Global General

AU reaffirms reservation on Libya intervention

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-25 10:18

PARIS - The chief of the African Union (AU) on Thursday reaffirmed his reservation on the multinational intervention in Libya and questioned the participants' coordination.

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Although three African countries, namely South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon, voted for last week's UN resolution endorsing a no-fly zone over Libya, the AU still disapproves of foreign military intervention, Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union Commission, said here in an interview with local radio station RFI.

"We will not oppose a decision by the international community," but "we marked our reserves" by abstaining from last weekend's Paris meeting, held shortly before France sent its warplanes to bomb Libyan targets, the AU chief said.

Earlier in the day, when giving a lecture at a university in Paris, the veteran African diplomat raised doubt about what would follow after a no-fly zone was "roughly" established.

"What's the next step? Do you have a roadmap? I don't see them at all," he said.

Ping added that the AU has invited representatives of the Libyan government and rebels to a meeting in Ethiopia, scheduled for Friday, in an effort to mediate a political solution.

Meanwhile, the intervening coalition is to hold the first political steering meeting over Libya next Tuesday in London to provide political direction for the Libya mission, which French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Thursday would probably take weeks.