Global Arab Network | Libya celebrates 40 years of leader Gaddafi rule

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Libya celebrates 40 years of leader Gaddafi rule

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Tuesday, 01 September 2009 15:01

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attends colourful celebrations to mark 40 years of his rule over the North African country, libya.
The six days of celebrations across the country are designed to show the world that the long-isolated oil exporter is open again for business after years of heavy sanctions, organisers said.

Hundreds of thousands of people attended a three-hour showcase event in Tripoli, the capital, on Tuesday.

"Libya is opening up to the world - that is the basic message," said Philippe Skaff, who heads the team co-ordinating the centrepiece celebration event.

"This is the first time they actually received thousands of foreigners with open arms. They are granting visas for this like they've never done before," he said.

The celebrations included military bands, 400 dancers depicting scenes from Libya's history, aerobatic aeroplanes and fireworks displays.

Lights adorn buildings across the city, walls in the old town have been freshly whitewashed and rows of green Libyan flags flutter over its dusty streets.

Portraits of Gaddafi, as leader of the Arab leaders, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of the Muslims, adorn billboards and buildings across the city, his features sometimes traced out in colourful neon lights.

While foreign companies are back in Libya, searching for oil and vying for contracts to build roads, railways, phone networks and schools, Gaddafi remains a politically controversial character.

Many leaders from around the world will attend the event, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, along with a number of African leaders including Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, and Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's president, who are expected to be in town for an African Union (AU) summit, will join the events.

Libya currently chairs the 53-member AU bloc.

Gaddafi has made Africa the focal point of his return to the international stage, giving aid to poorer African countries and campaigning for a "United States of Africa" with a common army and currency.

Gaddafi came to power in 1969, overthrowing Libya's then leader, the Western-backed King Idriss.

But controversy still stalks Gaddafi, with the United States and Britain angry at the "hero's welcome" that Tripoli gave the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.

Critics in London have alleged that al-Megrahi's release was linked to oil contracts in Libya.

Britain's The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the government had decided two years ago that it was in the country's "overwhelming interest" to free him.

The British government has denied the claims and said it released al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the bombing, on compassionate grounds as he is dying of cancer.

Libya dismissed speculation that it had oil deals in Britain's favour on an understanding that Megrahi would be released.

"Linking this (BP contract) with a deal over Megrahi makes me laugh," said Mohammed Siala, secretary for international cooperation at the Libyan Foreign Ministry. "We have our laws and tender process and BP is a very good actor in the oil field and we are satisfied with what they are doing.

"We are talking about economic resources belonging to every Libyan and no one can do anything that differs from this very transparent process."

Libya has always denied any role in the bombing. Its leader Muammar Gaddafi thanked Britain warmly for Megrahi's return, saying it would have a positive effect on bilateral relations.

Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said there had been no official reception for Megrahi, and that most of those welcoming him when he touched down had been members of his extended family.

"The strong reactions to these misperceptions must not be allowed to impair the improvements in a mutually beneficial relationship between Libya and the West," he wrote in Monday's International Herald Tribune.

Libya has emerged from diplomatic isolation since scrapping a programme of banned weapons and agreeing to pay compensation for attacks for which the West blamed it. (Reuters, AP, AFP, UPI)

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