Issues
Gaddafi's controversial visit to Paris
Colonel Gaddafi was recently recieved in Paris for a a few days. His visit was stimulating for the French economy but it caused outrage among the population due to the warm treatment reserved for the Dictator, whose Human Right record has often been tarnished. Let us take a deeper look into this controversial hospitality.
Ines Ward
Research assistant trainee at CERMAM
Colonel Gaddafi, the Guide of the Libyan Green Revolution was in Paris for a highly controversial visit; not a State visit, just a simple visit. Yet simple is an understatement, for Gaddafi’s visit has been anything but simple. To beginning with on Monday, the Libyan leader was welcomed lavishly by the French President who unrolled the red carpet for him and greeted him with a hand shake, a private reception and a dinner at l’Elysée, and even accompanied him back to his limousine later when the function was over. The pair met again on Wednesday. Gaddafi has pitched his own Bedouin style tent in the grounds of the reputed l'Hôtel de Marigny, he came accompanied by an army of Amazon bodyguards and his little boat ride along the Seine caused the closure of all the bridges over that river for “security reasons”, much to the discontent of the local population. Gaddafi has also had a reception organised for him at the Ritz, a television interview on TV programme France 24, conferences, visits to Versailles and the Louvre. His visit has surely been very entertaining.
Even so, he must be one of the few that is enjoying it, for in France his coming has caused a major uproar. Even in President Sarkozy’s own cabinet, the Junior Minister for Human Rights Rama Yade said "Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader - whether terrorist or not - can wipe off the blood of his crimes." Outside the government, Socialist leader Francois Hollande said Mr Sarkozy had invited "a head of state who justifies international terrorism", even the centrist politician Francois Bayrou said the visit was "shocking". Indeed, the warm treatment that Gaddafi received has surprised many. After all, this is a man who has backed terrorist organisations in his territory, who has protected the two men accused of the Lockerbie incident for years, and who recently said it was “normal for the poor to have recourse to terrorism”. Granted, many Heads of States such as Tony Blair and Romano Prodi have visited Gaddafi in Libya since the end of the regime’s isolation, but none have gone so far as to invite him home. So what exactly is Mr Sarkozy doing? In his words he is “encouraging those who renounce terrorism and renounce the possession of nuclear arms [...] France must speak with all of those who want to return to the road of respectability and reintegrate the international community".
If we were to look back on the historical relations between France and Libya, we would see that there hasn’t really been much contact between both countries. In fact, relations between them have been rather bitter with France intervening in Chad against the Libyan incursion in 1983, and the whole of the 90’s being dominated by the Libyan terrorist attack on a French airplane the DC-10 of UTA over Nigeria. Jacques Chirac did visit the country in 2004, but it has been President Sarkozy’s recent visit in July 2007 that turned the tide around for the close relationship between both countries that we see today. We are talking about the liberation of the 8 Bulgarian nurses and doctor who had been imprisoned in Libya for 8 years and were about to be executed. President Sarkozy negotiated and brought about their liberation by promising Mr Gaddafi amongst others, civilian nuclear technology and a visit to Paris.
But what does France have to gain in being the first country to warmly welcome Gaddafi since the end of Libyan isolation? Or more exactly, what does Mr Sarkozy have to gain? Well, first there is the business aspect. Both countries have just signed deals worth an estimated 10 Billion dollars. Libya confirmed the purchase of 21 Airbuses which should give a breathing space to the French aeronautic industry, under severe competition from an increasingly cheaper Boeing due to the dollars decline. Then in a draft memorandum, Libya promised to negotiate exclusively with France for the purchase of military equipment and engaged to buy airplanes, boats, radars, tanks and helicopters; the contract would be signed by mid 2008. And last but not least, both countries signed a memorandum on nuclear cooperation similar to the one just signed with Algeria, where France provides Libya with the technology for a civilian nuclear programme; the memorandum also meant to supply Libya with one or a few nuclear reactors for desalinating sea water. Second, France is keen on tapping into Libya’s great hydrocarbon market which so far it has been unable to. Gaz de France and Total-Sonatrach recently lost out to Gazprom and Shell on a bid to explore Gaz in Libya. Increasing ties with Gaddafi’s regime could facilitate access to this market. Yet all this does not justify an invitation to Paris, all these contracts could have been signed in Tripoli. The most important reason behind this visit is Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union project, which can be viewed as his legacy in the making. The French President has had little support so far for his cherished project. But if he could show his European neighbours that the whole of the Northern African coast was willing to negotiate and join together with Southern Europe, the latter would have to listen. Sarkozy needs Libya’s support and for that he must court the good graces of Colonel Gaddafi.
Speaking of Gaddafi, why is he as keen on establishing good relations as Sarkozy is? One would think that Libya would prefer deeper ties with Italy, as they share a lot of history together, and Italy is negotiating on a compensation treaty for all damages and losses caused by their colonisation. France has a lot to offer to Libya. Gaddafi needs to modernise his army following twenty years of isolation and France is the world’s third biggest arms producer. French nuclear technology is exceptionally good and the French are willing to assist its African neighbours with civilian nuclear technology. The nuclear desalinisation plants are extremely important as the underground water pools that supply the coast, where 80% of the population resides, will soon run out. Libya has undergone an economic recession for the past decade and wants to boost its tourism by modernising its air fleet. But in the end, the visit to Paris is an aim in itself. France, the country who invented Human Rights and abandoned privileges in 1789, where slavery was abolished in 1848, the first to overthrow their monarchy for a Democracy; a visit to such a country can symbolically be seen as the stamp that rehabilitates the Libyan regime. Being welcomed by France is like being pardoned in the eyes of the International Community for all its human rights crimes. It marks a new beginning for Gaddafi.
If only French society could view this visit in the same light. Unfortunately they see a Dictator who realised that if he kept to his ways, he would probably end up like Saddam Hussein, dead. So Gaddafi renounced WMD and terrorism, yet the farce of the Bulgarian nurses who were tortured in prison leaves room to doubt his honest intentions. Ultimately France the country of human rights has lost its soul, and is now selling arms to a Dictator, all for the ambitious program of one man.
Permanent link to this entry (permalink)
- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/dossier/gaddafis_controversial_visit_t/
- Publié le 21 December 2007