LIBYA: African Union refuses to recognize new Libyan government

The African Union refused to recognize Libya’s oppositional National Transitional Council on Friday.

The group's Peace and Security Council called instead for the creation of an authority before the next elections that would include all of the country's warring parties, according to Al Arabiya.

Officials called an emergency meeting of the 15-member council, which they said was split almost in half between countries that have recognized the opposition Libyan government and those that have not, including many past supporters of embattled Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

The council includes Zimbabwe, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Libya, Namibia, South Africa, Djibouti, Rwanda, Burundi, Chad, Benin, Ivory Coast, Mali and Mauritania.

Only three heads of state attended the emergency meeting in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Two of them -- Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma -- have been vocal Kadafi supporters.

Zuma told Al Arabiya that the Libyan rebels had not yet proven their legitimacy.

"There is a process in Libya wherein the NTC forces are in the process of taking over Tripoli ... but there is still that fighting going on,” Zuma said at the end of an AU Peace and Security Council meeting. “So we can’t therefore stand and say this is the legitimate one now,” Zuma said.

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-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, left, talks with Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, during an emergency summit of the AU Peace and Security Council in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Friday. Credit: Reuters