Shimanto Bank signs MoU with Kay Kraft to offer discounts on credit card purchases
— March 26, 2023RN Desk: Shimanto Bank Ltd recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kay Kraft at the bank’s head office….
Staff Correspondent : Widespread discussions are under way to bring the Libyan crisis to an end and ‘emissaries’ say Muammar Gaddafi is ready to leave power, France’s foreign minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday.
‘Everybody is in contact with everybody. The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere, to Turkey, New York, Paris. Juppe said on France Info state radio. ‘Emissaries are telling us Gaddafi is ready to go, let’s talk about it,’ Juppe said.
Juppe did not say who the emissaries were but French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said:
‘These are emissaries who say they are coming in the name of Gaddafi. What is important is that we send them the same message and stay in close contact with our allies on this.’
Remarks by defence minister Gerard Longuet at the weekend saying rebels should start direct negotiations with Gaddafi’s camp, and a report that Paris was talking to the Libyan leader, pointed to a growing restlessness in Paris about the stalemate.
French officials denied any shift in position Monday and said Paris had merely sent messages to Tripoli via intermediaries making clear the Libyan leader must relinquish power and withdraw his troops to enable a political solution.
‘There are contacts but it’s not a negotiation proper at this stage,’ Juppe said Tuesday.
France has spearheaded the NATO-led air campaign in Libya with Britain under a UN mandate to protect civilians, and it was the first to launch air strikes against troops loyal to Gaddafi in March.
But after more than three months of bombing, international leaders are puzzling over how to end the crisis. Rebels hold large parts of eastern Libya and have loosened a siege of the city of Misrata, but are unable to make decisive moves toward the capital Tripoli despite strikes on Gaddafi’s forces.
Diplomatic sources close to the matter said Monday envoys from Paris and Tripoli have met in Paris, Brussels and Tunisia in recent weeks, but have made little progress.
Juppe and prime minister Francois Fillon Tuesday reiterated that Gaddafi had to quit, without saying if that meant he could do so without quitting the country too.