Frattini Says Libya Ceasefire Possible in Weeks

A ceasefire in the Libyan conflict could be reached within weeks, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday following a meeting of the international contact group on Libya.

"A few weeks is a realistic period" to secure a truce, Frattini said on Radio Uno in reply to a question.

Frattini said earlier that during the meeting Turkey had called for a seven-day timeline within which to negotiate a ceasefire in Libya, but the "ambitious" proposal had not been adopted.

Speaking ahead of the talks, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he hoped the conflict would not last "more than a few weeks, at the most months."

But a spokesman for the rebels' National Transitional Council said it was "a question of weeks, not months."

"We are working for a rapid tempo so that the regime understands there is no possible future," Frattini said.

"The prospect is clear: a ceasefire and the departure of Gadhafi, who should leave both the country and power."