US embassy cable - 85LAGOS4304

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 04304 
 
E.O. 12356:  N/A 
TAGS:  PROP LY NI 
SUBJECT:  QADHAFI INTERVIEW IN LAGOS NEWSPAPER 
 
1.  ALMOST AS LOCAL EVIDENCE OF LIBYAN LEADER COLONEL 
QADHAFI'S CURRENT DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE SOUTH OF THE 
SAHARA, THE INDEPENDENT LAGOS DAILY, THE GUARDIAN, 
PUBLISHED ON APRIL 15, 1985, THE FOLLOWING EXCLUSIVE 
INTERVIEW WITH HIM, BYLINED BY YEMI OGUNBIYI.  IT CLAIMED 
THAT THE INTERVIEW WAS QADHAFI'S "FIRST WITH AN AFRICAN 
NEWSPAPER HOUSE OUTSIDE THE ARAB WORLD AND, INDEED, HIS 
FIRST WITH ANY NEWSPAPER IN SEVERAL YEARS."  IT INCLUDED 
A PICTURE OF QADHAFI TALKING WITH THE ARTICLE'S AUTHOR 
AND GUARDIAN PUBLISHER MR. ALEX IBRU, REPORTEDLY AT 
SALAHADDIN MILITARY BARRACKS IN BENGHAZI.  QADHAFI SPOKE 
IN ARABIC AND USED AN INTERPRETER.  THE INTERVIEW TOOK 
PLACE "BARELY TEN DAYS BEFORE OUSTED PRESIDENT JAAFAR 
JIMEIRY LEFT FOR A VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES IN SEARCH 
OF AID."  QADHAFI WAS CHARACTERIZED AS LUKEWARM TOWARD 
NIGERIA. 
- 
2.  BEGIN TEXT: 
 
-      GADDAFI DEFENDS LIBYA'S DYNAMIC FOREIGN POLICY 
- 
-  IN A RARE NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW, THE LEADER OF THE 
SOCIALIST PEOPLE'S LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA, COLONEL 
MUAMMAR AL GADDAFI, HAS DENIED THAT HIS SEEMINGLY MILI- 
TANT AND AGGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICY IN AFRICA IS A 
CAMOUFLAGE FOR ANY EXPANSIONIST AMBITION. 
 
-  SPEAKING IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE GUARDIAN 
AT THE SALAHADDIN MILITARY BARRACKS IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA, 
COL. GADDAFI ANSWERED A WIDE RANGE OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS 
FORCEFUL STYLE OF POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY. 
- 
-  IN THE PROCESS, HE STOUTLY DEFENDED HIS DIPLOMATIC 
ROLE AS A LIBERATING ONE FOR THE CAUSE OF ARAB AND AFRICAN 
UNITY AND WAS VERY CRITICAL OF THOSE WHOM HE DESCRIBED AS 
"FOREIGN ENEMIES" WHO WERE DETERMINED TO PORTRAY HIS IMAGE 
IN VERY BAD LIGHT. 
- 
-   "LET ME STATE FROM THE OUTSET THAT THE ROLE WE SEE 
OURSELVES AS PLAYING, NOT ONLY IN AFRICA BUT ALSO IN THE 
THIRD WORLD, IS A LIBERATING ONE.  BUT OUR ENEMIES DO NOT 
SEE THIS ROLE AS A LIBERATING ONE.  THEY HAVE THEIR OWN 
DELIBERATE MISINTERPRETATION WHICH IS QUITE MISLEADING." 
 
-  THE SON OF A BEDUIN ARAB, COL. GADDAFI, 43, CAME TO 
POWER ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1969, WHEN HE AND A GROUP OF FREE 
OFFICERS OVERTHREW KING IDRIS IN A BLOODLESS COUP.  THERE- 
AFTER, THEY DEDICATED THEMSELVES TO TRANSFORMING THIS 
LARGE COUNTRY OF A THREE MILLION PEOPLE "FROM A BACKWARD 
STATE INTO A MODERN NATION." 
 
-  EASILY ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL LEADERS IN THE 
WORLD TODAY, GADDAFI HAS EARNED FOR HIMSELF THE EMINENT, 
IF SOMETIMES PROBLEMATIC REPUTATION OF BEING ONE OF THE 
MOST ACKNOWLEDGED LEADERS IN THE ARAB WORLD. 
 
- THE GUARDIAN INTERVIEW WAS HIS FIRST WITH AN AFRICAN 
NEWSPAPER HOUSE OUTSIDE THE ARAB WORLD AND, INDEED, HIS 
FIRST WITH ANY NEWSPAPER IN SEVERAL YEARS. 
 
-  OF THE GUARDIAN, HE HAD THIS TO SAY:  "I HAVE A GREAT 
OPINION OF YOUR PAPER AND IT DESERVES ALL THE SUPPORT AND 
PRAISE THAT IT IS RECEIVING.  FOR, INDEED, WE NEED REAL 
AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES WHICH CAN SPEAK UP FOR 
AFRICA.  IT IS SAD ENOUGH THAT AFRICANS GET TO READ ABOUT 
THEMSELVES ONLY FROM EUROPEAN OR THE AMERICAN MEDIA.  I 
AM PLEASED THAT I CAN MEET WITH YOU AND THAT WE CAN 
EXCHANGE VIEWS." 
 
