OnIslam.net

BENGHAZI – South African President Jacob Zuma is heading for Libya in a new effort to look for an exit strategy for Muammar Gaddafi, a move criticized for buying the embattled  leader more time.

"The purpose (of the visit) is to discuss an exit strategy for Gaddafi," a source in Zuma’s office told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Monday, May 30.

Another official said the peace initiative to be proposed by Zuma comes as a result of South Africa work with Turkey on as exit plan.

Zuma's spokesman Zizi Kodwa insisted that discussions of an exit strategy was "misleading," saying the visit was taking place within African Union efforts for Libya to adopt the political reforms needed to end the crisis.

Zuma’s initiative is not the first suggested solution for the Libyan conflict.

Earlier in April, an AU delegation, chaired by Zuma, submitted a roadmap to Gaddafi which included an immediate ceasefire, the suspension of NATO airstrikes and launching a dialogue between the government and opposition on a political settlement.

Opposition fighters rejected the plan, confirming that they will accept nothing less than an end to Gaddafi’s rule.

On the eve of the visit, Zuma criticized the NATO bombing of Libya and disregard of political solutions to the conflict as a reminiscent of western colonialism in Africa.

“It is a very strong view within AU members that Europe doesn’t respect the AU,” Zuma said in an interview with Johannesburg-based broadcaster SAFM.

“I think that, in a sense, undermines the integrity of the African Union. This, in a sense, reminds them of colonialism.”

A similar condemnation was issued by South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC).

ANC supports AU efforts to peacefully resolve the unrest “through negotiations by all parties involved in the conflict” in the uprising against Gaddafi's regime,” it said in a statement after a two-day meeting of its executive council.

“We also join the continent and all peace loving people of the world in condemning the continuing aerial bombardments of Libya by western forces.”

Political Games

Eyeing Zuma’s visit as a mere trial by a diminished Gaddafi to rally supporters, observers hold out little hope for that effort.

"I don't see what Mr. Zuma is going to negotiate," George Joffe, an affiliate lecturer and North Africa expert at Cambridge University, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday, May 30.

"I think Gaddafi's trying to hold on in the hope that the African Union can pull a rabbit out of its hat and NATO will accept some kind of compromise,” Joffe said.

“But I don't think a compromise is in the cards."

Libya’s opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil also criticized the political initiatives, stressing that Gaddafi has lost his legitimacy and credibility in the world.

"The entire world has reached a consensus that Colonel Gaddafi and his regime have not only lost their legitimacy but also their credibility," Abdul Jalil said in a message marking 100 days since the outbreak of the anti-regime revolt.

Abdul Jalil also accused Gaddafi's forces of attacking opposition-held cities in the Nafusa mountains of western Libya "with heavy artillery, tanks and rocket launchers."

"They continue to shell and besiege the city of Misrata, and also impose arbitrary measures that include random arrests, torture, and raids of homes in the city of Tripoli, Zawiyah, Zwara, and many other cities,” he said.

These attacks, Abdul Jalil said, showed that Gaddafi was unwilling to reach a peaceful political solution.

"We witness how Colonel Gaddafi presents initiatives to fool the world and create the illusion that he is in search of peace," he said.

"It is with this in mind that we would like to reconfirm that the basis of any consideration for the resolution of the Libyan crisis is the removal of the main reason for this crisis, Colonel Gaddafi.

"As such, there is no room for negotiation until his departure and the departure of his regime."