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LONDON – A Libyan government aide has held talks in Britain with U.K. officials in recent days and was told that Moammar Gadhafi must quit, two people familiar with the issue said Friday.
Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, met with and also spoke by phone to British officials, who repeated to him their public calls for the Libyan leader to step down.
Two people familiar with the matter, who both demanded anonymity to discuss details, said Ismail had been in Britain to visit relatives, and that, when officials became aware of this, they took the opportunity to speak with him.
Both insisted that Ismail had not been sent to London on a mission mandated by Moammar Gadhafi, nor was he in the U.K. in an attempt to open up a new channel of communication between Tripoli and the West.
Ismail has returned to Libya following his visit earlier this week.
Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, Steve Field, said Britain has been in contact with a number of Libyan officials over recent weeks, though he declined to give specific details.
"We are sending them all one very clear message, which is that Gadhafi must go," he told reporters.
Field stressed that Britain had not been involved in negotiating any possible trade-offs aimed at sealing Gadhafi's exit from power. "There are no deals," he said.
Officials continued Friday to debrief Libya's ex-foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who fled Tripoli and flew to England on Wednesday.
Koussa, 62, is the highest ranking member of Gadhafi's regime to quit so far and had been a longtime aide throughout the tyrant's 42-year rule.
Cameron said Koussa's decision to abandon Tripoli showed "fear right at the very top of the crumbling and rotten Gadhafi regime."
But others aren't so sure.
Koussa's roles as foreign policy and intelligence chief — and his involvement during the 1990s in the West's efforts to persuade Libya to renounce violence and end its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction — meant he had regular dealings with U.K. and U.S. officials.
Some analysts suggested his familiarity with Western officials means he may have been readier than others to abandon Gadhafi.
David Solomont, the U.S. ambassador in Spain, acknowledged there appeared to be "a volatile situation" within Gadhafi's inner circle. "I think he is becoming increasingly more isolated in his own country," Solomont told reporters in Madrid on Friday.
The U.S. National Security Council said they hoped Koussa would provide key intelligence on Gadhafi's military might and state of mind. Cameron's office declined to comment on how talks have progressed so far.
A second senior Libyan official, Ali Abdel Salam al-Treki — Libya's former envoy to the U.N. and also a former foreign minister — announced he had quit Thursday.
But in a telephone interview Friday with Libyan state TV, the country's current intelligence chief Bouzeid Dorda denied he had defected.
Scottish prosecutors are planning to interview Koussa over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people — most of them Americans. Libya acknowledged responsibility for the terrorist attack in 2003, and authorities in Scotland believe Koussa may hold vital information on who ordered to plot.
Families of those killed when a French plane was blown up in 1989 over Niger — killing all 170 people aboard — also said they hope Koussa can be questioned.
Six Libyans, including a brother-in-law of Gadhafi, were convicted in absentia for their roles in the bombing and Libya agreed to pay $170 million in compensation, though stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.
Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, met with and also spoke by phone to British officials, who repeated to him their public calls for the Libyan leader to step down.
Two people familiar with the matter, who both demanded anonymity to discuss details, said Ismail had been in Britain to visit relatives, and that, when officials became aware of this, they took the opportunity to speak with him.
Both insisted that Ismail had not been sent to London on a mission mandated by Moammar Gadhafi, nor was he in the U.K. in an attempt to open up a new channel of communication between Tripoli and the West.
Ismail has returned to Libya following his visit earlier this week.
Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, Steve Field, said Britain has been in contact with a number of Libyan officials over recent weeks, though he declined to give specific details.
"We are sending them all one very clear message, which is that Gadhafi must go," he told reporters.
Field stressed that Britain had not been involved in negotiating any possible trade-offs aimed at sealing Gadhafi's exit from power. "There are no deals," he said.
Officials continued Friday to debrief Libya's ex-foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, who fled Tripoli and flew to England on Wednesday.
Koussa, 62, is the highest ranking member of Gadhafi's regime to quit so far and had been a longtime aide throughout the tyrant's 42-year rule.
Cameron said Koussa's decision to abandon Tripoli showed "fear right at the very top of the crumbling and rotten Gadhafi regime."
But others aren't so sure.
Koussa's roles as foreign policy and intelligence chief — and his involvement during the 1990s in the West's efforts to persuade Libya to renounce violence and end its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction — meant he had regular dealings with U.K. and U.S. officials.
Some analysts suggested his familiarity with Western officials means he may have been readier than others to abandon Gadhafi.
David Solomont, the U.S. ambassador in Spain, acknowledged there appeared to be "a volatile situation" within Gadhafi's inner circle. "I think he is becoming increasingly more isolated in his own country," Solomont told reporters in Madrid on Friday.
The U.S. National Security Council said they hoped Koussa would provide key intelligence on Gadhafi's military might and state of mind. Cameron's office declined to comment on how talks have progressed so far.
A second senior Libyan official, Ali Abdel Salam al-Treki — Libya's former envoy to the U.N. and also a former foreign minister — announced he had quit Thursday.
But in a telephone interview Friday with Libyan state TV, the country's current intelligence chief Bouzeid Dorda denied he had defected.
Scottish prosecutors are planning to interview Koussa over the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people — most of them Americans. Libya acknowledged responsibility for the terrorist attack in 2003, and authorities in Scotland believe Koussa may hold vital information on who ordered to plot.
Families of those killed when a French plane was blown up in 1989 over Niger — killing all 170 people aboard — also said they hope Koussa can be questioned.
Six Libyans, including a brother-in-law of Gadhafi, were convicted in absentia for their roles in the bombing and Libya agreed to pay $170 million in compensation, though stopped short of acknowledging responsibility.
