Qaddafi Son Told Rebels of Exit Plan: Aide

By Lara Setrakian and Flavia Krause-Jackson -

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam. Photographer: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, has approached rebels to negotiate an exit from power for his father in the last few days, an aide to National Transitional Council leader Mahmoud Jebril said.
“Of course, he is trying to put some terms. We understand those terms and we know how to play the negotiations,” Mohamed Al Akari told Bloomberg Television today in Abu Dhabi, where foreign ministers from the 22-nation Libya Contact Group met. “We are talking now of the last stage of this operation.”
Qaddafi won’t be allowed to remain in Libya even though he is “dreaming of staying in the country,” Al Akari said. South Africa and Senegal are among the countries that might offer him a safe haven, he added. Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said in Abu Dhabi that Qaddafi had sent out many “feelers” to negotiate an end to the conflict in a sign of rising “despair.”
The insurgency against Qaddafi’s four-decade rule began in February. NATO-led forces are fighting an air campaign in support of the rebels that intensified on June 7 with attacks on Qaddafi’s compound in the capital, Tripoli. The Libyan leader’s isolation increased in recent weeks with a series of high- profile defections, including generals and two colonels.

Village Refuge

Qaddafi requested refuge in a village in Libya and that isn’t possible, Al Akari said, partly because rebels can’t afford the security to prevent him from being assassinated. Qaddafi has previously said he’d rather die in Libya than leave. A senior U.S. official said today he was not aware of the proposal.
Before the contact group meeting began today, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez spoke to reporters about the efforts to negotiate Qaddafi’s departure.
“We still don’t even know if Qaddafi will accept a negotiated exit, but of course there are many countries willing to facilitate this because it will end the conflict,” Jimenez said. “Finding a place for him is now the critical issue, since everyone has agreed he has to go.”
She said Turkey and South Africa are involved in working on a solution.

Chavez's `Friend'

Uganda said on March 30 it would consider a request for political asylum, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez still calls Qaddafi a “friend.” The Libyan leader may also find refuge in about a dozen African states, such as Zimbabwe, where he has investments and protection from prosecution for war crimes.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade arrived today in Benghazi, the rebel-held stronghold in eastern Libya. He intends to encourage negotiations during his trip, Wade’s spokesman, Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye, said by phone yesterday.

‘Ready to Discuss’

“He is a facilitator,” Ndiaye said of Wade. “He is ready to discuss with one side and the other.”
Wade appealed today to Qaddafi to step down, a U.S. official said. “It is in your own interest and the interest of all the Libyan people that you leave power in Libya and never dream of coming back to power,” Reuters cited the Senegalese leader as saying in Benghazi. Wade’s special adviser, Papa Dieng, declined to comment when contacted by telephone in Dakar, Senegal.
Wade has received Qaddafi in Senegal, most recently last December, and backed the Libyan leader’s successful 2009 bid for chairmanship of the African Union. Last month, the two leaders fell out after Senegal followed France, Qatar, Italy, and Gambia, in recognizing the rebel council as Libya’s legitimate government.

‘Long and Complex’

The international community has begun planning for what North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday described as a “long and complex” transition to democracy in Libya.
“We are working with our international partners through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Qaddafi Libya,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in prepared remarks in Abu Dhabi today. “In the days ahead, we have to coordinate the many plans taking shape.”
The escalation of NATO’s air campaign comes as the rebels make gains. At the moment, they control areas in eastern Libya and Misrata in the west, while Qaddafi has held on to Tripoli.
Abdurrahman Shalgham, Libya’s former foreign minister and representative to the United Nations, told reporters in Abu Dhabi that rebel troops will reach Tripoli within “some weeks” and that Qaddafi has “very few days” left in power.
Separately today, the contact group established a mechanism through which countries can support the rebel council, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, told reporters.