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Rebels reject cease-fire offer
AP
Photo
Medical staff and fellow rebels carry a Libyan rebel fighter who was injured during heavy fighting with pro-Gadhafi forces after being evacuated into the hospital of the recaptured town of Ajdabiya, Libya Monday, April 11, 2011. The Libyan rebel council rejected a cease-fire proposal presented by an African Union delegation because it did not provide for the departure of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his top associates.
Associated Press
BENGHAZI, Libya
Libyan rebels, backed forcefully by European leaders, rejected a cease-fire proposal by African mediators Monday because it did not insist that Moammar Gadhafi relinquish power.
A day after an announcement that the Libyan leader had accepted the truce, a doctor in rebel-held Misrata said Gadhafi’s forces battered that western city and its Mediterranean port with artillery fire that killed six people.
“He is the biggest lie in the history of Libya,” said Jilal Tajouri, 42, who joined more than 1,000 flag-waving protesters in the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi as the African Union delegation arrived.
“All the people in Libya agree on this: Gadhafi and all his sons must leave Libya so we can have democracy,” Tajouri said, echoing the opposition of other demonstrators to any deal making while Gadhafi remains in power.
The rebels’ leadership council agreed.
“Col. Gadhafi and his sons must leave immediately if he wants to save himself. “If not, the people are coming for him,” said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, a former justice minister who split with Gadhafi and heads the Benghazi-based Transitional” National Council.
Abdul-Jalil said the African Union proposal “did not respond to the aspirations of the Libyan people” and involved only political reforms.
“The initiative that was presented today, its time has passed,” he said. “We will not negotiate on the blood of our martyrs. We will die with them or be victorious.”