AU leaders in Benghazi to discuss Kadhafi-approved peace plan with rebels

A team of African leaders was met by protestors in the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi as they arrived to present a peace plan already accepted by Moamer Kadhafi's regime. The rebels say they will study the plan, but are demanding that any ceasefire will require the withdrawal of government troops from the streets. 

Reuters/Zohra Bensemra

On Sunday, South African leader Jacob Zuma said from Tripoli that Kadhafi had accepted proposals put forward by the African Union designed to end the current conflict.

Spokesman for the rebel Transitional National Council, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah said people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and soliders must return to their barracks.

"If people are free to come out and demonstrate inTripoli then that's it," he said. "I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."

The plan includes an immediate ceasefire, the unhindered delivery of foreign aid and a halt to Nato airstrikes.

Nato warplanes destroyed 11 regime tanks on the road to the eastern Libyan town of Ajdabiya and another 14 tanks near Misrata in the west on Sunday. The organisation has been hitting ammunition bunkers and lines of communication to cut off Kadhafi's forces from their supplies.

Loud explosions rocked the battleground town of Adjabiya for a second day on Sunday as rebel fighters advanced cautiously after suffering a major reverse at the hands of loyalist forces.

Meanwhile, rebels claim regime forces killed at least 11 people over the weekend in the third city of Misrata while Nato said it had hit at least 26 regime tanks.