system loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled the besieged town of Misrata yesterday after the African Union said he had accepted a plan to end Libya's civil war.
Al Jazeera television quoted a rebel spokesman as saying five people died and 20 were wounded in Misrata, a lone rebel bastion in western Libya, which has been under siege for more than six weeks.
Rebels in Misrata told Reuters Gaddafi's forces fired Russian-made Grad rockets into the town, where conditions for civilians are said to be desperate.
The insurgents said they would accept no plan that allowed Gaddafi to stay in power and prepared to advance on the eastern front after repelling a major government assault on Sunday against their town of Ajdabiyah.
Prospects for a ceasefire looked remote.
South African President Jacob Zuma, head of an AU peace mission, said early on yesterday that Gaddafi had accepted a peace "road map," including a ceasefire, after talks in Tripoli.
A spokesman in the rebel capital of Benghazi said the opposition would look at the plan but Gaddafi must end his 41-year rule.
"The Libyan people have made it very clear that Gaddafi must step down, but we will consider the proposal once we have more details, and respond," spokesman Mustafa Gheriani told Reuters.
Libyan officials have repeatedly said that Gaddafi, who holds no official state position, will not quit.
The AU delegation went to Benghazi to confer with rebel leaders yesterday and was met by more than 2,000 demonstrators holding banners reading: "African Union take Gaddafi with you" and "Gaddafi has committed genocide."
Officials from Nato, which is bombing Libyan government armor under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, said they took note of the AU proposal but the alliance would continue operations while civilians were at risk.
"It does not appear that this indication of a peace deal has any substance at this point," said one Nato official in reference to the shelling of Misrata.
The African Union does not have a good track record in brokering peace deals, having failed recently to end conflict or disputes in Somalia, Madagascar and Ivory Coast.
"The issue of Gaddafi stepping down from any political position is a closed issue ... Muammar Gaddafi does not hold a position of power," Abdel Monem al-Lamoushi, a government spokesman, told Al Arabiya television.
"No one has the right to send Muammar Gaddafi into exile out of the land of his forefathers. This man will not leave Libya."
At the front outside the eastern rebel city of Ajdabiyah, rebels buried the charred bodies of Gaddafi troops killed in air strikes and said they had been ordered to wait until noon to advance because new Nato bombing was expected .
Al Jazeera television quoted a rebel spokesman as saying five people died and 20 were wounded in Misrata, a lone rebel bastion in western Libya, which has been under siege for more than six weeks.
Rebels in Misrata told Reuters Gaddafi's forces fired Russian-made Grad rockets into the town, where conditions for civilians are said to be desperate.
The insurgents said they would accept no plan that allowed Gaddafi to stay in power and prepared to advance on the eastern front after repelling a major government assault on Sunday against their town of Ajdabiyah.
Prospects for a ceasefire looked remote.
South African President Jacob Zuma, head of an AU peace mission, said early on yesterday that Gaddafi had accepted a peace "road map," including a ceasefire, after talks in Tripoli.
A spokesman in the rebel capital of Benghazi said the opposition would look at the plan but Gaddafi must end his 41-year rule.
"The Libyan people have made it very clear that Gaddafi must step down, but we will consider the proposal once we have more details, and respond," spokesman Mustafa Gheriani told Reuters.
Libyan officials have repeatedly said that Gaddafi, who holds no official state position, will not quit.
The AU delegation went to Benghazi to confer with rebel leaders yesterday and was met by more than 2,000 demonstrators holding banners reading: "African Union take Gaddafi with you" and "Gaddafi has committed genocide."
Officials from Nato, which is bombing Libyan government armor under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, said they took note of the AU proposal but the alliance would continue operations while civilians were at risk.
"It does not appear that this indication of a peace deal has any substance at this point," said one Nato official in reference to the shelling of Misrata.
The African Union does not have a good track record in brokering peace deals, having failed recently to end conflict or disputes in Somalia, Madagascar and Ivory Coast.
"The issue of Gaddafi stepping down from any political position is a closed issue ... Muammar Gaddafi does not hold a position of power," Abdel Monem al-Lamoushi, a government spokesman, told Al Arabiya television.
"No one has the right to send Muammar Gaddafi into exile out of the land of his forefathers. This man will not leave Libya."
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