Rebel Chief Says Gaddafi, Family Can Stay in Libya

Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Sunday that Col. Moammar Gadhafi and his family could remain in Libya as part of a political solution to the five-month-old conflict, provided they give up power and rebel leaders can determine where in Libya and under what conditions they remain.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal during an unannounced visit to Libya's rebel- controlled western mountains, Mr. Jalil confirmed reports from other rebel officials in recent days that Qatar has stepped up the flow of military aid to rebels in recent days.

Mr. Jalil's offer to let Col. Gadhafi and his family remain in Libya appears to be a significant reversal for the Libyan opposition leader, who is chairman of the rebels' Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi. "Gadhafi can stay in Libya but it will have conditions," Mr. Jalil said. "We will decide where he stays and who watches him.

The same conditions will apply to his family." Mr. Jalil spoke over a lunch of lamb, garbonzo beans and Pepsi, served in cans adorned with pink paper umbrellas, at a private home in the western mountain city of Zintan, where rebel military leaders have established their regional headquarters.

In agreeing that Mr. Gadhafi and his family could remain in Libya, Mr. Jalil appeared to be softening his position, and backing up comments made by U.S., Italian and French officials in recent days to the same effect. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday that Col. Gadhafi could remain in Libya as long as he gives up power completely.

The U.S. and Italy have said recently that Col. Gadhafi must be removed from power, but have said his fate after that is up to the Libyan people, leaving open the possibility that he remain in Libya. Mr. Jalil's willingness to accept anything short of exile and criminal prosecution for Mr. Gadhafi is likely to prove unpopular among the rebel rank and file.

Mr. Jalil made similar comments to Reuters earlier this month, but had to issue a quick denial after protests erupted in the streets of Benghazi. But Mr. Jalil appears to have carefully calibrated his comments on Sunday by setting conditions for Col. Gadhafi's remaining in Libya that could be broadly interpreted.

Mr. Jalil didn't elaborate on where or under what conditions rebels would demand Col. Gadhafi live if he remained, but presumably it could mean anything from comfortable house arrest among his tribesmen, to a dark cell in solitary confinement. The diplomatic wording would seem to allow Mr. Jalil to appear willing to compromise to appease Western leaders eager to see an end to the conflict, while not alienating his rebel base who want to see Col. Gadhafi held accountable for his actions.

The softening of Mr. Jalil's position toward Col. Gadhafi and his family comes as rebels say they are stepping up military preparations for a resumed push on Col. Gadhafi's forces along multiple fronts. A critical piece of those preparations has been an uptick in military aide from the Persian Gulf state of Qatar in recent days, according to Mr. Jalil and other rebel officials in Benghazi.

Mr. Jalil said Qatar had sent military trainers to the western mountains to train rebel fighters and had built and equipped a rebel operational command center with the latest equipment. Indeed, Qatari military personnel were accompanying Mr. Jalil during his visit to the western mountains. One Qatari military trainer said his team of trainers arrived in the western mountains 20 days ago to train rebels to use certain light weapons and teach them small- unit tactics.

Sunday's visit was Mr. Jalil's first visit to the region since he was tapped as the rebel leader shortly after the uprising began on Feb. 17. Mr. Jalil and his entourage flew into the western mountains after a short visit in Tunisia, where many Libyan civilians have sought refuge from the fighting and where many rebel fighters have gone for treatment.

His plane landed at the rebels' makeshift airstrip on a straight stretch of desert highway outside of Zintan. Qatar has been one of the rebels' staunchest allies since the early days of the uprising and has long provided them with a steady flow of humanitarian and military aid. Qatar has been sending rebels anti- tank weapons, small arms, ammunitions, and bullet proof vests, among other such items for months, according to rebel officials who help manage and distribute the shipments in Benghazi.

But just in the past four days Qatar has stepped up both the quantity and type of military aid it is shipping to the rebels, these officials said. The recent shipments have for the first time included new four-wheel-drive vehicles and armored mine clearers to help the rebels clear massive mine fields laid by Col. Gadhafi's forces outside the oil town of Brega, according to the officials.

Mr. Jalil said rebels would continue their offensive on all fronts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins early next month. He said rebels in the western mountains were the closest to Tripoli and rebels' best chance of piercing Col. Gadhafi's defenses and reaching the capital. "The war will end in one of three ways," Mr. Jalil said. "Gadhafi will surrender, he will flee Libya, or he will be killed or captured by one of his bodyguards or by rebel forces."

Libyan officials sought guarantees Gaddafi would not be pursued for war crimes

Libyan representatives sought guarantees Col Muammar Gaddafi would not be pursued for war crimes if he stepped down during talks with US officials.

Diplomats involved in contacts with Libyan officials said that Tripoli sought talks with Washington as part of a series of informal negotiations on Col Gaddafi's future. But while French mediators last week insisted that Col Gaddafi must leave Libya, a move that would make him vulnerable to arrest and war crimes charges, American diplomats only insisted that the dictator give up power.

