Libyan regime makes peace offer that sidelines Gaddafi
Ruler not mentioned in ceasefire plan but rebels and Nato powers want his unequivocal departure from office
Libya's battered regime has made its most plaintive plea yet for a ceasefire, offering to talk to anti-government rebels, move towards a constitutional government and compensate victims of the three-month conflict.
The plan represents an advance on previous ceasefire bids, which had focused largely on implementing a proposal by the African Union that calls for international monitors to observe a negotiated truce.
It was pre-empted by a letter sent to European leaders by Libya's prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, in which he acknowledged that the revolt that has paralysed Libya was "part of a series of events that are taking place throughout the Arab world".
"We understand this," he wrote. "We are ready and we know what is required of us."
Libyan officials had previously linked the rebel groups who control the east of the country to al-Qaida and foreign backers, and had steadfastly refused to acknowledge that a pro-democracy current existed among the rebels.
Asked about the new willingness to talk to rebels, Mahmoudi said: "We are ready for dialogue with all structures that represent the whole of Libya. Any Libyans can sit on the round table. But as for these so-called dissenters, it is they who said they wouldn't talk to the Libyan state. And remember many of them were former members of the Libyan government."
The plan was greeted with skepticism by the US and some European states.
The deputy US national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the Libyan government was not complying with a UN resolution that authorised a military operation to protect the Libyan people from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.
Gaddafi's name was again conspicuously absent from the new discussion about a ceasefire. Libyan officials have been trying to recast the despot as a figure who will not play a prominent role in the country's affairs after the f! ighting stops.
He has been presented as a potential Castro-like figure with no executive input into a new Libyan society.
Gaddafi has maintained a low profile since the death of one of his sons and three grandchildren a month ago. Envoys representing him have contacted European leaders. The lead powers in the Nato bombing campaign, France and Britain, whose jets target sites in the centre and west of the country most nights, have said they will not agree to a ceasefire until Gaddafi leaves office.
The umbrella group that represents the rebels, the Interim Transnational Council, has won preliminary backing from the White House and Downing Street. It is refusing to talk with the Libyan government until Gaddafi relinquishes power.
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