Libya Ready to ‘Stop Shouting,’ Seeks Better U.S. Ties

Two and a half years after U.S. warplanes bombed Col. Moammar Kadafi’s headquarters here, Libya is pressing for a rapid improvement in relations with the United States.

“It’s time to start talking and stop shooting and shouting,” Ali Ahmed Houderi, a member of the People’s Committee for Foreign Liaison Bureau, the local equivalent of a Foreign Ministry undersecretary, said in an interview.

Kadafi himself has appeared on U.S. television twice in recent weeks to test the waters for an improvement in relations with Washington.

While the appearances were cloaked in his characteristic anti-imperialist rhetoric, diplomats here noted a significant change in his demeanor. The Libyan leader no longer set any conditions for improving relations. He did not call for reparations for the American bombing, not even an apology.

Libyan officials said the government has waited to make its overture as President Reagan is leaving office, assuming that as long as he is in power, no lessening of tension can take place.

Whether a Bush Administration will alter U.S. policy toward Libya remains to be seen, but Libyan officials seem confident that even if political relations remain clouded, George Bush will be more flexible on trade.

“After so many years of hostility, it’s not our choice to make the United States our enemy. It was their choice,” the American-educated Houderi said. “There’s room to sit down and talk, starting with economic issues. . . . As they say, business makes friends.”

Big Incentives

The incentives offered by the Libyans for such a change are potentially enormous: Libyan officials have been hinting broadly that the government is in the market for such major purchases as airliners and computer systems from the United States.

A recent deal with Japan to buy $800 million in consumer goods, including 90,000 cars, has whetted appetites in Western Europe and Asia for the Libyan market after two years of decline.

In addition, Western diplomats here said that exploitation agreements between Libya and a handful of American oil companies are due to expire next year, bringing added pressure on the Bush Administration to begin to relax Reagan’s tough sanctions.

In January, 1986, after allegations of Libyan involvement in international terrorism, Reagan froze all Libyan assets in the United States and ordered all commercial transactions between U.S. companies and Libya to halt by the following month. Five oil companies were given until June 30 to close their businesses.

“With all those billions of dollars at stake and the United States seeking all the exports it can find, it will be politically difficult to turn down American companies anxious to return to the Libyan market,” said one Western diplomat.

In fact, about 2,000 Americans are still working in Libya, mainly in the oil fields, in defiance of the U.S. ban. Houderi, the foreign office official, said his government now feels profound regret at the burning of the U.S. Embassy here in 1979 and is willing to consider the issue of damages in talks with the United States.

Sharp Turnabout

Such conciliatory statements represent a sharp turnabout for the Libyans from the aggressive posture adopted in the days after the American bombing raids.

On April 5, 1986, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin discotheque, killing a U.S. serviceman and a Turkish woman. Citing Libyan communications intercepted by U.S. intelligence, the Reagan Administration accused the Kadafi government of being behind the bombing.

Ten days after the disco attack, U.S. warplanes, some flying from bases in Britain and others from carriers in the Mediterranean, bombed installations in Tripoli and Benghazi. A total of 37 Libyans were said to have been killed.

Kafadi angrily vowed revenge, saying the “struggle will continue” against the United States.

Despite the changed tenor of Libya’s recent public statements, the Reagan Administration appears convinced that Kadafi has done little to alter his connection with terrorism.

L. Paul Bremer, the State Department’s leading expert on terrorism, said in June that Libyans are once again becoming more active in terrorism. He cited Libyan support for the Palestinian terrorist known as Abu Nidal and for the Japanese Red Army.

While Libyan officials assert that there are no longer any links with Abu Nidal, his group still maintains an office in Tripoli, Western officials say.

Denials From Libya

Libya has vociferously denied any link with international terrorism, arguing that while it sympathizes with such groups as Abu Nidal’s, it provides them no assistance and condemns attacks against innocent individuals.

Despite the recent allegations against Libya on the terrorism issue, some cracks are beginning to show in the concerted Western campaign to isolate the Tripoli government.

West Germany this month sent an ambassador to Tripoli for the first time since the West Berlin bombing. Italy hosted Kadafi’s second-in-command, Maj. Abdel-Salam Jalloud, on an official visit to Rome. He was the first high-ranking Libyan to visit Europe in more than two years

Lack of Conviction

West German officials have cited unspecified “positive developments” in Libya to explain the decision to return an ambassador to Tripoli. But the decision is believed to stem in part from a lack of conviction in Western Europe that the U.S. government has made a convincing case proving Libyan involvement in terrorism.

Another consideration is believed to be the financial attractions of a country with $6 billion in oil revenue and a pressing need for Western technology.

“As long as money is involved, there will never be any consensus on how to deal with Libya,” said one diplomat.