Gadaffi greeted by protesters in Paris
Libyan leader Col Muammar Gadaffi raised his fist triumphantly in the air upon arrival at the French presidential palace today for an official visit meant to confer new respect on the one-time international outcast.
However, protests also took place against Gadaffi even before his arrival.
A raft of multi-billion pound contracts was expected to be signed at a ceremony later today in the presence of Gadaffi and President Nicolas Sarkozy – the first Western leader to extend an invitation to the Libyan leader since his falling out with the West in the 1980s.
The flamboyant “guide of the Libyan revolution” long known as the champion of armed struggle and a sponsor of state terrorism seeks a fresh start on the world stage after doing away with weapons of mass destruction and making amends for terror attacks.
Dressed in a beige Bedouin-style robe, Gadaffi swept into the courtyard of the presidential Elysee palace where he was greeted by Sarkozy. They went inside for a first set of talks.
However, politicians, philosophers and others castigated Gadaffi even before his plane touched down on International Human Rights Day. He was to visit Spain after his six-day stay in France.
Police detained a group of nearly 30 protesters at Paris’ human rights plaza, according to Associated Press Television News.
Human Rights Minister Rama Yade expressed disgust with the “scandalously strong” symbolism of the chosen date.
“It would be indecent, in any case, that this visit be summed up with the signing of contracts,” she said in an interview published today in the daily Le Parisien. For France to avoid “the kiss of death,” it must ensure respect for human rights in Libya, she said.
“Col Gadaffi must understand that our country is not a doormat.”
Sarkozy wants to keep France in the running for hefty contracts in oil-rich Libya but also to send a signal to countries like Iran, involved in a stand-off over its disputed nuclear program, that benefits await those who abide by international rules.
A deal for a civilian nuclear reactor for Libya is expected. It would be part of a “pact of trust” laid out last week in Algeria by Sarkozy.
“It is a risk, but we are keeping our eyes open,” Kouchner wrote of the visit in Monday’s edition of the daily La Croix.
A £2.2bn (€3bn) deal to buy a fleet of Airbus passenger jets and possible defense contracts was on the agenda, Gadaffi’s son, Seif el-Islam Gadaffi, said in an interview on Friday with the daily Le Figaro.
But most symbolic for Libya’s new status is France’s plan to sell a civilian nuclear reactor, expected to be used in part to desalinise water.
Last week, France signed a nuclear cooperation accord with Algeria, Libya’s neighbour in North Africa. There, Sarkozy said sharing civilian nuclear technology with Muslim nations “will be one of the foundations of a pact of trust” the West must conclude with Muslim nations.
Gadaffi’s official visit follows his decision in the summer to free six Bulgarian medics who had spent eight years in Libyan jails on grounds that they had infected more than 400 children with HIV. The move was the final obstacle to normalising ties with the pariah state.
The six were released after mediation by the EU and Cecilia Sarkozy, the former wife of Sarkozy, who negotiated with Gadaffi. Sarkozy then travelled to Libya. The Sarkozys have since divorced.
Libya started to move back into the international fold – and undo UN sanctions - with its 2003 decision to dismantle its clandestine nuclear arms programme. The same year it paid £1.35bn (€1.8bn) to families of the victims of the 1998 Pan Am bombing, then agreed to pay £85m (118.2m) in compensation to the families of the 170 victims of the 1989 bombing of a French UTA passenger jet.
