Drabikstan
12-09-2004, 17:05
Gaddafi marks 35 mercurial years in power
TRIPOLI: Libya’s Moamer Gaddafi has marked 35 mercurial years since he seized power in this north African country.
Gaddafi ousted a Western-backed monarchy and threw British and US troops out of one of their key regional bases back in 1969.
But three decades on, the charismatic nationalist army officer, 62, has mended fences with his longtime foes and survived against all odds to become the Arab world’s longest serving leader.
At home, though, little has altered during his eccentric reign, although observers say he is looking increasingly weary.
The international scene has changed dramatically since the 27-year-old Captain Gaddafi seized power with 11 other officers on September 1, 1969, deposing the elderly King Idriss.
Fired by dreams of Arab unity and militant Islam, Gaddafi alienated the West soon after seizing power, accusing it of launching a “new crusade” against the Arabs. Gaddafi has recently backtracked somewhat and turned defiant supporter of African causes. His idol was Egyptian president and fervent Arab nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser and at various times he has declared himself a fan of Mao Zedong, Stalin and even Hitler.
In domestic policy he espoused a unique brand of Islamic socialism spelled out in his “Green Book.”
A natural showman he delighted in receiving foreign guests in his desert tent.
It was a spectacular rise to fame for a Bedouin born in the desert.
He banned alcohol and gambling, carried out sweeping nationalisations and promoted grass-roots government through people’s congresses, labour unions and other mass organisations.
Internationally, Gaddafi’s rule has been marked by failed attempts to merge with other Arab countries and idiosyncratic support for radical causes.
Libya financed or sent arms to Palestinian resistance groups and “national liberation” movements, including the Irish Republican Army and the Moro rebels in the Philippines.
Equiped with Soviet arms, Gaddafi launched a military intervention in neighbouring Chad until Western powers pressured Libya to withdraw.
Opposition to the Libyan government was ruthlessly swept aside, with Tripoli blamed for the killings of opposition leaders abroad.
The United States retaliated in 1986 for a series of attacks on US interests in Europe by bombing Gaddafi’s residences in Tripoli and Benghazi.
His adopted daughter was among 44 people who died in the raids, but Gaddafi escaped unscathed.
He soon found himself in the international dock again when Libyan agents were implicated in the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988 which killed 270 people, and the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in which 170 people died.
Sanctions were imposed after Libya denied involvement in the bombings and refused to hand over the suspects.
Gaddafi’s regime has now paid out millions of dollars in compensation for the various attacks for which it was held responsible.
Gaddafi’s newfound pragmatism has seen him mend fences one by one with all the key Western powers - first Britain and the United States, and then France and Germany.
He has even called in the Western intelligence services he once reviled to help verify his renunciation of long-running efforts to develop a non-conventional arsenal to rival Israel’s.
US President George W. Bush announced earlier this year that Washington was easing economic sanctions to reward Tripoli for giving up its quest for weapons of mass destruction.
Pragmatic economic concerns lay at the heart of Gaddafi’s reconciliation with the West - the UN sanctions ravaged his country’s once proud oil industry. However, the easing does not affect sanctions tied to Washington’s determination that Tripoli is a sponsor of terrorism.
- afp
TRIPOLI: Libya’s Moamer Gaddafi has marked 35 mercurial years since he seized power in this north African country.
Gaddafi ousted a Western-backed monarchy and threw British and US troops out of one of their key regional bases back in 1969.
But three decades on, the charismatic nationalist army officer, 62, has mended fences with his longtime foes and survived against all odds to become the Arab world’s longest serving leader.
At home, though, little has altered during his eccentric reign, although observers say he is looking increasingly weary.
The international scene has changed dramatically since the 27-year-old Captain Gaddafi seized power with 11 other officers on September 1, 1969, deposing the elderly King Idriss.
Fired by dreams of Arab unity and militant Islam, Gaddafi alienated the West soon after seizing power, accusing it of launching a “new crusade” against the Arabs. Gaddafi has recently backtracked somewhat and turned defiant supporter of African causes. His idol was Egyptian president and fervent Arab nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser and at various times he has declared himself a fan of Mao Zedong, Stalin and even Hitler.
In domestic policy he espoused a unique brand of Islamic socialism spelled out in his “Green Book.”
A natural showman he delighted in receiving foreign guests in his desert tent.
It was a spectacular rise to fame for a Bedouin born in the desert.
He banned alcohol and gambling, carried out sweeping nationalisations and promoted grass-roots government through people’s congresses, labour unions and other mass organisations.
Internationally, Gaddafi’s rule has been marked by failed attempts to merge with other Arab countries and idiosyncratic support for radical causes.
Libya financed or sent arms to Palestinian resistance groups and “national liberation” movements, including the Irish Republican Army and the Moro rebels in the Philippines.
Equiped with Soviet arms, Gaddafi launched a military intervention in neighbouring Chad until Western powers pressured Libya to withdraw.
Opposition to the Libyan government was ruthlessly swept aside, with Tripoli blamed for the killings of opposition leaders abroad.
The United States retaliated in 1986 for a series of attacks on US interests in Europe by bombing Gaddafi’s residences in Tripoli and Benghazi.
His adopted daughter was among 44 people who died in the raids, but Gaddafi escaped unscathed.
He soon found himself in the international dock again when Libyan agents were implicated in the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988 which killed 270 people, and the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner over Niger in which 170 people died.
Sanctions were imposed after Libya denied involvement in the bombings and refused to hand over the suspects.
Gaddafi’s regime has now paid out millions of dollars in compensation for the various attacks for which it was held responsible.
Gaddafi’s newfound pragmatism has seen him mend fences one by one with all the key Western powers - first Britain and the United States, and then France and Germany.
He has even called in the Western intelligence services he once reviled to help verify his renunciation of long-running efforts to develop a non-conventional arsenal to rival Israel’s.
US President George W. Bush announced earlier this year that Washington was easing economic sanctions to reward Tripoli for giving up its quest for weapons of mass destruction.
Pragmatic economic concerns lay at the heart of Gaddafi’s reconciliation with the West - the UN sanctions ravaged his country’s once proud oil industry. However, the easing does not affect sanctions tied to Washington’s determination that Tripoli is a sponsor of terrorism.
- afp