Libya government accepts Chavez plan, Venezuela says

CARACAS (Reuters) - The Libyan government has accepted a plan by its ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is seeking talks to end the uprising in the North African country, a Chavez spokesman said on Thursday.

Reports that Chavez's proposal was being taken seriously by Arab leaders pushed down oil prices after a days-long rally on worries the escalating violence in Libya will hit supplies.

Chavez, who casts himself as an anti-imperial revolutionary, is a close associate of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Some analysts were sceptical Chavez can bring any immediate end to fighting in Libya, where Gaddafi faces an increasingly organized rebel army.

Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in Chavez's proposal to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.

"Libya accepts the proposal to work for a negotiated end to the conflict accompanied by an international commission," Izarra told Reuters. "Venezuela will continue its contacts in the Arab world and elsewhere to find formulas for peace."

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that the Chavez government hoped soon to form a commission to talk to Gaddafi's government and the opposition.

Chavez says he believes Washington exaggerates reports of repression by his friend to justify an invasion of Libya.

Olivier Jakob of Swiss-based research firm Petromatrix said Chavez's proposal was unlikely to be popular with the rebels.

"Chavez's credibility does not fly very high," he said. "The only value of such a proposal is if it offers some honourable way out for the Gaddafi clan. The only value is if it offers a face-saving way out to exile."

Venezuela has been widely mentioned as a possible destination for Gaddafi if he abandons his country after 41 years in power. He visited the South American fellow OPEC member in 2009, donating a Bedouin tent to Chavez, who has a 11,000-seat stadium named after him in Libya.

Earlier, the chairman of the rebel National Libyan Council entirely rejected the concept of talks with Gaddafi. Arab League President Amr Moussa told Reuters the Chavez plan was only under consideration and that it was up to Venezuela to release more details of its substance.

A small group of Venezuelans opposed to Chavez demonstrated outside the Libyan Embassy in Caracas calling the president an apologist for "assassin" Gaddafi.

(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Editing by Bill Trott)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky