Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The African Union has regretted the failure to end the hostilities in Libya, but remains optimistic a breakthrough could be reached to commit the Benghazi-based opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) to a ceasefire. AU Commission President Jean Ping told an international roundtable meeting in Cairo, convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon with the Arab-League’s Amr Mussa as host, that prospects for a political breakthrough were higher. Ping said prospects were brighter after a meeting in Doha, Qatar, on the sidelines of an International Contact Group on Libya, with the Chairman of the TNC, to discuss the conditions of a proposed ceasefire deal with the current Libyan government.

“We had constructive exchanges, and I am confident that, through continued engagement, the current difficulties can be overcome,” Ping said on Thursday.

Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi has agreed to an internationally-monitored ceasefire deal and a political process to address the causes of the current turmoil. But efforts to secure similar commitments from the TNC failed during talks in Benghazi recently.

“Clearly, resolving the crisis in Libya requires not only that we intensify our efforts, but also, and equally important, that we coordinate them closely,” Ping said.

African leaders - South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso, Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Abdul Aziz and Mali’s Toumani Toure - are part of an AU Ad Hoc Committee leading the peace efforts.

“It is only fitting, in the face of a major crisis, with dire humanitarian implications and far-reaching security consequences, that the world body (UN) and the concerned regional organisations combine their efforts and their respective comparative advantages, to help bring the ongoing violence to an end,” Ping said.

Ping said the members of the Committee were in Libya to meet with the parties and engage them on the AU roadmap, in particular on the issue of ceasefire.

“While the authorities in Tripoli confirmed their acceptance of the roadmap and their support to a ceasefire, the representatives on the Benghazi-based TNC were of the view that some preconditions had to be met before any substantive discussion on the cessation of hostilities could commence,” Ping explained.

He reiterated the urgency of a ceasefire which, he said, was clearly highlighted in resolution 1973, which imposed the Libyan no-fly zone.

He said pending an agreement between the parties, it would be appropriate for the UN and all the regional organisations concerned to deepen their exchanges on the monitoring mechanism that could be put in place.

Pana 15/04/2011