Libyan rebel leaders to hold talks with NATO Council

Belgium: Libyan rebel leaders for the first time will hold talks with NATO’s 28-nation North Atlantic Council on July 13 to present their plans for democratic transition, the organisation’s chief said Wednesday.

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the rebel forces were making progress in their battle against Moamer Kadhafi’s troops while the Libyan leader’s “plans to retake country by force have fallen apart.”

NATO’s air war, meanwhile, has damaged or destroyed more than 2,700 military targets since March 31, including 600 tanks and artillery pieces and 800 ammunition stores, he said.

On the diplomatic front, a delegation led by Mahmud Jibril of the Benghazi-based National Transitional Council (NTC) will hold informal talks with the NATO’s decision-making council in Brussels on July 13.

“The goal of this meeting is to exchange points of view,” Rasmussen said. “The NTC has drafted a roadmap and it is important for the NATO Council to discuss this subject with Mr Jibril.”

Ramussen will also hold a bilateral meeting with Jibril the same day.

The rebel delegation is also expected to meet in Brussels next week with European Union president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. While the 27-nation EU has opened a mission in Benghazi, NATO does not have an office there.

Rasmussen has met NTC officials at meetings abroad of the international contact group on Libya. AFP