Issue No. 599
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15 - 21 August 2002 Issue No. 599 Region |
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Engaging with the West
Last week saw the first meeting between Libyan leader Gaddafi and a British official in two decades, signalling a thaw in relations between the two countries after years of hostility. Rasha Saad reports
In a Bedouin-style tent in the Libyan city of Sirte, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi held his first talks with Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien, the first British minister to visit Libya in nearly 20 years.
The three-day visit, however, was the outcome of continuous talks between officials of both countries in the period since Libya made a breakthrough and paid compensation to the family of Yvonne Fletcher, shot outside Libya's London embassy in 1984. Britain severed relations with Libya immediately after the shooting. Rapprochement between the two countries was furthered in 1999, after Libya handed over two of its citizens suspected of bombing a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
Admitting such a breakthrough, O'Brien said that his trip followed a steady improvement in relations between the two countries, and an assessment by London that Tripoli had shifted its policy.
"We've decided Gaddafi no longer wants to be involved in international terrorism," he said. "We still have criticisms of Libya on human rights grounds and aspects of its foreign policy. But Libya is moving away from being an outlaw pariah state towards engagement with the West and complying with international law," he added.
The main agenda of the meeting, as declared by the British Foreign Office, was issues of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
Over the past few years, Gaddafi has made several moves to portray Libya as a country that fights terrorism.
According to a British source, Libyan officials have given a strong commitment to supporting the United States-led fight against Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qa'eda network.
"There was a very strong commitment to joining the fight against Al-Qa'eda," the source said. "They [the Libyan leadership] see Al-Qa'eda as just as much a threat to Libya as to the West."
Libya was one of the first Arab countries to condemn the 11 September attacks on the US. Gaddafi also supported Washington's right to respond to the attacks with military force.
Over the past couple of years, Gaddafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, has also been involved in efforts to free Western hostages in the Philippines in his capacity as head of the Gaddafi foundation known as Charity.
According to O'Brien, Libya was prepared to sign up to 20 international conventions relating to weapons of mass destruction and was also considering signing others, including the chemical weapons convention. O'Brien also said Libya expressed willingness to consider inspections of suspected nuclear sites.
With such steady moves towards a return to the international fold, as well as the 1999 handover of Abdel-Basset Al-Megrahi and Lamine Khalifa for trial of the Lockerbie bombing, Libya is also trying to have the 8- year-old United Nations sanctions, which are currently suspended, lifted. Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment in Scotland, while Khalifa was acquitted.
Before the sanctions can be lifted, Libya is required to renounce terrorism and disclose all information it has about the downing of the Pan Am jet. It must also admit responsibility for the bombing and pay compensation to the victims' families.
While news reports reflected a rough consensus between Libya and the UK on the issue of terrorism, there were reports of conflict about the issues of compensation and the admission of responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.
According to news agency press reports, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalgham said that Libya was "in principle" willing to pay compensation to families of the victims, adding that "the specifics of that offer had to be further addressed."
O'Brien also said that "they [the Libyans] are looking at a form of words which they can sign up to which will show they accept a general responsibility for the actions of their official Al-Megrahi."
However, such reports conflict with other statements by Libyan officials, in which they denied that Libya intends to declare its responsibility or pay the compensation.
In June, Libya's deputy foreign minister, Suleiman Al-Shehoumi, said his government had never accepted the principle of paying compensation. Several Libyan officials have echoed his words. While boosting ties with the UK has its political ends, analysts believe that both countries have their eyes set on the economic gains.
According to reports, Libya is keen to re- enter the world economy, and the UK does not want to lose out to other European nations already jostling for advantage when it comes to potentially lucrative oil contracts. Libya has reserves of 30 billion barrels, and production costs for its high-grade crude are considered to be among the world's lowest.
According to Hassouna Al-Shawsh, a senior Foreign Ministry official, Britain is "one of the main countries concerned with Libyan oil". He added that Tripoli also sought cooperation in the areas of banking, electricity, industry and health.
Al-Shawsh said that Libyan imports from Britain amounted to 500 million dollars a year and that 18 British companies were present in the Libyan market, particularly in the oil industry.
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