© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Update: Idea Of Gadhafi's Sons Taking Over Rejected

Rebel fighters near the university in Brega earlier today (April 4, 2011).
Odd Andersen
/
AFP/Getty Images
Rebel fighters near the university in Brega earlier today (April 4, 2011).

Update at 1:45 p.m. ET. NPR's Eric Westervelt, who is in eastern Libya, has been in contact with Iman Bugaghis, a spokesman for the nascent rebel government. The opposition, Bugaghis says, rejects talk of any transition from Gadhafi to his sons:

"It's unacceptable. Of course. They (his sons) show that they have the same ugly face as their father. So I think nobody can argue with us about this. It is clear, it is obvious. ... It shows that that regime will not last forever. He is losing the support of his own sons."

Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition's Transitional National Council, tells Eric that "the regime is collapsing and they're looking for a way out. But a criminal doesn't have much to bargain with. Those people are wanted in Libya to be brought to justice, wanted by the international community to be brought to justice, and they really have no more cards to play with."

Update at 9:25 a.m. ET. On The Gadhafis' Future.

The Telegraph writes that "the Libyan rebels' Transitional National Council has rejected any transition under Gaddafi's sons after The New York Times reported that two of them had proposed that."

And the Associated Press reports that:

"Italy recognized opponents of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as the country's only legitimate voice on Monday as the rebels advanced on a war-battered oil town and a Gadhafi envoy pressed other European countries for help in ending the crisis.

"Italy is only the third country, after France and Qatar, to recognize the rebel-led Libyan National Transitional Council as North Africa nation's only legitimate governing body.

"After speaking with the council's foreign envoy, Ali al-Essawi, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced the decision and said the only way to resolve the conflict in the former Italian colony is for Gadhafi to leave — along with his sons, who lead the militias that are attacking rebel forces.

" 'Any solution for the future of Libya has a precondition: that Gadhafi's regime leaves ... That Gadhafi himself and the family leave the country,' Frattini said."

Our Original Post — 'New York Times': Gadhafi's Sons Floating Plan To 'Push Father Out'

On the front page of this morning's New York Times:

"At least two sons of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi are proposing a resolution to the Libyan conflict that would entail pushing their father aside to make way for a transition to a constitutional democracy under the direction of his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a diplomat and a Libyan official briefed on the plan said Sunday."

Meanwhile, other news of the day about the conflict in Libya includes:

-- More Clashes: "Rebels pushed forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi out of much of Brega and towards the outskirts of the sprawling oil town on Monday in a slow advance west, but were still facing bombardment with each step." (Reuters)

-- Gadhafi Has Advantage In Western Libya: "Rebels in Libya continue to battle government forces around the Mediterranean oil port of Brega. Much of the eastern part of the country is under rebel control, but in most of western Libya, Moammar Gadhafi has the upper hand." (NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, reporting from Tripoli for Morning Edition.)

-- President Clinton On Arming The Rebels: Former President Bill Clinton told ABC News that the U.S. should consider arming the rebels. He stressed that he was speaking for himself and without "any official sanction" from the Obama administration, for which his wife is the secretary of state. Obama and his aides have said they are considering giving the opposition forces some weapons, but have not yet decided whether to take that action.

[Note: NPR follows Associated Press style on the spelling of Moammar Gadhafi's name. Other news outlets use different variations.]

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.