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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: 023 - (03/10/05)
Still sponsoring terrorism?
Libya is still on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism -- despite
having met the criteria for removal and the two countries still do not have full
diplomatic relations, even as the promise of such an occurrence has lingered for
the almost two years that the United States reopened state level contacts
between the two countries in December 2003. For the United States, Qadhafi's
stated renunciation of "weapons of mass destruction" served as a model
to coerce other countries such as North Korea, Iran and increasingly Syria (see
latest Syria update) and all so called rogue states to emulate Libya in order to
earn the trust of the United States and the priviliges it entails. However,
there are signs that only slow progress is being made toward the stablishment of
full diplomatic relations between the two countries. Last September 17,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Libyan counterpart, Abd al-Rahman
Shalgam. Ms. Rice "reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to working to broaden and
deepen the relationship between Libya and the United States." Some US
senators such as Richard Lugar (D), who is also president of the Senate Foreign
Affairs Commission, urges the administration to accelerate the normalization
process. He notes that removing Libya from the list of state sponsors of
terrorism is mandated by law. In fact, he adds, "the administration has
acknowledged that Libya has not been involved in terrorism since before December
2003. This is a far longer period of non-involvement than the six-month-minimum
required for removal from the list".
It is widely acknowledged in Washington that the reason for Libya's 'hold'position
on the list of terrorism sponsoring states is that of a reported plot to murder
then crown prince Abdallah (now King Abdallah) of Saudi Arabia in the summer of
2004. The claim has never been proven to be valid, in the form of an actual
trial and King Abdullah himself pardoned the would-be assassins held in Saudi
jails. The king also said that full diplomatic exchange between Libya and Saudi
Arabia would be restored. Lugar said "it would be odd indeed if the United
States were more insistent on pursuing this matter than are the Saudis
themselves". American economic instituions such as the Export-Import bank
are forbidden from supporting private sector investment in Libya (it is possible
for individual private companies to invest, however). This adds risks for
investors and places undue obstacles on trade and cooperation. As long as Libya
remains on the terrorism list, U.S. economic institutions such as OPIC and the
Export-Import Bank cannot support American private-sector investment in Libya.
Meanwhile, in a further diplomatic opening president Bush asked for US companies
to work with Libya to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons, as part of
Libya's disarmament process, while also waiving restrictions so that Libya can
refurbish eight C-130 military cargo aircraft the country bought in the 1970s.
Libya bought the aircraft, but never took possession, as the planes have been
stored in the US.
Nevertheless, another potential obstacle has emerged in September offering some
explanation for the Libya's 'terrorism supporting' status. Families of seven
Americans who were killed in the attack against the "DC-10" plane of
the French carrier UTA in 1989 asked the federal court in Washington to hold
Libya responsible for the killing of the 170 passengers of the plane in
September. The plane was flying between Brazzaville, (now in Dem. Republic of
Congo) and Paris on September 19, 1989 killed all 170 passengers of 17 various
nationalities. In absentia in 1999, a French court sentenced six Libyans
including the brother in law of the Libyan President Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi to life
imprisonment. After 16 years, the French establishment responsible for following
up the case announced it was authorized in distributing Libyan compensations
estimated at USD 170 million for 92 of the families of the victims that Libya
had paid in 2004.
One possible move Libya could make, to accelerate the advancement of diplomacy
with the United States, is to resolve the issue of the Bulgarian nurses held in
a Benghazi jail since 1999 over allegations of having infected over 400 babies
with AIDS. The issue has had growing international repercussions, as the
European Union has also put pressure on Libya to resolve the issue by freeing
the nurses and a Palestinian medical doctor. Libya has delayed an appeal -
expected in November, and suggests Bulgaria pay compensation to the families of
the victims, in what is essentially a blood money solution or 'diya'. Bulgaria
has rejected this proposal, suggesting that paying the diya would amount to an
admission of guilt for the nurses, which Bulgaria has deemed innocent from the
start of the debacle. AIDS experts testified at the trial of the workers that
the HIV infections occurred at the Benghazi hospital due to unsanitary
conditions and practices by hospital staff, and that they occurred before the
foreign workers arrived there, but a Libyan court in 2004 found the workers
guilty and sentenced them to death. Subsequently, after the nurses accused the
Libyan Police of torturing them into making confessions, the Police in question
ere tried and acquitted on the remarkable grounds that they couldn't have used
torture, "as torture doesn't "exist in Libya." The issue has
reached the United Nations, where Bulgarian foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin told
his Libyan counterpart at the General Assembly meeting last week that his
country would not pay "blood money" to the families of the
HIV-positive children because the health workers had committed no crime and were
not responsible for their infections. The issue is also important as far as
relations with the European Union are concerned, as Bulgaria is slated for entry
into the union, and the application of the death sentence would be seen as a
breach in EU - Libyan relations.
