Brussels, 04/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - With some EU (Greece and Malta) and NATO (Turkey) countries having been approached by emissaries from Colonel Gaddafi, apparently to negotiate a way out of the conflict in Libya, Catherine Ashton's European diplomatic corps has refused all contact with the regime, “which no longer has any legitimacy and which must go”. The possibility, peddled in the press, that one of Gaddafi's sons could replace his father and thereafter negotiate a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the conflict has also been ruled out by the chief of the European External Action Service (EEAS). “We have no contact with the Gaddafi regime and it will stay like that”, Ashton's spokesman said on Monday 4 April. The “Gaddafi regime” necessarily includes his sons, he stated. Has the EU ruled out any members of the regime or those close to it playing a role in the search for a solution? “It is difficult to answer that at the moment … The situation on the ground is changing all the time. I cannot say today who we can and who we cannot talk to”, he replied. That member states have had direct contact with emissaries of Gaddafi does not upset Ashton. “The main thing for us is that there is a democratic transition in Libya. For that, there has to be discussions with several partners” and member states are fully empowered to hold these discussions, the spokesman said.
Gaddafi seeking a diplomatic solution. Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Laabidi travelled to Greece on Sunday 3 April, where he met Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas. “According to the words used by the Libyan envoy, it appears the regime is looking for a solution”, Droutsas said after the talks. Without giving any details of the proposals, the Greek minister felt that the trip by the Libyan emissary was an “important first step” towards a diplomatic resolution of the conflict. On Monday 4 April, the Libyan emissary was in Turkey and Malta. “Malta agreed to meet him to be able to convey our message which is that the violence has to stop”, said Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Turkey, too, has set immediate cessation of hostilities as its objective. Ankara says that it had received requests, “from both warring parties”, the regime and the insurgents, to act as mediator. Italy is looking on at Gaddafi's diplomatic initiative with a great deal of suspicion. The proposals from Tripoli “are not credible” as they provide only for a ceasefire and not the departure of Gaddafi, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Monday, after a telephone conversation with the Greek prime minister on the previous day's discussions. In London, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron denied that the United Kingdom was looking for an “exit strategy”. Italy, meanwhile, has become the second EU country, after France, to recognise the National Transition Council (NTC) in Benghazi as the “only legitimate interlocutor” in Libya. The Italian decision does not, however, change the EU stance, which remains the position approved by the European Council on 11 March, that the NTC is a “political interlocutor”, without exclusive legitimacy, said Ashton's spokesman.
EU team. A team of EEAS and Commission officials is due to arrive in Benghazi on this Tuesday 5 April, to form an exact idea of the situation on the ground and to hold discussions with NTC leaders, with other opposition groups and with representatives of civil society. (H.B./transl.rt)