U.S. to send envoy to meet Libyan rebels
Multi-nation conference to discuss plans for Libya's future
The Associated Press
Posted: Mar 29, 2011 4:58 AM ET
Last Updated: Mar 29, 2011 5:14 AM ET
Rebel fighters man a checkpoint halfway between Ben Jawi and Nawfaliyah in Libya Tuesday. (Youssef Boudlal/Reuters ) Supporting Story Content
Need to Know
- No formal recognition of rebels
- Representatives from 40 countries meet in London today to discuss Libya's future
- If Gadhafi leaves quickly he can avoid a war crimes trial: U.K. and U.S.
- World leaders criticized by Libya's deputy foreign minister
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A senior administration official says the U.S. will soon send an envoy to Libya to meet with leaders of the rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces.The official says American diplomat Chris Stevens will travel to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in the coming days to establish better ties with groups seeking to oust the longtime Libyan leader.
The move doesn't constitute formal recognition of the opposition.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing to meet Libyan opposition envoy Mahmoud Jibril in London Tuesday.
'We call upon Obama and the Western leaders to be peacemakers not warmongers, and not to push Libyans towards a civil war and more death and destruction.'—Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign ministerClinton will then attend a multi-nation conference to strike an agreement on plans for Libya's future.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the Arab League and as many as 40 global foreign ministers were joining the talks — seeking to ratchet up pressure on Gadhafi to quit.
Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said several nations planned to table a joint deal aimed at swiftly ending the conflict, setting out proposals for a ceasefire, exile for Gadhafi and a framework for talks on Libya's future between tribal leaders and opposition figures.
Britain and the United States signalled ahead of the talks that they could accept a plan under which Gadhafi quickly leaves Libya and in return escapes a war crimes trial, despite a previous insistence that he must face the International Criminal Court.
"There are some African countries that could offer him hospitality. I hope that the African Union can come up with a valid proposal," Frattini said Monday.
African Union chairman Jean Ping will attend the talks at London's Lancaster House alongside delegates, including Qatar's Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and foreign ministers from Morocco, the UAE, Jordan and Iraq.
Gadhafi "must understand that it would be a gesture of courage on his part to say 'I am leaving,'" Frattini said.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is hosting the talks, said Tuesday that — while the U.K. hoped Gadhafi would face international justice — it was down to Libyans to decide his fate.
"Of course where he goes, if he goes, is up to him and the people of Libya to determine and we will not necessarily be in control of that," Hague told BBC radio.
Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim told a news conference in Tripoli on Monday that foreign leaders had no right to attempt to impose a new political system on the country.
"Libya is an independent country with full sovereignty," he told reporters. "The Libyan people are the only ones that have the right decide the country's future, and planting division of Libya or imposing a foreign political system is not accepted."
Kaim called on nations attending the London talks to agree on a peace deal.
"We call upon Obama and the Western leaders to be peacemakers not warmongers, and not to push Libyans towards a civil war and more death and destruction," he said.
The meeting, which will also be attended by NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was also expected to discuss disputes over the scope of NATO-led coalition airstrikes, and to more clearly define the extent of co-operation between Libya's rebel groups and international military commanders.
