Nato chiefs visit Libya for talks

15 September 2011 Last updated at 02:47 ET

The Nato leaders will first visit Tripoli and then the former rebel stronghold of Benghazi, reports say

Senior Nato leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy are expected in Libya for their first talks since Col Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.

They will meet the head of Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) and other anti-Gaddafi figures.

NTC chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil has pledged “the leaders… will be safe”.

They will fly first to Tripoli and then to the former rebel stronghold of Benghazi, where there will be speeches in Liberty Square, reports say.

The French president is expected to be accompanied by Bernard-Henri Levy, the philosopher seen by many observers as a driving force behind Mr Sarkozy’s decision to take military action in Libya.

Meanwhile, the UK has circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would ease UN sanctions against Libya.

For its part, the US said it was encouraged by the increasing control the NTC was exercising over security forces in the country.

Nato has been carrying out air strikes under a mandate from two UN resolutions to protect Libyan civilians.

‘All the gold’

Thursday’s visit had been under consideration for several weeks, says the BBC’s Christian Fraser in Paris: Initially the plan had been to wait until security had improved across Libya, but clearly the visit was brought forward to show support for the NTC after its arrival in Tripoli at the weekend.

The French leader is travelling with 160 security officers, mostly from the specialist CRS riot squad, adds our correspondent. They have been given instructions to travel in civilian clothes with backpacks containing three litres of water, rations and a bullet-proof vest.

On Wednesday, Mr Jalil had appealed for weapons to help the NTC take areas still loyal to Col Gaddafi, telling the BBC the ousted leader was in southern Libya plotting his revenge.

A written message attributed to Col Gaddafi appealed to the UN to stop “crimes” against his birthplace, Sirte. The strongman who led his country for four decades had previously said he would rather die than flee Libya.

As well as Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, Gaddafi loyalists still control parts of Bani Walid, south-east of the capital, and Jufra, while Mr Jalil said many pro-Gaddafi forces had fled to Sabha in the southern desert.

“There will be fierce battles in Sabha with equipment that we do not yet have, and we ask for more equipment to retake these places,” he said.

He said Col Gaddafi had possession of “all the gold” and would be planning attacks on cities, oil fields and power plants.

NTC officials say members of the former leader’s inner circle took gold and cash with them when they fled south across the border to Niger last week.

Mr Jalil was speaking in his first BBC interview since moving to Tripoli at the weekend from the anti-Gaddafi stronghold of Benghazi.

He confirmed that the NTC would not move the whole of its administration to Tripoli until the last pockets of pro-Gaddafi resistance had been captured.

Earlier, he held talks with senior US envoy Jeffrey Feltman, who pledged Washington’s support for the NTC and said the US would reopen its embassy in the capital as soon as possible.

“We remain encouraged by growing command and control over security and police forces,” said Mr Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.

Mr Feltman said the US was working with Libya on the control of conventional weapons such as shoulder-fired missiles.

The Americans were also talking to the Libyans about the risk from non-conventional weapons such as mustard agent and toxic chemical precursors, he said.

Leader of the revolution?

On Wednesday, a message purporting to have been written by Col Gaddafi said: “Terrorism and destruction exercised by Nato on the Sirte area is beyond description and has no match in past history of wars.

“ must bear r international responsibility and intervene immediately to stop this crime.”

The message was read out by a presenter on a Syrian TV channel sympathetic to the fugitive leader, and the presenter said it had been signed: “Muammar Gaddafi, the leader of the revolution.”

At least 36 members of Col Gaddafi’s inner circle, including relatives and generals, have fled to neighbouring Algeria and Niger since Tripoli fell to NTC forces last month.

With roads to Tunisia, Egypt, Chad and Sudan largely controlled by anti-Gaddafi forces, Niger has been used as an exit route by Gaddafi loyalists – including his son Saadi.

Anti-Gaddafi fighters say they have captured the northern half of Bani Walid but have struggled to push further.

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