Tripoli - Muammar Gaddafi is ready for a truce to stop the fighting in his country, visiting South African President Jacob Zuma said on Monday after meeting the Libyan ruler, but he listed familiar Gaddafi conditions that have scuttled previous ceasefire efforts.
Zuma said Gaddafi is ready to accept an African Union initiative for a ceasefire that would stop all hostilities, including Nato airstrikes in support of rebel forces. “He is ready to implement the road map,” Zuma said.
Zuma said Gaddafi insists that “all Libyans be given a chance to talk among themselves” to determine the country's future. He did not say Gaddafi is ready to step down, which is the central demand of the rebels. He was speaking to reporters from South African and Libyan TV, which broadcast his remarks late on Monday.
In April, Zuma led a delegation of the AU to Tripoli with an AU proposal for a truce. Gaddafi said he would accept the truce but quickly ignored it and resumed his attacks, while the rebels rejected the ceasefire out of hand because it did not include Gaddafi’s exit from power. Since then many ceasefire efforts have failed for similar reasons. - Sapa-AP