An African Union (AU) panel on Libya has taken a step towards allowing the new transitional administration in Tripoli to take the country's AU seat.

Published by our Top Partner AllAfrica

The panel said in a statement on Wednesday that it has asked the head of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, to submit a report to the organisation's Peace and Security Council (PSC) "in order to enable the [PSC] to authorize the all-inclusive transitional government soon to be formed by the current authorities to occupy the seat of Libya in the AU, as soon as it is established."

The statement was issued after three members of the panel - presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Congo, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Jacob Zuma of South Africa - met in Pretoria. Two other members of the panel, the presidents of Mauritania and Mali, were represented by their ambassadors to South Africa.

The panel welcomed assurances it said the AU had been given by the new Libyan leadership of their "strategic commitment" to Africa and also of their commitment "to give priority to national unity and to bring together all Libyan stakeholders, without any exception, to rebuild the country."

The panel said AU recognition "should be based on the exceptional circumstances in and the uniqueness of the situation of Libya, and without prejudice to the relevant instruments of the AU, particularly those on unconstitutional changes of governments." Until now, the AU has withheld recognition of the new administration on the same grounds that it refuses recognition of Madagascar's current government - that it seized power by unconstitutional means.

The panel has asked Ping to convene an urgent meeting of the PSC during the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.

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