As NATO forces continue bombing Libya and no solution to the conflict is in sight, Zhang Zhongxiang, Deputy Director of the Department of the West Asian and African Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, says African countries should be left to resolve their own conflicts via the African Union and Western intervention in Libya only exacerbates an already volatile situation. His thoughts are as follows:

More than five months have past since France dropped the first bomb on Libya. All the while the African Union (AU) has insisted on a peaceful political solution to the Libyan crisis. At the 17th AU summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from June 30 to July 1, the organization again stressed the importance of a peaceful political solution, and produced a roadmap to end the hostility between Libya leader Gaddafi and the opposition Transitional National Council (TNC), begin a 30-day nationwide dialogue on ceasefire, offer humanitarian assistance, begin national reconciliation and democratic reform, supervise the ceasefire and lift sanctions against Libya.

From the outset of the Libyan crisis, the AU has persisted in its efforts of peacefully solving the conflict. The AU supported the UN Resolution 1970 and Resolution 1973, but it is against military operations on Libya. In order to peacefully solve the crisis, the AU also established an ad-hoc High Level AU Panel on Libya, consisting of Mauritania, South Africa, Mali, the Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The panel put forward a roadmap on March 25, calling for an end to military actions.

For any country and continent, peace and stability are the bases for development, and Africa is no exception. From 2003 to 2008, Africa witnessed an annual economic growth of more than 5 percent. Owing to the global financial crisis, the growth plummeted to 1.6 percent in 2009; however, it soon recovered. The World Bank estimates that Africa's economic growth rate will hit 5.1 percent in 2011.

A major reason for the rapid economic growth is the peace and stability trend in Africa. For instance, the civil wars in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola ended, which greatly improved the continent's peace and security situation.

The AU has been taking a lot of measures to maintain peace and security on the continent. For instance, the AU suspends member states that install leaders not fairly elected by the people. The AU also dispatches peacekeeping forces to some conflict areas in Africa and labeled 2010 a year of peace and stability in Africa.

It was against this background of returning stability that the Libyan conflict erupted.

In general, the conflicts in African countries are usually related to the history of being colonized by the Western countries or intervention of Western countries, as is the case of Libya. Under the legal guise of Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council, Western countries launched a military strike on Libya, which indicates that the Western powers do not want to lose their leadership position in the context of rising world emerging countries. Western countries launched the military operation on the excuse of protecting human rights, but they are actually creating a humanitarian crisis. By July 13, NATO air strikes had killed more than 1,100 civilians and injured more than 4,500 others.

African countries are independent countries and they are no longer the backyards of some world powers. Foreign intervention can only make things worse. Leave African affairs to African people. The AU, the indigenous organization of Africa, should play an active role in dealing with African affairs.

The Libya situation only has three possible outcomes. First, the deadlock goes on. Second, the Libyan government and rebels negotiate and solve the crisis peacefully. Third, the rebels win. Even if the TNC topples Gaddafi the new government should also safeguard its sovereignty and not allow foreign intervention.