Forty-four Arabs believed to have lived for years in Afghanistan were flown to Libya as part of an initiative by a charity led by a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The passengers, mostly Libyans, did not belong to any armed groups in Afghanistan, said officials with the charity headed by Seif el-Islam Gadhafi. They were flown from Islamabad. Preparations for their transfer to Libya began in November and involved payments to Afghan tribal leaders to allow their passage to Pakistan, said Mohammed Ismail of the Gadhafi International Association for Charitable Organizations. He did not say how big the payments were.This Gadhafi kid bears watching. I think he's been influential in his dad morphing into an elder statesman for African politics, and he's performed this kind of golden-parachut diplomacy before (practiced by powers from time immemorial, of course, often lately by the US). Moves like this suggest he'll be The Man after dad passes to the land o' milk, honey, 'n' virgins, and unlike (say) Bashir Assad, he has the diplomatic chops before he gets the job. The real question is, what does Mubarak think of him? He won't trust Muammar farther than he can throw him.
Posted by lakefxdan 2/15/2002 2:21:47 AM I'm still trying to figure what to make of Qaddafi's newfound Elder Statesman act. Aside from providing rent-a-thugs to Mugabe in Zim, he's been pretty mainstream for the past few years. Probably still meddling in Chad and places like that, but who ever gets any news from there?
Posted by Fred 2/15/2002 11:06:00 PM |