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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Debate Focus Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Libya turns new leaf with Europe
By Rasha SaadWhile Libyan efforts to break the diplomatic isolation, and the seven years of sanctions -- imposed on it following its alleged involvement in the 1988 bombing of an American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland -- have recently borne fruit, the United States has yet to respond to Libyan overtures. Libya gained a victory in its efforts to effect a rapprochement with the Europeans last week when Britain named its first ambassador to the country in 15 years. The US however has yet to follow suit.
However, the new British ambassador, Richard Dalton, said exactly what the Libyans wanted to hear, promising to help Tripoli return to the "mainstream of the international community". The diplomatic breakthrough came after Libya agreed to pay compensation -- reported by British newspapers to be L250,000 sterling -- to the family of a British policewoman, Yvonne Fletcher, shot dead outside Libya's London embassy in 1984.
Britain severed relations with Libya immediately after the shooting, and Tripoli has now also promised to cooperate in its further investigation.
The rapprochement between Britain and Libya came following talks between officials from the two countries after Libya in April handed over two men suspected of being involved in the Lockerbie bombing. The two have now been sent for trial in the Netherlands by Scottish judges in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution.
"They [the Libyans] have enabled the Lockerbie trial to take place, and they have promised to cooperate with the Fletcher inquiry, and I think it is right for us to respond and set up a full embassy," said Dalton.
However Dalton declined to say whether his mission to Tripoli would be cut short if the trial of the two Lockerbie suspects provides proof of Libyan government involvement in the bombing. The judges trying the case last week adjourned proceedings until 3 May, following a request from the defence team. However they refused the defence's claim that the court had no jurisdiction to look into the case, also rejecting demands that the charge that the two Libyans had conspired to carry out the Lockerbie bombing be dropped, or that references to the two suspects being members of Libyan intelligence be omitted from proceedings.
While Libya wishes to effect a diplomatic rapprochement with Europe and with the UK, analysts also believe that Tripoli may also be motivated by economic considerations. According to recent reports, Libya is moving fast to attract foreign investment to its oil sector, which is already attractive, barring diplomatic problems, with reserves of 30 billion barrels and low production costs.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi underlined this economic imperative during an appearance at a business conference in Tripoli two months ago. There he told executives from around the world that "You are welcome to invest in Libya. We are not pirates or rebels or terrorists."
Another step towards breaking Libya's isolation came with the recent visit of Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'alema to Tripoli, the first such visit by a Western government leader in seven years.
D'alema's visit also demonstrated the good relations Libya enjoys with Italy, something which was clear even during the years when sanctions were in place. Italy was among the loudest of European voices demanding the lifting of sanctions against Libya, and was the prime mover in persuading members of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum to admit Libya as an observer at a meeting in April.
Libya's dispute with France also seems to have been resolved. In October, Gaddafi said that Libya had been able to resolve a long-standing disagreement with France by paying more than US$31 million in compensation to the families of those killed in the bombing of a French airliner over Chad in 1989, allegedly by Libya.
Meanwhile, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Ronald Neumann, has acknowledged in recent statements that since the handing over of the two Libyan suspects in April, Libya "has taken a number of important steps to reduce its support for terrorism."
However, while Neumann noted Gaddafi's decision to close camps occupied by radical Palestinian groups and Libya's efforts to mediate in several African disputes, the country remains on an American list of countries that allegedly support terrorism, and Washington was still "uncertain about Libya's real intentions", given Gaddafi's continuing fiery anti-US rhetoric, he said.
Moreover, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has recently authorised the renewal of a ban on the use of US passports for travel to Libya, and the US still maintains its unilateral trade sanctions against Libya, including penalising foreign companies that make new investments of more than $40 million a year in the country's oil sector.
Since US oil companies stand to make big losses due to these sanctions, they have lined up to put pressure on the US Administration to soften its position against Libya. Such pressure has for the time being failed however, and, according to Erin Sugarman, spokesman for the National Foreign Trade Council, an organisation that lobbies for the lifting of sanctions restricting US companies, although there is momentum in the US Congress for sanctions against Libya to be loosened, he could not predict when this would happen.
