Libya: African Union Calls for Gaddafi to Step Down

9 June 2011

The African Union (AU) has called for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to step down. The leader of the AU’s mediation team on Libya, Mauritania’s President Abdel Aziz, said Gaddafi’s departure has become necessary as “he can longer lead Libya”.

It was the first time a head of state on the AU panel, which has made several trips to Libya to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict, has made such a direct public reference to the departure of the Libyan leader.

“Clearly more and more African heads of state feel they can openly express their dislike of Gaddafi,” said Paul-Simon Handy, of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. “The facade of unity that the AU often likes to show on such issues is cracking,” Handy said.

AU’s change of stance

The pan-African body, which includes many beneficiaries of Libyan aid, has steadfastly condemned NATO-led air strikes on Gaddafi’s forces.

The 53-nation grouping has also publicly insisted the only way out of the conflict is its “road map” that calls for a ceasefire and a transition period.

Special relationship

“But in the direct talks with Kadhafi, the heads of state on the AU panel had been telling him he had to leave”, a diplomat at the African Union said.

“It is a change in their public stance,” the AU diplomat added. “Even if some heads of state have a special relationship with Gaddafi, the majority of them have acknowledged that there was no alternative but his departure.”

‘Leaving is a question of time’

Kadhafi has intricate involvement in the continent, for decades lending finance, training or backing to various conflicts and countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Chad, Mali and Zimbabwe.

He has also helped peacekeeping operations, given aid and built infrastructure, while pushing for the creation of a ‘United States of Africa’.

After the popular uprising against his regime erupted in February, he was said to have been able to pay thousands of African mercenaries to back his forces, allegedly including from Chad, Niger, Mali, Zimbabwe and Liberia.

But the African Union has perhaps “realised what the situation is really like on the ground,” said Handy of the apparent change in stance, adding that Kadhafi’s departure is “now only a question of time”.

Source: AFP

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