04.04.2011, 12:30 26347

Col Gaddafi sends envoy to Greece

Col Muammar Gaddafi has sent an envoy to Greece for talks that could end a war, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Almaty. April 4. Kazakhstan Today - Col Muammar Gaddafi has sent an envoy to Greece for talks that could end a war, Kazakhstan Today reports.

A Libyan government envoy has begun a trip to Europe to discuss an end to fighting, but gave no sign of any major climbdown in a war that has ground to a stalemate between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, Reuters reported.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi flew to Athens on Sunday carrying a personal message from Gaddafi to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou that Libya wanted the fighting to end, a Greek government official told Reuters.

"It seems that the Libyan authorities are seeking a solution," Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told reporters, adding Obeidi was next due to due travel to Malta and Turkey.

But there was no indication on what Tripoli might be ready to offer - beyond a willingness to negotiate - to end a war that has become bogged down on a frontline in the eastern oil town of Brega, while leaving civilians trapped by Gaddafi's forces in the west.

The Telegraph reports he (Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi ) is the first senior envoy sent by Col Gaddafi since the international coalition started to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. Greek officials said Mr Obeidi, who recently was said to be close to defection himself, was carrying a message from Col Gaddafi. The trip raised the prospect that the Libyan leader would be willing to seek a ceasefire and to acknowledge international demands for his removal.

Mr Papandreou's office said he was meeting Mr Obeidi "at the request of the Libyan prime minister", Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmudi.

Reports suggested that Mr Obeidi had travelled to Tunisia with Mr Koussa last week, but stopped short of fleeing to Britain with his boss. There is said to be a growing realisation within the Gaddafi regime that international isolation will inflict a grim toll on Tripoli.

Mr Obeidi, who is a heavyweight in Col Gaddafi's shrinking group of advisers, appears to believe that a package of reforms and transition to a new type of leadership, even a new leader, can be worked out.

Some Libyan officials privately acknowledge this would see the removal of Col Gaddafi - with internal exile in the desert one possible proposal. Last night it was reported that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the reformist son of the "Brother Leader", had proposed that Libya could transfer to democracy under his stewardship.

Mr Obeidi said last week that he was working for a "mutual solution" between a regime clinging to power and the international position that Col Gaddafi's survival is incompatible with Libya's rehabilitation. "We are trying to talk to the British, the French and the Americans to stop the killing of people," he said. "We should concentrate on democracy and a constitution, which we are already doing." British officials stressed that it was early days, and that the Libyan leader had already declared two ceasefires only to break them. A source added: "We will judge them on his actions, not their words. We are not getting too excited about someone flying to Greece."

A Greek foreign ministry spokesman said the regime had signalled its readiness to comply with the UN resolution on protecting civilians under certain conditions.

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