Libyan rebels rejected an African Union initiative for a truce accepted by Muammar Gaddafi, and said the only solution was the strongman's ouster, an idea his son called "ridiculous."
The rebel rejection came after NATO chiefs warned that any deal must be "credible and verifiable," and as alliance warplanes were again in action against heavy Muammar Gaddafi weaponry pounding Ajdabiya and Misrata.
A delegation of leaders mandated by the African Union (AU) to stop the fighting in Libya arrived late Monday in the Algerian capital for two days of talks with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, APS news agency reported.
"We are working to find a solution to this complex question and we are continuing our efforts to get out of this crisis," Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was quoted as saying on arrival.
He was accompanied by Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping and Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, APS said. Qaddafi has accepted a proposed "roadmap" calling for an immediate ceasefire, boosted humanitarian aid and dialogue between the two sides, but the insurgents have rejected the plan, saying Qaddafi must go immediately.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also stuck to US demands for Muammar Gaddafi to step down and leave Libya as part of a peaceful transition, but declined to comment on the proposed African Union deal before being fully briefed.
She told a news conference in Washington however that "there needs to be a transition that reflects the will of the Libyan people and the departure of Muammar Gaddafi from power and from Libya."
Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam admitted that it was time for "new blood" in Libya, but called talk of his father stepping down "ridiculous."
"The Libyan Guide (Qaddafi) does not want to control everything. He is at an advanced age. We would like to bring a new elite of young people onto the scene to lead the country and direct local affairs," he told France's BFM TV.
"We need new blood -- that is what we want for the future -- but talk of the Guide leaving is truly ridiculous," he added.
In Benghazi, rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the African initiative did not go far enough.
"From the first day the demand of our people has been the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi and the fall of his regime," he said.
"Muammar Gaddafi and his sons must leave immediately if they want to be safe... Any initiative that does not include the people's demand, the popular demand, essential demand, we cannot possibly recognise."
NATO, meanwhile, said it struck more loyalist targets around Ajdabiya and the besieged port of Misrata on Sunday and Monday, destroying 11 Qaddafi regime tanks and five military vehicles.
The regime warned that any foreign intervention under the pretext of bringing aid into Misrata would be met by "staunch armed resistance," the official JANA news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
Diplomats in Brussels said on Friday that the EU was gearing up to deploy military assets for a humanitarian mission to evacuate wounded from Misrata and deliver food, water and medicine to the city.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that warplanes will keep pounding Libyan forces as long as civilians are at risk.
"I would also like to stress that the guiding principle for us will be how to implement the UN Security Council resolution fully, that is to protect the civilians against any attack," he said.
Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, a spokesman for the rebels' Transitional National Council, welcomed the African Union efforts, but demanded Muammar Gaddafi's overthrow.
"The people must be allowed to go into the streets to express their opinion and the soldiers must return to their barracks," he told AFP.
"If people are free to come out and demonstrate in Tripoli, then that's it. I imagine all of Libya will be liberated within moments."
He also demanded the release of hundreds of people missing since the outbreak of the popular uprising and believed to be held by Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
South African President Jacob Zuma said earlier that Tripoli had accepted the African Union plan for a ceasefire.
"We also in this communique are making a call on NATO to cease the bombings to allow and to give a ceasefire a chance," he said.
The rebels, however, doubted Muammar Gaddafi would adhere to a truce.
"The world has seen these offers of ceasefires before and within 15 minutes (Muammar Gaddafi) starts shooting again," Abdulmolah said.
The rebels have said they would negotiate a political transition to democracy with certain senior regime figures, but only on the condition that he and his sons leave Libya.
Meanwhile, Libya's former foreign minister Mussa Kussa, who is in Britain after defecting from Muammar Gaddafi's regime, told the BBC Monday that the restive nation could become a "new Somalia" if civil war broke out.
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