Tripoli: Muammar Gaddafi`s regime is in direct talks with Libya`s rebels, a Russian envoy was told on Thursday as the strongman`s son said the way out of a months-long conflict is the staging of elections.
Russia`s Mikhail Margelov, in Tripoli for one day after visiting the rebels in their Benghazi stronghold last week, made the remarks following a meeting Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi.
"I was assured at today`s negotiations that direct contacts between Benghazi and Tripoli are already underway," Margelov said, quoted by Russia`s ITAR-TASS news agency.
"The Libyan Prime Minister told me that a round of such contacts concluded yesterday in Paris," he said, adding French President Nicolas "Sarkozy has been informed of the outcome of these contacts”.
He did not disclose the nature of the talks, which could not be confirmed by the rebels` National Transitional Council.
Mahmudi said Gaddafi`s departure from power was a "red line" that cannot be crossed, despite growing international calls for him to quit and the armed insurrection against his 41-year rule.
"Of utmost concern to us in any dialogue is the unity of Libya," Mahmudi told a news conference in Tripoli.
His remarks came after Gaddafi`s son Seif al-Islam said the only way to break the deadlock was to hold elections in coming months.
"Elections, immediately and with international supervision. It`s the only painless way to break out of the impasse in Libya," the son told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Asked about Seif`s statement, Mahmudi said: "Gaddafi is the leader of this country and its symbol. He has nothing to do with any election or referendum."
Margelov, the Africa envoy of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, was not scheduled to meet Gaddafi himself.
But he reiterated Moscow`s call for Gaddafi to go and stressed "nobody wants him dead... he can remain living in Libya in private and security can be ensured by the tribes from which he came."
NATO warplanes early Thursday destroyed an apparently empty hotel, the Wenzrik, in central Tripoli near administrative buildings and Libya`s state broadcaster, a report said.
The authorities took reporters to the site of the dawn raid, which left only sections of wall standing. They said the attack caused no casualties.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaaim later denounced what he called a "barbaric and premeditated raid by NATO on civilians”.
Kaaim refrained from commenting about Margelov`s visit, but when pressed about possible negotiations about Gaddafi`s departure, he said that "nobody can make such decisions”.
"It is for the Libyan people to decide whether the leader should leave or not," he said.
At least five anti-Gaddafi rebels were killed and 30 wounded when they came under sniper fire in three villages they seized on Wednesday in western Libya, hospital sources said on Thursday.
The attacks took place in the villages of Zawit Bagoul, Lawania and Ghanymma, the sources said in the western town of Zintan.
The rebels overran the villages as they sought control of a key junction connecting the towns of Yafran and Zintan.
Rebels were seen patrolling the streets of Zawit Bagoul, 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) from Zintan. Pro-Gaddafi positions on the village outskirts were deserted and loyalists left behind clothes, shoes and ammunition.
The correspondent said the rebels later also moved into Lawania, about seven kilometres away, and then Ghanymma, less than 10 kilometres from Yafran, as NATO aircraft were heard overhead.
NATO, which has carried out 10 weeks of air strikes against Gaddafi`s forces, can see out its mission without ground troops, its operations commander said in a briefing.
Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard also said the military situation in western Libya, where there has been an upsurge in fighting, was developing "very positively”.
Senior military officials from Britain and France, key players in the NATO campaign, have expressed concerns about how to maintain the NATO operation, which has been extended for a second three-month period from June 27.
But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in Algeria that "a very large majority of the international community" wanted Gaddafi to depart, even though this was not an aim of the UN resolution authorising NATO strikes on Libya.
Meanwhile, Spain said it was expelling Libyan Ambassador Ageli Abdussalam Ali Breni over the Gaddafi regime`s repression of civilians and expelling three embassy officials for unspecified activities.
In Tunisia, about 60 Libyans including many government soldiers landed at El Ketef port after the arrival of around 40 of Gaddafi`s troops earlier in the week, among them some officers, the official TAP news agency reported.
Bureau Report
