Kadafi Gambit: He’ll Pressure Terrorists if U.S. Won’t Attack

Against a background of tension in Italy over possible U.S. military action against Libya, Prime Minister Bettino Craxi said Tuesday that Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is ready to ask Palestinian and other Arab terrorists to make no attacks in Europe if the United States will guarantee not to attack Libya.

Craxi said Kadafi’s offer was passed to him early Tuesday by Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici of Malta, who has been acting as an intermediary between Libya and some European governments.

The Craxi announcement came as reports appeared in the Italian press of unusual activity involving a force of U.S. Marines with heavy vehicles, including amphibious tanks. The Marines were said to have been seen boarding ships in Naples harbor.

The reports triggered speculation that the U.S. 6th Fleet might be preparing for more forceful action than the naval maneuvers it is engaged in off the coast of Libya.

The 6th Fleet office in Naples referred questions about the Marines to a U.S. Navy spokesman in London, who said the Marines are part of a regular amphibious force on a routine call at the Italian port.

Bonnici’s message to Craxi said that Kadafi would ask “the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular not to carry out terrorist attacks in European countries,” the Italian prime minister said.

“The request made on Kadafi’s behalf is for a guarantee that Libya will not be the object of an attack by the United States,” Craxi said. He called the Kadafi message “a possible step in the right direction.”

Kadafi’s message was in sharp contrast to another relayed by Bonnici when he met with Craxi in the Sicilian city of Palermo a week ago. The earlier message, reportedly phrased in belligerent terms, warned that Libya would retaliate against military bases in Italy if they were used by U.S. forces for an attack against Libya.

In an hourlong press conference called to discuss Italy’s position in the Mediterranean, Craxi said he believes that the United States has made a “wise decision” in adopting economic sanctions against Libya.

Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead returned to Washington this week after visiting eight European nations and Canada in an unsuccessful effort to persuade them to join the economic boycott of Libya ordered by President Reagan.

Nations of the European Communities, meeting in Brussels, agreed Monday to ban arms sales to to any nations “clearly implicated” in backing terrorism but did not name Libya. They also issued a statement condemning terrorism but decided against general economic sanctions.

Approves Routine Drills

Craxi also said Italy opposes any violent military action in the area but approves the routine naval maneuvers of all the navies that use the Mediterranean, including the 6th Fleet.

Concerning Libyan territorial claims to the Bay of Sidra, where it is feared that a clash could take place between Libyan forces and elements of the 6th Fleet, Craxi noted that many of the world’s navies, including the Soviet navy, have been active in the area off Libya and that “nobody seems to share Libya’s idea of territorial waters, even the U.S.S.R.”

Craxi reaffirmed his government’s belief that the renegade Palestinian terrorist leader Abu Nidal, for whom Italy has issued an international arrest warrant, is responsible for the Dec. 27 airport massacres in Rome and Vienna and the hijacking of an EgyptAir jet to Malta a month earlier.