Martin Fletcher From: The Times April 12, 2011 8:00AM
Rebel fighters celebrate as they fire powerful rockets toward Libyan Army positions near the western gate of Ajdabiya. Source: Getty Images
LIBYA's rebels have rejected an African Union ceasefire plan accepted by Muammar Gaddafi because it did not encompass his removal.
The rebel rejection came after NATO chiefs warned that any deal must be "credible and verifiable," and as alliance warplanes were again in action against Gaddafi armour pounding Ajdabiya and Misrata.
"The African Union initiative does not include the departure of Gaddafi and his sons from the Libyan political scene, therefore it is outdated," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader of the rebels' National Transitional Council, said after meeting the AU delegation in Benghazi.
He said Colonel Gaddafi had continued to bomb civilians and besiege cities despite previous ceasefire announcements, refusing to negotiate "with the blood of our martyrs".
The announcement was cheered by thousands of rebel supporters who had been demonstrating outside Benghazi's Tibesty hotel.
They saw the delegation of three African presidents and two foreign ministers as little more than Colonel Gaddafi's stooge, their initiative perceived as a ruse to make him look reasonable.
Allied powers also supported the rebels' stand against a proposal that called for an immediate ceasefire in the eight-week conflict, talks on a political settlement and the provision of humanitarian aid, but which would leave Colonel Gaddafi and his regime in place.
Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, spoke of the need for a "transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Gaddafi from power and from Libya".
"We want to see humanitarian assistance reach the people of Libya. These terms are non-negotiable.
"We believe, too, that there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Gaddafi from power and from Libya."
Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam admitted that it was time for "new blood" in Libya, but called talk of his father stepping down "ridiculous."
William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, said that it was "impossible to see a viable future for the country or any such process taking place while [Gaddafi] is there".
He was speaking after a meeting in London with Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, who added: "The sons and the family of Gaddafi cannot participate in the political future of Libya."
Colonel Gaddafi's departure would have to happen "in parallel" with any ceasefire, he said.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, said that the Libyan conflict required a political solution but noted that Colonel Gaddafi's previous ceasefire promises had proved worthless.
Within hours of the Libyan leader's apparent acceptance of the AU ceasefire plan on Sunday night, his forces were once again pounding the rebel-held city of Misrata. A doctor said that six people, including a three-year-old girl, were killed.
That the AU delegation faced an uphill task was obvious even before it flew into Benghazi from Tripoli under a special dispensation from Nato's no-fly zone.
A crowd gathered outside the conference, waving rebel flags, chanting "Gaddafi go away", and holding aloft placards proclaiming "No negotiations with killers" and "No compromise - Gaddafi leave now".
The rebels distrusted not only the AU initiative but the delegation itself, which consisted of the Presidents of Mali, Mauritania and the Republic of Congo, and the foreign ministers of South Africa and Uganda.
The leaders of Mauritania, Mali and Uganda seized power in coups.
The Libyan leader has spent billions of dollars propping up corrupt and authoritarian African regimes in recent years.
He also helped to fund South Africa's African National Congress during the apartheid era. "Gaddafi has bought all these guys," one council official told The Times.
The Times
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