It's an offer that diplomats hope Muammar Gaddafi's family and top aides can't refuse: If they publicly withdraw support for the Libyan dictator's regime, the restrictions on their assets and travel plans could be made to vanish.
The US Treasury and Britain's Foreign Office have spelled out the details of the proposal, and discussions are now under way at the European Union ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers next week.
Talks on the proposed deal will also take place among UN Security Council members if any of those named under UN sanctions flee from Libya and renounce Gaddafi.
Gaddafi's seven sons, a wife, his daughter, two cousins and other allies who have served him for much of his rule are all being given a chance to escape international blacklists and reclaim billions of dollars of seized funds.
But some critics recoil at the thought, wondering whether the incentives will set a bad precedent for giving billions back to possible plunderers or even if the measures will work to oust Gaddafi.
The offer came as Gaddafi's forces unleashed a withering bombardment on the rebels outside a key oil town Tuesday and a US envoy met with the rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi in a possible step toward diplomatic recognition.
The EU will decide next week whether to lift a travel ban and asset freeze imposed on Moussa Koussa, the former Libyan foreign minister who escaped from Tripoli last week, flew into Britain and is now providing information to intelligence officers and government officials in the UK.
"There are talks going on this week ahead of meetings in Europe next week," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.
The US Treasury on Monday removed sanctions it had imposed against Koussa, saying lifting the measures "should encourage others within the Libyan government to make similar decisions to abandon the Gaddafi regime."
It's likely that EU diplomats will also discuss how to handle other potential defectors attracted by the terms of the international community's deal.
Details of the assets each individual Libyan has had seized have not been disclosed by the UN or the EU, and officials are still checking the details of bank accounts, stocks and properties that regime insiders own.
Yet Britain's treasury said, so far, it calculates those named under the sanctions hold assets worth about 12 billion pounds ($20 billion) inside the UK.
The Netherlands said it has frozen 3.1 billion ($4.5 billion) in Libyan assets, and Sweden estimates that Libyan assets there are worth around 10 billion kronor ($1.6 billion).
Despite the international offer,British Foreign Secretary William Hague has insisted that no members of Gaddafi's regime will be granted immunity from prosecution for past crimes - even if they help topple Gaddafi.
But others suggest Koussa might win leniency.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, wants to interview Koussa for his investigation into possible atrocities in Libya, and has named Gaddafi and Koussa as possible suspects responsible for crimes against humanity.
Scottish authorities will interview Koussa in the next few days over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. And in France, families of those killed when a French plane was blown up in 1989 over Niger - killing all 170 people aboard - have demanded that Koussa also answer questions about that attack.
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