The African Union (AU) and South African government's initial refusal to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Libya was not because of corruption through “petrodollars”, former President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.
“The charge has been made that we took the positions we did to oppose the abuse of the United Nations Security Council to effect regime-change in Libya, because we had been corrupted by these petrodollars,” he said.
“Once again I would like unreservedly to repudiate the fabrications that have been propagated that the AU depended on Libya for its budget requirements, and that Libya supported the African National Congress in any way whatsoever during the period of our struggle against the apartheid regime prior to 1990.”
Mbeki was speaking at the annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture at the University of the Western Cape.
He said that much of the local media and its domestic counterparts, as well as “so-called analysts” had reinforced the belief that slain Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi aided the ANC in its struggle against apartheid.
South Africa and the AU refused to recognise the NTC as the new legitimate authority in Tripoli, Libya up until September last year.
Instead, a mediation towards a peace deal between the NTC and Gaddafi's government was proposed.
Gaddafi was shot dead on October 20 by Libyan forces. - Sapa