Transforming Gaddafi’s Libya

By David Cronin

Date: 12/05/05

Just over a year ago, the international image of Muammar Gaddafi underwent a dramatic transformation. The man once described by western leaders as a sponsor of terrorism was photographed next to those ever-smiling putti on the paintings in the office of Romano Prodi, then president of the European Commission. Prodi had courted the Libyan dictator assiduously (perhaps because of Italy's burgeoning economic interests in the country), but Libya remains the only country around the Mediterranean without formal relations with the EU. The Commission has no office in Tripoli and there is no association agreement between the two sides.

Gaddafi has been talking about changing that. He has announced that Tripoli has begun working towards full entry into the Barcelona Process, the decade-old dialogue on enhancing trade and political ties between the EU and the Mediterranean region.

He has also taken steps to end his pariah status. His swift condemnation of the 11 September 2001 attacks helped pave the way for a rapprochement with Britain and the US. In 2003, Libya wrote to the United Nations, taking full responsibility for the actions of its government officials involved in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Later that year, Gaddafi agreed a landmark deal with Washington and London on dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

"After several decades of obfuscation and non-co-operation, the fact is that Libya has done the right thing," notes Tomas Valasek from the Centre for Defence Information in Brussels. "Not only has it turned over its nuclear weapons programme, it has allowed the Americans to fly most of the sensitive equipment like centrifuges out of the country. This has been a complete success story and I wish it could be replicated in Iran."

But EU and Libya are not problem-free. Death penalties were handed down to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor in May 2004. The six had been convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.

Bulgaria is an incoming member of the EU. The EU has urged that the verdict be reconsidered. Lawyers representing the medical staff are contesting the ruling. A case against nine police officers and one military doctor accused of torturing the medical staff to extract confessions from them is being heard in the Tripoli criminal court.

"I would be in favour of a framework of [EU-Libya] discussions that included issues of political development and human rights," says Rouzbeh Pirouz, a Middle East specialist with the Foreign Policy Centre in London. "But if that was excluded, the dialogue would not be worthwhile.

"Gaddafi has obviously taken steps that are commendable. He has been very forthcoming about his former nuclear programme. But we need much greater detail and ultimately commitment from Gaddafi and the regime in terms of internal reform in Libya."

Mourad Allal, a Paris representative of the EuroMed Non-Governmental Platform, says: "It would be a good thing if the Europeans used their influence with regard to good government and the rule of law in Libya. It's necessary too that Libya respects international conventions. I would not like to see Libya excluded from the Barcelona Process but if Libya is to be part of this partnership, it has to respect the rule of law and the existence of a civil society. On this front, it has a long way to go."

Article takes a look at the relations between the European Union and Libya. Libya remained the only Mediterranean country without formal relations with the EU.

• Primary Source

EU: EEAS: EU Relations with Libya http://eeas.europa.eu/libya/index_en.htm

---