Former U.S. rep to visit Gadhafi as rebels lose ground in Libyan war
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 6, 2011 -- Updated 0913 GMT (1713 HKT)
Libyan town crushed by Gadhafi's army
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* An opposition official says rebels won't accept any compromise with
Gadhafi's regime
* Misrata man: Children can't go to school, and dead people are buried
without certificates
* Former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon says he is in Libya trying to get Gadhafi to
step down
* NATO general: Weather and the use of shields have complicated airstrike
missions
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The latest attempt to get Moammar Gadhafi to step down
and end the bloodshed in Libya comes from a former U.S. congressman set to
visit the embattled leader Wednesday.
The diplomatic overture comes as rebel fighters try to recover from a heavy
artillery blitz by Gadhafi forces in the town of al-Brega and residents in the
western city of Misrata spend their days in fear.
Former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon is hoping to help convince Gadhafi to leave during
a visit with the ruler on Wednesday, according to an opinion piece Weldon wrote
for The New York Times.
"I've met him enough times to know that it will be very hard to simply bomb him
into submission," Weldon wrote. The former Republican representative from
Pennsylvania led a congressional delegation to Libya in 2004 and said he is
visiting Tripoli this week at the invitation of Gadhafi.
Former U.S. Congressman Weldon says he will meet with Gadhafi
Libya remains in a deadly stalemate as pro-Gadhafi forces battle opposition
fighters demanding democracy and an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-rule.
Al-Obeidy reconnects with mother
Inside the mind of Saif Gadhafi
CNN talks to Libyan opposition leader
Libyan rebels prepare to export crude
RELATED TOPICS
* Libya
* Moammar Gadhafi
* Curt Weldon
Rebel leaders have criticized NATO's mission to help protect civilians in
recent days, saying residents in Misrata and elsewhere have suffered under
hellish attacks from pro-Gadhafi forces with little evidence of NATO air power
overhead.
"I am extremely sorry to say this, but NATO truly disappointed us," Gen. Abdul
Fatah Younis, the opposition's top military official, said Tuesday. "Civilians
are being killed every day, including children, women and elderly. If NATO will
wait another week, Misrata will be finished. No one will be left alive. Do they
want to wait, and watch them die, and let this crime be a shameful disgrace for
the international community forever?"
NATO Brig. Gen. Marc van Uhm said weather conditions and tactics by Gadhafi
regime's have hindered their efforts.
In addition to using human shields and hiding equipment in populated areas,
pro-Gadhafi forces have begun abandoning heavy military equipment in favor of
the same kinds of cars and light trucks the rebels travel in, making it even
more difficult for pilots to distinguish rebel convoys from those carrying
forces loyal to the regime, van Uhm said.
Since the effort to enforce a United Nations Security Council resolution began
in mid-March, airstrikes have taken out about 30% of Gadhafi's military
capacity, van Uhm said.
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the warplanes had conducted 334 strike
sorties since taking command of the mission on March 23.
But residents in Misrata said this week that Gadhafi forces have trapped the
city, with snipers shooting indiscriminately and access to food hampered.
"Normal life is a luxury that we don't have," one resident said. "I haven't
taken my family out for four weeks now. All schools are closed, my children
didn't go to school since the 19th of February. All government offices are
closed. Even dead people are buried without death certificates."
After weeks of relentless fighting, a military victory for either side seems
remote in the foreseeable future. A political or diplomatic solution might be
the only way to end the crisis.
Battle for Al-Brega
Al-Obeidy: Tripoli is a prison
Gadhafi's sons floating a deal?
In his New York Times piece, Weldon called for an immediate U.N.-monitored
cease-fire, "with the Libyan Army withdrawing from contested cities and rebel
forces ending attempts to advance."
"Then we must identify and engage with those leaders who, if not perfect, are
pragmatic and reform-minded and thus best positioned to lead the country,"
Weldon wrote.
He added that the country's prime minister and the head of the opposition's
Transitional National Council should meet with the U.N. envoy to the Libya "and
work out a schedule for fair elections for a new president and legislature."
A U.S. special representative to the Libyan opposition, Chris Stevens, has
arrived in the city of Benghazi to meet with members of the Transitional
National Council, the State Department said Tuesday.
Gadhafi's regime has indicated a political change could be possible.A source
close to Libya's leadership said a Libyan envoy has been floating the idea of
Gadhafi turning his power over to his second-oldest son, Saif.
But Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council,
flatly rejected a future with any Gadhafi.
Libyan opposition: Compromise with Gadhafi not an option
"We will not accept Gadhafi or any of his sons or aides ruling us ever again
for even one hour," he said. "This is impossible. We will never accept that. We
said it clearly -- we will not accept any compromise, any negotiation, any
solution with the current regime."
He also said the opposition won't offer concessions to Gadhafi.
"What kind of concessions can we offer a regime that is killing its people? We
will either win or the other side will defeat. We have no other option."
CNN's Nic Robertson, Reza Sayah, Ben Wedeman and Yousuf Basil contributed to
this report
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