UN confirms envoy to meet 'Libya personalities'

UNITED NATIONS: UN special envoy on Libya Abdul Ilah al-Khatib is in Tunisia and could hold talks with "Libyan personalities" there, a UN spokesman said Monday.

But the United Nations would not confirm reports that the former Jordanian foreign minister would hold talks with representatives of Moamer Qadhafi's government and opposition rebels.

Khatib "did arrive in Tunisia to hold consultations with Tunisian officials. So far he has met with the prime minister and is scheduled to meet later with the foreign minister," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

"He might meet with some Libyan personalities residing in Tunisia on the sidelines of his other meetings," the spokesman added.

Khatib, who has spent months shuttling between Tripoli and the rebel base at Benghazi trying to start ceasefire talks, said in Tunis that negotiations on Libya's future would take place in a Tunis hotel.

Sources close to Tunisian security services said representatives of the two warring sides had met in Djerba, near the Tunisian-Libyan border.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011