Libya says elections possible in six months as Britain accused of “mission creep” (VIDEO)

Libya could hold U.N.-supervised free elections within six months, an official said, as Britain was accused of "mission creep" by sending "military advisors" to assist rebels.

Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, who replaced defector Musa Kusa as Libya's foreign minister last month, said Muammar Gaddafi's regime was willing to form an interim national government before a vote is held.

In an interview with the Guardian and several other news organizations, Obeidi said there could also be negotiations about Gaddafi's future.

Reform discussions could include "Whether [Gaddafi] should stay and in what role, and whether he should retire," he said. "Everything will be on the table."

His comments came as Libyan officials condemned a British plan to send a team of military officers to advise rebels in an effort to break the military deadlock.

British Foreign Minister William Hague said Tuesday that the team would offer logistics and intelligence training to rebels in Benghazi, the opposition stronghold.

"As the scale of the humanitarian crisis has grown, so has the urgency of increasing our efforts to defend civilians against the attack from Gaddafi forces," he said.

The BBC reported about 10 officers would be deployed. Hague said they would not be engaged in combat operations and their mission complied with a U.N. resolution to protect civilians.

Critics accused Hague of over-involving Britain in the conflict. Lawmaker John Barun of Hague's ruling Conservative Party said: "We have clear evidence of mission creep."

Libya's deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said any attempt to help the opposition was pointless.

"This is not in the interest of the UK," he told the Associated Press.

"This is an impossible mission. To organize who? They (the rebels) are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organized, and I am sure it will be a failure."

As Gaddafi's forces continued to attack rebels on the eastern front line and in the besieged western city of Misurata, Seif al-Islam, one of Gaddafi's sons, said he was confident the rebellion would soon collapse.

"I am very optimistic and we will win," Seif said on Al Libya television. "The situation changes every day in our favor."

In the first apparent request for foreign ground troop intervention, Nuri Abdullah Abdullati of Misurata's governing council called for help on "humanitarian" principles.

"Before we were asking for no foreign interference, but that was before Gadhafi used Grad rockets and planes. Now it's a life or death situation," he told AFP.