Libya: Rebels reject ceasefire plan

Libyan rebels, backed forcefully by European leaders, rejected a ceasefire proposal by African mediators because it did not insist that Muammar Gaddafi relinquish power.

A day after an announcement that the Libyan leader had accepted the truce, a doctor in rebel-held Misrata said Gaddafi’s forces battered the western city and its Mediterranean port with artillery fire that killed six people.

“He is the biggest lie in the history of Libya,” said Jilal Tajouri, 42, who joined more than 1,000 flag-waving protesters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi as the African Union delegation arrived.

“All the people in Libya agree on this: Gaddafi and all his sons must leave Libya so we can have democracy,” Mr Tajouri said, echoing the opposition of other demonstrators to any dealmaking while Gaddafi remained in power.

The rebels’ leadership council agreed.

“Col Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if he wants to save himself. If not, the people are coming for him,” said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, a former justice minister who split with Gaddafi and heads the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council.

Mr Abdul-Jalil said the African Union proposal “did not respond to the aspirations of the Libyan people” and involved only political reforms.

“The initiative that was presented, its time has passed,” he said. “We will not negotiate on the blood of our martyrs. We will die with them or be victorious.”

In their talks with the African Union delegation, the rebels raised the issue of Gaddafi’s reliance on foreign mercenaries from other African and Arab nations, particularly Algeria, said Mr Abdul-Jalil, without elaborating.

The protesters in Benghazi said they had little faith in the visiting African Union mediators, most of them allies of Gaddafi. Three of the five African leaders who came preaching democracy for Libya seized power in coups.

South African president Jacob Zuma led the group, whose other key participants were the leaders of Mali, Mauritania, Republic of Congo and Uganda.

An Algerian member of the AU delegation had said there was discussion in the meeting with Gaddafi of the demands for his exit, but he refused to divulge details.

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini strongly backed the rebel demand for Gaddafi’s immediate departure and said he doubted that the Libyan leader would have abided by the ceasefire after breaking more than one previous pledge to halt violence.

The AU sought a suspension of three weeks of international airstrikes that have prevented Gaddafi’s forces from overpowering the vastly weaker rebel forces.

Nevertheless, the secretary general of Nato, which took over control of the international air operation from the US, welcomed any efforts to resolve the conflict. He said it had become clear it would not be decided on the battlefield.

“There can be no solely military solution to the crisis in Libya,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

Gaddafi’s forces, meanwhile, shelled Misrata despite the African Union delegation’s assurance that Gaddafi had accepted their ceasefire plan at a meeting on Sunday in Tripoli. A doctor who lives in the city said the shelling began overnight and continued intermittently throughout yesterday.

He said six people, one of them a three-year-old girl, were killed by missiles that slammed into residential areas.

Weeks of fierce government bombardment of Misrata, the only major city in the western half of Libya that remains under partial rebel control, have terrorised its residents. Dozens have been killed and food and medical supplies are scarce, according to residents, doctors and rights groups.

Libya’s social affairs minister, Ibrahim al-Sharif, said they welcomed international humanitarian aid, but only from international organisations.

“But if it comes with a military face then we won’t accept it, it’s basically a declaration of war,” he told reporters in Tripoli.

Wary of Gaddafi’s earlier broken ceasefire pledges, European officials supported the rebels’ refusal to negotiate until Gaddafi and his powerful sons and associates are gone.

“The sons and the family of Gaddafi cannot participate in the political future of Libya,” Mr Frattini said on France’s Europe-1 radio. He said Gaddafi’s departure would have to happen “in parallel” with any ceasefire.

He said he was lobbying allies to arm the rebels but was against expanding the international operation to include ground forces.

The rebels have far less equipment, training and troops than Gaddafi’s forces, and members of the international community have grown doubtful the opposition can overthrow Gaddafi even with air support.

Nato is operating under a United Nations resolution authorising a no-fly zone and air strikes to protect Libyan civilians.