Libya wants more talks with U.S. and rebels

Libyan Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim says senior officials are ready to hold more talks with the Obama administration and with rebels as well

Libyan representatives are ready to hold more talks with the United States and with rebels hoping to push Muammar Gaddafi from power, but Gaddafi will not bow to demands he quit, a government spokesman said.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said senior Libyan officials had a `productive dialogue' with U.S. counterparts last week in a rare meeting that followed the Obama administration's recognition of the rebel government that hopes to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule.
"We believe other meetings in the future ... will help solve Libyan problems," Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli on Friday. "We are willing to talk to the Americans more."
Early on Saturday NATO warplanes bombed targets in the Libyan capital, causing damage and casualties, Libyan state television said, without giving details.
A Reuters witness said there were at least six blasts, adding they were the largest to the hit the capital in several weeks. Four explosions rocked the hotel where international media were based and two more were heard slightly further off.
As Gaddafi clings to power despite five months of civil conflict and a lengthening NATO bombing campaign, the West is increasingly hoping for a negotiated settlement to the Libyan conflict.
While the United States, NATO's dominant military power, is hoping that talks can gain traction, it along with the rebels that now control roughly half of Libya insists Gaddafi must go.
Ibrahim said Libyan officials" but not Gaddafi himself" would be willing to hold further meetings with rebels. But such talks will only take place on the government's terms, he said, as it urges them to put down their arms and rejoin the Gaddafi camp.
"Nations do not negotiate with armed gangs," Ibrahim said. Gaddafi is urging Libyans, however, to persuade rebels to disarmand to fight them if they don't.
The comments came as the Libya reported a NATO airstrike near the eastern oil hub of Brega, the scene of recent fighting, which the government said killed six guards at a water pipeline plant. The report could not be immediately verified.
As Western nations intensify diplomatic efforts to foster an exit from the conflict, a European diplomat said that a U.N. envoy will seek to persuade warring parties in Libya to accept a plan that envisages a ceasefire and a power-sharing government, but with no role for Gaddafi.
The diplomat said the informal proposals would be canvassed by the special U.N. envoy to Libya, Abdul Elah al-Khatib, who has met both government and rebels several times.
Khatib, a Jordanian senator, told Reuters in Amman he hoped both sides would accept his ideas.
"The U.N. is exerting very serious efforts to create a political process that has two pillars; one is an agreement on a ceasefire and simultaneously an agreement on setting up a mechanism to manage the transitional period," he said. He did not go into the details of that mechanism.