LIVE Libyan Unrest: France says Muammar Gaddafi was ready to leave power

We are tracking the latest developments to keep you updated on the situation on the ground. There are interactive maps located in the Protest map page to keep up with the latest movements. Also check out the featured twitters on the sidebar. On the Go? Follow us on Twitter @Feb17Libya for the Live updates and discussion. All updates are in Libyan local time (GMT+2)
6:47pm: Switzerland said Tuesday it is dispatching a diplomat to the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi to open an office aimed at strengthening its ties with the Libyan National Transitional Council.
“By sending a special envoy to Benghazi, Switzerland is signaling its intent to strengthen its presence there, and to intensify its political relations with the Libyan National Transitional Council,” said the Swiss Foreign Ministry.  The special envoy is entrusted with the task of safeguarding Switzerland’s interests in Benghazi, promoting and intensifying contact with the NTC, and with opening a liaison office,” it added.
Switzerland stressed that the NTC is its “sole legitimate partner for contact” before strife-hit Libya is able to elect a government.
6:42pm: Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci and his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, visiting Algeria Tuesday pleaded for a “political solution” to the Libyan crisis. Frattini added that “the road map of the African Union (AU) will be discussed Friday in Istanbul” at the next meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya, including all the countries participating in the campaign of Nato against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
6:37pm: NATO today released a press briefing on Libya from Brussels.  Highlights of spokesperson Oana Lungescu address:

• The Secretary General visited the headquarters of Operation Unified Protector in Naples on Friday
• Another emphasis on the opinion that there has to be a political solution to this conflict
• The Secretary General will take part in the meeting of the Contact Group in Istanbul. The Contact Group can make a critical contribution to the search for a political solution which responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people

6:32pm: Russian daily Kommersant cited Gaddafi would be prepared to stand down in exchange for security guarantees and a pledge Saif al-Islam could run in elections. Kommersant said the information came from a high-level source in the Russian leadership
6:27pm:  Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said that when he met Libyan leader, Muammar Al Qathafi’s son, Mohammed, in Tripoli, he claimed that Western special forces were stationed in the capital to kill the Libyan leader.
“I met the country’s Olympic committee chief Muhammad Al Qathafi, who told me groups of special forces from several Western states had been sent to the Libyan capital Tripoli to physically eliminate his father,” 49-year-old Ilyumzhinov told theInterfax news agency.  He went on to say that according to Mohammed, three groups of Western special forces are in Tripoli. He thinks the West is going all-in,” Ilyumzhinov said.
6:22pm: Western powers, especially the US, citing UN Security Council Resolution 1973, have asked Kenyan authorities to cut diplomatic ties with Gaddafi and freeze the regime’s assets. In a show of defiance, Kenya’s acting minister for Foreign Affairs Prof George Saitoti has said that the government will neither sever links with the embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi nor freeze the regime’s assets until advised otherwise by the African Union.
6:17pm: Rebels fighting to encircle Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli faced stiff resistance on Monday, coming under rocket attack south of the capital as France said it has made indirect contact with Libya’s regime.  The clashes occurred around Gualish, which the rebels overran four days ago as they launched a NATO-backed offensive aimed at pushing the front line closer to the capital.
6:12pm: Libya’s wealthy use their personal income to fight to Gaddafi. With a Kalashnikov rifle costing $3,000, businessmen in Libya use their wallets to fight for a cause, proving the wallet is just as effective as the weapons, if not more.
6:07pm: NATO said on Tuesday it would keep bombing Libya even in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan if Muammar Gaddafi’s forces continued to threaten civilians, but it wanted a pragmatic solution to the war as soon as possible.  NATO military spokesman Wing Commander Mike Bracken said, ”We need to wait and see whether the Gaddafi forces continue to shell and inflict harm on the people of Libya,” when asked if the campaign would continue during Ramadan, which falls in August this year.
6:02pm: France’s lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday to extend military operations in Libya, keeping French forces in a wider NATO effort to protect civilians and support a rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi.
5:57pm: Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shelled rebel positions in the coastal city of Misrata overnight, killing 10 rebels and wounding 22, rebels said on Tuesday in a statement.
“Ten of our fighters fell and 22 others were wounded when Gaddafi forces shelled our positions in the west,” read the text sent to AFP by rebels in their enclave of Misrata, 215 kilometres (130 miles) east of the capital.  -Sapa-AFP
 5:52pm: Video - Libyan rebels battle to keep grip on mountain hamlet


