A DELEGATION OF African leaders have said that their Libyan counterpart, Muammar Gaddafi has accepted their “road map” for a ceasefire with rebels, whom they will meet Monday.

They met hours after NATO airstrikes battered Gaddafi’s tanks, helping Libyan rebels push back government troops who had been advancing quickly toward the opposition’s eastern stronghold.

The African Union’s road map calls for an immediate cease-fire, cooperation in opening channels for humanitarian aid and starting a dialogue between the rebels and the government.

AU officials, however, made no mention of any requirement for Gaddafi to pull his troops out of cities as rebels have demanded or to step down after 41-years of rule.

South African President Jacob Zuma said:

We have completed our mission with the brother leader, and the brother leader’s delegation has accepted the road map as presented by us.

Gaddafi has ignored the cease-fire he announced after international airstrikes were authorized last month, and he rejects demands from the rebels, the U.S. and its European allies that he relinquish power immediately.

Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria, the head of the AU’s Peace and Security Council, said the demand to give up power was brought up in Sunday’s talks with the Libyan leader:

There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential. It’s up to the Libyan people to chose their leaders democratically.

Gaddafi enjoys substantial support from countries of the AU, an organization that he chaired two years ago and helped transform using Libya’s oil wealth.

So it is not clear whether rebels would accept the AU as a fair broker.

Separately, a rebel battlefield commander said four airstrikes Sunday largely stopped heavy shelling by government forces of the eastern city of Ajdabiya — a critical gateway to the opposition’s de facto capital of Benghazi.

NATO’s leader of the operation said the airstrikes destroyed 11 tanks near Ajdabiya and another 14 near Misrata, the only city rebels still hold in the western half of Libya.

Over the past few days, Gaddafi’s forces have been knocking the rebels back eastward in their most sustained offensive since international airstrikes drove them back last month.

If they had taken Ajdabiya, they would have had a clear path to opposition territory including Benghazi, about 160 kilometres away along the coast.

- AP