Former US lawmaker hopes to talk Gadhafi into stepping down

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 7, 2011 -- Updated 0725 GMT (1525 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• It is unclear when Curt Weldon, the former Congressman, will meet with Gadhafi
• Gadhafi asks President Obama to stop NATO's bombing in a letter
• A senior U.S. official says the administration is not taking the letter seriously
• A British airstrike hit an oil field in the eastern Libyan town of Sarir on Wednesday

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A former U.S. lawmaker said he wants to tell Moammar Gadhafi in person that the embattled Libyan leader needs to step down -- but as Wednesday turned into Thursday, Curt Weldon still had not met him.

Weldon, a Republican former Congressman from Pennsylvania, arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday at Gadhafi's invitation. But Thursday morning, it was still unclear when they would meet.

"It's time for him to step down, allow the people to take over the government of this country," Weldon told CNN affiliate WPIX-TV, which accompanied him on the trip.

Weldon, who led a congressional delegation to Libya in 2004, said he came to the country this time with "a small private delegation."

While Gadhafi didn't meet with Weldon, the colonel did have a message for the United States on Wednesday: End the NATO bombing of Libya.

Gadhafi made that appeal in a letter to President Barack Obama, a senior administration official said.

Gadhafi asked Obama to stop the "unjust war against a small people of a developing country" and said those in the opposition are terrorists and members of al Qaeda, the official said.

There was "nothing new" in the letter, the thrust of which was an appeal for an end to the alliance's air operations, the official said. It contained no offers to negotiate or step down, and the official said the administration isn't taking the note seriously.

"We have been hurt more morally than physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," Gadhafi wrote, according to the official. "Despite all this, you will always remain our son."

The letter comes amid diplomatic and military developments in Libya, which remain in a deadly stalemate as pro-Gadhafi forces battle opposition fighters demanding democracy and an end to Gadhafi's nearly 42-year-rule.

A British airstrike hit an oil field in the eastern Libyan town of Sarir on Wednesday, causing damage to a main pipeline, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told reporters.

A tanker carrying crude oil left the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday in what was the first known export of oil by the fledgling opposition during the conflict, a sign of optimism for them.

Rebel fighters and pro-Gadhafi forces have been pushing back and forth between the coastal cities of al-Brega and Ajdabiya, while residents in the western city of Misrata are spending their days in fear.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned" about conditions in Misrata.

They are "especially grave," the statement said Wednesday, "with reports of the use of heavy weapons to attack the city, where the population is trapped and unable, as a result of heavy shelling that has continued over several weeks, to receive basic supplies, including clean water, food and medicines."

Some residents in Misrata said the city is paralyzed with snipers shooting indiscriminately making life incredibly difficult.

"Normal life is a luxury that we don't have," one resident said. "I haven't taken my family out for four weeks now. All schools are closed, my children didn't go to school since the 19th of February. All government offices are closed. Even dead people are buried without death certificates."

Members of the opposition said they need more help from NATO to change situations. And some rebel leaders have criticized NATO's mission to help protect Libyan civilians.

"I am extremely sorry to say this, but NATO truly disappointed us," Gen. Abdul Fatah Younis, the opposition's top military official, said Tuesday. "Civilians are being killed every day, including children, women and elderly. If NATO will wait another week, Misrata will be finished. No one will be left alive. Do they want to wait, and watch them die, and let this crime be a shameful disgrace for the international community forever?"

NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm said weather conditions and tactics by Gadhafi regime have hindered their efforts.

In addition to using human shields and hiding equipment in populated areas, pro-Gadhafi forces have started abandoning heavy military equipment in favor of the same kinds of cars and light trucks the rebels travel in, making it difficult for pilots to distinguish rebel convoys from those carrying forces loyal to the regime, van Uhm said.

Weldon, the former U.S. lawmaker, said he hopes to urge Gadhafi to end the bloody struggle.

He says he has a plan that includes a cease-fire on both sides and the withdrawal of government forces from key cities, the creation of a joint interim government run by Libya's current prime minister and the opposition leader and a possibility that Gadhafi's son, Saif, could be part of the election process.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, said Weldon's proposal could lead to serious negotiations.

"The Gadhafi regime itself has presented a position. Their starting position is essentially that Gadhafi and Saif will preside over a democratic transition," Slaughter told CNN's "AC360."

"Congressman Weldon actually says no, maybe Saif would be part of some kind of council, but it would be the rebels in charge of elections and U.N. involvement," she added. "You have to see both of these as opening bids in a negotiation that has not yet actually kind of gotten going."

CNN's Nic Robertson, Reza Sayah, Ben Wedeman, Elise Labott, Jill Dougherty and Yousuf Basil contributed to this report