Idea of Gaddafi stepping down "ridiculous", says son
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 heavy Gaddafi weaponry pounding Ajdabiya and Misrata.
A delegation of leaders mandated by the African Union (AU) to stop the fighting in Libya arrived late Monday in the Algerian capital for two days of talks with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, APS news agency
reported.
"We are working to find a solution to this complex question and we are continuing our efforts to get out of this crisis," Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was quoted as saying on arrival.
He was accompanied by Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping and Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, APS said. Gaddafi has accepted a proposed "roadmap" calling for an immediate ceasefire, boosted humanitarian aid and dialogue between the two sides, but the insurgents have rejected the plan, saying Gaddafi must go immediately.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also stuck to US demands for Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya as part of a peaceful transition, but declined to comment on the proposed African Union deal before being fully briefed.
She told a news conference in Washington however 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."
"The Libyan Guide (Gaddafi) does not want to control everything. He is at an advanced age. We would like to bring a new elite of young people onto the scene to lead the country and direct local affairs," he told France's BFM TV.
"We need new blood -- that is what we want for the future -- but talk of the Guide leaving is truly ridiculous," he added.
In Benghazi, rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the African initiative did not go far enough.
"From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Gaddafi and the fall of his regime," he said.
"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."
NATO, meanwhile, said it struck more loyalist targets around Ajdabiya and the besieged port of Misrata on Sunday and Monday, destroying 11 Gaddafi regime tanks and five military vehicles.
The regime warned that any foreign intervention under the pretext of bringing aid into Misrata would be met by "staunch armed resistance," the official JANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
Diplomats in Brussels said on Friday that the EU was gearing up to deploy military assets for a humanitarian mission to evacuate wounded from Misrata and deliver food, water and medicine to the city.
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