Foes reject role for Gadhafi’s sons

Associated Press

ISTANBUL

A diplomatic push by Moammar Gadhafi’s regime ran into trouble Monday as opponents at home and abroad rejected any solution to the Libyan conflict that would involve one of his sons taking power.

While a Gadhafi envoy lobbied diplomats in European capitals, Italy became the third nation to declare that the rebels’ interim council in Libya is the only legitimate voice for the people of the North African nation.

The diplomatic whirlwind could signal a softening of his regime’s hard-line public stance against any compromise that would end the fighting and steer Libya toward a political resolution.

Any long-term settlement poses tough questions about the fate of Gadhafi’s family and the new leader of a post-Gadhafi nation.

Some of Gadhafi’s adversaries quickly rejected the idea that any of his powerful sons, some of whom command militias accused of attacks on civilians, might play a transitional leadership role that undoubtedly would protect the family’s vast economic interests.

Gadhafi, who took power in a 1969 coup, has a legacy of brutality and involvement in terrorism but was able to prolong his rule and even emerge from pariah status over the past decade with the help of Libya’s immense oil wealth. Potential rivals to the eccentric leader were sidelined during four decades of harsh rule based on personal and tribal loyalties that undermined the army and other national institutions.

In Rome, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini welcomed Ali al-Essawi, the foreign envoy of the Libyan National Transitional Council, which was set up hastily in the eastern, rebel-held city of Benghazi as the uprising against Gadhafi began in February.

“We have decided to recognize the council as the only political, legitimate interlocutor to represent Libya,” Frattini told reporters.