US envoys visit Africa to press Qadhafi to yield power
WASHINGTON: Senior US diplomats are visiting several African countries as part of continuing efforts to urge leaders there to press Libyan strongman Moamer to leave power immediately, officials said Tuesday.
Having benefited financially from Qadhafi's policies, a number of African countries have been reluctant to call for the longtime leader to step down and have criticized the NATO-led military campaign in Libya.
Gene Cretz, the US ambassador who left Libya after Qadhafi launched his bloody crackdown on the opposition in February, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Yamamoto arrived Monday in Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.
The diplomats "are in Africa to meet with African Union members to discuss the crisis in Libya and the need for Qadhafi to relinquish power now," he told AFP.
Toner said the pair met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and would meet with African Union Chairman Jean Ping before leaving Addis Ababa later.
They also met with Mahmud Jibril, leader of Libya's opposition National Transitional Council who was visiting Ethiopia.
"They had a productive meeting on the current situation in Libya and agreed on the importance of maintaining international pressure on Qadhafi," Toner said.
During a visit to AU headquarters in June, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed all African states to demand Qadhafi to step down as well as to expel his diplomats and increase African support for the opposition.
African leaders have publicly criticized NATO's assault on Qadhafi's regime, with some accusing the alliance of abusing the United Nations resolution that authorized its bombing campaign.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
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