The African Union (AU) has pledged to organise talks between the warring Libyan parties, but US leaders told Moamer Kadhafi to democracy not threats after he told Europe that his supporters could attach the continent “like locusts and bees”.

"We are very happy that we have reached this point, that we can now say very soon we will be launching the talks in Addis Ababa and we believe we will get the necessary support from everyone," South African president Jacob Azuma said late Friday in Malabo, where the AU summit took place.

Two days of debate were needed to reach an accord with leaders differing over whether Kadhafi should be criticised. New elements in the roadmap include provisions for a multinational peacekeeping force organised by the United Nations.

But the highlight of the plan - that Kadhafi had agreed to stay out of the negotiations - had been announced a week earlier after a meeting in Pretoria.

The emphasis is on inclusive and consensual negotiations that could allow Kadhafi to "return to the game when he wants to," a diplomat at the summit said.

On Friday Kadhafi threatened reprisals against Europe if Nato’s operation in his country did not stop.

The Libyan people are capable, one day, of taking the battle to Europe and 
the Mediterranean," he said when addressing thousands of supporters in Tripoli.

They might attack “your homes, your offices, your families ... because you have transformed our offices, headquarters, homes and children into military targets which you say are legitimate”, he said. "If we decide to do so, we are capable of throwing ourselves on Europe like swarms of locusts or bees."

And he called on his loyalists to seize French- supplied weapons

to rebels in the Nafusa mountains.

"Instead of issuing threats, Kadhafi should put the well-being and interests of his own people first and he should step down from power and help facilitate a democratic transition," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded on a visit to Nato ally 
Spain on Saturday.

Source: RFI