UN Envoy Seeks Cease-Fire to Break Impasse in Libya With Tunisia Meetings
At a secret location in Tunisia, a United Nations special envoy will attempt to secure what five months of NATO air strikes have sought to achieve: a cease-fire in Libya.
Abdel-Elah al-Khatib arrived in Tunisia today to meet with the prime minister and foreign minister. The former Jordanian foreign minister’s visit coincides with the presence in Tunisia of representatives of both the Libya rebels and regime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
The Jordanian diplomat’s trip marks a change after weeks of inconclusive shuttling between Tripoli, held by forces loyal to Qaddafi, and Benghazi, the headquarters of the rebels seeking to end his four-decade rule.
On the sidelines, Khatib “might meet with Libyan personalities residing in Tunisia,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who picked Khatib in March to lead political talks with both parties, said last week he was “troubled” by the lack of progress in negotiations. Russia has cited the “Libya effect” for its block of a potential UN resolution condemning a deadly clampdown in Syria.
“Things are coming to a close and Qaddafi may be getting serious, finally, about negotiating a way out for himself,” said Karim Mezran, a Libyan exile and a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna, Italy.
Libyan rebels and Qaddafi representatives met last night on the Tunisian island of Djerba, Al Arabiya television reported. Khatib “is not participating in such talks as has been reported by some news agencies,” Haq wrote in an e-mail.
Civilian Casualties
Even as rebel fighters claim advances on the battlefield, Ban has expressed dismay at “reports of the unacceptably large number of civilian casualties” due to the NATO-led bombing campaign. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies are seeking to wrap up a mission that France promised at its March 19 outset would “be counted in days and in weeks, not in months.”
The U.S., the U.K., Italy and France indicated last month they were willing to accept an outcome that may allowQaddafi to stay in Libya, avoiding an exile abroad or a trial on war crimes charges.
Qaddafi, who seized power in the oil-rich North African nation in a military coup in 1969, still controls the capital, Tripoli. He has told his followers to keep fighting even as the leader appears to be losing ground.
‘Prepare for Battle’
“Prepare for battle, prepare to march,” Qaddafi said, according to the state’s Jamahiriya news agency, JANA, citing an address delivered yesterday in Tripoli.
Rebel fighters have said they had taken Zawiya, a town west of Tripoli, and cut the coastal highway to Tunisia from the capital. They also said they took Tawarga, near the rebel-held western city of Misrata.
In a further blow to Qaddafi, Al Arabiya television reported his interior minister arrived in Egypt with his family.
To contact the reporters on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at the United Nations at fjackson@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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