PARIS, July 11 (UPI) -- France Monday denied a claim by Moammar Gadhafi's son that it is negotiating directly with his regime, but has called for flexibility from the rebels.
The dictator's son, Saif al-Islam, told the Algerian newspaper al-Khabar: "The truth is that we are negotiating with France and not with the rebels. … France said: 'When we reach an agreement with you, we will force the [rebel Transitional National] council to cease fire.'"
On France's BFM-TV Sunday, Defense Minister Gerard Longuet called on the Benghazi-based rebels to talk to the government in Tripoli.
"We have … asked them to speak to each other," he said. "The position of the TNC is very far from other positions. Now, there will be a need to sit around a table."
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Gadhafi's chief of staff, Bashir Saleh, reportedly met French officials in Paris recently.
But The Guardian reported that Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Monday: "France supports a political solution, as it has always said. There are no direct negotiations between France and the Gadhafi regime, though we pass on messages together in consultation with the TNC."
Guma el-Gamaty, a TNC spokesman in London, said: "Saif is a loose cannon at the moment. He is desperate. No one should take his statements seriously."
Hamed Amer Hagheg, a rebel commander in the western mountains, told The Daily Telegraph: "The only political solution is that Gadhafi and his family leave power. We appreciate [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy's position as he supported the Libyans. But it is the Libyans who started the uprising, not the French. Even without his help we will continue to pursue Gadhafi."
The U.S. State Department responded to Longuet's remarks by saying: "The Libyan people will be the ones to decide how this transition takes place, but we stand firm in our belief that Gadhafi cannot remain in power."
