LONDON (AP) — Italy's foreign minister on Monday demanded diplomats spell out that Moammar Gadhafi and his family can play no role in Libya's future, whatever the outcome of an African Union-brokered peace deal.
Franco Frattini said meetings this week between European foreign ministers, NATO officials and an international contact group on Libya must decisively call for Gadhafi’s ouster, and should insist that any participation by his family in a transitional government would be unacceptable.
"The sons and the family of Gadhafi cannot participate in the political future of Libya," Frattini told France’s Europe-1 radio, ahead of a visit to London for talks with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Frattini’s comments follow Gadhafi’s acceptance of the AU’s plan, which calls for an immediate cease-fire, cooperation in opening channels for humanitarian aid and the start of talks between the rebels and the government.
Some suspect Gadhafi’s agreement could be a tactic to stall for time, allowing his forces to rearm and regroup amid a military stalemate with rebel fighters.
The AU plan makes no specific mention of any requirement for Gadhafi to withdraw his troops from Libya’s cities as rebels have demanded.
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field told reporters that NATO’s airstrikes would not be halted without genuine proof Gadhafi was abiding by a cease-fire.
"Whether or not there is a cease-fire, that is in Gadhafi’s hands. We have to judge him by what he does, not what he says," Field said.
Frattini said diplomats must increase pressure on Gadhafi in the coming days, fearing the current deadlock could serve to strengthen Gadhafi’s position.
"We cannot give the impression of allowing the consolidation of the status quo on the ground," he said.
He said Gadhafi’s retreat from power should take place alongside a cease-fire, and happen in "weeks, not months."
Frattini also insisted the international community could not consider any proposal to partition Libya between the opposition-controlled eastern cities and Gadhafi’s strongholds in the country’s west.
"We cannot accept that. That would be the failure of the international operation," he said.
