Talks on surrender of Libyan town fail

Mon Sep 5, 2011

Spokesman for Libyan revolutionaries has announced the failure of negotiations aimed at the peaceful surrender of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi in the town of Bani Walid.

Talks were held on Sunday outside one of Gaddafi's last strongholds of Bani Walid, southeast of the capital Tripoli, AFP reported.

"They (Gaddafi's negotiating team) demanded that the revolutionaries enter Bani Walid without their weapons," said Abdullah Kenshil, a Bani Walid native and the chief negotiator for the Transitional National Council (TNC).

Libyan fighters say loyalists of Gaddafi in his bastion are a small but heavily armed minority group that stokes fear to keep other people in the town from surrendering.

Negotiations with tribal leaders in the besieged town of Bani Walid started several days ago with the aim of capturing the town without bloodshed.

Revolutionary forces say they are now waiting for a green light from their leadership to launch a final attack on the town.

Kenshil said that Gaddafi forces in Bani Walid, numbering between 30 and 50 men “well-armed, with machine-guns, rocket-launchers and snipers,” had been assured they would be treated well if they surrendered.

On Saturday, revolutionaries, having moved within 15 to 20 kilometers of Bani Walid, set a deadline of 0800 GMT Sunday for pro-Gaddafi forces to give up.

The interim leadership has announced a temporary truce until September 10 for forces in Bani Walid as well as in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirt to lay down their arms.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/197450.html.