‘Gaddafi is ready to go’
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ready to hand over power to the country’s rebels, according to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. But one defence analyst dismisses the claim as “wishful thinking”.
“Everybody is in contact with everybody. The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere, to Turkey, New York, Paris. There are contacts but it’s not a negotiation proper at this stage,” Juppe said.
“Emissaries are telling us Gaddafi is ready to go, let’s talk about it,” he added and repeated calls for Gaddafi to step down.
“These are emissaries who say they are coming in the name of Gaddafi. What is important is that we send them the same message and stay in close contact with our allies on this,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said later.
Mr Juppe added: “The question is no longer about whether Gaddafi goes, but when and how.”
But, writing for Channel 4 News, the defence analyst Anthony Tucker-Jones says the the claim is more about “political posturing”, both in France and Libya.
“This may be wishful thinking,” writes Tucker-Jones. “Some might argue that he was saying exactly what the French parliament needed to hear, as it has to approve the continuation of any military operations lasting longer than four months.
“Gaddafi is gambling that his offers to negotiate and/or threats of terrorist attacks across Europe will cause some slackening in the Nato air campaign – any weakening of this will give him exactly the window of opportunity that he needs to cling on.”
Ready to ‘negotiate without conditions’
Meanwhile, the Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said on Tuesday that Tripoli was ready to “negotiate without conditions” – but the allied bombing must stop first. “You don’t create democracy under bombs,” he said.
Asked if Gaddafi could be excluded from a political solution, Mahmoudi suggested he could stand aside. “(He) will not intervene in discussions,” he said. “He is ready to respect the decision of the people.”
However, Mr Juppe’s call for Gaddafi to quit did not stipulate that this would involve him being forced to leave the country as a condition.
Leaders of Libya’s rebel transition council are due to meet Nato and European Union officials in Brussels this week, and France is growing impatient with the lack of progress on reaching a political solution to the crisis in Libya.