Gaddafi: US Sets Arab League Agenda

Taken from Al Jazeera News Agency, MARCH 28, 2007

The US has already specified the outcome of the Arab League summit taking place in Riyadh, Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's president, has told Al Jazeera.

He said in an interview that Arab leaders should "stay at home" rather than attend Wednesday's summit, which is expected to renew a peace proposal with Israel.

"Arab leaders should not attend the summit. They should stay at home - issues have already been decided from outside," he said.

The Libyan leader, who is boycotting the summit, said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, "gives orders" to Arab leaders.

'US orders'
Gaddafi said: "She gives orders to Arab leaders ... and Arab foreign ministers ... and she leads the Arab security services.

"She brought the decisions and the Arab summit's agenda ... Why do they [Arab leaders] bother themselves and attend the summit if everything has been already decided in Washington?"

The Riyadh summit is expected to renew an offer of full peace and normal ties with Israel, if it complies with the conditions of an Arab peace blueprint.

The plan, first adopted at a summit in Beirut in 2002, says Israel must withdraw from all Arab land it occupied in the 1967 war, accept the creation of a Palestinian state, and agree to a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Gaddafi said: "Libya has never backed the Arab peace initiative in the Middle East. It presented reservations over the initiative in Beirut summit in 2002."

He again talked about what he believed to be a solution for the Palestinian cause, which is the establishment of a two-nationality state called "Isratine".

Political crisis
Besides Palestine, the Riyadh summit will also tackle other regional issues such as the Iraq conflict that has divided Sunni and Shia Muslims across the region, and the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon between the Western-backed government and the opposition trying to topple it.

Arab leaders are also considering a proposal to forge closer military and security ties, as well as co-operation on developing nuclear energy.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi's foreign minister, said the Arab peace initiative will have a strong chance of winning international support and of reviving Israeli-Arab peace talks if adopted unanimously by all Arab leaders at the March 28-29 summit.

Draft resolutions agreed on Monday are dominated by the Arab-Israeli conflict and appear designed to persuade Israel to open talks without altering the text of the peace initiative.

The draft text obtained by Reuters calls on "all Israelis to accept the initiative and seize the current opportunity to return to direct and serious negotiating process at all levels".

Palestinian refugees
Israel has objected to some parts of the plan, including the proposed return to the 1967 borders, the inclusion of Arab East Jerusalem in a Palestinian state, and demands for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in what is now Israel.

The text is also viewed with reservations by the Islamic Hamas movement now leading the Palestinian government.

Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader in exile, was quoted by Saudi media as urging Arab leaders before the Riyadh summit not to make concessions on the demand for the Palestinian refugees to return.

Hamas demands a right to return for all Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war.

It has refused to recognise Israel but Palestinian officials say it has agreed not to go against the peace plan. The final draft avoids any mention of the phrase "right of return" for Palestinian refugees.

Instead, it calls for a just solution to the refugee problem.

It also sets up a mechanism to promote the peace plan that could pave the way for Arab countries with no ties to Israel to open channels of communications with

'No Reward' For Non-Nuclear Libya

Libyans are marking the 30th anniversary of their leader's unique system of "popular rule". In 1977 Muammar Gaddafi changed the country's name to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Eight years earlier, as a young army officer, he had seized power in a military coup. Jamahiriya - a new Arabic term - roughly translates as "state of the masses". It seems that the Colonel who has renounced Nuclear weapons is finding out the hard way that No Nuclear Weapons means No Bargaining Power and who knows could result in a change of regimes (like Saddam found out)...

Taken form The BBC, 3 March 2007

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said his country has not been given adequate compensation for its decision to renounce nuclear weapons in 2003.



Speaking to the BBC, Colonel Gaddafi said the failure by the West to reward Libya meant Iran and North Korea were reluctant to follow Tripoli's lead.

He insisted there would be no return to the confrontation of the past, however.

Sanctions were lifted after Libya ended its nuclear weapons programme, and the US and UK have resumed diplomatic ties.

Libya was also removed from the US list of state sponsors of terror, a major step towards international rehabilitation.

Investment promise
However, Col Gaddafi says the West has not properly compensated his country because it has failed to transform its nuclear weapons programme into nuclear power.

Speaking to BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, Col Gaddafi said this meant the West had lost bargaining power with countries like Iran and North Korea.

"This should be a model to be followed, but Libya is disappointed because the promises given by America and Britain were not fulfilled," he said.

"And therefore those countries said 'we are not going to follow Libya's example because Libya abolished its programme without any compensation'."

Mr Gaddafi said that the US and Britain had a duty to help Libya develop civilian nuclear power plants.

"They said if you abolish your war programme we will help you to develop your nuclear abilities into peaceful ones. This has not happened."

Our correspondent says the Libyan leader may have been bargaining for foreign investment, but a return to hostility does not seem to be on the cards.

'International dictatorship'
Col Gaddafi spoke to the BBC as celebrations were taking place to mark the 30th anniversary of his declaration of Libya's unique system of "popular rule".

He also held a rare public debate with Western scholars, in which he criticised the control that nations with military and economic power held over poorer countries.

It was a pragmatic desire to avoid being destroyed by the "international dictatorship" of such powers that had persuaded Libya to improve its relations with the world, he added.

Col Gaddafi's remarks come as six major powers - the US, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany - discuss possible further sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear programme.

US officials have said ambassadors to the UN could begin drafting a new resolution on Iran next week.

Meanwhile, North Korea last month agreed at six-party talks to take the first steps towards nuclear disarmament, in return for economic and fuel aid.

Pressure to find a solution to the nuclear issue increased after Pyongyang conducted its first atomic test in October.