Kadafi Dismisses as Lie Report of Libya Easing Israel Stance

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi had a cutting response to a report that Libya had invited a senior Israeli politician to pay a visit to his North African country: It was nothing more than an April Fools’ joke.

Kadafi, resplendent in flowing robes and designer sunglasses, stole the show at this week’s European-African summit. But while his tirades against the West made good theater, they dimmed the effect of a series of well-publicized tete-a-tetes with European leaders that were meant to accelerate his coming-out from international isolation.

Perhaps his most telling gesture was not when he condemned the Spaniards for bullfighting or lashed out at Europe and the United States for treating Africans “like slaves,” but when he dismissed as ridiculous any talk of an early crack in Libya’s freeze on relations with Israel.

“It is a mere April Fools’ lie,” Kadafi told a reporter for the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al Awsat on Tuesday when asked about a reported invitation proffered by Libya to the secretary-general of Israel’s ruling Labor Party.

In the end, Kadafi’s performance at the gathering of 67 African and European countries seemed likely to lessen the enthusiasm for normalizing relations with the erratic leader, albeit one whose country is awash in oil and gas.

The Libyan leader appeared to be offering olive branches on one hand and abuse on the other.

At one point, Kadafi complained that the West regards Africa only as a “pingpong ball [that is] to be hit once by Europe, and then by the United States.”

European Commission President Romano Prodi, who has taken the lead among Europeans in trying to establish a dialogue with Kadafi, said he was disappointed by the Libyan leader’s remarks.

Nevertheless, Kadafi appeared to be one of the most sought-after partners for bilateral meetings during the summit conference, an unprecedented meeting Monday and Tuesday of the 15 countries of the European Union with the 52 countries of the Organization of African Unity.

Kadafi--who lodged himself, desert-style, in a tent on the grounds of a luxury hotel here--met at the conference with more than a dozen foreign leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Over the last year, Kadafi has been working to ease the international isolation imposed on Libya by the U.N. Security Council in connection with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, mostly Americans.

After having long refused extradition requests, a year ago Kadafi delivered up for trial two Libyan suspects under condition that they be tried in the Netherlands under Scottish law, and that they not be given later to Britain or the United States.

The trial is scheduled to begin next month, but by handing over the suspects, Kadafi won a suspension of an international air travel embargo on Libya. Since then, he has announced intentions to normalize relations with Europe and the U.S.

But Kadafi’s signals have been mixed, as in the reported invitation to the Israeli politician. Raanan Cohen, the Israeli party official, had reportedly received the oral invitation from the head of the Libyan People’s Assembly delegation during a conference in Marseilles, France. But Kadafi subsequently denied that the invitation was extended, and the Libyan Foreign Ministry said the idea that Libya would make such a gesture to Israel was “completely false.”

Coincidentally, the appearance by Kadafi in Egypt came as U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen also was visiting Egypt as part of a Middle East tour. Cohen indicated that there is to be no immediate softening in Washington’s stance toward Kadafi.

“Our policy toward Libya cannot change until such time as there’s a renouncing of terrorism [and of] support for terrorism,” he said.