SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma flew into Tripoli yesterday in a fresh attempt to broker a peace deal with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
The trip came after Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Libyan leader’s “reign of terror” was coming to an end.
Meanwhile, eight Libyan army officers, including five generals, were paraded in Rome at an Italian Government-arranged news conference.
They claimed to be among 120 military officials and soldiers who have defected in recent days.
Libya’s UN ambassador, Abdurrahman Shalgam, who has also defected from the regime, said all 120 of the military personnel were outside Libya now but he did not reveal their whereabouts.
Libyan state TV pictures showed Gaddafi greeting Mr Zuma and other officials and then walking with them down a corridor.
Gaddafi and Mr Zuma’s delegation were then seen sitting in white armchairs in a large room. The broadcast did not say where the meeting took place.
Gaddafi had not been seen in public since May 11, when Libyan state television showed him meeting what it said were tribal leaders.
On arrival at the airport, Mr Zuma was met by a band and children chanting “we want Gaddafi” in English, while waving Libyan flags and pictures of the leader.
The visit is Mr Zuma’s second since the conflict began in Libya in February. His previous trip made little progress because Gaddafi has refused to relinquish power, while rebel leaders say that is a pre- condition for any truce.
Nato warplanes have been intensifying their airstrikes on Tripoli, with Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in the centre of the city being hit repeatedly.
Journalists escorted into Bab Al-Aziziya after Mr Zuma’s arrival found a group of around 160 African visitors chanting pro-Gaddafi slogans and waving flags of nations including Chad, Niger and Ghana, in an apparent show of pan-African unity.
Britain said on Sunday it was to add “bunker-busting” bombs to the arsenal its warplanes are using over Libya, a weapon it said would send a message to Gaddafi that it was time to stand down.
Mr Rasmussen told a Nato forum in Varna, Bulgaria: “Our operation in Libya is achieving its objectives ... we have seriously degraded Gaddafi’s ability to kill his own people.
“Gaddafi’s reign of terror is coming to an end. He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting.”
Gaddafi has denied attacking civilians, saying his forces were obliged to act to contain armed criminal gangs and al Qaeda militants.
He says the Nato intervention is an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya’s plentiful oil reserves.
Britain and other Nato powers are ratcheting up military intervention in an attempt to break the deadlock in the country as Gaddafi hangs on to power despite a rebel uprising against his four-decade rule and weeks of airstrikes.
US Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of the joint operations command based at Naples in Italy, declined to comment on whether Nato would put forces on the ground.
However, he suggested a small force might be needed to help the rebels once Gaddafi’s rule collapses.
He said: “I would anticipate there might be a need at some point to unfold a small force ... a small number of people there to help them in some way.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article