UN special envoy to Libya Abdul Khatib to address Maltese ambassadors

Khatib is U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's special envoy to Libya, will be the special guest of Foreign Minister Tonio Borg who has summoned all his ambassadors from around the world for their annual meeting.

The meeting this year is said to be entirely focused on the ongoing crisis in Libya, and the proposed diplomatic solutions to it.

Borg – who has been in contact with Khatib since his appointment as special envoy – visited Benghazi last week and held talks with the leaders of the Transitional National Council led by Mahmoud Jalil.

Tonio Borg  was given a very warm welcome in Benghazi by Maltese-flag waving Libyans who accompanied him through the streets of Benghazi and paid homage to the fallen rebels who stood up to Gaddafi troops at the beginning of the uprising last February.

Meanwhile, the foreign minister is reportedly in the process of authorising the opening of a line of credit to the National Transitional Council equivalent to the value of frozen assets in Malta.

Senior government sources told MaltaToday that the line of credit will finance the medical and humanitarian needs of the Libyan people.

On the Libyan front, the UN special envoy has reportedly suggested a ceasefire in Libya, to be followed by the immediate creation of a transitional authority made up equally of the government and rebels and excluding Muammar Gaddafi or his sons.

The authority would appoint a president, control the police, armed forces and security services and would supervise a round-table reconciliation process, leading to elections to a national assembly which would write a constitution, the diplomat said.

Khatib, a Jordanian senator, is seeking a political solution to a conflict that erupted in February between Gaddafi's forces and rebels based in the east. He has visited both sides several times.

Gaddafi has been holding on to power in the face of rebel attacks aimed at ending his 41-year rule and has rejected suggestions that he quit, as demanded by the insurgents.

Last Thursday, Col. Gaddafi ruled out talks with the rebels, casting doubt on a flurry of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Under Khatib's transition proposal, Gaddafi would have to step down, but rather than being a precondition it would be part of the process.

As soon as the transitional authority was created and Gaddafi no longer had control of the security forces, Libyans in Tripoli would no longer fear him and at that point his rule would in effect end.

He added Gaddafi would only accept such a transition if he had guarantees on his personal fate, and so would not immediately be handed to the world court at The Hague, which has issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by his security forces.

Gaddafi and his sons would be excluded from the transitional authority, since the rebels would never accept such a role for Gaddafi family members.

Khatib told reporters at the United Nations last week that he had told Libyan leaders, a body with representatives from all political parties, regions and tribes was needed to manage a transition.

The United Nations has said Khatib had put those ideas to Libya's prime minister and foreign minister.

France said on Wednesday Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he gave up power, an apparent softening of the West's stance in a new effort to find a diplomatic end to the war.

The United States says Gaddafi must quit, but whether he remained in Libya after that, would be up to the Libyan people.

Libyan officials have said Gaddafi's departure was not up for negotiation and on Thursday the rebels said that no one seriously expected talks to end the crisis.