'Libyan aide in London for secret talks'

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) and Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/172523.html

An aide to the Libyan regime has arrived in London for secret talks with the UK government, adding fuels to speculations that the regime is seeking a way out of the crisis, a report says.

The Libyan envoy identified as Mohammed Ismail, who is a senior aide to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, have held secret talks with British officials a day after Libyan Foreign Minister Mussa Koussa fled to London and announced his resignation, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

Even though Libyan officials in Tripoli have portrayed Ismail's visit as a trip to see his children, who are being educated in Britain, many analysts believe covert talks are afoot between Tripoli and London to hammer out an exit strategy for Gaddafi and his henchmen to extricate themselves from the ongoing revolution in Libya.

The controversial trip comes amid signs that the Libyan regime is crumbling from within after Koussa, who was a member of the Libyan Bureau for External Security in the 1980s, flew to England from Tunisia on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, Kli Abdessalam Treki, the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, said in a statement on Thursday that he will not represent crisis-hit Libya at the UN.

Meanwhile, reports say the United States and Britain have dispatched covert intelligence operatives into Libya as part of efforts to make contacts with opposition forces and to pave the way for furtherance of US-led aerial strikes against Gaddafi's forces.