BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A chartered ship evacuated nearly 1,000 foreign workers and wounded Libyans from Misrata on Monday as government artillery bombarded the besieged city that has come to symbolize the struggle against Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
"We wanted to be able to take more people out but it was not possible," said Jeremy Haslam, who led the International Organization for Migration (IOM) rescue mission.
"Although the exchange of fire subsided while we were boarding ... we had a very limited time to get the migrants and Libyans on board the ship and then leave."
A rebel spokesman said bombardments pounded Misrata for a fifth day on Monday after shelling killed 17 people and wounded about 100, mostly civilians, on Sunday.
Libya's third-largest city, Misrata is the rebels' main stronghold in the west and has been under siege by pro-Gaddafi forces for the past seven weeks. Evacuees say conditions there are becoming increasingly desperate and hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed.
"The Gaddafi forces are shelling Misrata now. They are firing rockets and artillery rounds on the eastern side -- the Nakl el Theqeel (road) and the residential areas around it," Abdubasset Abu Mzeireq said on Monday morning.
The Ionian Spirit steamed out of Misrata carrying 971 people, most of them weak and dehydrated migrants mainly from Ghana, the Philippines and Ukraine, heading for the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
It was second vessel chartered by the IOM, which took out nearly 1,200 migrants from Misrata last Friday.
Among the rescued group were 100 Libyans, including a child shot in the face, the IOM said in a statement.
"We have a very, very small window to get everyone out. We do not have the luxury of having days, but hours," said IOM Middle East representative, Pasquale Lupoli.
"Every hour counts and the migrants still in Misrata cannot survive much longer like this."
Pro-Gaddafi forces have also kept up an offensive on the rebels' eastern frontline outpost of Ajdabiyah, which rebels want to use as a staging post to retake the oil port of Brega, 50 miles to the west.
One witness said he saw around a dozen rockets land near the western entrance to Ajdabiyah on Sunday and many fighters fled as explosions boomed across the town.
Sunday marked a month since the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing force to protect civilians in Libya, leading to an international air campaign.
But despite NATO air strikes against Gaddafi's armor, rebels have been unable to hold gains in weeks of back-and-forth fighting over the coastal towns in eastern Libya.
With NATO troops bogged down in Afghanistan, Western countries have ruled out sending ground troops, a position reinforced by the British prime minister on Sunday.
"What we've said is there is no question of invasion or an occupation -- this is not about Britain putting boots on the ground," David Cameron told Sky News in an interview.
Scores of volunteer fighters and civilian cars carrying men, women and children on Sunday streamed east from Ajdabiyah up the coast road toward Benghazi, where the popular revolt against Gaddafi's 41-year rule began in earnest on February 17.
The United States, France and Britain said last week they would not stop bombing Gaddafi's forces until he left power, although when or if that would happen was unclear.
Gaddafi 'accepts' AU plan to end fighting - Africa - Al Jazeera English
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi accepted an African Union plan to end the Libyan civil war but rebels said on Monday there could be no deal unless he leaves power, and there was no sign of a let-up in the fighting.
Rebels in the besieged western city of Misrata told Reuters Gaddafi's forces fired Russian-made Grad rockets into the city, while insurgents in eastern Libya were preparing to advance.
South African President Jacob Zuma, head of an AU peace mission, said early on Monday 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 on Monday and were met by more than 1,000 demonstrators holding banners reading: "Free us from Gaddafi" and "Gaddafi has committed genocide."
NATO, which is bombing Libyan government armor under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, issued a non-committal response to Zuma's appeal for the allies to stop air strikes "to give the ceasefire a chance."
At the front outside the rebel town of Ajdabiyah, in eastern Libya, rebels were preparing to advance westwards after repelling a fierce government assault on Sunday.
They buried the charred bodies of Gaddafi troops killed in air strikes outside the town and said they had been ordered to wait until noon to advance because new NATO bombing was expected.
Gheriani expressed surprise that Zuma did not travel to Benghazi with the four other African heads of state. Zuma said he had urgent business elsewhere.
