Qaddafi offers truce as NATO strikes Tripoli
TRIPOLI, Libya - Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi called for a cease-fire and negotiations with NATO powers in a live speech on state TV early Saturday, saying "the door to peace is open," just as NATO bombs struck a government complex in the Libyan capital.
The planes bombed a government complex in the capital of Tripoli. At least three people were injured.
The targeted compound included the state television building and the Libyans alleged the strikes were meant to kill Qaddafi. However, the TV building was not damaged and Qaddafi spoke from an undisclosed location.
In his rambling pre-dawn speech which lasted for more than an hour, Qaddafi called for a ceasefire, but said he will not give up power to the rebels.
Qaddafi appeared both subdued and defiant, repeatedly pausing as he flipped through handwritten notes.
"The door to peace is open," Qaddafi said, sitting behind a desk. "You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you. Come, France, Italy, U.K., America, come, we will negotiate with you. Why are you attacking us?"
He said Libyans have the right to choose their own political system, but not under the threat of NATO bombings.
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In Brussels, a NATO official said the alliance needed "to see not words but actions," and that NATO would keep up the pressure until the U.N. Security Council mandate on Libya is fulfilled.
But the NATO official said Qaddafi's regime has announced cease-fires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians.
The official, who could not be identified in line with standing regulations, said just hours before Qaddafi proposed the truce, his forces indiscriminately shelled the besieged port city of Misrata, Libya, killing several people.
"All this has to stop, and it has to stop now," the NATO official said, adding that a cease fire must be "credible and verifiable."
Above: A portrait of Muammar Qaddafi is seen inside a damaged building following an airstrike in Tripoli, early Saturday, April 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Rebel leaders have said they will only lay down their arms and begin talks on Libya's future after Qaddafi and his sons, some of whom hold powerful positions in the country, step aside. Qaddafi has repeatedly refused to resign.
"Why are you killing our children? Why are you destroying our infrastructure," Qaddafi said, while denying that his forces had killed Libyan civilians. Even as he called for a cease-fire, he appeared to dismiss the possibility of one, saying his enemies were al Qaeda operatives who did not understand what a truce meant.
He promised the young rebels fighting his regime that if they gave up their guns, he would give them cars and money, saying they were children "tricked" by NATO promises.
The U.N. official however noted that just hours before Qaddafi's talk of a truce, he had shelled Misrata and tried to mine the port. The city of 300,000 is the main rebel stronghold in western Libya and has been under siege for two months.
"The regime has announced cease-fires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians," said the official who could not be named under standing regulations. "All this has to stop, and it has to stop now," the official said, adding that a ceasefire had to be "credible and verifiable."
Earlier this month, NATO's foreign ministers said the alliance will continue operations until all attacks and threats against civilians have ceased, until all of Qaddafi's forces have returned to bases, and until there is full humanitarian access.
The port is Misrata's only lifeline. On Friday, NATO intercepted boats laying anti-ship mines in the nearby waters.
The regime signaled Friday that it is trying to block access to Misrata by sea.
Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said he was unaware of the attempted mine-laying. However, he said the government is trying to prevent weapons shipments from reaching the rebels by sea. Asked whether aid vessels would also be blocked, he said any aid shipments must be coordinated with the authorities and should preferably come overland.
Qaddafi's forces have repeatedly shelled the port area and his ground troops are deployed on the outskirts of Misrata, after having been driven out of the downtown area by the rebels last week.
On Saturday, heavy fighting continued in the southern part of the city near the airport and frequent large booms could be heard in downtown from that part of town.
Hassan al-Bari, 21, who lay in the hospital screaming from pain from a three inch gash on his cheeks, said Qaddafi's forces were just outside the airport. He was wounded in a mortar strike there.
The hospital contained two dead and four injured from fighting.
With the rebels holding much of eastern Libya, Qaddafi needs to consolidate his hold over the western half, including Misrata and a mountainous region on the border with Tunisia.
On Friday, fighting between rebels and regime loyalists over a key border crossing spilled over into Tunisia, drawing a sharp rebuke by Tunisian authorities. The Foreign Ministry summoned Libya's ambassador to convey its "most vigorous protests" for the "serious violations" at the Dhuheiba border area Thursday and Friday, a ministry statement said.
The crossing is a strategic lifeline for Libya's western Nafusa mountain area where members of the ethnic Berber minority — who have complained of systematic discrimination by the regime — have been fighting the Qaddafi's forces for several weeks.
The Tunisian news agency, citing military officials, said dozens of Libyan troops and rebel fighters were killed in the two-day battle over the Dhuheiba crossing which ended with rebels regaining control Friday, after Libyan forces held it for a day.