The high-level African Union panel on the Libya crisis has said it opposes any foreign military intervention in Libya, media report said on March 19.
AFP quoted Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz as saying that the panel rejects any kind of foreign military intervention in Libya. He said that the situation in the north African country demands urgent action so an African solution can be found to the very serious crisis.
Aziz also said the solution to the Libya crisis must take into account “Our desire that Libya’s unity and territorial integrity be respected as well as the rejection of any kind of foreign military intervention.”
The AU panel on the Libya crisis, which was formed a week ago, comprises Mauritanian President Ould Abdel Aziz, South African President Jacob Zuma, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso and Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure.
AU said the ad hoc committee was set up to engage with all parties in Libya, facilitate in an inclusive dialogue among them, and engage AU parties for the speedy resolution of the crisis in Libya.
AU has rejected foreign military intervention in Libya.
France, the United States and Britain said on March 19 that they had conducted air strikes on Libyan targets. The air strikes came after the UN Security Council on March 17 adopted a resolution to authorise a no-fly zone over Libya and called for “all necessary measures,” excluding troops on the ground, to protect civilians under threat of attack in the North African country.
They also came after leaders from some Arab countries and main Western powers, at their Paris summit on March 19, announced the start of military action against Libyan government forces.
The Arab League on March 20 criticised Western military strikes on Libya, a week after urging the United Nations to slap a no-fly zone on the oil-rich North African state.
“What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians,” Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told reporters.
On March 12, the Arab League urged the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone on Libya and said Moammar Gaddafi’s regime had “lost legitimacy” as it sought to snuff out a rebellion designed to oust him from power.
In the West’s biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, US warships and a British submarine fired more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on March 19, the US military said.
French warplanes also carried out strikes. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973 on March 17 authorising military action to prevent Gaddafi’s forces from attacking civilians.
China’s Foreign Ministry on March 20 expressed regret over the multinational military strike against Libya, saying that it did not agree with resorting to force in international relations. “China has noticed the latest development in Libya and regrets the military strike against Libya,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
China does not agree with the use of force in international relations, Jiang said, when asked to comment on the strike carried out by multinational forces.
China believes that the tenet and principles of the United Nations Charter and relevant international laws should be adhered to, and Libya’s sovereignty, independence, unification and territory integrity should be respected, she said. “We hope stability could be restored in Libya as soon as possible so as to avoid more civilian casualties caused by the escalation of military conflicts,” she added.
Indian Muslims’ Condemnation
Prominent Indian Muslim leaders, in a joint statement on March 20, condemned the western military campaign against Libya. The statement said: “While we reject and condemn the autocratic Gaddafi regime’s murder of protesting Libyan civilians and support the struggle of the Libyan people to free themselves of the shackles of a brutal dictatorship, we equally reject and condemn the western military campaign against the Gaddafi regime.
“This western campaign has clear imperialist and hegemonic designs against the oil wealth and the strategic geographical position of Libya. The same powers did not lift a finger against the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian lands and the murderous zionist attacks against Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and the same powers are taking a diagonally opposite stand towards similar popular movements in some other Arab countries. We also condemn the Arab League for meekly providing a fig leaf for the western powers to interfere and occupy an Arab country.
“The only acceptable way-out of the current Libyan crisis is to support the Libyan transitional government with arms and resources enabling it to topple the tyrant regime in Tripoli. A people’s movement must not be used to impose western control over yet another Muslim country. We genuinely fear that the current western military campaign will quickly lead to landing forces on the Libyan soil in order to loot Libyan oil wealth and plant a permanent military presence on its soil as has already happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. We strongly urge Arab countries not to fall in this trap and to refrain from offering their token support as it will be used to legitimise this neo-colonial campaign.”
The prominent Muslim leaders who signed the joint statement include Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Working President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat; Mujtaba Farooq, Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind; Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, President, Indian Islahi Movemrnt; Dr Taslim Rahmani, Muslim Political Council of India; Navaid Hamid, General Secretary, Movement for the Empowerment of Muslim Indians; Feroze Mithiborwala, President, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Mumbai; and Prof. M.H. Jawahirullah, Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Chennai.