Anti-Gadhafi fighters gesture as they move to the front line, 90 km east of Sirte, from Om El Qandil, 90 km west of Ras Lanuf September 6, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

BEIJING / TRIPOLI / AGADEZ - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Tuesday that the United Nations should take the "leading role" in the rebuilding of war-torn Libya.

Speaking at a media briefing, Jiang said that "the international community should support the rebuilding within the framework established by UN.

"China would like to cooperate with the international community to achieve stability in Libya soon," she added.

The UN Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the launch of a wide-ranging mission to Libya to help tackle police reform, justice and election preparations, a UN diplomat told Agence France-Presse on Monday.

Libyan rebel forces plan to enter the desert town of Bani Walid on Tuesday after reaching a deal with representatives from the town, which remained loyal to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, to avoid further bloodshed, Al Jazeera television said.

The pan-Arab news channel, citing the anti-Gadhafi forces, said the fighters were expected to enter the town after the deal was formalized.

Talks involving Bani Walid's tribal elders had previously been unable to reach a breakthrough. A deal was finally reached in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Al Jazeera said, after a number of Gadhafi supporters left the besieged town.

Bani Walid, which lies 150 km south of Tripoli, had refused to surrender to forces loyal to the National Transitional Council, giving rise to expectations there would be another round of fighting to rout forces loyal to Gadhafi.

Meanwhile, Gadhafi is in good health and planning his country's defense, his spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday.

A convoy of between 200 and 250 vehicles was given an escort by the army of Niger, a landlocked former French colony to the south of Libya, and might, according to a French military source, be joined by Gadhafi en route for neighboring Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum.

The new Libyan leadership in Tripoli simply confirmed it knew of a convoy crossing into Niger.

Niger Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum was adamant the ousted Libyan leader was not in the convoy.

Reuters-AFP-China Daily

(China Daily 09/07/2011 page12)