Gaddafi Blames 'Hidden Hands' For Attacks in Libya
This Day (Lagos)
October 10, 2000
Lagos
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday blamed "hidden
hostile hands" for causing a wave of violence in Libya
against migrant workers from Sub-Saharan Africa.
In the first official reaction to the attacks on
thousands of black migrant workers, Gaddafi said he regretted the violence
but did not make clear whether he thought those responsible were domestic
dissidents or non-libyans.
"We regret the skirmishes that have taken place between the brothers because
there are hidden hostile hands which took advantage of the circumstances and
fomented them," Gaddafi said.
Gaddafi's comments came in a message to the Ghanaian President, Jerry
Rawlings broadcast on Libya's State-Run Radio and monitored in Tunis.
The clashes began last week, after Libya's top legislative and executive
body ordered a crackdown on employing foreigners.
Gaddafi, who is touring Arab nations to drum up support for his plan for a
union of African countries modelled on the US, vowed that an investigation
into the attacks would root out their cause.
He appeared to hint that the violence was aimed at undermining his plan,
saying that "the enemies" must not be given "the opportunity to block our
union".
"An investigation is going on and will uncover for us all the truth," he
said in the message.
On Sunday, 250 Ghanaians caught up in the violence were repatriated from
Libya on a flight accompanied by Rawlings.
They are the first group among an estimated 4,500 Ghanaians currently
waiting in camps outside the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The Ghanaian returnees' accounts of beatings, arson and racial insults in
Libya echoed earlier statements from Nigerians who fled the north-African
country late last week.
Some nigerians said they believed that hundreds had been killed in the
violence. But the Nigerian government discounted the claims, which would put
the death toll far higher than previous unconfirmed media reports of up to
50 dead.
****
Jerry Rawlings in Tripoli
Panafrican News Agency
October 8, 2000
Tripoli
Ghana's President Jerry Rawlings arrived in Tripoli, Saturday evening on a
visit whose length has not been disclosed.
He was met at Maitiga airport (former US military Base five km from Tripoli
and evacuated in 1970), by the Secretary of the Libyan General Popular
Committee, M'Barek Chamekh.
Other high-ranking Libyan officials and Ghana embassy diplomats were also
present at the airport.
****
Libyan Envoy Explains Deportation of Nigerians
Panafrican News Agency
October 9, 2000
Lagos, Nigeria
The head of Libyan Mission in Nigeria, Ahmed Eudy, has
said that the ongoing mass deportation of Nigerians and
other black Africans living in Libya is aimed at
ensuring compliance with the country's residence laws.
Eudy spoke in a media interview in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, at the
weekend, against a backdrop of growing discontent among the population about
the fate of Nigerians living in the Arab country.
More than 4,000 Nigerians have so far been repatriated from Libya in a
massive evacuation ordered by the Nigerian government, following clashes
involving the migrant Africans, especially West African citizens and their
Libyan hosts.
A media focus on the deportees, who have been narrating harrowing tales of
their experience in Libya, has generated widespread anger across the
country.
The deportees said at least 500 Nigerians were killed during the attacks,
reportedly sparked by differences between Nigerian and Libyan drug gangs in
the Gregare area, which is noted for illicit drug dealing and prostitution.
But the Libyan envoy denied any knowledge about any killings, which have
even attracted the attention of the sub- regional body, Economic Community
Of West African States (ECOWAS).
"I do not know anything about death, I have not been briefed by my home
government in that regard," Eudy said.
Official figure from Tripoli, put the toll at five dead and several injured.
Eudy described the repatriated Nigerians as "gangsters", saying: "You know
them better. The people we are sending back have no legal stay...These
people are smuggled gangsters. We don't want them to soil your (Nigeria)
name and our country." The envoy said Nigerians residing legally in Libya
have nothing to fear.
"Your countrymen are safe in Libya....I assure you those who have legal
papers are safe. We are brothers."
Analysts said the attacks could impact negatively on the spirit of
brotherhood between the citizens of both countries, in addition to causing a
setback to the much-talked about African Union, whose establishment is being
championed by Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi.
West African security chiefs, who met under the aegis of the 16-member
ECOWAS in Abuja last week, directed the constitution of an ECOWAS delegation
to discuss the situation with the Libyan authorities.
Expressing concern about the "sad development", they said it would have a
negative impact "on the image of Africa and its efforts towards the
establishment of an African Union".
Meanwhile, A Nigerian nationalist group has given the Libyan government a
24-day ultimatum to evacuate its citizens living in Nigeria or face the
wrath of the group's members.
In a dangerous twist to the issue, the militant Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC)
said it would no longer tolerate the "sighting" of Libya's diplomatic
vehicles in southwest Nigeria, where the group is based.
OPC general-secretary Kayode Ogundamisi said a letter had already been sent
to the Libyan Embassy in Nigeria to intimate the Tripoli government of the
group's decision, which is a reaction to the alleged maltreatment of
Nigerians living in Libya.
He said the OPC had equally called for the resignation of Nigerian
presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe, for describing the deported Nigerians as
criminals.
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