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Gadhafi brushes off calls for departure

In this photo taken on a government-organized tour, Libyan boys walk past damage from what officials said was a NATO airstrike at a hotel in Tripoli on Thursday. (Associated Press)
In this photo taken on a government-organized tour, Libyan boys walk past damage from what officials said was a NATO airstrike at a hotel in Tripoli on Thursday. (Associated Press)
Patrick J. Mcdonnell Los Angeles Times

TRIPOLI, Libya – A Russian envoy’s trip to the Libyan capital yielded no major breakthroughs Thursday amid escalating international efforts to end the 4-month-long crisis in Libya.

Both Mikhail Margelov, Russia’s special envoy to Africa, and the Libyan prime minister said the major contested point – the future of Moammar Gadhafi – remained unresolved.

Gadhafi “is not prepared to go,” Margelov said he was told by Libyan officials, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

Later, Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Ali Mahmudi repeatedly made the same point – that Gadhafi has no intention of leaving Libya – during an almost two-hour news conference with the international media. He labeled calls for Gadhafi’s forced departure a “red line” that cannot be crossed.

“Moammar Gadhafi is a symbol of this country, and we don’t accept anything that may be done against him,” the Libyan prime minister said.

The future role of Gadhafi, 69, who has ruled Libya for almost 42 years, has been the central issue of contention since Libya’s uprising began in February.

Western-backed rebels have insisted that Gadhafi and his family must abandon Libya before real peace talks can begin.

Margelov met with senior Libyan ministers but not with Gadhafi, Russian media reported. Moscow has said Gadhafi must go, but it has also criticized NATO airstrikes. The envoy’s visit to Tripoli follows a meeting last week with rebel leaders in Benghazi.

The Libyan government has said Gadhafi is willing to cede all executive power to a government chosen by the Libyan people under the terms of a new constitution. Gadhafi’s son, Seif Islam, told an Italian newspaper this week that internationally supervised elections could be held in three months as part of a transition toward democracy.

However, under the government plan, Gadhafi or his relatives could not be banned from seeking office, said Musa Ibrahim, chief government spokesman.

“Gadhafi and his family must leave the country,” Guma el-Gamaty, a Britain-based spokesman for the rebel council, said in a telephone interview. “If he stays in the country somewhere, he will always wield power through a shadow network.”

The NATO bombing runs continued Thursday over the capital, where authorities took journalists to a Tripoli hotel that officials said was destroyed in a NATO blast. The hotel was unoccupied at the time and no one was injured, the manager said.