Libya Live Blog

Jordan is establishing diplomatic ties with the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council.

Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh says he is dispatching a veteran diplomat to be based in Libya's eastern coastal city of Benghazi to liaise with the council.

Jordan last week recognised the council as the “legitimate representative and the credible interlocutor for the Libyan people.”

Several countries, including France and Italy, have officially recognised the Libyan rebels. The United States, Britain and others have not done so but have established a diplomatic presence in Benghazi.

Judeh said on Wednesday that Fawaz al-Eitan will take up his post in Benghazi in the “next couple of days.” He says al-Eitan will be a “resident envoy and a permanent representative.”

As the NATO bombardment of the Libyan capital continued on Tuesday evening, the Libyan government spokesperson briefed the media on the meeting between country's leader Muammar Gaddafi and the South African President Jacob Zuma and how they discussed ways to end the crisis.

Moussa Ibrahim, said during the media conference: 

They (referring to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the South African President Jacob Zuma) discussed how to active the African initiative to solve the Libyan problem from within Libya

They discussed how to prevent foreign interests to affect the peace process in Libya. They discussed how Africa could prove to the world that it is wise enough, grown up enough look after its problems. Mr Zuma praised the leader for his position and for accepting the African road map to save Libyan blood.

He praised his (Gaddafi) resilience against the NATO attacks; he never discussed any exit strategies as they have been called in the media. He knows the leader and knows how dignified he is, how honourable he is and how he will stay in his home country, Libya, and fight for the future of Libya as a whole.

Meanwhile Lynn Pascoe, UN under-secretary-General of the United Nations for Political Affairs has responded to the country’s stalemate over peace talks:

"The parties in Libya remain far apart on even beginning negotiations to resolve the conflict. The Libyan government has repeatedly called for a cease fire, including an end to NATO operations as a prerequisite to negotiations.

For its part the TNC (Transitional National Council) maintains that negotiations on a cease fire on related aspects can only start with the removal from power of Colonel Gaddafi and members of his family. And the withdrawal of the Libyan army from cities forcibly occupied after the outbreak of hostilities.

 

The regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is "finished," Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, has said on a visit to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

"The Gaddafi regime is finished, he must leave office, he must leave the country," Frattini told a joint news conference with Ali al-Essawi, the foreign affairs chief in the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) on Tuesday.

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini opened Italy's consulate in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Tuesday and pledged financial support for the rebels who are seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi.

Italian oil firm Eni, the biggest foreign oil company in Libya that produced 270,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010, was helping in a financial and fuel assistance package for the rebel National Transitional Council, he said.

Frattini, the latest in a series of high-ranking Western visitors, signed a memorandum of understanding, saying it included an aid package for "huge amounts of fuel and huge amounts of money worth hundreds of millions of euros". 

He did not give precise figures.