African Union demands end to military strikes on Libya, skips Paris meeting
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March 19, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The African Union (AU) on Saturday
criticized the launching of military operations by U.S. and European
countries on Libya to enforce a United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
resolution adopted this week.
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MEDITERRANEAN SEA (March 19, 2011) The Arleigh Burke-class
guided-missile destroyer USS Stout launches a Tomahawk missile in
support of Operation Odyssey Dawn. This was one of approximately 110
cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines
targeting about 20 radar and anti-aircraft sites along Libya’s
Mediterranean coast (AFP)
French planes fired the first shots, destroying tanks and armored
vehicles in eastern Libya eight years to the day after U.S.-led forces
headed across the Iraqi border in 2003.
Hours later, U.S. and British ships and submarines launched more than
110 cruise missiles against air defenses in the oil-producing North
African country.
CBS news network said that three B-2 stealth bombers dropped 40 bombs
on a major Libyan airfield.
Today’s attacks were designed to cripple Libyan air defenses as the
West tries to force the Libyan leader Muammar from power who has
unleashed his forces to crush a popular uprising since mid-February
that eventually turned into an armed rebellion that managed to control
large parts of the country.
The Libyan opposition leadership, Arab League and Arab Gulf states
have demanded that the international community intervene militarily by
imposing a no-fly zone to prevent Gaddafi from using his air force
against civilian population.
The United Arab Emirates and Qatar are reported to have dedicated
fighter jets in the military operations.
It was only the African Union (AU) that issued a statement earlier
this month saying it opposed "any foreign military intervention,
whatever its form".
Despite this position, the three African countries sitting on the UNSC
voted in favor of the resolution which authorized member states "to
take all necessary measures ... to protect civilians".
But an AU panel established to seek a peaceful end to the crisis
called today for an "immediate stop" to air strikes stressing that it
rejects "any kind of foreign military intervention" in the north
African country.
The situation in Libya "demands urgent action so an African solution
(can be found) to the very serious crisis which this sister nation is
going through", said Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz who is one
of the panel members.
A solution must take into account "our desire that Libya’s unity and
territorial integrity be respected", he said.
The AU committee on Libya is composed of five African heads of state.
But the meeting in the Mauritanian capital was only attended by the
presidents of Mauritania, Mali and Congo.
South Africa and Uganda were represented by ministers. The Chairperson
of the AU Commission Jean Ping is also believed to have been there.
The panel was scheduled to travel to Libya on Sunday but it revealed
today that they have been unable to get international permission to
fly there.
Ironically South African officials expressed doubt whether the AU
panel would be impartial and even questioned the wisdom of sitting on
it.
"There are concerns here at home about this panel and whether South
Africa should be part of it. It’s almost a given what they will say,
given their relationship with that man [Gaddafi]," a senior government
official told the Mail & Guardian based in South Africa.
The newspaper said that government officials in Johannesburg are
worried that should the panel return with a recommendation to the AU
that favors Gaddafi, it will spoil the image president Jacob Zuma
wants to portray on the continent — that of himself as a statesman who
believes in brokering peaceful solutions that do not merely serve its
strongmen.
Western countries and NATO have initially insisted they will not
intervene militarily in Libya without the approval of regional
organizations such as the Arab League and the AU and a clear UNSC
mandate.
However, references to AU’s prior consent were later dropped and
Western officials only spoke of Arab League decision.
Today an emergency summit of world leaders in Paris called to discuss
the implementation of no-fly zone over Libya was skipped by the AU for
unknown reasons despite being invited and no African leader was
present.
In a related issue, the government of Equatorial Guinea today said
that Libyan television had misrepresented a telephone call between the
country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and the Libyan leader.
Nguema who is the rotating AU chairman this year, only called Gaddafi
to gain guarantees for the security of the AU Observation Committee
that was to travel to Libya.
"Contrary to what some information disseminated by the Libyan
television seems to suggest, the telephone contact established by H.E.
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
and holder of the current Rotating Presidency of the African Union,
with the current President of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, was due, solely
and exclusively, to his responsibility as mediator of the AU, and was
for the precise purpose of guaranteeing the security of the Heads of
State comprising the Observation Committee that will travel in the
next few hours to the areas of conflict".
"This Government also wishes to recall that the current rotating
President of the African Union has already declared that he will not
state any personal opinion, or show any unilateral support to any of
the parties, in Libya or in other places of conflict within the
African continent, since as Rotating President of this institution,
his opinion is ascribed completely to the agreed official posture
established by the organizations of the African Union".
The South African president came under fire in his country last week
over a call he made to Gaddafi. Libyan TV had quoted Zuma as telling
his counterpart that that the AU should investigate the “conspiracy”
against him and the world should not believe what foreign media were
saying about Libya.
The Ugandan government on Thursday said it opposes “foreign
interference” in Libya and declared it will not freeze Libyan-owned
assets in the country.
Libyan generosity and Gaddafi’s role in the creation of the African
Union could explain the continents cautious stand, experts say.
The AU was born in the 1999 Sirte Declaration, named after a summit
hosted by Gaddafi in his hometown on the Libyan coast.
The declaration said its authors felt inspired by Gaddafi’s "vision
for a strong and united Africa."
"The AU as an organization has benefited significantly from Gaddafi’s
wealth," said Fred Golooba Mutebi of the Institute of Social Research
at Kampala’s Makerere University to Agence France Presse (AFP).
Delphine Lecoutre, a researcher with the French Center for Ethiopian
Studies, pointed to the AU’s weak statement as an example of the PSC
timidity in facing up to the behavior of its leaders.
"There was a Peace and Security Council meeting on Libya, which
resulted in a cosmetic communiqué hardly condemning the violence in
Libya and putting it in a [clever] way, loss of human life and
destruction of property, but nothing regarding the political situation
in the country," said Lecoutre. "It is difficult for the AU to deal
with that case."
(ST)
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