afrol News, 27 April - Libya's leader Moammar Gadhafi is on his first trip to Europe in 15 years and has set up his blue, traditional Bedouin tent outside a Brussels chateau. While the Libyan leader seeks to deepen ties with Europe, pressure groups urge him to reverse the "pattern of on-going human rights violations" in Libya.
The Libyan leader underlined his eccentric image as he today arrived the capital of the European Union (EU) for a two-day stay. Instead of lodging in the fashionable Val Duchess chateau - where high ranking visitors to Belgium are normally are placed - he pitched his luxury Bedouin tent outside the Belgian state residence.
Even the arrival to the camping site and from there, to the EU headquarters, was surprisingly well choreographed by the Libyan leader. Wearing his green-grey robe, Colonel Gadhafi was hailed by a seemingly spontaneous crowd of North Africans, whom he greeted with a victorious gesture. The colourful pro-Libyan demonstration in Brussels surprised the Belgian hosts. A very special guest had arrived.
There was however no need to emphasise the controversy of the visit. Colonel Gadhafi has not set foot on European soil for 15 years because Libya has been viewed as a pariah nation following several terrorist attacks on Europe, supposedly planned in Libya. Mr Gadhafi's sudden renunciation of weapons of mass destruction and his taking responsibility of the terror attacks in the 1980s lifted his isolation from the international community.
As most countries now also have lifted their economic sanctions against Libya, the EU is now considering to admit Libya to the ample Euro-Mediterranean cooperation - the EU's trade and security partnership with countries on the southern and eastern shore of the Mediterranean. The cooperation aims at creating a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010. Libya is the only North African country still not participating in this partnership.
Colonel Gadhafi is meeting with the top leaders of the EU, including European President Romano Prodi and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. While the majority of Europeans have grown positive regarding the inclusion of Libya in the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation, such a decision however still meets resistance.
Libya has won the UK and France on its side after making up for two terror actions in the 1980s; the 1988 bombing of a passenger airliner over the Scottish village Lockerbie; and the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger. Southern European countries, such as Italy, Spain and Greece, never had been keen on excluding Libya. Even the US government last week lifted most of its commercial sanctions against Libya after the Lockerbie settlement.
Resistance is still expected from Germany and Bulgaria - the latter not yet an EU member - over unsettled disputes with Libya. Germany still has not been assured Libyan compensation for the victims of a bomb attack on the 'La Belle' discotheque in Berlin in 1986. Bulgaria demands the release of six Bulgarian doctors, detained in Libya since 1999 for allegedly deliberately infecting some 420 children with HIV.
The Libyan leader will face tough discussions on these outstanding issues, as announced by an optimistic German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, yesterday. President Prodi has also announced that the ongoing systematic violations on human rights in Libya will be an issue, although the EU traditionally has put little pressure on other countries in the region, such as Tunisia.
Human rights groups however put their hopes in the European presidency, emphasising the historic opportunity to put pressure on the Libyan regime. Amnesty International today released a new report, detailing the human rights findings of the group's first visit to Libya in 15 years. The report detailed that "a pattern of human rights violations continues, often justified under the new rhetoric of the 'war on terror'."
While welcoming some positive developments, Amnesty in a statement today said that a comprehensive programme of reform was needed to address these human rights concerns. "Libya is at a cross-roads. It has an opportunity to ensure that human rights become a reality at home and that the country can contribute to promoting human rights internationally," the statement said.
Given Colonel Gadhafi's visit to the European Commission and Libya's expressed readiness to enter the EU's current partnership with Mediterranean countries, Amnesty urged the EU to "send a strong signal from the outset that, as a basis of this partnership, it expects Libya to deliver on its promises to respect human rights." The group also urged Libya to go on with announced reforms that will "secure institutional change, as well as to accountability for perpetrators and full redress for victims of human rights violations."
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