Russia and the African Union (AU), in a bid to end the Libyan civil war, is engaged in a vigorous diplomatic exercise, which is coming into sharper focus as the limitations of NATO air strikes in ending the Libyan conflict get increasingly exposed.
South African President, Jacob Zuma, is planning to travel to Tripoli next week to hold talks with Muamaar Qadhafi, apparently to discuss an “exit strategy” for the Libyan strongman. South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 is reporting that Mr. Zuma is coordinating his diplomatic initiative with the Turkish government.
Mr. Zuma’s visit will follow a two day special session on Libya of the African Union, which commenced in Adis Ababa on Wednesday. The AU had in March, appointed a high level Ad hoc committee on Libya, which also includes President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali. The AU representatives had earlier visited Libya in April.
Mr. Zuma is expected to head for Libya after visiting regional heavyweight Nigeria, where the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan is scheduled for inauguration on May 29.
Russia, which is talking both to the Libyan regime as well as the opposition, is also working hard to push for a negotiated end to the Libyan civil war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that he expected a breakthrough after the AU special session got over in the Ethiopian capital.
He made his remarks after meeting in Moscow with Abdel Rahman Shalgam, the Libyan opposition representative. The Russian Foreign Minister appeared to ground his optimism on the opposition’s willingness to accommodate other groups in a dialogue in order to form a new government based on national reconciliation. Mr. Lavrov said on Tuesday following his meeting with Mr. Shalgam that the Benghazi based Transitional National Council (TNC) is not seeking recognition as the “sole legitimate” authority in the country. On the contrary, the TNC wants itself to be considered “as a legitimate partner in the talks” to end the war. Mr. Lavrov stressed that the opposition was well aware that other parties including representatives of Tripoli and Libya’s western regions must be involved in negotiations, CNN reported.
However, Mr. Shalgam clarified that the opposition would not mend fences with Mr. Qadhafi. “We will have peace and no gunfire when Qadhafi relinquishes power or leaves the country,” he said.
Separately, in a string of meetings last week, Mr. Lavrov met with the Libyan government’s envoy, as well as Secretary General of the World Islamic Call Society, Muhammad Ahmed al-Sharif. He also held talks with the U.N. Special Envoy for Libya, Abdul Ilah Khatib.
Behind the scenes, the Qadhafi regime, on its part, appeared actively engaged with the politically influential international oil majors, in order to expand the space for negotiations. Reuters is reporting that contrary to the cascading media reports, Shokri Ghanem, Libya’s oil minister has not defected. Instead, he is secretively working for Mr. Qadhafi, and is the regime’s conduit for talks with major western oil companies. Citing a Libyan opposition source as well as a source at a major international oil company, the report said that last week, Mr. Ghanem had invited to Tunisia, oil company representatives to discuss energy contracts.
Mr. Ghanem apparently wanted to assure the companies that their contracts would continue to retain their validity despite the current contractual breaches that have occurred because of the uprising.
Persisting with heavy aerial bombardment which has so far failed to break Libya’s military stalemate, NATO warplanes late on Tuesday attacked an area around Mr. Qadhafi’s Bab al-Azizya compound. Libyan news agency Jana said that NATO warplanes also attacked a telecommunications station in Zlitan, causing “material and human casualties” west of Misurata, Libya’s third largest city.
