DIPLOMATIC FLURRY

The last few days have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity focusing on a possible ceasefire deal. Pro-Gadhafi officials traveled to Moscow for talks and United Nations envoys are trying to broker a short-term pause to allow aid to flow.

But Western powers are likely to stress their determination to keep the pressure on Gadhafi when heads of state from the Group of Eight industrialised nations meet on May 27-28 in the French seaside resort of Deauville.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the summit host, has been among the most interventionist Western leaders.

And in a bid to raise pressure on Tripoli, the European Union is considering tightening sanctions by blacklisting some Libyan ports to prevent exports of oil and imports of fuel, a Western diplomatic source told Reuters.

EU experts have reached an agreement over putting the Libyan ports of Tripoli, Zuara, Zawiyah, al-Khoms, Ras Lanuf and Brega on the sanctions list and proposals could be submitted to the EU sanctions committee next week, the source said.

Gadhafi's government is seeking to raise fuel imports by using a loophole in international sanctions.

Civil war has crippled the refining industry and Gadhafi urgently needs fuel imports to keep his military operating and civilian vehicles running in the areas he controls.

"West Libya's supply of refined products is still sufficient. Western powers want a lot more control over supplies to Libya," the source said.

Even so, the conflict could last months or longer if Gadhafi hangs on despite war, NATO strikes, sanctions and an indictment by the International Criminal Court, one analyst said.

"It is still likely to be long and drawn out. There is little incentive at the moment for either side, particularly the opposition, to go for a negotiated settlement," said Henry Smith, Libya analyst for London-based consultancy Control Risks.

LIBYA TV SHOWS Gadhafi

Libyan state television played footage of Gadhafi meeting a Libyan politician in Tripoli. It zoomed in on a TV screen in the room that showed Thursday's date displayed in the corner. The leader wore a brown robe with a hat and sunglasses.

He was last seen on May 11 when state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders in a Tripoli hotel. NATO bombed his compound the next day and a day later state TV broadcast an audio clip in which he taunted NATO and said the alliance could not kill him.

Diplomats are watching reports that Gadhafi's wife, daughter and the country's top oil official have left Libya, in part because they raise questions about the leader's ability to hold his entourage together.

A Tunisian security source and a Libyan opposition source with links to the ruling circle said this week that Gadhafi's wife Safia and daughter Aisha were staying on the Tunisian island of Djerba, near the border with Libya.

And Libyan rebel officials, as well as official sources in Tunisia, told Reuters that Shokri Ghanem, a former prime minister who runs Libya's oil industry, had left Libya via Tunisia, though it was unclear where he had gone.

Government officials in Tripoli have denied the reports but produced no evidence of the whereabouts of the three.

"Shokri Ghanem is in his position, at work. If he's out of the country he'll be coming back," Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister and a key government spokesman, told Reuters.

"As for the family of the leader, they're still here in Libya. Where else would they be?"