-  SPEAKING VERY QUIETLY IN ARABIC THROUGH AN INTERPRETER, 
HIS PLACID FACE BETRAYING AN OUTWARD CALM WHICH JARS 
SHARPLY WITH HIS CONTROVERSIAL REPUTATION, COL. GADDAFI 
SPOKE AT SOME LENGTH ON THE PROBLEMS OF ARAB UNITY AND 
ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR A LARGER AFRICAN UNDERSTANDING 
AND ACCORD. 
 
-  REPORTEDLY, HE DEFENDED HIS SUPPORT FOR MANY REGIMES 
IN AFRICA AND SAW SUCH SUPPORT AS VALID WITHIN THE TOTAL 
FRAMEWORK OF AN AFRICAN SOLIDARITY AND UNITY. 
- 
-   "ALL THE EFFORTS TO UNITE WITH EGYPT, SUDAN, SYRIA, 
ETHIOPIA AND CHAD WHICH YOU REFERRED TO, WERE ATTEMPTS 
TO UNITE THE ARAB WORLD AS ONE NATION.  THE ARABS AS A 
WHOLE ARE LIKE ONE NATION.  THEY SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE, 
HAVE THE SAME ORIGINS AND ABOUT 98 PER CENT HAVE AND 
PRACTISE ONE FAITH.  AND FOR US, THE UNITY OF THE ARAB 
WORLD IS ONE STEP TOWARDS THE TOTAL UNITY OF THE AFRICAN 
CONTINENT." 
 
-  COL. GADDAFI WAS VERY CRITICAL OF MOST ARAB COUNTRIES 
WHOM HE DESCRIBED AS REACTIONARY, ESPECIALLY FOR BEING 
LY DEPENDENT ON WESTERN COUNTRIES FOR THEIR 
SURVIVAL. 
 
-   "UNFORTUNATELY, TOO, THERE ARE QUITE A NUMBER OF NON- 
ARAB COUNTRIES IN AFRICA WHO ASLO BEHAVE IN SIMILAR MANNER, 
WHO ARE FOREVER HOPING AND BELIEVING THAT THE WEST WILL 
BAIL THEM OUT OF THEIR OWN BANKRUPT AND CORRUPT POLICIES. 
BUT THE REALITY IS THAT THEIR VERY DEPENDENCE ON THE 
WEST SHORTENS THEIR LIVES (EXCLAMATION POINT)" 
 
-    THE INTERVIEW WAS HELD BARELY 10 DAYS BEFORE OUSTED 
PRESIDENT JAAFAR NIMEIRY OF SUDAN LEFT FOR A VISIT TO THE 
UNITED STATES IN SEARCH OF AID BEFORE HE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY 
OVERTHROWN. 
 
-  BUT COL. GADDAFI SAVED HIS SEVEREST ATTACKS FOR THOSE 
WHOM HE DESCRIBED AS ZIONISTS AND IMPERIALIST AGGRESSORS 
IN THE MIDDLE EAST. 
 
-  INSISTING THAT ARABS MUST NOT BE MADE TO BEAR THE 
RESPONSIBILITIES OF HITLER'S CRIMES,  HE REITERATED HIS 
NOW FAMILIAR CALL, PRESUMABLY ON THE STATE OF ISRAEL, TO 
RETURN ALL ARAB LANDS. 
 
-  ON HIS RELATIONS WITH NIGERIA, HE WAS FAR MORE 
LUKEWARM AND GUARDED IN HIS REACTIONS. 
 
-  "OUR RELATIONS CAN BE BETTER THAN THEY ARE NOW," HE 
SAID. 
 
-  HIS TEPID RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION OF RELATIONS WITH 
NIGERIA MAY NOT BE UNCONNECTED, POLITICAL OBSERVERS BE- 
LIEVE, WITH LIBYA'S ROLE IN CHAD, NIGERIA'S NORTH-EASTERN 
NEIGHBOUR. 
- 
-  BUT HE DEFENDED THE INTERVENTION OF LIBYA IN CHAD ALL 
THE SAME, ARGUING THAT IT WAS NOT IN THE INTEREST OF 
LIBYA TO HAVE AN UNSTABLE CHAD, SINCE IT ALSO SHARES 
BORDERS WITH LIBYA. 
 
-  PRESSED WHETHER HE KEPT TO THE AGREEMENT ON THE MUTUAL 
WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS FROM CHAD REACHED WITH FRANCE, HE 
RETORTED:  "OF COURSE, WE HONOURED THE AGREEMENT.  WE 
WITHDREW OUR TROOPS.  THERE WERE RUMOURS, POSSIBLY BEING 
PUT OUT BY AMERICANS, TO THE EFFECT THAT WE HAD NOT WITH- 
DRAWN OUR TROOPS.  OBVIOUSLY, FRANCE IS LOOKING FOR AN 
EXCUSE TO COME BACK TO CHAD." 
- 
END TEXT. 
- 
SMITH