President Jacob Zuma's office refuses to confirm or deny reports about what he said to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as reported by the BBC.
On Wednesday, BBC Monitoring, the media monitoring service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), reported that Libyan TV had highlighted what it said were remarks made by Zuma to Gaddafi in a telephone conversation.
Libyan TV quoted Zuma as calling on the African Union (AU) to “take decisive action and uncover the conspiracy that Libyan (sic) is facing”.
The Libyan TV report also quoted Zuma as “stressing the need not to depend on tendentious reports circulated by foreign media outlets and the need to listen to the Libyan media in this regard”.
Zuma is attending the AU Security Council meeting in Ethiopia.
His office issued a statement late on Wednesday saying that it “would not be drawn into rumours and distortions of the conversation with the leader of Libya, Col Muammar Gaddafi, who had called to explain his side of the story”.
The presidency also said that Zuma had spoken out “clearly” on the Libyan issue, openly condemning the loss of life, attacks on civilians and reported violations of human rights in Libya.
“The country supports the positions taken by the AU and the United Nations (UN) on Libya and there has never been any ambiguity about the position of either Zuma or the country,” the presidency said.
In reaction to the media reports, Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said: “The president's close relationship in the past with Col Gaddafi has long been a cause of concern. We must recall that, just 12 days after being arrested on charges of rape in 2006, Jacob Zuma undertook a five-day trip to Tripoli, where he met with Col Gaddafi.”
Trollip said that numerous media reports had suggested that he (Gaddafi) provided Zuma with financial support to contest the allegations against him.
“In light of this, there is a particularly urgent need for clarity, and for the president to disassociate himself with the contents of these reports,” Trollip said. - I-Net Bridge