TRIPOLI, Libya — The Libyan government said yesterday it was in talks with opposition figures, but there seemed little chance of a swift end to the conflict as both sides stuck to entrenched positions on the fate of Moammar Khadafy.
The leader’s son, Saif al-Islam, in combative form, told a French newspaper there was no question of negotiating an end to his father’s 42-year rule, while the rebels, stepping back from a hint of a concession, renewed their demand that he go now.
A spokesman for Khadafy’s administration said high-ranking government officials had been in foreign-mediated talks in Italy, Egypt and Norway with opposition figures to work on a peace deal, and that talks were ongoing.
Any talk of a possible accommodation with Khadafy could drive a wedge into the ranks of the disparate rebel movement which sprang up in February in the wake of uprisings in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt.