4:40pm UK, Saturday April 30, 2011

Mark Stone, in Tripoli

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says he is prepared to enter a ceasefire and negotiations, provided Nato “stops its planes”.

Colonel Gaddafi says the gate to peace is open

Appearing on state television at 3am local time, he said the ceasefire must involve all sides and not just his forces.

Colonel Gaddafi said he did not intend to step down or leave the country and that Libyans could solve their own problems if the Nato strikes are stopped.

“(Libya) is ready until now to enter a ceasefire … but a ceasefire cannot be from one side,” he said.

“We were the first to welcome a ceasefire and we were the first to accept a ceasefire … but the crusader Nato attack has not stopped. The gate to peace is open.

“You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you. Come, France, Italy, UK, America, come, we will negotiate with you. Why are you attacking us?”

Refugees fleeing the besieged town of Misratah

Foreign Journalists in Tripoli, who are forced to stay in one hotel and adhere to severe government reporting restrictions, were alerted to Gaddafi’s appearance through a bizarre but now familiar tannoy announcement in their rooms shortly before 3am.

“To all journalists…. to all journalists…. the leader is speaking live on state television now,” the announcement said.

Shortly after he started speaking, the sound of explosions could be heard in the city. Nato warplanes bombed two sites close to the television building.

The Libyan government claimed it was another attempt to kill the colonel. Nato has not commented on the intended target.

Following the explosions, another tannoy announcement invited the media to visit the site of the strikes.

A rebel fighter in Misratah

Sky News was taken to the bomb site this morning. We were told that the damaged building was the Ministry of Women and Children. It had a school for disabled children attached to it which was also damaged.

There was also evidence of communications aerials at the site. The government claimed these were simply for internet access. We have no way of independently verifying their use.

Previous calls for a ceasefire by the Gaddafi regime have either not been implemented or have been broken within hours.

But Colonel Gaddafi’s tone in this latest speech was less hardline.

He called for the rebels to lay down their weapons and said that Libyans should not be fighting each other. In previous speeches he had promised that the rebel “rats” would be hunted down “street-to-street”.

A Nato attack on the capital Tripoli earlier in the month

Poorly armed and trained opposition groups have been fighting since mid-February to end Gaddafi’s 41-year rule. Their attempts to push westwards from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi have repeatedly failed.

Intense but isolated fighting has continued in Misratah, Libya’s third city, for more than two months. Yesterday, a government spokesman claimed that the city was now “almost completely under our control”.

The spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, would not comment on Nato claims that the Libyan military has laid sea mines in the port but, he said, no ships would be allowed entry without first coordinating with the government.

The port is used to evacuate wounded to the eastern rebel capital of Benghazi.

Ibrahim echoed the words of Colonel Gaddafi, calling for rebels across the country to surrender. He offered a pardon to all those who lay down their weapons and surrender by Tuesday.

He said that anyone who surrenders will be “forgiven, reintegrated into society, offered physical and psychological help if they need it”.