Libya: The stick and the carrot: Jacob Zuma expected in Tripoli

By African Bulletin on May 30, 2011

According to the South African presidency, Jacob Zuma is going to Tripoli as a panel member of the African Union.

And despite he stayed close to the western countries with which he has passed the resolution authorizing the military intervention, Jacob Zuma has criticized the NATO bombing intensity and denounced any attempt to regime change in Tripoli. This position could make of president Zuma the favorite mediator in the Libyan conflict. His visit to Tripoli coincides with the NATO consolidation of military resources against the Kadhafi regime. All political and diplomatic alternatives have officially been consumed, and the latest was the African Union panel tour to Tripoli and Benghazi, on April 10, to negotiate a truce between Colonel Gaddafi and the rebels, but without success. This escalation of failures has led the international community to anticipate the military option in response to the Black Mails and coercive threats Colonel Gaddafi has been sending and defying the international community, rendering today irreversible the course of events and a desire to negotiate a way out of the crisis rather than to seek a military solution. These measures therefore make the environment unfavorable for the Libyan leader, and subject him to a very narrow choice, if not only to one alternative as released in persistent reports: the exile from Libya.   Although a special session was opened in Addis Ababa, this week, by the African Union on the situation in Libya, stating that the NATO intervention has exceeded the mandate delivered by the United Nations, several Western countries have opened their diplomatic representation in Benghazi, with Senegal being the first African country to recognize the Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people. That is why president Zuma’s visit seems like a carrot offered to the Libyan leader, while the stick was heavily cut down on his regime that has turned nasty and hateful by the people and the international community, over the last 42 years.