Desperation in Gaddafi camp: US diplomat

Nearly a week after US-led coalition forces began military operations to enforce the UN Security Council resolution with regard to Libya, there is desperation in the Gaddafi camp, a top American diplomat till recently posted in Libya has said.

"It’s clear that the regime is reaching out to several possible mediators, interlocutors to try to get a message across," US Ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, told reporters yesterday.

"I’m not exactly sure what the message is, but it clearly indicates, I think, at least some kind of desperation," Cretz said.

"We haven’t really been involved in those kind of discussions up until now," Cretz added.

His embassy team was evacuated from Libya on February 23 and has been reconstituted in Washington.

"They’re playing an active role in providing information, analysis, and assistance based on their experience," he said.

"At best, we’re trying to find clarity about a place that, in the best of times, can only be described as opaque," he said.

Cretz said that extending US recognition to the rebel umbrella group – the Transitional National Council – is an option under consideration.

"We are considering the issue of recognition, but it runs into several legal questions, several questions of international law, and there are other things that countries can do short of recognition at this particular point and it’s not prevented us from doing the things that we need to do with respect to showing our very, very strong support for the Council," he said.

Since the beginning of the crisis, they have been clear that they would like recognition, certainly from the United States, from the international community," he said.

"They have made requests for arms and a whole range of things. And on each of those issues we have said that we would consider that and, in fact, have provided some humanitarian support," he said.

"And as I said, the other issues are still being discussed. Nothing is off the table at this particular point," Cretz said in response to a question.

"For the American people at large, the international community at large, the information about Libya has not been widely disseminated," he said.

"I mean, I was in Libya as of the end of December and I still had very prominent businessmen calling me and asking if we still had sanctions on them," he said.

"If information about Libya is not clear, I don’t think it’s surprising that the average individual or even the individuals in this room or individuals in governments throughout the world would have questions about who these people are," he said.

"The personalities that we are dealing with, the actions that they’ve taken, the statements that they have made, have all led us to conclude, at least at this beginning stage, that they are a positive force and ones that we should be engaged with at this point," he said.