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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 April 1999 Issue No. 425
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Of two minds over Libya
By Rasha SaadPolitical observers have given mixed reactions to the announcement by the US that it is preparing to hold its first official talks with Libya since diplomatic relations were broken off between the two countries in 1981.
The meeting, which follows the hand-over of two Libyans suspected of blowing up a Pan Am plane and the suspension of UN sanctions against Libya, will also be attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British officials. On the agenda are remaining issues connected with the 1988 bombing of the plane over Lockerbie, Scotland. The meeting will be part of Annan's preparations for a report to be submitted to the Security Council within 90 days of the hand-over of the suspects. According to an agreement between Libya and the UN, the sanctions will be lifted if Annan's report gives Libya a clean bill of health, stating that it has renounced terrorism and is cooperating with the trial of the two suspects, which will take place in the Netherlands.
But, according to some observers, the meeting will not be a preliminary step towards improving bilateral relations between the US and Libya. They cited statements made by US officials, who played down the importance of the meeting. "There are no plans for bilateral meetings with the Libyans," said State Department spokesman James Rubin.
He also said the US unilateral sanctions against Libya would remain in place in the near future. He said the US needed "to have additional concerns alleviated" before it would address modifying its sanctions. Observers believe the "additional concerns" refer to the US belief that Libya still sponsors terrorism, and predict that the issue of terrorism will top the meeting's agenda.
Most Arab political observers say the US has long used the argument that Libya sponsors terrorism as a pretext for isolating the country and ruining its economy. Libya, however, has always denied the terrorism charge. Libyan officials have also upheld what they describe as "legitimate acts to defend Arab rights".
Political analysts argue that the hand-over of the Libyan suspects cannot be expected to heal the rift between the US and Libya, because problems between the two countries started long before the Lockerbie issue. As a result, sanctions were regarded by many analysts as a tool to discipline the Libyan regime, which kicked the US out of its military bases in Libya after the 1969 Fateh Revolution and which vehemently opposes the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Confrontation between the two countries lasted throughout the '70s and '80s. In 1975, two years after Libya nationalised the country's oil companies, the US cancelled several deals to sell military arms to Tripoli. In 1979, the US withdrew its diplomats from Tripoli and closed down the embassy after it was set on fire by demonstrators. The US closed down the Libyan Embassy in Washington two years later, after accusing Tripoli of sponsoring terrorism. That same year, US military planes shot down two Libyan warplanes over the Gulf of Sidra. In 1986, Washington severed all economic ties with Libya and sent planes to attack targets in Tripoli and Benghazi after accusing Tripoli of ordering the bombing of a discotheque frequented by American servicemen in West Berlin. However, the involvement of the Libyans in this attack has never been proved.
In 1986, the US imposed its own sanctions on the country by prohibiting banks from financing or arranging transactions that would benefit Libya, including brokering sales of Libyan crude oil or transporting Libyan cargo. It also clamped a freeze on Libyan assets in the US. In 1995 Congress approved legislation penalising foreign companies that made new investments of more than $40 million a year in Libya's oil sector.
However, some observers are predicting that the coming meeting between the US and Libya will be a step towards bilateral talks.
It is widely believed that the US is afraid it will lose out on lucrative deals as Tripoli strives to restore its international economic standing.
With the suspension of the sanctions, which included an air embargo and a ban on equipment for oil refineries, Libya is considering sweetening investment terms for foreign oil companies. The breakthrough provides an opportunity for European oil firms to forge ahead in Libyan energy ventures, leaving US companies out in the cold.
However, it is expected that US oil companies, which according to reports have been "lining up" in increasing numbers since the news of the hand-over of the Libyan suspects, will pressure the US administration to soften its position on Libya. In anticipation of this, Libyan officials have expressed the government's willingness to resume oil ties with Washington. "We invite US firms, which were our associates in the past, to return [to Libya] and continue their production," said Libyan Oil Minister Abdullah Salem recently.
According to Erin Sugarman of the National Foreign Trade Council, a group that lobbies for the lifting of sanctions that restrict the operations of US companies, there is a momentum in Congress to relax the unilateral sanctions, but he could not predict when this would happen.
US oil companies Exxon and Mobil left Libya in 1982 following a US trade embargo imposed in 1981. Five other US firms, Amarada Hess, Conoco, Grace Petroleum, Marathon and Occidental, remained active until 1986 when the then US President Ronald Reagan ordered them to cease their activities in Libya.
Meanwhile, in a victory for diplomatic endeavours by Italy and Syria, Libya has announced that it will attend a meeting of European Union and Mediterranean countries in Germany this weekend. The invitation is believed to be the first step by Libya out of international isolation. The conference is designed to strengthen economic and political ties between the two regions. Libya had been unable to take part in the process because of the UN sanctions.
