despot and criminal.”
At a meeting of NATO’s parliamentary assembly in Bulgaria, NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: “Gaddafi’s reign of terror is coming to an end.
“He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting.”
