France: Envoys say Gadhafi 'ready to go'

PARIS, July 13 (UPI) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi sent signals through envoys he is ready to discuss stepping down, French officials said as rebels planned to reclaim a key town.

"Emissaries are telling us: 'Gadhafi is ready to go. Let's talk about it,'" French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Radio France's France Info news radio station.

Juppe did not say who the emissaries were but ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the contacts "say they are coming in the name of Gadhafi," al-Jazeera reported.

Gadhafi has steadfastly refused to leave or give up power since U.S. and NATO forces launched a bombing campaign to support rebels fighting to remove the Libyan leader following his regime's bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.

The U.S. State Department said it could not confirm if Gadhafi was considering stepping down, saying the Gadhafi envoys it communicated with gave mixed messages.

But U.S. officials pointed to rising pressure against his government, in part stemming from the freezing of Libyan and Gadhafi assets.

Opposition fighters, meanwhile, geared up to reclaim the strategic northwestern Libyan town of Gharyan, involved in the early anti-Gadhafi uprising but subdued by government forces March 2.

Senior rebel commanders said they believed an attack could come "within days," The Daily Telegraph of London reported Wednesday.

Rebels had managed to occupy nearby towns but failed to take heavily fortified Gharyan, whose capture would bring them within 50 miles of the capital, Tripoli.

It would also give the opposition control of the main southern road leading to and from the capital, the Telegraph said.

The planned assault would be the most ambitious offensive since the rebels captured Libya's third-largest city of Misurata at the end of May, the newspaper said.

Gharyan is defended by thousands of Khamis Brigade special forces, officially known as the 32nd Reinforced Brigade of the Armed People.

The well-trained and -equipped brigade is commanded by Gadhafi's youngest son, Khamis Gadhafi.

NATO said April 18 its planes bombed and destroyed the Khamis Brigade headquarters near Tripoli.