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Libyan Rebels Reject AU Peace Plan

   Elizabeth Arrott | Benghazi, Libya  April 11, 2011
   An unidentified African Union delegation official has an opposition
   flag draped over him as he arrives for meetings with opposition leaders
   in Benghazi

Photo: AP Photo/Ben Curtis

   An unidentified African Union delegation official has an opposition
   flag draped over him as he arrives for meetings with opposition leaders
   in Benghazi, Libya Monday, April 11, 2011.

   Libyan rebel leaders have rejected a proposed African Union peace plan.
   African envoys had hoped the plan, accepted in principle by Libyan
   leader Moammar Gadhafi, would bring about a cease-fire.
   The African envoys were given a stormy welcome in the rebel stronghold.
   Outside the hotel where they met with rebel leaders, anti-government
   protesters chanted "Gadhafi must go, " a message repeated by the
   officials inside.
   Rebel spokesman Abdelhafiz Ghoga said the African Union proposal,
   drafted one month ago, no longer had any bearing on the present
   circumstances. Ghoga added that even as the delegation held talks on an
   immediate cease-fire, the forces of Colonel Gadhafi, who the day before
   said he agreed to the plan, were shelling the rebel-held city of
   Misrata.
   In addition to an end of all hostilities, including NATO air strikes,
   the plan also called for an urgent delivery of humanitarian aid,
   protection of foreign nationals and the start of political reforms.
   The rebel Transitional National Council has insisted any cease-fire
   must include the withdrawal of government forces from their current
   positions as well as the right to freely demonstrate.
   On the political front, the rebels have insisted that Colonel Gadhafi
   leave and that his sons have no role in any future Libyan government.
   Protester Najla, an eye doctor who preferred to give just her first
   name, expressed frustration at the AU proposals. "All the sections, the
   divisions of the society are saying 'no,' a very big 'no' to this
   regime. And I don't know which part of the sentence the whole world
   doesn't understand. Everybody's saying we want to make some dialogue.
   We don't want some dialogue. We don't make dialogue with them. We don't
   want anybody of them here in this country," she said.
   The high-level AU delegation was viewed with some suspicion in
   Benghazi, where people have long resented Colonel Gadhafi's funding of
   African development and military projects at, what they view as the
   expense of eastern Libya. Rebels said they feel the colonel's largesse
   translated into a plan favoring the status quo rather than their calls
   for change.