Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano is in Libya, where he arrived on Sunday in his quality as chairman of the African Union (AU), to discuss with his Libyan counterpart, Moammar Kaddafi, the situation on the African continent.
Shortly before a Monday meeting between the two delegations, Chissano told reporters that the talks were to discuss the preparations for the next AU summit, that is to take place in Addis Ababa later this year.
According to a report in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", he said that other issues to be discussed include the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the armed conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
"We have been exchanging points of view on these issues over the phone, but now the Libyan leader invited me to discuss them face to face", said Chissano.
Commenting on the use of force to seize power, Chissano warned any person or group planning to stage a coup to desist, saying that the AU will take very strong and serious measures against them.
On how the organization intends to put an end to armed conflicts in the continent, Chissano said that the international community, namely the AU and the United Nations, are to continue pursuing the methods they have been using so far, which have been shown to yield good results.
"It is true that some occasional difficulties are still emerging, but I believe we are on the right path", he said.
He mentioned last week's attempted coup in the DRC, describing it as an "unfortunate attitude".
"We strongly condemn this attitude", he said, reiterating that the AU will take strong measures against anyone who attempts to seize power by force.
"We will be ever more strict, we will not tolerate this kind of situation in our continent", he warned.
Monday's meeting with Kaddafi was held behind closed doors and no press conference was held afterwards, but it is believed that the talks also broached the broadening of cooperation between the two countries.
So far, cooperation between Mozambique and Libya has been restricted to diplomacy, but they are now likely to be extended to investments in various areas.
Fonte: AIM
