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Books on Libya
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area (sq.km)
1,759,540
Population
5,499,074
Capital
Tripoli
Currency
Libyan dinar
Leader
Col Mu'amar al-Qadhafi
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Update No: 018 - (03/05/05)
From weapons of mass destruction to a
potential US - Libyan Military Alliance
Libya's fast road to diplomatic normalization with the West, and the United
States in particular, since December 2003 started with its announcement that it
would give up all future and existing plans to develop or acquire weapons of
mass destruction. In the early months that followed the announcement, it was
unclear what if any weapons programs Libya might have been pursuing, but there
were allegations that Libya was to obtain nuclear weapons material through a
Pakistani network run by the nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The nuclear
weapons-making equipment that was believed to be smuggled to Libya never arrived
and is believed to have been diverted to the government of another country.
While, Libya's interest or capacity to develop a full-scale 'weapons of mass
destruction' programme was always questionable, the fact that investigations in
several countries have yet to locate the missing material confirms this view.
Nevertheless, not to be outdone and the investigators concluded that there is a
strong likelihood that the sophisticated material was sold to an unidentified
customer by members of Abdul Qadeer Khan's network, which admits to have passed
on bomb-making technology to other countries as well as Libya. There is some
irony, then, to the fact that the United States and Libya have been discussing
an extension of their diplomatic détente to military collaboration. There was
already some talk of including Libya in a wider North African military
initiative almost one year ago in the context of fighting terrorism, but it now
seems as more a question of 'when' rather than 'if' such collaboration will
occur.
It is worth remembering that prior to the accession of Col. al-Qadhafi to power
in September 1969, the American army had three military bases in Libya, one of
which was near Tripoli, in which Washington in the 1950s deployed long-range
missiles. The Americans called this base Wheelus, while the Libyans still call
it Matiga and it has been used as a military airport and a civilian airport for
domestic flights in the 1992-1999 period, when Libya was under UN embargo.
Wheelus, once served as the headquarters of the 17th American forces positioned
in Europe, as well a spy center for the American intelligence agency to monitor
the activities of the Soviet armed forces. There is no talk yet of resuming an
American command centre of this magnitude and scope, and rumors suggest that the
extent of military cooperation between the Libya and the US would include direct
talks between senior military officials and the possibility of conducting joint
exercises between the American and Libyan forces or the possibility of the
American access to the Libyan military installations.
Deputy Commander of the European leadership in the American army Gen. Richard
Wald announced in Washington that American forces want to establish official
relations with the Libyan armed forces, on the precondition that Tripoli will
convince the administration of the US President George W. Bush that it had given
up terrorism. Indeed, while the Bush administration has initiated contacts at
every level with Libya, Libya has not been able to shake off its 'terrorist'
past, and image that emerged again last summer when the Saudi royal family
accused Col. Qadhafi of being behind a plot to murder crown prince Abdullah. On
22 December 2004, Saudi Arabia expelled the Libyan ambassador from Riyadh and
withdrew its own diplomatic envoy from Tripoli. The expulsion followed Saudi
accusations of a Libyan plot to assassinate Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz
Saud and other prominent members of the Saudi Government. Meanwhile, Gen. Wald
explained that the military collaboration issue is under study by the US defense
secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He said "I think this matter will be taking
place," adding that Libya and almost every country from North Africa is
concerned with establishing close relations with the USA, because of the
region's common concern of the dissemination of Islamic extremism. Gen. Wald
also noted added that if Libya "abides by its obligations to quit mass
destruction weapons and give up terrorism, then the USA should establish
military relations with it."
The question remains, how would the Libyan leader be able to justify the
potential presence of American bases on Libyan soil. Much of his leadership has
rested on his unabashed antagonism to superpower politics and commitment to the
ideals of the Bandung Conference of 1955 and the resulting association of
Non-Aligned States, whose founders include Col. Qadhafi's personal hero the
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Not that his leadership is in any way
dependent on popular support for his policies, though the government system he
set up is designed precisely to offer this illusion, but a US - American
military relationship might develop as part of a multilateral design, rather
than a bilateral one. The multilateral approach would occur in the context of
the African Union, and an African defense initiative. The Popular Committee for
External Relations and International Cooperation (PCERIC), the equivalent of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has already indicated as much, reacting to the
pronouncements from Washington. Officials from PCERIC have reaffirmed Libya's
commitment to upholding the conventions, protocols and accords of the African
Union (AU) in articulating foreign policy objectives with other nations of the
global community. Therefore, Libya's bilateral ties, such as those concerning
military cooperation, would be conducted within the framework of the AU and its
institutions. Officials noted, as the US also did, that Libya and America have
common military objectives "such as the fight against terrorism and all
forms of extremism whatever their origin."
In view of the emphasis on terrorism, the basis of US-Libyan military
cooperation might be founded on the U.S. program known as the Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI). It is intended to provide Chad, Algeria,
Mali, Morocco, Tunisia and other countries with military training to prevent
terrorists from infiltrating the Saharan countries along ancient trade routes
between Africa and the Middle East. Many such routes are still in use by modern
day Touareg tribes, and Sub-Saharan migrants are known to use them to reach
Libya from where they head to Europe illegally in boats run by specialized
smugglers. General Wald said that TSCTI would receive additional funds thus year
and even more funds beyond 2006 suggesting that the budget has room for Libya to
participate.
There is also a potential breakthrough concerning the ongoing saga of the
detention Bulgarian nurses facing trial in Libya. In May 2004, Libya found the
five Bulgarian health workers and a Palestinian doctor guilty of having caused
the death of 40 children and of infecting almost 400 others with HIV at a
Benghazi hospital in 1997. Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov has extended an
invitation for a tête-à-tête meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in
the hope to "sort out important issues of bilateral concern". Few
issues could be of greater concern to Bulgaria than the fate of their nationals
facing potential death by firing squad. Parvanov, invited the Libyan Leader to
Sofia in advance of his forthcoming visit to Libya. Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian
presidential advisor on foreign affairs, and Boris Velchev, chairman of the
Judicial Council, have also conferred with representatives of the Qaddafi
foundation, which has been monitoring the trial, and lawyers of the Bulgarian
medics. While frequently postponed, Libya has hinted at a potential softening on
the case, as a Tripoli court is to hear the case against ten Libyans accused of
torturing Bulgarian nurses on death row into making confessions. An assistant of
the medics' Libyan lawyer Osman Bizanti filed the nurses' civil suit before the
Tripoli Court of Appeal. During the trial, two of the nurses claimed they were
beaten and raped to confess they were guilty of deliberate spread of the deadly
virus. The nurses' confessions are the only evidence proving their guilt in the
HIV trial.
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FOREIGN COOPERATION
Libya, Czech discuss cooperation
Libya and Czech have held talks in Tripoli aimed at boosting cooperation between
the General People's Congress and the Czech Parliament, ljbc.net reported.
The Secretary of the General People's Congress said the deliberations aimed at
discussing ways of developing friendly relations and cooperation between the two
countries.
"The talks will give a new momentum to these relations and will pave the
way for a continuing dialogue between the two sides in different issues of
common interest." He said.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Czech Parliament, Vladimir
Lastuvka, said he is hopeful that the talks will bolster cooperation between the
two countries.
The two sides discussed during the meeting ways to set up a Libyan-Czech
friendship society to realize the common interest of the two friendly countries.
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