African leaders met on Sunday to discuss efforts to broker an end to the four-month-old conflict in Libya, after the rebels said they expected a new offer from Moamer Gaddafi “very soon” but it must involve him stepping down. The African Union’s Libya panel gathered in Pretoria to discuss the way forward after a visit to Tripoli by South African President Jacob Zuma last month failed to secure a truce deal acceptable to NATO or the rebels.
Zuma urged both Gaddafi and the rebel National Transitional Council to make compromises to reach a deal in the face of a conflict that was degenerating into a protracted and bloody deadlock. “On the ground, there is a military stalemate which cannot and must not be allowed to drag on and on — both because of its horrendous cost in civilian lives and the potential it has to destabilise the entire sub-region,” he told fellow panel members. “The solution in Libya has to be political and lies in the hands of the Libyan people,” he told the closed-door meeting, according to a text of his speech provided to AFP.
“Our Libyan brothers and sisters — those in authority and those in the (NTC) — have to act boldly and show leadership,” he said. Zuma again accused NATO of exceeding its UN mandate in its bombing campaign in Libya, insisting that the resolution approved by the Security Council — and backed by South Africa — did not allow “regime change or political assassination” of Gaddafi. “The continuing bombing by NATO and its allies is a concern that has been raised by our committee and by the AU Assembly, because the intention of Resolution 1973 was to protect the Libyan people and facilitate the humanitarian effort,” he said.
“The intention was not to authorise a campaign for regime change or political assassination.” The meeting of the AU panel came after the Libya rebels said late on Saturday that they expected to receive a new offer from Moamer Gaddafi “very soon” through French and South African intermediaries. “We expect to get an offer very soon; he (Gaddafi) is unable to breathe,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the rebel NTC, told AFP in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. “We want to preserve life, so we want to end the war as soon as possible,” he added.
“We have always left him some room for an exit. “Any proposal that is brought to us, we will take a serious look at it so long as it guarantees that Gaddafi and his regime, his inner circle, do not remain in power.” The AU has been leading mediation efforts in Libya with the blessing of other key players including Russia. Gaddafi is a long-time backer of the AU and a forceful advocate for stronger continental integration. He held the pan-African body’s rotating chair in 2009 and has twice held talks with members of the panel.