NATO NON-COMMITTAL
NATO, which has denounced attacks by Libya's forces on civilian areas, said only that it took note of the AU proposal.
It said it had always made clear there could not be a purely military solution to the civil war, which broke out when Gaddafi crushed pro-democracy protests in February. The NATO statement did not address Zuma's call for a bombing pause.
An African Union statement said the AU peace plan called for "dialogue between the Libyan parties and the establishment of an inclusive transition period, with the view to adopting and implementing the political reforms necessary for the elimination of the causes of the current crisis."
It made no mention of Gaddafi's future. Asked if the issue of Gaddafi stepping aside was discussed, Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, told reporters: "There was some discussion."
However he added: "I cannot report on confidential discussions because first of all I was not part of them, and I think they have to remain confidential between the parties involved."
NATO stepped up attacks on Gaddafi's armor over the weekend to weaken a bitter siege of Misrata in the west and disrupt an advance by his troops in the east. The alliance said it destroyed 25 government tanks.
The AU proposal included an immediate cessation of hostilities, effective monitoring of the ceasefire, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the protection of foreigners.
As negociations wind down, a glimmer of hope for peace in Libya has emerged Friday and WPIX-TV reporter Larry Mendte has exclusive access that information.
Although former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon was not able to meet face-to-face with Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, he is set to meet the country's prime minister, who will give him a wax-sealed document.
Weldon has been entrusted to hand-deliver the classifed document, which are intended for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, marking the biggest step forward between Libya and Western nations. It also is the most direction communication between the prime minister and Clinton.
Once Weldon obtains the documents, he and his delgation will leave the country and head to the US Ambassador's office in neighboring Tunisia,
The documents are said to have a list of concessions, a call for more talks and the call for a special envoy to meet for further negociations, WPIX-TV has learned.
What is not in the wax-sealed document is the proposal for Gaddafi to step down.
Weldon was personally invited to Libya by Gaddafi, himself, who wanted Weldon's help in brokering a deal with NATO and the United States to bring peace to Libya.
Gaddafi unexpectedly cancled the face-to-face meeting on Thursday, despite a successful meeting between Weldon and Gaddafi's chief of staff.
WPIX-TV has learned that Weldon's mission to Libya is not the only meeting intended on ending the conflict in Libya.
The Turkish government is set to meet with Libya's top officials and ther have been several so-called "back channel" meetings with European nations.
A meeting between members of the African Union and Gaddafi is scheduled for Saturday.
Diplomatic efforts to end the bloody stalemate in Libya have taken a surprise turn with the involvement of former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, who led delegations to the country in 2004.
Weldon, a 10-term congressman from Pennsylvania who served as vice-chair of the House Armed Services Committee, was invited to Tripoli by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in the hopes he can broker a deal with international leaders, including the Obama administration. WPIX-TV reporter Larry Mendte and photographer John Frasse accompanied Weldon on the trip.
Weldon arrived with a proposal of simultaneous actions he hopes will lead to stabilization in Libya. They include a ceasefire agreement, Qaddafi stepping aside, the formation of an interim government led by both sides, and monitored elections.
The meetings with Weldon come a day after Qaddafi dispatched an envoy to meet with European leaders in the hopes of finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis, a civil war that has divided Libya into a rebel-held east and a western region controlled by Qaddafi loyalists. The U.N. authorized a no-fly zone and air strikes on Qaddafi's forces as they were about to pounce on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi last month.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters Monday that Libya was ready for a "political solution" with world powers. "We could have any political system, any changes: constitution, election, anything. But the leader has to lead this forward," he told reporters when asked about the content of negotiations with other countries.
International leaders have been in no mood to negotiate. On Monday, Italy joined France and Qatar in formally recognizing rebel forces as the legitimate government of Libya.
Additionally, rebel leaders rejected a rumored plan that involved Qaddafi handing power to his son Seif Islam Qaddafi, who would then implement reforms. "Qaddafi and his sons have to leave before any diplomatic negotiations can take place," rebel spokesman Shamseddin Abdulmelah was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
The Los Angeles Times and Reuters contributed to this report.
