Libya gov't accepts Chavez plan for solution to conflict

Spokesman for Venezuelan president also confirms that Arab League interested in Chavez plan to send an int'l commission to talk with both sides; Britain, France to Gaddafi: Stand down or face no-fly zone.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
Libyan anti-Gaddafi protests (R) 311 (photo credit: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)
Libyan anti-Gaddafi protests (R) 311
(photo credit: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah)
The Libyan government has accepted a plan by Venezuela to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict in the North African country, a spokesman for President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday.
Information Minister Andres Izarra also confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in the Chavez plan to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.
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Earlier on Thursday, France and Britain told Gaddafi they would press for the imposition of a no-fly zone if attacks against his country's citizens continued.
The warning came after talks in Paris between French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and his British counterpart, William Hague.Britain and France want Gaddafi to stand down and were working on "bold and ambitious" proposals to put to a European Union leaders' meeting on Libya next week to step up pressure, the two ministers told reporters.
London and Paris called on Monday for a meeting of EU leaders to discuss Libya, a summit slated for March 11.
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Germany, however, is against any foreign military intervention in Libya, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Thursday.
"We do not participate, and we do not share a discussion of military intervention, because we think this would be very counterproductive," he said at a meeting of central European foreign ministers in Slovakia.
Meanwhile, Gaddafi, members of his inner circle, and some of his sons, will be investigated by the International Criminal Court for "serious allegations" of crimes against the civilian population in Libya, chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday.