Initiative to end Libyan civil war

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Russia and the African Union (A.U.) are engaged in a vigorous bid to end the Libyan civil war; an effort that is coming into sharper focus as the limitations of NATO air strikes in ending the conflict are increasingly exposed.

South African President Jacob Zuma is planning to travel to Tripoli next week to hold talks with Muammar 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 of the African Union on Libya that commenced in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. The A.U. had in March appointed a high-level ad hoc committee on Libya that included Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Amadou Toumani Touré of Mali. The A.U. representatives had 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 to both the Libyan regime and the opposition, is also pushing for a negotiated end to the civil war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he expected a breakthrough after the A.U. special session.

He made his remarks after meeting in Moscow on Tuesday with Abdel Rahman Shalgam, Libyan opposition representative. Mr. Lavrov appeared to ground his optimism on the opposition's willingness to accommodate other groups in a dialogue to form a government based on national reconciliation.  Mr. Lavrov said the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council (TNC) was not seeking recognition as the “sole legitimate” authority in the country. 

On the contrary, the TNC wanted to be considered “as a legitimate partner in the talks” to end the war. Mr. Lavrov said 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 the Libyan government's envoy, 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 appeared to be actively engaging with the politically influential international oil majors to expand the space for negotiations. Reuters is reporting that, contrary to the cascading media reports, Libya's Oil Minister Shokri Ghanem has not defected. Instead, he is secretly working for Mr. Qadhafi and is the regime's conduit for talks with major western oil companies. Citing a Libyan opposition source and a source at a major international oil company, the report said last week, Mr. Ghanem had invited oil company representatives to Tunisia to discuss energy contracts.

Mr. Ghanem apparently wanted to assure the companies that their contracts would be valid despite the 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.