A Libyan minister flew to Greece on Sunday with a message from Muammar Qadhafi, a Greek government official said, raising the prospect of diplomatic efforts to end a war facing stalemate on the battlefield. The Greek official told Reuters that Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi arrived in Athens after the Libyan government asked to send an envoy with a message for Prime Minister George Papandreou.
-- Fighting still stalemated in oil town of Brega
He was expected to meet Papandreou later on Sunday. It was not clear what the message was about, but Papandreou has been talking by phone with the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Britain over the last two days.
Media reports have suggested various countries are working to find a diplomatic solution to the war in Libya, where rebels and Qadhafi's forces have been unable to break a stalemate in chaotic fighting along the Mediterranean coast.
Neither Qadhafi's troops, tanks and artillery nor the disorganised rebel force have been able to gain the upper hand, despite Western air power in effect aiding the insurgents.
Both sides have become bogged down in fighting over the eastern oil town of Brega, a sparsely populated settlement spread over more than 25 km (15 miles).
The rebels are, however, attempting to put their house in order, naming a "crisis team" with Qadhafi's former interior minister as the armed forces chief of staff, to try to run the parts of Libya they hold.
The rebels say they are restructuring their forces to end the pendulum swing of euphoric advance in the wake of Western air strikes followed by headlong retreat in the face of government artillery.
"We are reorganising our ranks. We have formed our first brigade. It is entirely formed from ex-military defectors and people who've come back from retirement," former air force major Jalid al-Libie told Reuters in Benghazi.
Asked about numbers, he said he could not reveal that, but added: "It's quality that matters".
The aim was for the trained force to steel resistance of the many volunteers so the rebel army could hold ground. Outside Brega, better rebel discipline was already in evidence on Sunday. The less disciplined volunteers, and journalists, were being kept several kilometres (miles) east of the front. The insurgents have also deployed heavier weapons.
Without the backbone of regular forces, the lightly-armed volunteer caravan has spent days dashing back and forth along the coast road on Brega's outskirts, scrambling away in their pick-ups when Qadhafi's forces fire rockets at them.
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