Libya’s ruler Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a Venezuelan proposal to seek a negotiated solution to the crisis in the country as the opposition fighters brush aside the offer.

Libya’s ruler Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a Venezuelan proposal to seek a negotiated solution to the crisis in the country as the opposition fighters brush aside the offer.

A spokesman for President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday that the Libyan government has accepted a plan by Venezuela to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict in the north African country.

Information minister Andres Izarra also confirmed the Arab League had shown interest in the Chavez plan to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya.
Chavez offered Thursday to mediate the crisis roiling Libya, saying its longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi was interested.

Chavez first floated the idea Monday of putting together an international peace mission in a bid to reach a settlement that would avert a civil war.
The leftist ruler insisted late Thursday that his proposal was solid, and warned that oil prices would rise beyond $200 a barrel if the conflict intensifies.

The Venezuelan leader said that he managed to speak with Kadhafi briefly on Monday and asked him whether he was ready to receive a multinational delegation in Libya.

Gaddafi responded: "Look, Chavez, not only countries, I hope the United Nations itself comes to see the truth of what is going on," according to the Venezuelan leader.
Speaking at a political event, Chavez also said he spoke with "several presidents" of Africa and Latin America about the idea.

OPPOSITION STANCE
On the other hand, opposition rejected the offer saying it was too late.
A spokesman for the opposition's self-declared national council set up in the eastern city of Benghazi, Mustafa Gheriani told AFP news agency: “We have a very clear statement. It's too late. Too much blood has been spilled.”

For its part, the Arab League said it was "studying" the offer. But a source there said a response to Chavez's proposal would have to be carefully considered.
"There is no rejection and there is no acceptance right now," the source said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley dismissed the idea. "You don't need an international commission to tell Colonel Gaddafi what he needs to do for the good of his country and the good of his people," he said.

OBAMA: GADDAFI MUST LEAVE
US President Barack Obama has insisted that Gaddafi "step down from power and leave," his most explicit statement of support for opposition fighters challenging Gaddafi's four-decade rule in a region convulsed by uprisings against authoritarian regimes.
"We will continue to send a clear message: The violence must stop. Muammar Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead and he must leave," Obama said at a White House news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday.

Obama also appeared to suggest that Gaddafi loyalists switch sides in support of the revolutionaries.
"Those around him have to understand that violence that they perpetrate against innocent civilians will be monitored and they will be held accountable for it," Obama said. "And so to the extent that they are making calculations in their own minds about which way history is moving, they should know history is moving against Colonel Gaddafi."