MALABO (AFP) ? African leaders sought backing for a roadmap out of the Libyan conflict at a summit Thursday where an invited delegation of Libyan rebels pushed demands that veteran leader Moamer Kadhafi steps down.
Representatives of the Libyan regime were also at the two-day summit, outside the Equatorial Guinea capital, which will seek consensus on the roadmap that includes a ceasefire and negotiations.
The African Union summit opened with leaders critical of France's supply of weapons to the Libyan rebels and of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Kadhafi for atrocities.
They have also spoken out against a NATO-led bombing campaign against Libyan forces that is meant to protect civilians.
"It is undoubtedly on this crisis that our deliberations are expected," African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping told the meeting that included more than 30 African leaders before closed sessions that extended into the night.
The African Union must bear in mind in its talks the "suffering of the Libyan people because of the continuing clashes and the air bombing operations," he said.
After France announced Wednesday that it had air-dropped arms to anti-Kadhafi rebels, Ping warned of weapons falling into the hands of Al-Qaeda who could use them to take Western hostages, and of the conflict growing to reach the level of the one in Somalia.
It was a warning echoed by the United States and European Union.
The Libyan rebel team, invited as a special guests, said there was a wide feeling that it was time for Kadhafi to leave.
"Everybody is in agreement on the departure of Kadhafi. Some say it publicly, others don't," France-based representative of the National Transitional Council Mansour Safy Al-Nasr told AFP.
"Of course, we hope for a solution from the African Union. The roadmap is good if it is adjusted," he said.
The AU roadmap has been accepted by Kadhafi but the rebels have previously rejected it, demanding the leader must step down.
But the AU has refused to publicly back calls for Kadhafi to go as it pushes to bring both sides to a political solution.
"What we need is not to escalate the situation," Egypt's Foreign Minister Egyptian Mohamed Elorabi said when asked about the French weapons drops.
"It is a difficult process, many parties are involved. We should not provoke any party, we should try to have a conducive atmosphere for the settlement," he told reporters.
Rebel demands for Kadhafi to go was something the two sides had to negotiate and was not up to the African Union, he said.
"These kind of internal conditions -- it is up to the two parties in Libya," Elorabi said. "The spirit here is that we want space for the political solution."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile on Thursday demanded an explanation from France over its reported arms drop to Libyan rebels.
"If this is confirmed, it would be a brazen violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1970," Lavrov said, referring to a February resolution that prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya.
Ping also criticised the arrest warrant for atrocities out for Kadhafi, one of his sons and his intelligence chief. "It complicates the situation," he said.
Senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril said in Vienna he awaited "a clear stance" from the African Union on whether they supported or condemned Kadhafi.
"These arrest warrants reflect the international conviction that massacres did take place," Jibril told journalists. "I urge the African Union to take a clear stance," he said.
Objections to international interference in Africa's affairs and the sidelining of emerging nations was a theme of speeches to the meeting, with former Brazilian president Inacio Luiz Lula da Silva winning a standing ovation for his criticism.
Lula in particular lashed out at the United Nations for not having an African or Latin American country with a permanent seat on its Security Council.
"We need a United Nations that has the courage to impose a ceasefire in Libya," he added.
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