US urges Africa to demand Gaddafi step down
The US has sent two envoys to several African countries to seek the opinion of AU leaders to force Mr. Gaddafi to step down and negotiate.
In efforts to resolve the current deadlock in Libya, the US has sent two envoys to several African countries, aiming to persuade senior leaders of the African Union (AU) to increase pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to give up his power and open up a promising direction for negotiations between political parties in this country.
Some AU countries do not accept the call for Gaddafi to step down. Photo: Reuters
The two officials mentioned above are US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Yamamoto and Gene Cretz, former US Ambassador to Libya.
US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the senior US diplomats visited the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Adis Ababa to discuss with senior AU leaders the political crisis in Libya and persuade the organization to call on leader Gaddafi to leave power in the country.
The two sides made some assessments of the current situation in Libya and agreed to continue to put great international pressure on Colonel Gaddafi.
The AU has received generous financial contributions from Libyan leader Gaddafi for its long-term operations, so some African countries have not accepted calls for Libyan leader Gaddafi to step down, and have criticized NATO's recent military intervention in Libya.
According to VNA
