BRITAIN TALKING TO GROUPS IN LIBYA, SAYS MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) -- Britain is currently engaged in talks
with those groups in Libya which are opposed to the country's leader Muammar
Gaddafi's regime.

"Obviously, it is a very fluid situation but I would want you to think that
it has not reached a formal level which is equivalent to the type of
relationship we would have with a formalised state," Britain's Minister of State
at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Jeremy Browne said here Monday.

He said this during a joint press conference with Home Minister Hishammuddin
Hussein when asked to comment on reports that Britain had opened some kind of
dialogue with Libyan opposition groups.

Earlier, he represented Britain at the signing of a bilateral memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with Malaysia, on cooperation in immigration.

It was reported that a team of British diplomats arrived Saturday in the
rebels' de facto capital of Benghazi to speak to members of the opposition
council to learn more about their aims.

Browne said London was clear of what it was trying to do in Libya.

"Which, it is not for the British or any other government to decide the
future of Libya. That is for the Libyan people...but they can only determine
their own future if they are free from oppression and tyranny within Libya.

"What we are trying to do is completely in line with the United Nations
resolution to make sure the Libyan people are able to decide their way forward,"
he said.