Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi — the leader whose name is spelled a half dozen ways — is reportedly looking for a deal that will allow him to step down alive and avoid legal consquences:
Or is he?
Moammar Gadhafi is trying to strike a deal with opposition leaders, saying he will step down as Libya’s leader if they can guarantee him safe passage out of the country and promise that neither he nor his family will face prosecution, an official with the opposition said Tuesday.
Musa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, vehemently disputed the claim saying reports of negotiations with the opposition are “lies.”
Despite government denials, a member of the opposition says it has submitted counter-offers with several demands. Among them is a stipulation that Gadhafi has to immediately concede he is not the ruler of Libya, said Amal Bugaigis, a member of the opposition group called the February 17 Coalition.
The development comes as Libya enters its fourth week of bloody clashes Tuesday and there was little doubt that the situation had turned into all-out civil war.
More details via Indian Express:
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has hinted that he is ready to quit Libya after 41 years in power, only if the rebel interim council gives him a pile of cash and assures him immunity from criminal prosecution, a media report said.
The dictator is said to have proposed a meeting of the Libyan Parliament to agree a transition period to pave the way for him to step down. His terms include immunity from criminal prosecution and a pile of cash, Britain’s ‘Daily Mail’ quoted Arabic TV network ‘Al Jazeera’.
However, the rebel interim council, based in eastern city of Benghazi, reportedly rejected the offer because such an “honourable” exit would offend Colonel Gaddafi’s victims, the report said.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.