28 August 2011 — RT

Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi is ready to negotiate with the rebels to form a transitional government, Moussa Ibrahim, head of Gaddafi’s press service said.

­On Sunday Moussa Ibrahim told the Associated Press Gaddafi’s son al-Saadi will be in charge of the negotiations.

Meanwhile, rebel forces say they are preparing to attack the last major stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi’s supporters in his hometown of Sirte, where they believe Gaddafi himself is hiding. They believe this is the reason why loyalists in Sirte do not want to give up.

For the time being Gaddafi’s whereabouts remain unknown, with speculation that he could have left the county. Egyptian state news agency MENA reported on Saturday that Gaddafi could have been in one of the six armored black Mercedes cars that crossed the border and headed to Algeria. According to Al Jazeera TV channel, the leader could have gone to Angola, while the Zimbabwean opposition claimed Gaddafi had arrived in Zimbabwe on a jet provided by the country’s President Robert Mugabe.

Presently the rebels are stationed some 200 kilometers from Sirte and claim they are ready to attack if negotiations for a peaceful surrender fail.

NATO has carried out multiple airstrikes above Gaddafi’s hometown, not just once, to help the rebels’ effort in the past month. On August 26, a headquarters bunker was bombed overnight in Sirte, and the next day it was reported that 15 vehicles and four other ground targets had been destroyed in the city.

‘Sirte remains an operating base from which pro-Gaddafi troops project hostile forces against Misrata and Tripoli,’ a NATO official was quoted saying.

In the meantime rebel forces reportedly control most of the country and also of the capital, Tripoli, which has found itself on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.