ADDIS ABABA - Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Monday argued that the proposal made by the pan-African body, which until last year was chaired by Gaddafi and receives substantial funding from Libya, ignored the people's main demand. 'Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe. Any initiative that does not include the people's demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise,' he told reporters.
However, The African Union (AU) on Tuesday urged Libyan rebels to 'cooperate fully' after they rejected a truce plan presented by the continental body.- 'Due to a political demand set as a pre-condition by the Transitional National Council (TNC) to launching urgent talks on the implementation of a truce, it was not possible at this stage to reach an agreement on the key issue of a cessation of hostilities,' said a statement on Monday's visit to Libya of an AU delegation that included heads of state.
- The delegation 'makes an urgent call on the TNC to fully cooperate, for the sake of Libya's higher interests, and assist in the quest for and implementation of a fair and lasting political solution,' the statement said.
The statement added that a ceasefire was essential and that the AU remained 'determined to continue striving towards achieving what it set out to do'.Libya's strongman Muammar Gaddafi accepted the AU's truce plan but the rebels argued the initiative was obsolete and insisted Gaddafi should be ousted.
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