London: Libya's government could hold elections, including on the future of leader Muammar Gaddafi, if Western air strikes stopped, the BBC quoted Foreign Minister Abdul Ati Al Obeidi as saying.
"If the bombing stopped, Al Obeidi said, after six months there could be an election supervised by the UN," BBC radio reported on Wednesday. "The foreign minister said the election could cover any issue raised by all Libyans, anything could go on the table, including, he implied, the future of Gaddafi as leader."
BBC television later broadcast one of the minister's comments made during the interview: "It will cover whatever issue is raised by all Libyans."
Al Obeidi said the Libyan government was "serious about a properly verifiable ceasefire supervised by foreign observers", the BBC said.
He also criticised Britain's decision to send military officers to advise Libyan rebels.
London said on Tuesday it would send about a dozen officers to help insurgents improve their organisation and communications, but would not arm the rebels or train them to fight. "He [Al Obeidi] said that would only prolong the fighting," the BBC said.
Britain is sending up to 20 military advisers to help Libya's ragtag rebel force break a military stalemate with Muammar Gaddafi's army, even as Nato acknowledges that airstrikes alone cannot stop the daily shelling of the besieged opposition-held city of Misrata.
Gaddafi's troops have been pounding Misrata indiscriminately with mortars and rockets, a Nato general said Tuesday, and residents reported more explosions and firefights in Libya's third-largest city.
Hospitals are overflowing and 120 patients need to be evacuated from the city that has been under siege for nearly two months, the World Health Organisation said.
The plight of Misrata's civilians and the battlefield deadlock are raising new questions about the international community's strategy in Libya. The leaders of the US, Britain and France have said Gaddafi must go, but seem unwilling to commit to a more forceful military campaign.
Nato's mandate is restricted to protecting civilians. Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of Nato's military committee, said that even though the military alliance's operations have done "quite significant damage" to the Libyan regime's heavy weaponry, what Gaddafi has left is "still considerable".
Asked if more airpower is needed, Di Paola said any "significantly additional" allied contribution would be welcome.
The rebels seized control of most of eastern Libya shortly after the uprising began in February, while Gaddafi is entrenched in the west, but the front line hasn't changed dramatically since then.
Gaddafi son optimistic
"I am very optimistic. We will win," Gaddafi's son, SAif Al Islam, said Tuesday on state television, referring to the fighting. "The balance changes every day in our favour," he said in a joking but defiant manner during a televised town hall meeting that lasted two hours.
Frustration over the stalemate has spurred talk in the West of new tactics, including dispatching military personnel to Libya. Britain took the lead Tuesday, saying it is sending up to 20 senior soldiers who will help organise the rebels, many of whom have had little military training or battle experience.
However, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain would not arm the opposition or assist in military operations. Britain has already sent non-lethal support, including 1,000 sets of body armor and 100 satellite phones.
"As the scale of the humanitarian crisis has grown, so has the urgency of increasing our efforts to defend civilians against the attack from Gaddafi forces," Hague said.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim said Britain's attempt to help the rebels is futile. "This is not in the interest of the UK," Kaim told The Associated Press. "This is an impossible mission. To organise who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organised, and I am sure it will be a failure."
Allies would also consider supplying Libya's rebels with technical equipment such as radars or systems to intercept and block telecommunications, said Italian Foreign Minster Franco Frattini.
He said this would be discussed at a meeting next month of the international contact group on Libya. "We have condemned the regime's violence, the presence of snipers on the rooftops of Tripoli's houses and in the besieged cities," Frattini said. "We cannot say this isn't our problem."
However, both Italy and France remain opposed to sending ground troops. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday he is "totally hostile" to the idea.