Oil is still the Main Game in Town - the Second Round of Bidding Begins
Libya will host a new bidding session for oil and natural gas concessions
concerning 26 fields. Libya will auction permits on Oct. 2 for a total area
covering some 100,000 square kilometers, as the country wants to attract $30
billion of investments to double production this decade to 3 million barrels a
day, as projected shortly after the lifting of most US sanctions in 2004. The
bidding session will start in a particularly favorable climate - for OPEC anyway
- as a growing worldwide demand for crude oil pushed prices to beyond $70 a
barrel on Aug. 30, and persist in the high $60 range. The first bidding session
was in January and American oil companies were awarded the lion's share of the
contracts. European and Japanese oil companies had expressed strong interest
then, but were defeated - like many of the Europeans - by Occidental. Japan's
interests will also be represented by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., or JAPEX,
Teikoku Oil Co., trader Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., an
affiliate of trader Mitsui & Co. Inpex Corp. and several other Japanese
firms are slated to participate in Sunday October 2's bidding. Not a single
European company won a permit in Libya 's first bid round. British Petroleum
(BP) estimates Libya's reserves total 39.1 billion barrels, giving the North
African country the world's ninth largest reserves. BP, which secured
exploration rights thanks to a direct effort by BP CEO Lord Browne to discuss
the concession with Libyan leader Col. Qadhafi in the summer.
The contest will be tough. JAPEX, which is very keen to get a foothold in Libyan
oil exploration, will have to compete against at least 60 other bidders, which
are just as eager. The world's biggest energy companies, including Exxon Mobil
Corp., BP Plc and Chevron Corp, are among the companies in contention. Libya's
National Oil Corporation (NOC) told Bloomberg that 12 companies from the United
States have asked for bidding packages. Nineteen from Europe, 16 from Asia, five
from former Soviet Republics, four from Canada , four from Australia , one- from
South America and one from Africa - Algeria's Sonatrach. The European companies
which are most likely to participate in the coming bidding include BP, Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, Eni Spa, Statoil ASA, Norsk Hydro ASA, Repsol YPF SA,
RWE-DEA AG, BG Group Plc, Gaz de France, Wintershall AG OMV AG and AP
Moller-Maersk A/S.
Other possible bidders are Canada 's Petro-Canada, Talisman Energy Inc., Nexen
Inc. and Verenex Energy Inc., Australia 's BHP Billiton Ltd., Woodside Petroleum
Ltd. and Oil Search Ltd, Russia 's OAO Gazprom, OAO Lukoil, OAO Tatneft and
Itera Holding Ltd, and Ukraine 's NAK Naftogaz LTkrainy. It is also noteworthy
that India and China's largest oil companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and
China National Petroleum Corp., are among 16 Asian companies on the bidding
list, as well as Malaysia 's Petroliam Nasional Bhd and Indonesia 's PT
Pertamina. Speaking to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) at the recently concluded
18th World Petroleum Congress (WPC), the official from Libya's National Oil
Company (NOC), Tareq Hassan Bek, said Libya has been encouraging international
oil companies to invest in the much-needed explorations because only 37 percent
of Libyan areas have been explored. Bek also noted that, by exploiting new
fields, Libyan oil reserves are expected to increase by 70 billion barrels to
reach 105 billion barrels.
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