South African President Jacob Zuma says Muammar Gaddafi is ready to implement an African Union plan to end the Libyan conflict, but has not said Gaddafi is ready to step down - which is the central demand of the rebels.
Zuma, representing the African regional group, held talks with the Libyan leader on Monday as NATO insisted that Gaddafi's "reign of terror" was nearing an end.
"He is ready to implement the road map of the AU," Zuma told journalists in comments broadcast on South African and Libyan television.
It would begin with a ceasefire that must include a halt of NATO bombing, Zuma said.
But the South African mediator did not publicly discuss the key obstacle: Gaddafi's departure.
Zuma listed familiar Gaddafi conditions that have scuttled previous ceasefire efforts, and said Gaddafi insisted that "all Libyans be given a chance to talk among themselves" to determine the country's future.
The rebels quickly rejected the offer and reiterated they would not accept a settlement that kept Gaddafi in power.
"We refuse completely, we don't consider it a political initiative, it is only some stuff that Gaddafi wants to announce to stay in power," rebel Foreign Minister Fathi Baja told The Associated Press in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital.
He said he believed Zuma was in Tripoli to negotiate an exit strategy for Gaddafi, though Zuma's office denied that.
Baja also said the rebels would launch an offensive against Gaddafi soon.
Zuma arrived in Tripoli shortly after state media said NATO-led air strikes on the town of Zliten, west of the rebel-held city of Misrata, had killed 11 people.
The South African presidency said Zuma was seeking an immediate ceasefire, to boost humanitarian aid and bring about the reforms needed to eliminate the cause of the conflict which erupted amid anti-regime protests in mid-February.
Libyan state television said Zuma would discuss implementing the AU "roadmap" for peace, as it reported NATO-led raids on the Nafusa mountains in the far west and the town of Bani Walid, near Misrata.
Zuma was greeted with all the requisite fanfare by Gaddafi's beleaguered regime. Dozens of Gaddafi supporters, bused in for the welcoming, waved green Libyan flags and chanted slogans denouncing the NATO bombing campaign against Libyan government targets.
NATO temporarily lifted its no-fly zone over Libya to allow Zuma's South African air force plane to land at the main military air base next to Tripoli.
Libyan state television reported fresh NATO air raids overnight Monday to Tuesday against targets in Tripoli, the suburb of Tajura and Al-Jafra, a city to the south of the capital.
The report, on Jamahiriya TV, cited a military source as saying that "NATO colonialist crusaders" had targeted military and civilian sites in Tripoli and Tajura, causing deaths and damage.
From the centre of Tripoli, which NATO warplanes have been attacking for several weeks now, warplanes were seen flying overhead and distant explosions were heard about midnight local time (0800 AEST Tuesday).
Jamahiriya TV also said there had been air raids on civilian and military sites in the city of Al-Jafra, 600 kilometres south of the capital.
Zuma said that NATO raids were undermining African mediation efforts.
"Even going there had to be delayed because of bombing," he said in apparent reference to an initial AU mission to Libya.
"We only went there long after the time that we had taken a decision, and even going there, you have to ask permission from the NATO to get to Libya."
In Rome on Monday, an indication that Gaddafi's regime is losing support came from eight top Libyan army officers, including five generals, who defected from Gaddafi's military.
They appealed to their fellow officers to join the revolt.
Several senior officials, including at least three cabinet ministers, have abandoned Gaddafi during the uprising that began in February.
At a meeting of NATO's parliamentary assembly in Bulgaria, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted: "Gaddafi's reign of terror is coming to an end.
"He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting... It is time for Gaddafi to go as well," Rasmussen said.
