Diplomacy for Libya as war hits stalemate

The United States, France and Britain are reaching out to both the rebels and, indirectly, to officials in Moamer Kadhafi's regime, looking for a way to bring them together in talks, officials for both sides said.

Envoys from those countries were in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi holding talks with rebel leaders, and Turkey -- the only Muslim member of NATO -- was maintaining communication with Kadhafi's circle. But there was as yet no agreement on opening negotiations, with both sides imposing conditions.

The rebels were adamant that they would not speak with Kadhafi, his sons or his closest aides, opposition spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah told AFP.

"We are open to a negotiated settlement with people other than Kadhafi and those around him whose hands have been bloodstained," he said. But Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, said that while the regime was willing to look at reforms, no dialogue would happen until the rebels "lay down their arms."

And government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Monday that there was no way the Libyan leader would resign.

On the ground, the poorly performing rebels are making no headway against Kadhafi's better-armed forces, and fighting has bogged down over the past week near Brega, a thinly populated desert town with a strategic oil depot.

The threat of NATO air strikes has kept the regime's fighters from advancing into the rebel city of Ajdabiya, but their mobile artillery can easily push back the insurgents -- as they have already shown several times this week.

However, the deputy commander of the NATO operations over Libya, British Rear Admiral Russell Harding, said in Italy that Kadhafi's forces were adapting and "blending in with road traffic" to move around, stymying opportunities for war planes to hit them without causing casualties among non-combattants.

While the rebels have failed to secure weapons or direct military support from the French-British-US coalition, momentum is growing to accept their Transitional National Council as the sole legitimate Libyan administration, supplanting Kadhafi's government.
France, Italy and Qatar have all publicly announced recognition of the council.

"The US question I'm sure will be answered today (Wednesday) or tomorrow (Thursday)," Abdulmolah said. The spokesman said the council's position on excluding Kadhafi or his sons from any peace talks was resolute and expressed clearly to the Western envoys.

He listed several acceptable regime figures who the rebels would be willing to sit down with. They included the head of Libya's supreme court, and a former prime minister, Jadalah Azuz al-Talhi.

No one acceptable has yet been offered for such talks, he said. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he was to meet the head of Libya's opposition, Mahmud Jibril, in Qatar soon after holding talks with a Kadhafi envoy.

Turkish officials have said representatives of the Libyan opposition are also expected in Ankara in the coming days, with the Turkish consulate in Benghazi already in contact with them.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said his government was trying to identify "who we can work with in Tripoli" to reach a negotiated settlement, after acknowledging a military stalemate required "a political solution."