Libya's interim government has rejected a potential deployment of United Nations military forces in the country, as rebel forces backed up by Nato jets close in on pro-Gaddafi strongholds.
The chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), said the country did not need outside help after the UN envoy to Libya revealed the body had considered deploying military observers.
A document leaked on Tuesday detailed UN plans for a post-Gaddafi Libya in which up to 200 military observers and 190 UN police could be deployed to help the country in the aftermath of war.
But Ibrahim Dabbashi, deputy Libyan representative at the United Nations, told the BBC that Libya was not in a state of civil war.
"It is not a conflict between two parties," he said. "It is the people who are defending themselves against the dictatorship."
Reports have suggested that it is still possible the UN will help to establish or train a Libyan police force, however.
Ian Martin, UN envoy to Libya, said that the challenges facing the NTC, such as holding elections and establishing an independent media, meant that any government there would still need help.
"There's essentially no living memory of elections," Martin told the BBC. "There's no electoral machinery, there's no electoral commission, no history of political parties, no independent civil society, independent media are only beginning to emerge in the east in recent times.
"It's clear that the NTC wish the UN to play a major role in that process."
Meanwhile Nato said it had bombed 19 targets in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on Tuesday, which brings the total to more than 130 in six days. Sky News reported that the military alliance had hit 37 targets around pro-Gaddafi territory in the last 24-hours.
The NTC gave loyalist forces until Saturday to surrender in the coastal town, but Gaddafi's chief forces spokespersonsaid that this offer would likely be rejected.
"No dignified honourable nation would accept an ultimatum from armed gangs," Moussa Ibrahim told the Associated Press, hours after the leader of Libya's interim government called on loyalist forces to lay down their arms of face military might.
Speaking early on Wednesday, he also reiterated an offer to send Gaddafi's son Saadi to negotiate with the National Transitional Council, now operating from Tripoli, and form a new government.
A senior official from the rebel council told Al Jazeera that Saadi, Gaddafi's third son, was willing to give himself up. Abdelhakim Belhajm the NTC's military leader, told the broadcaster Saadi had called him and asked if he can surrender.
Another senior NTC minister added they had "a good idea" where deposed leader Gaddafi is hiding but did not elaborate.
Speculation over the Colonel's whereabouts are rife, with some rumours suggesting he is in Sirte. A former bodyguard for Khamis, Gaddafi's youngest son, told Sky News the ousted leader was heading for the town of Sabha, one of the remaining strongholds of the 42-year regime.
In Tripoli thousands of Libyans have gathered to celebrate the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr on Wednesday at Martyrs' Square in Tripoli, in an illustration of the security challenges still facing the NTC as Tripoli moves towards peace.
A makeshift force of armed guards and rebel fighters set up patrols around the area while others staked out nearby rooftops.
The celebrations passed off peacefully, but some reporters said that they showed the operational limitations of the current government.
Earlier NTC officials shed fresh light on the escape route used by four members of Gaddafi's family who fled to Algeria on Monday.
His wife, daughter and two sons took a convoy of six armoured Mercedes limousines on a road through central Libya not yet under the control of the rebel council, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Guma al-Gamaty, the NTC's UK co-ordinator, said the motorcade was carrying a total of 32 Gaddafi family members, including wife Safiya, daughter Aisha and two sons, Hannibal and Mohammed.
"They were kept waiting there for 10 to 12 hours while the Algerian government decided what to do. It was the Algerian president himself [Abdelaziz Bouteflika] who authorised their entry," Gamaty said.