The daughter of Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi has confirmed that talks to end the country's civil war are underway between regime representatives and the Benghazi based opposition.
Aisha Qadhafi - increasingly the face of the regime, has told France 2 television that the Libyan authorities have been holding “direct and indirect negotiations,” with the opposition. She stressed that the embattled government in Tripoli was ready “to ally with the devil and that is the armed rebels,” in order to “stop letting Libyan blood”.
Analysts point out that in terms of public profile, Ms. Qadhafi appears to have now eclipsed the Libyan leader's son Saif Al Islam, who has been targeted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for possible war crimes.
Ms. Qadhafi, during the course of her interview, stressed that her father would not leave Libya. “This word departure, departure, departure ... what I find strange is where do you want him to go? This is his country, his land, his people,” she said.
“Where would he go? There is something you don't understand and you will never understand. My father is a symbol, a guide.” she added.
In her verbal assault, the Libyan strongman's daughter focused on the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and sought to carry her message directly to the French people. “I send a message to the mothers and wives of [French] pilots that are bombarding us,” she said. “Your husbands are not protecting civilians, but killing children and our people to satisfy Sarkozy who thinks the more Libyans he kills the more votes he'll get in elections.”
Ms. Qadhafi's intervention on the airwaves comes amid reports that France has, in Western Libya, airdropped weapons to arm opposition fighters. On Wednesday, France confirmed that it had air dropped weaponry for the opposition fighters in Libya's western mountains. The decision to air drop weapons has been taken after 90 days of air strikes failed to dislodge the Qadhafi regime.
France's decision has deepened its differences with Russia, China and the African Union (A.U). Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that France had committed a “crude violation” of a U.N. weapons embargo on Libya imposed by the United Nations Security Council. Mr. Lavrov said that Moscow had sought further details from France. “We are awaiting a response. If it is confirmed, it's a flagrant violation”, of the resolution, he said.
Without naming France, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hong Lei, called on “the international community to strictly follow the spirit of the relevant resolution of the U.N. Security Council and avoid taking any action that goes beyond the mandate of the resolution”.
On Thursday, A.U. Commissioner Jean Ping, said that distribution of weapons to Libya would cause “destabilisation” of African states.
“What worries us is not who is giving what, but simply that weapons are being distributed by all parties and to all parties. We already have proof that these weapons are in the hands of al-Qaeda, of traffickers,” Mr. Ping said.
