Representatives of the Libyan regime were also at the two-day summit outside the Equatorial Guinea capital which will seek consensus on the roadmap that includes a ceasefire and negotiations.
The African Union summit opened with leaders critical of France`s supply of weapons to the Libyan rebels and of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for Kadhafi for atrocities.
They have also spoken out against a NATO-led bombing campaign against Libyan forces that is meant to protect civilians.
"It is undoubtedly on this crisis that our deliberations are expected," African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping said in his opening address to the meeting including more than 30 African leaders.
The African Union must bear in mind in its talks the "suffering of the Libyan people because of the continuing clashes and the air bombing operations," he said, before leaders went into a closed session.
The Libyan rebel team, invited as a special guests, said there was a wide feeling that it was time for Kadhafi to leave.
"Everybody is in agreement on the departure of Kadhafi. Some say it publicly, others don`t," France-based representative of the National Transitional Council Mansour Safy Al-Nasr told AFP.
"Of course, we hope for a solution from the African Union. The roadmap is good if it is adjusted," he said.
The AU roadmap has been accepted by Kadhafi but the rebels have previously rejected it, demanding the leader must step down.
The rebel delegation, including former Libyan foreign minister Abderaman Shalgam, was listed as special guests of the summit. Representatives of the Libyan regime said they too expected support from the meeting.
After France announced Wednesday that it had air-dropped arms to anti-Kadhafi rebels, Ping warned of weapons falling in to the hands of Al-Qaeda who could use them to take Western hostages, and of the conflict growing to
reach the level of the one in Somalia.
It was a warning echoed by the United States and European Union.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile on Thursday demanded an explanation from France over its reported arms drop to Libyan rebels.
"If this is confirmed, it would be a brazen violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1970," Lavrov said, referring to a February resolution that prohibited states from providing any kind of arms to Libya.
Ping also criticised the arrest warrant for atrocities out for Kadhafi, one of his sons and his intelligence chief. "It complicates the situation," he said.
Senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril said in Vienna he awaited "a clear stance" from the African Union on whether they supported or condemned Kadhafi.
"These arrest warrants reflect the international conviction that massacres did take place," Jibril told journalists. "I urge the African Union to take a clear stance," he said.
Objections to international interference in Africa`s affairs and the sidelining of emerging nations was a theme of speeches to the meeting, with former Brazilian president Inacio Luiz Lula da Silva winning a standing ovation
for his criticism.
Lula in particular lashed out at the United Nations for not having an African or Latin American country with a permanent seat on its Security Council.
"We need a United Nations that has the courage to impose a ceasefire in Libya," he added.
The West appeared "incapable of seeing an Africa that is made up of human beings like the European continent," he said.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said the African Union needed to rely less on outside funding to avoid foreign interference.
"Africa does not aspire to resolve European, Asian or American problems," he said.
He also hit back at criticism of his government`s spending 600 million euros on building the flashy Sipopo compound, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Malabo, for the summit.
Rights groups say the country`s oil wealth is not filtering down to the country`s 700,000 inhabitants, about two-thirds of whom live in poverty. The government says standards are improving.
"When we don`t spend, they call us corrupt governments which embezzle state money. When we spend on something positive, they accuse us of wastage," Obiang said.
Tensions in Sudan and Somalia, where the African Union wants to boost the number of troops in its peacekeeping force and deploy helicopters, are also expected to feature in the talks. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
