Calls for Kadhafi departure 'immoral': Libya govt

TRIPOLI: Calls for the departure of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi are morally wrong, a government spokesman said Thursday, while dismissing an international meeting on the North African country in Rome.

"They are saying to the Libyans, 'You do not know what is good for you. We are going to take the bad choices out for you and leave you with only the good choices, so you will not make a mistake," Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in Tripoli, referring to calls for Kadhafi to go. "It is wrong, morally, legally and logically, to condition the Libyan choice."

And he dismissed the meeting of the International Contact Group on Libya in Rome, saying the world should instead be listening to a large gathering of Libyan tribal leaders on Thursday in Tripoli.

"The world needs to listen to the tribes of Libya, not to the people meeting in Rome," he said. "What voice is more important, (US Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton's voice or the voice of 2,000 tribal leaders of Libya," he asked.

Clinton called in Rome for world powers to increase Kadhafi's isolation, including by refusing visits from his envoys "unless they are defecting or seeking serious discussions about Kadhafi's departure."

The contact group agreed on a new fund to aid Libya's rebels, with the US and Europe promising to tap frozen Kadhafi assets.

The tribal leaders, whom Ibrahim said represented some 850 tribes including those from the rebel-held east, packed a massive tent in Tripoli for speeches by representatives of various regions of the country. The representatives generally called for Libyan unity and national dialogue, along with varying degrees of praise for the Kadhafi regime and criticism of NATO, which took command of strikes against government forces on March 31.

Abed Saleh Abu Hamada of the Magharib tribe, representing the east, emphasised unity in his speech, calling "our armed brothers in the east to dialogue" and urging "national unity from east to west."

His remarks received the strongest response from the audience, who reacted with applause and shouts of "no east, no west."

Mahmud Mohammed Ali, the representative for the south, made the same point as Ibrahim. "Obama, Sarkozy and others ... who are you to decide that (Kadhafi) has to leave his country," Ali said, in reference to the US and French presidents.

While various speakers referred to the need for national dialogue, the prospects for talks are dubious given the sharp divisions in the country. The meeting of tribal leaders is to last at least through Friday, and possibly longer.

Massive protests in February -- inspired by revolts that toppled long-time autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt -- escalated into war when Kadhafi's troops fired on demonstrators and protesters seized several eastern towns. (AFP)