CAIRO: Moammar Qaddafi’s health minister was in Egypt on Wednesday to ask officials for medical supplies to meet shortages in Libya, the official MENA news agency said.
Mohamed Hijazi arrived in Cairo from Tunis on a visit that is to last several days, MENA said.
He is to hold talks with Egyptian officials to "ask them for medical support so that the Tripoli government can meet the increasing need for medical supplies," MENA said.
Hijazi was in Tunisia with Social Affairs Minister Ibrahim Sherif for talks with international parties on efforts to halt the conflict in their country, Tunisia’s TAP news agency said on Monday.
The Libyan conflict has raged since February, pitting Qaddafi and his loyalists in Tripoli against rebel forces headquartered in Benghazi trying to oust him.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Sunday that "contacts are taking place" between Qaddafi’s regime and rebels, notably concerning the Libyan leader’s future.
A senior official representing Libya’s rebels said the same day they were expecting to receive an offer from Qaddafi "very soon" that could end the four-month-old war.
Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the rebels’ National Transitional Council, said intermediaries had indicated a proposal from the Libyan strongman was in the works.
The NTC was not in direct talks with Qaddafi but understood through contacts with France and South Africa that an offer was being prepared, he said.
An African Union panel which met in the South African capital of Pretoria on Sunday said Qaddafi would not participate in peace talks, in what appeared to be a concession.
