admincoalition conducting air strikes of overstepping its UN mandate to protect civilians.
NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke during a break from a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also met South African President Jacob Zuma to discuss Libya.
International leaders are puzzling over how to end the war in Libya, where despite three months of NATO bombing Muammar Gaddafi has resisted calls to give up power in the face of a rebel offensive aimed at ending his 41-year rule.
Russia abstained from the UN Security Council resolution in March that authorised military intervention to protect civilians. It has criticised the NATO operation, but also joined Western nations in calling for Gaddafi to give up power.
“We look at Libya’s future practically identically, and everyone would like Libya to be a modern state, naturally, and a sovereign and democratic state,” Medvedev said at a meeting with Rasmussen and envoys from NATO nations.
Medvedev, whose country has expressed concern about NATO’s increasing involvement in conflicts abroad, called the Libya crisis a real-life test of NATO’s new Strategic Concept. Since the end of its Cold War confrontation with Moscow, the US-backed alliance has been adapting its mission.
On Libya, the Kremlin has emphasised its support for African Union and UN peacemaking efforts.
“The Russian side has voiced some concerns related to our operation in Libya. We have stressed that we are carrying out this operation in strict conformity with the UN Security Council resolution,” Rasmussen told reporters.
“We have been mandated to take all necessary means to protect civilians against attacks and so far we have been very successful in protecting civilians,” he said.
Asked about the rebel declaration that Gaddafi is welcome to remain in Libya under international supervision if he gives up all power, Rasmussen made no direct statement about NATO’s position on the offer.
“It is for the Libyan people, possibly assisted by the international community, to find a political solution to the problems in Libya and I would stress that the only acceptable solution would be to accommodate the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people and see progress in a transition to a fully fledged democracy,” he said.
On Friday, African Union leaders offered to host talks between the Libyan government and rebels and Zuma said at the time that the talks would start soon in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, where the AU is headquartered.
Sitting down with Medvedev, Zuma said he wanted to share “what the AU’s thinking is, what the AU’s plan is” on Libya.
At a trilateral meeting along with Rasmussen, Zuma presented the African Union’s peace plan for Libya, according to a NATO official who said the alliance would study the plan. None of the parties discussed details publicly
The Libyan government said yesterday that it was in talks with opposition figures but there seemed little chance of a swift end to the civil war as both sides stuck to entrenched positions on the fate of Muammar Gaddafi.
The leader’s son Saif al-Islam, in combative form, told a French newspaper there was no question of negotiating an end to his father’s 42-year rule, while the rebels, stepping back from a hint of a concession, renewed their demand that he go now.
A spokesman for Gaddafi’s administration said high-ranking government officials had been in foreign-mediated talks in Italy, Egypt and Norway with opposition figures to try to find a peace deal, and that talks were still going on.
Any talk of a possible accommodation with Gaddafi could drive a wedge into the ranks of the disparate rebel movement which sprang up in February in the wake of uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt. Many of Gaddafi’s opponents are flatly opposed to any form of concession to the veteran leader. The government spokesman named one of the opposition figures in the talks as Abdel Fattah Younes al-Abidi,
Gaddafi’s former security minister who defected in February. But it was not clear whether the talks took place with the knowledge or endorsement of the leadership of the rebel National Transitional Council.
The Council, which a growing number of countries say is the Libyan people’s sole legitimate representatives, has said there are no talks between it and Gaddafi’s administration.
“In the last few weeks and in several world capitals, high-ranking Libyan government officials have met with members of the Libyan opposition to negotiate peaceful ways out of the Libyan crisis,” the government spokesman said in an e-mailed statement.
“Other direct negotiations still take place as of now.”
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of the most prominent of the leader’s sons, dismissed suggestions that there could be a peace settlement that removed his father – a demand not only of the rebels but of the Western powers bombing Libya since March.
“My father is not part of the negotiations. ,” Saif al-Islam told Le Monde newspaper. “You think one can find a solution that does not involve him? No, it’s impossible.”
By backing the rebels, NATO had picked the losing side, he added: “God is with us. We will fight and we will win.
“We have our army. We have more munitions, more weapons. Morale is high. The others are becoming weaker and weaker.”
A glimmer of concession on Gaddafi’s future from the National Transitional Council on Sunday was swiftly withdrawn yesterday when the NTC, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, contradicted remarks made by its leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
He told Reuters on Sunday: “As a peaceful solution, we offered that he can resign and order his soldiers to withdraw from their barracks and positions, and then he can decide either to stay in Libya or abroad.
“If he desires to stay in Libya, we will determine the place and it will be under international supervision. And there will be international supervision of all his movements.”
However, yesterday issued a statement by Abdel Jalil saying: “I would like to confirm that there is absolutely no current or future possibility for Gaddafi to remain in Libya . . . There is no escape clause for Gaddafi – he must be removed from power and face justice.”
NATO says its air strikes are steadily eroding Gaddafi’s grip on power, but the fighting on the ground is making slow progress. – Reuters.
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