Gaddafi’s daughter acknowledges talks with Libya rebels

Gaddafi’s daughter acknowledges talks with Libya rebels

The daughter of the Libyan leader, Aisha Gaddafi has said her father, Muammar Gaddafi was involved in direct and indirect talks with the rebels, who were trying to overthrow him.

"There are direct and indirect negotiations and we should stop letting Libyan blood," she said.

Symbol of a guide

She also told reporters on Thursday that her father, who is a subject of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court, was a guide for the Libyan people and had no reason to leave the country.

"This word departure, departure, departure ... what I find strange is where do you want him to go? This is his country, his land, his people," she said.

"Where would he go? There is something you don't understand and you will never understand. My father is a symbol, a guide," she added.

"And for that we are ready to ally with the devil and that is the armed rebels," the 35-year-old lawyer declared.

No more talks

The rebels said last week that there had been contact with Gaddafi's government.

However, the ICC's issue of arrest warrants on Monday for the leader and his son Saif al-Islam had closed the door for talks, rebel spokesman, Mahmoud Shammam said.

More than 90 days into a NATO bombing campaign, the Libyan leader is refusing to relinquish power after 41 years, leaving Western and Arab states counting on a combination of rebel advances on Tripoli and any uprising in the capital to dislodge him.

France involvement

Aisha said one of her children and a brother had been killed by the NATO-led bombardment.

She also laid blame on the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who faces a presidential election next year.

"I send a message to the mothers and wives of (French) pilots that are bombarding us. Your husbands are not protecting civilians, but killing children and our people to satisfy Sarkozy who thinks the more Libyans he kills the more votes he'll get in elections," she said.

France confirmed recently that it had air-dropped arms to rebels in Libya's Western Mountains, becoming the first NATO country to acknowledge arming the insurgency against Gaddafi.

REUTERS/Shakira