By Timothy Nsubuga

14^th March 2011

President Yoweri Museveni has been drafted into an African presidential committee whose remit is to work out ways of ending the conflict that has engulfed Libya.

The African Union (AU) said on Saturday that the presidents of South Africa, Mauritania, Congo, Mali and Uganda had been asked to form a high-level committee to help resolve the conflict in Libya.

The committee, the AU said, would look “…to engage with all parties in Libya, facilitate an inclusive dialogue among them, and engage AU partners as part of the overall efforts for the speedy resolution of the crisis in Libya”.

The five Presidents who will sit on the committee are South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Congo’s Denis Sassou Nguesso, Amadou Toumani Toure from Mali, Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz from Mauritania.

The Presidents will be joined on the committee by Jean Ping, President of the AU Commission.  “…Consultations are underway for the committee to urgently begin its work”, said a statement posted on the AU website.  The decision to create the committee was taken at a meeting of the AU’s peace and security council in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last Thursday.

Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi has been at the forefront of an effort to build consensus in Africa for a United States of Africa. While there have been widespread calls from the West for Gaddafi to quit power, the reaction from Africa has been much more cautious.

South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister said on Thursday that his government would not call on Gaddafi to step down because as a government, it subscribes to the principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States.  END.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.