5:47pm: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will not take part in proposed talks between the embattled regime and rebels, Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi said in an interview published Tuesday.  Refering to Gadhafi, he said.
“The Guide will not take part in these discussions. Everything must be open,” he told France’s Le Figaro newspaper, referring to Gadhafi. ”We are ready to negotiate unconditionally,” he said, adding it was not for him to say “in which room . . . the Guide will find himself”.
5:42pm: Six members of the European Parliament they plan to visit Tunisia next week to assess the human rights conditions for those fleeing the war in Libya.
“Europe must address the challenges posed by this situation, particularly the treatment of refugees, humanitarian aid as well as the impact on the migratory flow toward Europe,” Maltese EPP member Simon Busuttil, who is leading the delegation, said in a statement.
 5:37pm: The United States says it is prepared to support Russia’s mediation efforts in Libya, as France signals its frustration with the lack of progress in reaching a political solution to the crisis.
U.S. President Barack Obama thanked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for his country’s negotiation efforts in Libya, and said the United States supports talks that lead to a democratic transition and the departure of leader Moammar Gadhafi.
5:32pm: NATO suggested Tuesday that it would be willing to stop bombing Libya during Ramadan, if Moammar Gadhafi’s forces also honored a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month.
“We need to wait and see whether Gadhafi’s forces continue to shell and inflict harm,” said a NATO spokesman, Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken. “If they do, and we believe there is risk to the lives of Libyan people, then I think it would be highly appropriate to continue to use the mandate that NATO has to protect those lives.”
5:27pm: Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi attacked the Libyan city of Misrata, breaching the opposition’s front line to the west and killing 11 rebel fighters, military officials in the rebel-held enclave said.
5:22pm: France’s foreign minister said Tuesday Paris has had contact with emissaries from Muammar Qaddafi who say the embattled Libyan strongman is “prepared to leave.” Alain Juppe said that while the contacts do not constitute proper negotiations,

“Everyone (involved in Libya’s civil war) has contacts with everyone else. The Libyan regime sends its messengers all over, to Turkey, to New York, to Paris.  We receive emissaries who are saying, ‘Qaddafi is prepared to leave. Let’s discuss it.”‘

5:17pm: The Portsmouth, a Royal Navy destroyer, came within range of Gaddafi rockets to take on three gunboats near Zlitan harbour – 100 miles from the Libyan capital Tripoli. The boats have been used by Gaddafi to transport weapons and lay mines. But there could have been an ulterior motive on Friday, Cdr Williams said.
 5:12pm: Egypt will participate in an international conference on how to support Libya’s Interim Transitional National Council, the Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reported Tuesday.  Egypt will participate as an observer in the council’s fourth meeting in Istanbul Friday
5:07pm: Adding muscle to their demands for a cease-fire, Libyan officials warned Tuesday that the rebel-controlled eastern half of the country could be cut off from water supplies without a truce to allow for maintenance work on a power plant pumping water up from the desert.
About 70 percent of the country relies on water brought up from underground aquifers deep in the southern desert, and the plant powering it in the east is falling apart, said the Libyan agricultural minister.
5:02pm: Turkey has invited China and Russia to join for the first time discussions on Libya as part of a contact group of major powers, to convene this Friday in Istanbul, a Turkish official said Tuesday.  Foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told reporters,“Russia and China have been invited as permanent members of the UN Security Council. We think they will participate but no information has reached us so far on what level.”

