Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma has arrived in Tripoli, Libya, for high-level talks with that country’s leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
Zuma, who is engaged in the talks in his capacity as a member of the African Union High Level Panel for the resolution of the conflict in Libya, is expected to discuss the immediate cessation of all hostilities, and the cooperation of Libyan authorities to facilitate the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to the needy in that country.
The Presidency has dismissed as misleading speculation that the visit is to discuss an “exit strategy” for Gaddafi, who has been under siege since major opposition to his leadership broke out earlier this year.
Gaddafi will also have to answer some tough questions about the death in Libya of South African photographer Anton Hammerl. Hammerl’s family had been pleading for the photographer’s body after news emerged that he had been killed by forces there.
In a letter to the Presidency last week, the Hammerls appealed for Zuma’s help, describing the situation as a “nightmare” that cannot end until he was brought home.
In response, the Presidency said Zuma understood the Hammerl family’s pain and the “difficulty that the family is going through as every family wishes to know where their next of kin are buried.” – BuaNews
