Accord Reached for Peaceful Entry of Bani Walid?

Aljazeera Arabic is reporting a breakthrough in the negotiations between the new government in Tripoli and the elders of the city of Bani Walid, a center of pro-Qaddafi military personnel and sentiments. The city authorities say they will permit the Transitional National Council’s troops to enter the city without opposition around noon on Tuesday, according to the Doha-based channel. These negotiations had postponed plans to invest the city formulated last week. The TNC fighters also said that Saif al-Islam Qaddafi had left, or would momentarily leave the city.

If the TNC really can enter Bani Walid peacefully, it would be a great accomplishment for the new Libya, obviating a siege of a reluctant population, and helping with the process of national reconciliation.

Indeed, a large military convoy of regime loyalists, consisting of some 200 vehicles, departed south Libya for Niger on Monday, raising questions of whether the remaining Qaddafis were in it or planned to join it. Deposed dictator Muammar Qaddafi is said to plan to flee to Burkina Faso in West Africa.