Italy warns against secret Libya negotiations

ISTANBUL: Italy's foreign minister said Friday that secret talks to end the Libyan conflict were counter-productive and insisted there could be no resolution while Moamer Qadhafi was in power.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the contact group on Libya, Franco Frattini said delegates would issue a statement stressing that a UN envoy was the only person who could speak on behalf of the international community.

"All the attempts to have secret, confidential mediation, discussion with a number of countries, because there were some contacts, those prove very counter-productive," Frattini told reporters at the meeting in Istanbul.

His comments come after French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe acknowledged earlier this week that France had had "contacts" with the Libyan regime concerning the departure of Qadhafi but no real negotiations had taken place.

Frattini however said that the UN special envoy for Libya, Abdel Ilah al-Khatib, would be designated at the meeting as "the sole interlocuter" between the Qadhafi regime and the rebels who are based in Benghazi.

"Mr al-Khatib is entitled to present a political package including the ceasefire, and to negotiate with Tripoli and Benghazi to form a government of national unity," he said.

Frattini again emphasised that Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, regarded Qadhafi's departure as a prerequisite for any resolution to the four-month conflict.

"There is no other option but Qadhafi leaves. The question now is when and how," he said.

Frattini also revealed that Italy had released a 100 million euro (140 million dollar) loan to the rebels by releasing a tranche of frozen Libyan funds, and that a further 300 million euros would be released in the same way in the next two weeks.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011