[Al Jazeera] Secret channels are being opened between the Libyan government of Muammar Qadaffy and British citizens with a view to ending the conflict, sources have told Al Jizz.But don't tell anyone because it's a secret...
Abdelati al-Obeidi, the Libyan deputy foreign minister, who has been leading the government's diplomacy after Musa Kousa, the foreign minister, defected, gave hints on Saturday to Al Jizz's James Bays about the secret talks to end the war.
The Al Jizz correspondent, who spoke to al-Obeidi on a flight to the southern Tunisian town of Djerba, said the Libyan official was quite guarded in his approach and said that "he really was not authorised to tell me what had taken place at this meeting".
He wasn't even authorized to tell you that he existed...
"The deputy foreign minister did admit that he had come for talks which have been taking place with British citizens. He could not say what the talks were about but did say it was an exchange of views and a channel of communication being opened by them," he said.
Though he denied that there was any talk of an exit strategy for Qadaffy, he said the government was willing to talk to the opposition in Benghazi, our correspondent said.
He quoted al-Obeidi as saying: "We want to end this war and we want to end soon."
With themselves still on top, of course...
"It is an indication of British agenda playing quite a leading role here, and in this behind-the-scene process, probably British diplomats or members of MI6 may have been involved. Remember they [MI6] were also involved in Kousa's defection about two months ago," our correspondent said.