MALABO: A Libyan rebel delegation at the African Union summit Thursday said "everybody agrees" that leader Moammar Qaddafi had to leave, as leaders sought backing for their roadmap out of the conflict.
Representatives of the Libyan regime were also at the two-day summit outside the Equatorial Guinea capital which will seek consensus on the roadmap that includes a ceasefire and negotiations.
The African Union summit opened with leaders critical of France’s supply of weapons to the rebels and of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Qaddafi for atrocities.
They have also spoken out against a NATO-led bombing campaign against Libyan forces that is meant to protect civilians.
"Everybody is in agreement on the departure of Qaddafi. Some say it publicly, others don’t," France-based representative of the Transitional National Council Mansour Safy Al-Nasr told AFP, referring to African leaders.
"Of course, we hope for a solution from the African Union. The roadmap is good if it is adjusted," he said.
The rebel team met ministers from Niger, Mali, Chad and Mauritania on Wednesday. "Our plan is to meet as many delegations as possible," Al-Nasr said.
Al-Nasr arrived in Malabo on Wednesday with two other representatives of the council, including former Libyan foreign minister Abderaman Shalgam, as special guests of the summit.
The AU roadmap has been accepted by Qaddafi but the rebels have previously rejected it, demanding the leader must step down.
After France announced Wednesday that it had air-dropped arms to anti-Qaddafi rebels, AU Commission chairman Jean Ping warned of weapons falling in to the hands of Al-Qaeda who could use them to take Western hostages, and of the conflict growing to reach the level of the one in Somalia.
"What worries us is not who is giving what," Ping said late Wednesday. "It is simply that these weapons are being given by all parties to all the other parties. These weapons are already reaching Al-Qaeda, drug dealers and traffickers.
"They will be used to destabilize African states and to kidnap tourists for whom you pay ransom," he said, adding he also meant weapons handed out by Qaddafi.
France’s UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said his country’s delivery of arms to the rebels was not in breach of a Security Council resolution that established an arms embargo to Libya, because they were for "self-defence" of civilian populations under threat from Qaddafi’s forces.
China called on the international community "to strictly follow the spirit of the relevant resolution of the UN Security Council," a foreign ministry spokesman said in response to a question on France’s admission.
Five presidents working on the roadmap expect endorsement of their plan in a closed session after the summit opened, with about 30 of the continent’s leaders in attendance.
African leaders have been reluctant to speak out against the embattled Libyan leader who has funded many African causes and whose portrait is among those displayed in Malabo for the event.
Ping also criticized an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for atrocities out for Qaddafi, one of his sons and his intelligence chief. "It complicates the situation," he said.
The Libyan minister for African Union affairs Joma Ibrahim Amer said the regime expected support from the meeting.
"We have come for the African Union to support our position and that the position of Africa will be strong," Amer told reporters Wednesday.
A senior British defense official meanwhile said Wednesday that London would not emulate France’s move because that would raise "quite a few issues," including with the UN resolution that authorized military action in Libya.
But Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague stated that London has given the Libyan rebels 5,000 sets of body armor, as well as police uniforms, high-visibility vests and communications equipment.
He made clear that this was "fully in line" with the UN Security Council resolution governing international action on Libya and the arms embargo.
Another issue set to dominate the summit is flaring tensions in Sudan ahead of the south of the country’s independence on July 9 as well as Somalia, where the African Union wants to boost the number of troops in its peacekeeping force and deploy helicopters.
The official theme of the summit is youth development, seen as vital to containing social discontent on a continent wracked by chronic poverty, even in the oil-rich states like Equatorial Guinea which spent €600 million on a flashy new summit complex.
The uprisings in Tunisia that spread to Egypt and Libya and elsewhere have been followed by a wave of demonstrations in sub-Saharan countries like Burkina Faso, Senegal and Swaziland and have rattled others like Zimbabwe.
