>STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > >[Anyone have the translated text of the full interview in LA STAMPA?] > >Gaddafi warns Europe to stop meddling in Africa > >ROME, May 14 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi accused European >governments on Sunday of fomenting coups and wars in Africa and demanded an >end to interference in the continent's affairs. > >In an interview published in La Stampa, one of Italy's leading dailies, >Gaddafi called the current situation in Africa was ``explosive'' and >``serious'' and said he believed it was essential that non-African countries >kept out of it. > >``Europe must renounce its old colonialist policies. If Europeans continue to >interfere in Africa's internal affairs, if they continue to foment coups, >wars, assassinations and conflicts, if they continue to support one side >against another, funding this or that and employing their secret services, it >will only mean you have no intention of establishing a true cooperation with >Africa,'' he said. > >Gaddafi has recently criticised the West on similar grounds. In a bizarre >speech at an Africa-Europe summit held in Cairo in April, he lashed out at >the West for what he said was its colonialist bias. [Why is this bizarre?] > >However, in the lengthy In the La Stampa interview, which had been conducted >in Libya, Gaddafi also said: ``There is no problem between Libya and >Europe.'' > >Libya was long a pariah in the West and subject to United Nations sanctions, >suspended after the two suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing were >extradited last year to stand trial in a Scottish court specially created in >the Netherlands. > >Gaddafi has since been adopting the role of mediator in regional conflicts. > >WARNS OF NEW CONFLICTS > >In the La Stampa interview Gaddafi said he feared new African conflicts could >start on top of the ones shaking Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Eritrea. >According to the newspaper, Gaddafi has been holding talks with African >leaders for the past three days. > >Asked about Sierra Leone, which is torn by renewed fighting between rebels >and pro-government forces, he said Libya had diplomatic initiatives under >way. > >``I have asked the president of Liberia to intensify efforts to end the war >and we have given him a Libyan plane to travel around. I am personally >constantly in touch with the all the heads of state in the region.'' > >``The situation is explosive, and not only in Sierra Leone. There is a war >between Eritrea and Ethiopia and I have fresh news from Guinea-Bissau which >is not good. I fear other conflicts. The situation is serious,'' Gaddafi >said. > >The Libyan leader also mentioned upcoming elections in the Ivory Coast as a >possible source of trouble. > >On Zimbabwe, where war veterans have occupied hundreds of white-owned farms >since February, Gaddafi said President Robert Mugabe should be left to solve >his country's problems without interference. > >10:22 05-14-00 __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
