By Alexander Dziadosz
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil met French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Wednesday as Western powers struggle to break a deadlock in the two-month conflict.
Jalil was expected to ask NATO to increase air strikes but he could also supply a list of names of officials in Tripoli the opposition would be willing to work with if Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi departs, a source close to the Libyan opposition said.
Sarkozy's office said the talks would focus on how to bring about a democratic transition in Libya.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al Obeidi also hinted that Gaddafi's future might be up for negotiation, something the government side has hitherto refused to countenance, and said elections could be held if Western air strikes stopped.
"If the bombing stopped, al Obeidi said, after six months the could be an election supervised by the U.N.," BBC radio reported.
"The foreign minister said the election could cover any issue raised by all Libyans, anything could go on the table, including, he implied, the future of Gaddafi as leader."
BATTLE OF POLITICAL WILLS
Fighting between Gaddafi's forces and rebels appears to have reached a stalemate in eastern Libya on a frontline just west of the strategic road junction at Ajdabiyah.
In the west, the rebels' only major stronghold, Misrata, has been besieged by government troops for more than seven weeks.
Libya's third city, where hundreds are believed to have been killed by shelling and sniper fire by Gaddafi's forces, is the main focus of efforts to protect civilians caught up in Gaddafi's bid to put down a rebellion against his 41-year rule.
Nine weeks after the rebellion broke out, NATO air strikes have failed to halt the bombardment of Misrata and have not gone beyond evening the balance of power between Gaddafi's troops and the rebels in the east.
Many NATO members refuse to go beyond enforcing the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone to attack Gaddafi's forces, despite the urging of France and Britain, and the United States which has largely withdrawn its strike aircraft from the operation.
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden said NATO did not lack the capability to achieve its mission of protecting the civilian population and enforcing the no-fly zone. What it sometimes lacks, he said, is the political will.
"It is totally, thoroughly, completely within the capacity of NATO," he told the Financial Times. "Occasionally other countries lack the will, but this is not about capacity."
The United States' strategic priorities lay elsewhere, notably in neighbouring Egypt, he said.
With no end to the civil war in sight after a month of NATO-led air strikes, Britain is sending military officers to Libya to advise the rebels on organisation and communications. France said it might also send military liaison officers.
Libyan Foreign Minister Obeidi also criticised Britain's decision to send military officers to advise Libyan rebels. "He said that would only prolong the fighting," the BBC said.
MISRATA MISERY
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western air power was allowing the Libyan opposition to refuse to negotiate.
"The U.N. Security Council never aimed to topple the Libyan regime," he said in Belgrade.
The United Nations appealed for a cease-fire in Misrata.
"We have at least 20 verified child deaths and many more injuries due to shrapnel from mortars and tanks and bullet wounds," Marixie Mercado, of the U.N. children's fund UNICEF, told a news briefing in Geneva.
Aid groups say food, medicines and other basic items are in short supply in the city, and tens of thousands of casualties and foreign workers are waiting at the port to be evacuated.
Britain said its Tornado and Typhoon aircraft had attacked three government tanks and an artillery piece around Misrata on Tuesday.
Libyan state television said NATO warplanes had launched air strikes on telecommunication and broadcasting infrastructure in several Libyan cities.
"Telecommunication infrastructure, and radio and television broadcasting stations in several Libyan cities were subject to bombardment by warplanes of the crusader colonial aggression," Al-Libiya reported, without saying when the attacks took place.
NATO says it is only attacking only military targets.
Libyan officials say they are fighting armed militias with ties to al Qaeda bent on destroying the country and deny that government troops are shelling Misrata. The rebels, who draw their support from a broad sector of Libyan society, say they want to set up a democratic, secular system with free elections.
(Additional reporting by Ashraf Fahim in Benghazi, Mussab Al-Khairalla in Tripoli, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Souhail Karam in Rabat; Writing by Janet Lawrence; Editing by Angus MacSwan)