Fresh setback to Gaddafi: China in touch with Libyan rebels

China made its first confirmed contact with Libyan rebels in the latest diplomatic setback for Muammar Gaddafi, and France said on Friday it was working with those close to the tough ruler to persuade him to leave power.

The meeting in Qatar between a Chinese diplomat and the leader of the rebel National Transitional Council follows a spate of defections by high profile figures this week including top oil official and former prime minister Shukri Ghanem.

Libyan rebels and NATO have made Gaddafi's departure a condition for agreeing a ceasefire in a conflict that has killed thousands, but he emphatically told visiting South African President Jacob Zuma this week he would not leave Libya.

A NATO-led military alliance extended its mission to protect civilians in Libya for a further 90 days this week, and France said it was stepping up military pressure as well as working with those close to Gaddafi to try to convince him to quit. "He is more and more isolated," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe Juppe told Europe 1 radio. "There have been more defections around him and we have received messages from his close entourage which has understood that he must leave power."

In Beijing, a terse Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Beijing's ambassador to Qatar, Zhang Zhiliang, had met and "exchanged views on developments in Libya" with Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the chairman of the Council, which is trying to offer itself as a credible temporary alterative to embattled Gaddafi.

China was among the emerging powers that abstained in March when the United Nations Security Council voted to authorize NATO-led air strikes. But China also quickly condemned the subsequent expansion of those strikes, and since then has repeatedly urged a ceasefire and a political compromise.

The United Nations has warned government-held parts of Libya were running out of food and the capital Tripoli this week saw the first big protest in months against Gaddafi's 41-year rule.

-Asian Tribune-