2:00pm: French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Tuesday that a political solution was needed in Libya more than ever, adding that he saw signs one was emerging.
“A political solution is more than ever indispensable and is beginning to take shape,” he told a parliamentary commission, which is expected to vote later in the day on whether to extend operations in Libya.
“At its last summit, the African Union confirmed that Gaddafi would not be able to take part in the political transition.”
Fillon added that France backed mediation efforts by Russia and the African Union.
1:00pm: France said Muammar Gaddafi was ready to leave power, according to emissaries, the latest sign contacts were underway between the Libyan leader and NATO members to find a way out of the crisis.
“Emissaries are telling us Gaddafi is ready to go, let’s talk about it,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said, without revealing who the emissaries were. “The question is no longer about whether Gaddafi goes but when and how,” Juppe said.
12:30pm: New U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that some NATO allies operating in Libya could see their forces “exhausted” within 90 days.
“The problem right now, frankly, in Libya is that … within the next 90 days a lot of these other countries could be exhausted in terms of their capabilities, and so the United States, you know, is going to be looked at to help fill the gap,” Panetta said, speaking to troops in Baghdad.
He did not say which countries he was referring to, or what the U.S. response would be to calls for help.
12:00pm: Abu Dhabi’s First Gulf Bank has severed ties with its Libyan unit after political unrest in the country and its investment has been classified as “available for sale,” a filing from the lender showed.
FGB, majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, has suspended its management agreement with former subsidiary, First Gulf Libya Bank, adding the investment had a net carrying value of 396 million dirhams ($107.8 million).
“FGB has no involvement in the day-to-day operations of FGLB and FGLB is no longer classified as a subsidiary of FGB,” it said in a prospectus filed to the London Stock Exchange and dated July 11.
“FGB’s investment in FGLB is now classified as an available for sale investment.”
11:30am: Switzerland said Tuesday it is dispatching a diplomat to the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi to open an office aimed at strengthening its ties with the Libyan National Transitional Council.
“By sending a special envoy to Benghazi, Switzerland is signaling its intent to strengthen its presence there, and to intensify its political relations with the Libyan National Transitional Council,” said the Swiss Foreign Ministry.
“The special envoy is entrusted with the task of safeguarding Switzerland’s interests in Benghazi, promoting and intensifying contact with the NTC, and with opening a liaison office,” it added.
Switzerland stressed that the NTC is its “sole legitimate partner for contact” before strife-hit Libya is able to elect a government.
Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey had met a member of the rebel leadership in Bern as early as 9 March, just four days after the NTC was set up. The Swiss embassy in Tripoli has been closed since 27 February due to security reasons, said the ministry.
11:00am: Watch the latest update from Tripoli and the Free Generation Movement on Al Jazeera

10:00am: U.S. President Barack Obama told his Russian counterpart Monday that the United States is prepared to support Moscow’s mediation in Libya provided it leads to a democratic transition and the departure of leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The White House said Mr. Obama spoke with President Dimitry Medvedev by telephone, thanking him for Russia’s negotiation efforts in the North African nation.
9:26am: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday that France had had “contacts” with the Libyan regime concerning the departure of leader Moamer Kadhafi but no real negotiations had taken place.
“There have indeed been contacts, but it has not turned into a real negotiation,” he told France Info radio station. “The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere: to Turkey, New York, Paris,” he said.
“We are meeting envoys who say to us: look, ‘Kadhafi is ready to go, let’s talk about it’,” he added.
Kadhafi’s son Seif Al-Islam told the Algerian daily El Khabar in an interview published Monday that Tripoli was “holding real negotiations with France and not with the rebels” fighting to out him. Read full story here.
7:26am: Italy called on Tuesday for a political solution to the war in Libya that would see Muammar Gaddafi “leaving the stage”, as the rebel campaign to oust him ran into stiff resistance from government forces.
With rifts already apparent within NATO, the United States warned that some allies engaged in the campaign against Gaddafi could see their forces “exhausted” within three months.
Rebel fighters are seemingly unable to make much progress in their fight to end Gaddafi’s 41-year rule and calls for a diplomatic resolution have mounted.
Rebels took more casualties on Monday, stalled in their advance towards Tripoli. Shelling by forces loyal to Gaddafi killed eight rebel fighters and injured 25, according to hospital sources in the rebel stronghold of Misrata.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini’s call for a political way out came after his Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi exposed rifts within NATO by saying he had not supported the war on Libya, and France bridled at the slow pace of efforts to end the crisis. Read full story here.
4:02am: Egypt’s state news agency says a court has ordered the state-owned satellite operator Nilesat to take 14 Libyan TV stations off the air.
The court decision Monday follows a lawsuit by Libyan citizens and Egyptian lawyers who said the stations owned by the regime of Moammar Gadhafi incite against the rebels fighting to topple the leader, in power for 42 years.
The stations are off the air until they can find another satellite to beam them.
Libya’s rebels have launched their homegrown satellite TV station in May to counter the regime’s powerful media machine, which depicts the opposition as terrorists and drums up patriotic fervor by beaming images of burning buildings hit by NATO airstrikes.
1:30am: The White House says President Barack Obama told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that the U.S. is prepared to support Russian-led negotiations in Libya.
However, Obama told the Russian president the U.S. would only back the negotiations if they lead to a democratic transition and longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi steps aside.
Medvedev has joined the West in urging Gadhafi to step down, and envoys from the Kremlin have traveled to Libya to meet with representatives of Gadhafi’s government.
Obama and Medvedev spoke Monday. Obama also expressed his condolences for the sinking of an aging cruise ship on a river near Moscow. As many as 129 people were killed in the incident.
The two leaders also discussed Sudan, Afghanistan and Russia’s pending accession to the World Trade Organization.