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| Africa North |
| Libya: Allies soften demands for Gaddafi to go |
| 2011-05-25 |
| A senior EU diplomat said Britain, France and other European countries had backed away from the precondition that Col Gaddafi must leave power before there was a halt to Nato action. It was an attempt to help "mediation efforts" in Tripoli by Abdel Elah al-Khatib, the United Nations special envoy for Libya. Coalition countries were now "more flexible with the timetable", the European official said. "More member states, including the most hard-line, are more flexible than before on the problem," he added. A British diplomat said officials were encouraging the Libyan opposition leadership of the Transitional National Council (TNC) to open talks with members of the Gaddafi government who "do not have blood on their hands". As long as Col Gaddafi was demonstrably not taking decisions that affected the outcome of the talks and that the regime agreed the goal would be his departure, Britain would support talks, a British official said. "As long as there is a ceasefire leading to a transistion from Col Gaddafi, we believe that talks could take place without Col Gaddafi leaving, though he could not have power over the negotiations," he said. "It needs a clear vision of a political process that leads to the demise of the regime." |
| Posted by:tipper |