Libya rebels reject peace plan
AFP | Apr 12, 2011, 06.11am IST
Around 200 people waving rebel flags gathered outside Benghazi airport when the AU delegation arrived, welcoming its efforts but demanding Gaddafi's overthrow. (AFP Photo)
BENGHAZI: Libyan rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Monday rejected an African Unioninitiative for a ceasefire with the forces of Muammar Gaddafi and demanded the ouster of the veteran strongman. "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.
Jalili's remarks came after talks with a delegation of African heads of state in Benghazi on Monday, a day after Gaddafi accepted the peace proposal. South African President Jacob Zuma said Tripolihad accepted the African Union's plan for a ceasefire which would halt Nato bombing campaign.
Around 200 people waving rebel flags gathered outside Benghazi airport when the AU delegation arrived, welcoming its efforts but demanding Gaddafi's overthrow.
In Ajdabiya, a correspondent saw more than a dozen burnt-out pick-up trucks which the pro-Gaddafi fighters had fitted with heavy machine guns for their abortive offensive on the front line between the rebel-held east and the government-held west.
Many of the bodies that the rebel fighters buried close to the battlefield on the town's outskirts were charred beyond recognition after a Nato strike, combined with their own efforts to repulse loyalist assault. "We found 35 bodies, with two more melted into the vehicles," said a rebel fighter. afp
"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.
Jalili's remarks came after talks with a delegation of African heads of state in Benghazi on Monday, a day after Gaddafi accepted the peace proposal. South African President Jacob Zuma said Tripolihad accepted the African Union's plan for a ceasefire which would halt Nato bombing campaign.
Around 200 people waving rebel flags gathered outside Benghazi airport when the AU delegation arrived, welcoming its efforts but demanding Gaddafi's overthrow.
In Ajdabiya, a correspondent saw more than a dozen burnt-out pick-up trucks which the pro-Gaddafi fighters had fitted with heavy machine guns for their abortive offensive on the front line between the rebel-held east and the government-held west.
Many of the bodies that the rebel fighters buried close to the battlefield on the town's outskirts were charred beyond recognition after a Nato strike, combined with their own efforts to repulse loyalist assault. "We found 35 bodies, with two more melted into the vehicles," said a rebel fighter. afp
(source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
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