South African President Zuma makes Malta stop-over after meeting Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a roadmap for ending the conflict in Libya including an immediate ceasefire, the African Union has said, but an opposition representative said it would only work if Gaddafi left power.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who met Gaddafi as the head of a delegation of African leaders, urged Nato to stop air strikes on government targets to "give ceasefire a chance".

Zuma made a two-hour stop-over in Malta. He landed shortly after midnight and departed at 02:30 am to Johannesburg avoiding an overnight stay in Tripoli, while also avoiding flying over Libya, a UN mandated no-fly zone.

Sources say that President Zuma's stop over was related to aircraft refuelling, however it is not clear if talks were held with any senior government officila while he was in Malta.

Earlier truce offers from Gaddafi have come to nothing and rebels, who took up arms across the east and in some towns in the west after he crushed protests in February, have said they will accept nothing less than an end to his 41-year-old rule.

Asked if the issue of Gaddafi stepping down was discussed at his talks with an African Union delegation in Tripoli, Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, told reporters: "There was some discussion."

However he added: "I cannot report on confidential discussions because first of all I was not part of them, and I think they have to remain confidential between the parties involved."

Officials from Nato, which stepped up attacks on Gaddafi's armour on Sunday to weaken a bitter siege of Misrata in the west and to disrupt advances in the east, were not immediately available for comment on Zuma's ceasefire appeal.

According to reports, the British-based representative of the Libyan opposition leadership, Guma al-Gamaty, said it would look carefully at the AU plan, but would not accept any deal designed to keep Gaddafi or his sons in place.

Libyan officials have repeatedly said Gaddafi will not quit.