African Union absent from 2nd meeting on Libya as its chief pleads for funds
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March 29, 2011 (WASHINGTON) — The African Union (AU) on Tuesday failed
to be present at international conference in London that was devoted
to the situation in Libya where the government is seeking to quell an
armed opposition that initially started as a popular uprising against
the 41-years old rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
JPEG - 42.4 kb
Britiain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague (front C) stands with
attendees for a family photograph, before a Libya Conference at the
Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London March 29, 2011 (Reuters)
The meeting held today saw the participation of 40 governments and
international bodies. Delegations at the meeting agreed to press on
with a NATO-led aerial bombardment of Libyan forces until Gaddafi
complied with a U.N. resolution to end violence against civilians.
It also set up a contact group comprising 20 countries and
organizations, including Arab states, the AU and the Arab League, to
coordinate international support for an orderly transition to
democracy in Libya.
In mid-March the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approved the
establishment of a no-fly zone (NFZ) over Libya following pleas from
the Arab League and Libyan diplomats across the world who have
defected from the Gaddafi regime and joined the opposition.
It also authorized using all necessary measures to enforce the NFZ and
protect civilians from military attacks. Since then the Western
dominated coalition flew hundreds of sorties including bombing
missions and fired more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles on military
targets.
A week before the commencement of the airstrikes, the AU released a
statement expressing its opposition to foreign military intervention
in any form. Despite this, African nations on the UNSC namely Gabon,
Nigeria and South Africa voted in favor of the NFZ.
The AU formed a five-member panel with the mandate of seeking a
peaceful settlement to the Libyan crisis. However, an attempt by the
commission to enter Libya was blocked by the UNSC which had banned
most flights to the North African country.
Tensions between the AU and the rest of the world became evident when
AU commissioner chairman Jean Ping snubbed an emergency summit of
world leaders in Paris called to discuss the implementation of the NFZ
over Libya.
Afterwards Ping in an interview with the BBC HardTalk programme
criticized the international community saying that the AU was not
consulted before the Paris meeting and suggested that given these
circumstances it was going to be meaningless.
Today, Ping also skipped the London conference for what appeared to be
the result of disagreements within the AU on the position that should
be adopted by the Pan-African body. The French foreign minister Alain
Juppe has said that he regrets the absence of the AU at today’s Libya
conference due to internal disagreements.
In the continent, Rwanda and Zambia have appeared to support the NFZ
while Uganda, Mauritania and Namibia voiced strong opposition. Even
South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma recently suggested that the
military operation exceeded the UNSC mandate.
Some political analysts and commentators said they were puzzled by the
AU’s no show.
“It’s an embarrassment that they would just not show up,” Francis
Kornegay, a senior researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue in
Johannesburg told Christian Science Monitor (CSI). “It might be that
they just don’t have a single African position on this issue.”
But many critics say that the AU will not be an honest broker given
the influence of Gaddafi over the body. The Libyan leader, who has
billions of dollars at his disposal, is one of the AU’s largest
benefactors providing along with four other countries 75% of its
budget.
Even South Africa which is a member of the AU panel on Libya has
reportedly questioned the credibility of the commission.
"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 newspaper based in South Africa this
month.
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.
In a related issue the AU chief sounded the warning bell over the
financial resources of the organization as a result of the civil
unrest that has swept through North African countries such as Egypt
and Libya which together with Nigeria and South Africa are the main
contributors.
Speaking in Addis Ababa, at the opening of the annual meeting of the
Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development of the AU and the
Economic Community for Africa (ECA), Ping called on countries to
provide the institution with sustainable resources.
Some 77 percent of the AU resources is funded by foreign partners and
the remainder by the member states.
’It is imperative to secure resources and why not find another way to
provide sustainable resources for the institution?’ Ping was quoted as
saying by the Panafrican News Agency (PANA).
(ST)
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