Gaddafi's son holds out offer of elections

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Source: Reuters Africa

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi is willing to hold elections and step aside if he lost, his son said on Thursday, an offer unlikely to placate his opponents but which could test the unity of the Western alliance trying to force him out.

The proposal -- which follows a string of concessions offered by the Libyan leader that Western powers have dismissed as ploys -- comes at a time when frustration is mounting in some NATO states at the progress of the military campaign.

Four months into Libya's conflict, rebel advances towards Tripoli are slow at best, while weeks of NATO air strikes pounding Gaddafi's compound and other targets have failed to end his 41-year-old rule over the oil-producing country.

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"They (elections) could be held within three months. At the maximum by the end of the year, and the guarantee of transparency could be the presence of international observers," Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE75F01C20110616