Former Croatian Leader: Gadhafi Ready to Step Down
Former Croatian president Stipe Mesic who has close ties Moammar Gadhafi said Tuesday that the Libyan leader told him he was ready to step down from political life if NATO ended airstrikes.
"I can confirm that colonel Gadhafi is ready to retreat completely from political and public life with a firm engagement that we would impede the setting up of a multi-party system but on the condition that the NATO airstrikes cease," Mesic said in a statement quoted by Hina news agency.
The former president added that he had a "personal verbal message" from Gadhafi last week with the offer and added he told the Chinese, Russian and American ambassadors to Croatia about it on Monday.
"The authorities in Tripoli have tried to get this message out via all the available channels to countries that have played a crucial role in the organization and the operations in Libya," Mesic added in the statement.
Mesic was president of Croatia from 2000 to 2010. In 2003 he made an official visit to Tripoli to negotiate Croatian companies' involvement in some infrastructure projects.
Gadhafi and Mesic have been close for many years. In the 1970s Mesic headed a Yugoslav company which was building apartments in Libya. Mesic was also the last president of Yugoslavia before it fell apart, which had longstanding ties with Gadhafi ever since Libya and Yugoslavia were champions of the Non-aligned Movement.
Late March Mesic slammed the NATO strikes on Libya.
Source: Agence France Presse
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