Gaddafi calls for negotiation with NATO***

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TRIPOLI, Apr 30 (agencies): Libyan leader Muammar al- Gaddafi said Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire and negotiations provided NATO "stop its planes," but he refused to give up power as rebels and Western powers demand. In an early-morning speech on Libyan television, the Libyan leader said NATO "must abandon all hope of the departure of Gaddafi. "I have no official functions to give up: I will not leave my country and will fight to the death," he said, but also added a conciliatory note. "We are ready to talk with France and the United States, but with no preconditions," Gaddafi said. "We will not surrender, but I call on you to negotiate. If you want petrol, we will sign contracts with your companies-it is not worth going to war over. "Between Libyans, we can solve our problems without being attacked, so pull back your fleets and your planes," he told NATO. The veteran strongman insisted that the rebels battling his forces "are terrorists who are not from Libya, but from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Afghanistan." He also said that his people love him, that he is sacred and like a father to them-"more sacred than the emperor of Japan is to his people." Weeks of Western air strikes have failed to dislodge the Libyan leader, but have instead imposed a stalemate on a war Gaddafi looked to have been winning with government forces held at bay in the east and around the besieged city of Misrata, while fighting for control of the western mountains. But with neither side apparently able to gain the upper hand, Gaddafi struck a conciliatory tone in an 80-minute televised address to the nation in the early hours of Saturday. "Libya is ready until now to enter a ceasefire," said Gaddafi, speaking from behind a desk and aided by reams of paper covered in what appeared to be hand-written notes. "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," he said. "The gate to peace is open." Gaddafi denied mass attacks on civilians and challenged NATO to find him 1,000 people who had been killed in the conflict. "We did not attack them or cross the sea ... why are they attacking us?" asked Gaddafi, referring to European countries involved in the air strikes. "Let us negotiate with you, the countries that attack us. Let us negotiate." But as he spoke, NATO warplanes hit three targets close to the television building in Tripoli in what state media said was an attempt to kill Gaddafi who has ruled Libya for 41 years. The air strikes left a large crater outside the attorney general's office but did not damage the building and hit two other government offices housed in colonial-era buildings. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties. Meanwhile: The Libyan opposition Transitional National Council on Saturday rejected calls for talks by strongman Moamer Kadhafi, saying he had no role to play in the north African nation's future.