Libya Protesters: Talks Only After Gadhafi Is Exiled

Gadhafi's Son Spurns Talks as Unnecessary

The Venezuelan government’s attempts to broker some sort of “peace talks” or “mediation” scheme between the remnants of Libya’s Gadhafi regime and the protest movement appears to have been taken very seriously earlier today, with the prices of commodities falling on the belief that it might restore stability to the nation.

But it seems that belief was overly optimistic, as the “National Libyan Council,” a group made up of protest movement leaders, insisted that there was no room for negotiation until Moammar Gadhafi had resigned and gone into exile.

Protesters have been pointing to the massive death toll in the violent regime crackdowns in defending their stance, insisting the time for talks with the current regime passed long ago and that the ouster of the dictator was a must. Saif al-Islam insisted the talks were unnecessary and that the regime are “capable enough to solve our issues” without help.

Early indications were that Gadhafi himself had agreed in princple to the talks, naturally without the precondition of his exile, and the Arab League also was open to the idea, though they insisted nothing was agreed to. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is extremely close with Gadhafi and appears to have been keen on saving his rule from the popular revolt.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.