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A former Libyan prime minister said Muammar Qaddafi’s regime is open to talks with the U.S., France and the U.K.nike running shoes online to find an end to the conflict there as rebels advanced after calling for a cease-fire.

“We are trying to talk to the British, the French and the Americans to stop the killing of people,” Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, told Britain’s Channel 4 News yesterday. “We are trying to find a mutual solution,”

Libyan rebels recaptured the oil city of Brega as allied warplanes bombed targets in the port, Al-Jazeera reported, citing witnesses. Libyan rebels have appointed the nation’s former interior minister, Abdel Fattah Younis, as the head of the insurgency’s military efforts, Al-Jazeera reported yesterday, without saying how it obtained the information.

In London, Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to one of Qaddafi’s sons, has held talks with British authorities in recent days, the New York Times reported, citing an unidentified friend of the aide.

British officials also are interviewing Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister and former intelligence chief who flew to London on March 30. Koussa may offer extensive knowledge of three decades of terrorist acts and the finances of Qaddafi’s regime.

Koussa’s Secrets

“He certainly knows backward and forward what Libyan intelligence has been doing for the last several decades,” said Bruce Riedel, a former U.S. intelligence officer who negotiated with Koussa to dismantle Libya’s nuclear and chemical weapons programs.

As a condition of the cease-fire, Libyan rebels called for Qaddafi’s fighters to retreat from cities and nearby areas, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the rebel Interim National Council, said in a news conference televised yesterday from the insurgent stronghold of Benghazi.

He said rebel demands for freedoms must also be met. There was no immediate response to the offer from Qaddafi officials. Al Arabiya reported that the Libyan government rejected the offer.

The rebels’ call for a cease-fire comes one day after Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. attack aircraft won’t be flying with NATO forces over Libya after April 2. Mullen said the warplanes would be made available only when requested by NATO. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Congress the U.S. will “significantly ramp down our commitment” to Libya except for electronic warfare, aerial refueling and surveillance. shoes Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals

Qatar Oil Deal

An agreement for Qatar to market oil from territory held by Libyan rebels covers crude from the country’s southeast and excludes the areas of Brega and Ras Lanuf, said Ali Tarhuni, a member of the rebel council responsible for oil and economics, at a press conference in Benghazi.

Crude oil fluctuated after climbing to a 30-month high in New York. Futures rose above $107 a barrel for the first time since 2008. Crude oil for May delivery rose $1.22 cents to $107.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is up 26 percent from a year ago.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said in a statement it has 205 alliance jets and 21 naval vessels involved in the Libya operation.

Allied Strike

Early today, Al-Jazeera reported that 13 rebels were killed when their convoy was mistakenly hit by allied bombing in West Ajdabiya.

A Libyan government spokesman, Mussa Ibrahim, said yesterday that the coalition air strikes constituted a “crime against humanity,” saying at least six civilians were killed in an attack on a village in the east of the country, Reuters reported from Tripoli. Mussa said six civilians were killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a village near Brega on March 31.

There was heavy fighting yesterday in the western city of Misrata, residents said.

“A number of tank shells were fired at the port area of the city in the afternoon and the rebels inside responded to the attacks,” Reda Almountasser said in the telephone interview from the city, whose residents rose up against Qaddafi and have defied efforts by his forces to regain control.

Hospitals in Misrata are “reportedly overflowing with severely injured patients,” Doctors Without Borders said in an e-mailed statement.

Arms Deliveries

Rebel leader Abdel Jalil said opposition forces would request arms deliveries if Qaddafi loyalists continue to attack. cheap nike mens sandals

“Our aim for a cease-fire is primarily to end Libyan bloodshed, but the Qaddafi regime will have to leave,” he said. “We’re confident of our forces and resolve to unseat Qaddafi’s regime.”

The conflict in Libya, which began as a wave of anti- government protests similar to those in Egypt and Tunisia, escalated into armed conflict as the country’s army split and some soldiers joined the rebels.

U.K. and U.S. officials say Koussa’s defection is evidence Qaddafi’s regime is in disarray.

While dozens of Libyan diplomats have quit since the uprising against Qaddafi began, Koussa is one of the most senior officials to flee. Libya’s former deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said more diplomats and senior-ranking Libyans are likely to defect from the Qaddafi regime “within days,” Sky News reported, adding that as many as 10 top Libyan officials may abandon the regime.