. . . As rebels reject truce

ceasefire with the forces of Muammar Gaddafi and demanded the ouster of the veteran strongman, demands that were echoed by the governments of the western alliance that has been bombarding Libya.
“This (African Union) initiative has now been surpassed. From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Gaddafi and the fall of his regime,” Abdul Jalil said at a news conference in rebel-held Benghazi.
“Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe . . . Any initiative that does not include the people’s demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise.”
Abdul Jalil refused any kind of mediation, which would allow Gaddafi to stay and lashed out at the strongman.
“We cannot negotiate with the blood of our matryrs. We will die with them or become victorious and with God’s will we will be victorious,” the rebel leader said.
Abdul Jalil said the African Union’s initiative “matches the UN Security Council calls for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians and leaving the Libyan people free to decide their future.”
“This initiative that was presented today had been decided upon since March 10. A month has passed . . . during this long time Colonel Muammar Gaddafi did not respect these decisions; he bombed civilians with planes, missiles and rockets. He besieged cities with his forces. He placed security forces in civilian clothes inside city limits.”
“The Libyan people cannot decide their fate with them . . . for a whole month he ignored the UN Security Council resolution, and you know exactly how many people were killed during that time.”
Jalili’s remarks came after talks with a delegation of African heads of state in Benghazi yesterday; a day after Gaddafi accepted the peace proposal. – AFP.