Muammar Gaddafi will not leave Libya despite growing international pressure and intensified strikes on his regime, the South African presidency said yesterday after mediation talks in Tripoli.
President Jacob Zuma held “lengthy discussions” with Col Gaddafi on Monday but failed to close the gap between the Libyan leader and rebels on a peace plan proposed by the African Union (AU).
“Colonel Gaddafi called for an end to the bombings to enable a Libyan dialogue. He emphasised that he was not prepared to leave his country, despite the difficulties,” Mr Zuma’s office said in a statement.
“He expressed his anger at the Nato bombings, which have claimed the lives of his son and grandchildren and continue to cause a destruction of property and disruption of life.”
President Zuma, who is heading the AU mediation process in Libya, met Col Gaddafi at his home on Monday and also went on a tour to see “the destruction caused by the bombings and the deepening humanitarian crisis,” the statement said.
It added that the Libyan leader’s personal safety “is of concern”.
South Africa wants an immediate ceasefire, and Mr Zuma called for Nato to “respect the AU’s role in searching for a solution in the matter”.
“Nothing other than a dialogue among all parties in Libya can bring about a lasting solution,” he said.
But Nato pounded Tripoli with fresh air strikes just hours after his visit.
Mr Zuma, who has at times faced criticism for being too soft on Col Gaddafi, was not listening only to the strongman’s side of the story, South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said yesterday.
The President had met with a rebel delegation in Pretoria before heading to Tripoli, she told journalists in Cape Town.
“They had sent delegates here in South Africa and met with President Zuma in Pretoria before he departed for Libya.”
The rebels have rejected the AU peace proposal, which calls for a ceasefire and political reforms but falls short of their demand for Col Gaddafi to leave power.
South Africa has consistently slammed the air strikes against the Gaddafi regime despite voting for the United Nations’ no-fly zone resolution that led to the Nato campaign. But it has simultaneously condemned attacks on civilians as a “heinous violation of human rights against (Col Gaddafi’s) own people.”
Ms Nkoana-Mashabane told Parliament yesterday that South Africa had voted for the no-fly zone resolution to stop attacks against civilians by Col Gaddafi’s forces.
“South Africa did not vote for regime change. By the time we voted on this resolution, more than 2,000 people were mowed down by their own government that was supposed to protect them.”
South Africa was once tipped as a possible exile destination for Col Gaddafi, but Pretoria has said no offer was ever extended.
That possibility is now more remote after the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague sought an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi on charges of crimes against humanity, accusing him of having ordered his forces to gun down civilians in their homes, at funerals and outside mosques.