European diplomats said on Tuesday that America, which is not a member of the World Court, could formally put its weight behind a deal to scrap UN sanctions that authorised war crime charges. "There is open question here of an American role but the Americans have also been very clear that they delivered a message and not launch negotiations," a European diplomat said.

Libyan emissaries have held a series of meetings with Turkish, French and South African officials in previous weeks. Unnamed regime officials met senior American diplomats in Tunis on Saturday. "There have been a number of indications that talks behind the scenes are going on and the feeling is that these centre on Gaddafi continuing to live in Libya or being allowed a dignified exile, probably somewhere in Africa," said Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador who has met Gaddafi loyalists in recent weeks.

A US official was unequivocal in saying that the only message given to Col Gaddafi in the meeting was that he should stand down. "This was not a negotiation. It was the delivery of a message," the official said. The French defence minister yesterday said pressure on Col Gaddafi to seek a negotiated exit had risen but warned the Libyan leader could still hold out.

"The countdown has begun," said Gerard Longuet, the defence minister who last week called for immediate talks with Col Gaddafi. "I am cautious because Gaddafi is not rational and he could opt for a bunker strategy, taking the whole civilian population of Tripoli hostage." "As panic takes over in the ranks around Gaddafi, we are seeing more and more emissaries of all types who are touring world capitals," he said.

"When one of those comes within our range our message is always the same: Gaddafi must go." Libyan rebels launched a full- scale attack on the oil town of Brega on Thursday, taking significant casualties as they fought through the streets on Saturday and Sunday. They are also having to deal with extensive minefields and traps full of chemicals, they have said. The Transitional National Council on Monday claimed that only a small pocket of 150-200 loyalist fighters were holding out.

The French foreign ministry backed the rebels' statement. "The Libyan resistance forces are in the process of controlling the totality of the city," the spokesman, Bernard Valero, said. "It represents progress on the ground by the action of Libyan rebel forces. It would seem to confirm the retreat and isolation of Gaddafi and his forces." The rebels have made no significant gains on the eastern front since March, and the loss of Brega would be a major blow for Col Gaddafi.

Senior Rebel Is Doubtful Qaddafi Can Be Routed

For months now, military leaders in the rebel capital, Benghazi, have boldly predicted lightning advances by their fighters and an imminent rout of the forces loyal to Gaddafi.

Muammar el-Qaddafi in Tripoli that would finally snuff out his brutal four- decade rule. The rebels have made some advances in the west in recent days, taking a small village in the Nafusah Mountains and pushing westward some distance from Misurata toward Tripoli. But a senior rebel military officer here in the mountains who said he defected last month from the Libyan Army called the prospects of a collapse by Colonel Qaddafi's forces highly unlikely.

The officer, Col. Mohammed Ali Ethish, who now commands opposition fighters here, said that even if the rebels were able to reach Tripoli, shortages of fuel, personnel and weapons made it unlikely that they would try to invade or march on the heavily fortified city.

A more realistic possibility, he said, is for rebels and others within the city to rise up against Colonel Qaddafi. "I hope that when we do reach the borders of Tripoli, the revolutionaries there free it," Colonel Ethish said. "If we don't go in with an organized army, there's going to be a huge mess."

In the meantime, he said, the mountain fighters were focused on the more modest goal of winning cities in the region, either by persuading Colonel Qaddafi's soldiers to defect or by driving them out in battle. His candid comments raised the possibility of a protracted endgame in the Libyan conflict.

They also provided little comfort to NATO countries that face increasing pressure to end the bombing campaign and seem desperate to find a quick exit, either by arming the rebels or by killing Colonel Qaddafi with airstrikes.

At Least 11 Libyan Rebels Killed in Misrata Clashes

A Libyan child stands in a house damaged by a rocket supposedly fired by pro-Gadhafi forces and which injured four people in Misrata, Libya.

At least 11 Libyan rebels have been killed in clashes with pro-government forces near the opposition-held city of Misrata.

Medics and rebels say the deaths occurred late Monday and Tuesday after forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shelled targets on the outskirts of the city, about 200 kilometers east of Tripoli. They say more than 40 rebels have been wounded.

The fighting comes after NATO and Russian officials failed to narrow their differences over the Western air campaign over Libya.

Russia accused the alliance of interpreting a United Nations resolution on military intervention any way it wishes.

Separately, one of Gadhafi's sons warned that his family will not quit or leave Libya. French TV channel TF1 quoted Saif al-Islam Gadhafi as saying "We will never surrender."

The developments come amid Libyan government reports of talks between representatives of Gadhafi and members of the opposition that has been fighting to oust him since February.

The African Union has also been trying to get formal Libyan peace talks going.

At the end of their summit last week, African leaders endorsed a plan to co-sponsor Libya talks with the United Nations and other international organizations. But there has been no reported progress.