The African Union has condemned the flow of arms into Libya after France admitted air-dropping weapons to rebels fighting to oust Moamer Gathafi but Britain declined over concerns about UN authorisation.
AU Commission chairman Juan Ping made the criticism on the eve of a two-day summit of African Union leaders trying to mediate an end to the four-month conflict as rebel fighters backed by NATO strikes advance on Tripoli.
"What worries us is not who is giving what," Ping said in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where the summit kicks off later Thursday.
"It is simply that these weapons are being given by all parties to all the other parties. These weapons are already reaching Al-Qaeda, drug dealers and traffickers. They will be used to destabilise African states and to kidnap tourists for whom you pay ransom," he said.
The arms deliveries could backfire on the governments who supply them.
"If these arms are found in the desert it is a problem for everybody, for you (Westerners) as well. The people who are being kidnapped (by terrorists) are Westerners," said Ping.
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