African Union Says Never Favors Military Solution to Libyan Crisis
2011-04-21 05:00:25 Xinhua Web Editor: liuranran
The African Union (AU) has never favored a military solution to the crisis in Libya, the regional bloc's chief Jean Ping said here on Wednesday. "For us, we have never been with the military solution," Jean Ping, chairperson of the AU Commission, told reporters at a news briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center. "Since the beginning, we thought that the situation in Libya should be solved in a political way, and our road map is clear enough concerning the solution in Libya," he said. He noted that since the Libya Contact Group met last week in Qatar's capital of Doha, the AU has observed that "we're moved now from the military activities to a research of a political solution to Libya." "We have been interacting with the rest of the world," he added. A stalemate continues on the ground in Libya as the opposition, under the cover of NATO-led airstrikes, are locked in a tug-of-war with government forces. The French and Italian governments on Wednesday joined Britain in pledging military advisors to assist the opposition.
