NATO rejects Gaddafi ceasefire call

In an early-morning speech on state television, the Libyan leader said NATO "must abandon all hope of his departure.

"I have no official functions to give up: I will not leave my country and will fight to the death," he said, but also added a conciliatory note.

"We are ready to talk with France and the United States, but with no preconditions," Kadhafi said.

"We will not surrender, but I call on you to negotiate. If you want petrol, we will sign contracts with your companies -- it is not worth going to war over.

"Between Libyans, we can solve our problems without being attacked, so pull back your fleets and your planes," he told NATO.

Kadhafi said the rebels battling his forces "are terrorists who are not from Libya, but from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Afghanistan."

He also insisted his people love him, that he is like a father to them -- "more sacred than the emperor of Japan is to his people."

His call for talks was dismissed by the opposition Transitional National Council, which has shaped itself into a parallel government in the eastern city of Benghazi, and by NATO.

"The time for compromise has passed," said TNC vice chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga.

"The people of Libya cannot possibly envisage or accept a future Libya in which Kadhafi's regime plays any role," he added.

In Brussels, a NATO official also rejected the offer of talks.

"We need to see not words but actions," the official told reporters.

UN Security Council Resolution "1973 explicitly calls for an end to attacks on and abuses of civilians. The regime has announced ceasefires several times before and continued attacking cities and civilians," the official said.

On the ground, witnesses reported two loud blasts at dawn in eastern Tripoli after Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, vowed yesterday that Libya will "fight NATO for 40 years" if necessary.

"We will not raise the white flag of surrender," he said on a tour of hospitals to visit people wounded in NATO bombardments.

And the regime threatened to attack any ships trying to enter the lifeline rebel-held port of Misrata, after tanks launched an assault on the city some 215 kilometres (130 miles) east of Tripoli.

Misrata's port is a crucial conduit for humanitarian aid to the city of half a million, which Gaddafi’s forces have been trying to capture for more than seven weeks.

The fighting in Misrata has intensified 10 weeks after government forces launched a deadly crackdown on protests inspired by regime-changing movements in Tunisia and Egypt.

Fierce fighting erupted around the city's airport on Saturday morning after several hours of relative calm overnight.

Loud blasts and heavy machine-gun fire were heard from the direction of the airport after rebels said they destroyed at least four regime tanks advancing from the area.

The Gaddafi regime said later it would attack "with force" any ship entering Misrata port.

State television also said the military had "put the port out of service," and that delivery of humanitarian aid to Misrata should now be carried out "overland and under the supervision of the armed forces."

British Brigadier Rob Weighill, director of NATO operations in Libya, said NATO warships stopped Gaddafi forces from laying mines in Misrata harbour on Friday.

"Our ships intercepted the small boats that were laying them and we are disposing the mines that we found," Weighill said at his headquarters in Naples, Italy.

"It again shows his complete disregard for international law and his willingness to attack humanitarian delivery efforts," he said of Gaddafi.

Italian Navy Vice Admiral Rinaldo Veri said the "mining of a civilian port ... is clearly designed to disrupt the lawful flow of humanitarian aid to the innocent civilian people of Libya," calling it another "deliberate violation" of Security Council resolutions.

The International Organisation for Migration said in Geneva on Saturday an IOM ship to evacuate refugees was staying out to sea for the moment.

"The ship is 12 miles off Misrata. We are not going in for the moment," said a spokesman. "We are waiting to get clearance to go in."

In Washington, the State Department said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would attend a Libya Contact Group meeting in Rome on May 4-6 to discuss how to help the rebels and protect civilians.

The group is composed of Western countries, Turkey, Arab states, the United Nations, the Arab League and NATO.

Medics in Misrata reported at least five people killed in the city on Friday and many more wounded.

The airport battle, just southwest of the city limits, followed barrages of rocket and mortar fire on the city.

Forces loyal to Gaddafi, who has been in power for more than four decades, were pushed back from Misrata by the rebels and NATO air strikes on Monday, but remained within rocket range of the city.

The rebels said earlier in the week they had secured the port and that their next objective was the airport.

In western Libya, NATO said its warplanes would focus on regime forces threatening the towns of Zintan and Yefren, scenes of heavy fighting.

Meanwhile, rebels were expecting a new Gaddafi offensive for control of the Dehiba border crossing into Tunisia, witnesses said on Saturday, a day after they retook it from loyalists in fierce fighting.