TUNISIA: LIBYAN LEADER COLONEL MUAMMAR GADDAFI WALKS AWAY FROM ARAB SUMMIT DAMAGING THE UNITY OF THE ARAB LEAGUE

Record ID: 588571

  • Title: TUNISIA: LIBYAN LEADER COLONEL MUAMMAR GADDAFI WALKS AWAY FROM ARAB SUMMIT DAMAGING THE UNITY OF THE ARAB LEAGUE
  • Date: 23rd May 2004
  • Summary: (W5) TUNIS, TUNISIA (MAY 22, 2004) (TUNIS TV) 1. SLV PLANE ON RUNWAY; LIBYAN LEADER MUAMMAR GADDAFI STEPPING OUT OF PLANE 0.17 2. SLV GADDAFI BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS AND WALKING WITH OFFICIALS 0.32 (W5) TUNIS, TUNISIA (MAY 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. SLV EXTERIOR VENUE OF ARAB LEAGUE SUMMIT MEETING; GADDAFI AT OPENING SESSION OF THE SUMMIT (3 SHOTS) 0.43 (W6) TUNIS, TUNISIA (MAY 22, 2004 (REUTERS) 4. SLV EXTERIOR PALACE WHERE LIBYAN LEADER WAS STAYING 0.46 5. MV LIBYAN LEADER MUAMMAR GADDAFI ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE; SCU RIBBON BADGES IN LIEU OF MEDALS ON GADDAFI'S JACKET 1.02 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GADDAFI SAYING "I am sorry that Libya has to boycott the sessions Arab summit and the reason is that we do not agree with the agenda, there is an agenda submitted by the Arab people and there is an agenda made by the Arab governments. The agenda of the people is not there and the only agenda there is the one of the governments." 2.12 7. SLV LIBYAN LEADER SEATED 2.16 8. (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) GADDAFI SAYING "The summit is not taking any actions towards the two Arab presidents that are in prison. The Palestinian president and the Iraqi president. How can you ignore a serious and dangerous issue? This means that any member of the Arab summit cannot rely on any of his fellow members to save him." 3.20 9. SLV LIBYAN LEADER SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE 3.24 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL AMR MOUSSA SAYING "The Arab position is clear, we cannot accept what is going on in Gaza, we accept the basic principles of a settlement and I don't think that any Arab country or Arab leader would concede a settlement that is not balanced and just." 3.53 (W5) TUNIS, TUNISIA (MAY 22, 2004) (TUNIS TV) 11. SLV EXTERIOR OF SUMMIT VENUE, FLAGS 3.56 (W6) TUNIS, TUNISIA (MAY 22, 2004 (REUTERS) 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PALESTINIAN CHIEF NEGOTIATOR SAEB EREKAT SAYING "We have been urging in a political track I think the Arab leaders will come up with a statement reiterating the commitment to peace, to the commitment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, to solution to all problems through a meaningful peace process without creating or pre-judging the permit status negotiations. I hope that the Arab league summit will take an immediate emergency decision to assist the Palestinians in Rafah and in Gaza vis a vis the disaster engulfed upon them due to Israeli recent crimes committed the hundreds of homes that we demolished the infrastructure that was destroyed I hope today they will announce an emergency fund to handle the situation." 4.40 13. MV EREKAT SPEAKING WITH JOURNALISTS 4.44 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TUNIS, TUNISIA
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAMITAJTADUAUUZ0NC5JGPR9CB
  • Story Text: Libyan leader Gaddafi walked away from an Arab
    summit damaging the unity of the Arab League.

    Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi walked away from an
    Arab summit on Saturday (May 22), damaging the unity of the
    Arab League to protest against its agenda and failure to
    take up his proposal for a single Israeli-Palestinian
    state.

    Gaddafi did not immediately pull his country out of the
    22-member league, but said he hoped Libya's basic people's
    congresses, local councils which theoretically decide
    Libyan policy, would agree to withdrawal.

    "Unfortunately Libya is forced to boycott the summit
    because it does not agree to the agenda of the Arab
    governments. Libya wants the agenda of the Arab peoples,"
    Gaddafi told a rambling news conference after leaving the
    opening session.

    Libya has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the
    league and Gaddafi was a reluctant participant in the Tunis
    meeting, the last to arrive on Saturday morning after Arab
    leaders telephoned to press him to turn up.

    Gaddafi is famous for creating drama at international
    meetings and his walkout was the only glitch in a meeting
    carefully prepared to prevent unwelcome surprises.

    Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki said he hoped the
    withdrawal would not affect the preparations, which
    followed an abortive attempt to hold a summit in Tunis in
    March.

    Gaddafi left the conference hall as Arab League
    Secretary-General Amr Moussa, a controversial figure who
    has irritated conservative Gulf Arab leaders, defended the
    league from what he said were attempts to undermine it.

    Gaddafi's main concern appeared to be the Arab League's
    failure to adopt his "white paper" proposal for a single
    Israeli-Palestinian state, instead of the widely accepted
    alternative of Israeli and Palestinian states side by side.

    Moussa said that a settlement for the
    Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be balanced.

    "The Arab position is clear, we cannot accept what is
    going on in Gaza, we accept the basic principles of a
    settlement and I don't think that any Arab country or Arab
    leader would concede a settlement that is not balanced and
    just," Moussa said after the opening session.

    Thirteen heads of state and three prime ministers, as
    well as representatives from the six other Arab countries,
    took part in the opening session at a heavily guarded
    conference centre in the Tunisian capital.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who is trapped in
    the West Bank town of Ramallah by Israeli forces, spoke by
    video-link, condemning attacks on Israeli and Palestinian
    civilians and denouncing recent Israeli actions in Gaza.

    Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters:
    "I hope that the Arab league summit will take an immediate
    emergency decision to assist the Palestinians in Rafah and
    in Gaza."
    The Tunisian government unexpectedly called off the
    first attempt at a summit in March, arguing that some Arab
    governments were obstructing the reforms which the world
    expected.

    This time, Arab foreign ministers have tried to ensure
    a success by agreeing all the key documents in advance.

    But the two-day summit takes place at a time of deep
    pessimism in the Arab world about the ability of Arab
    leaders to help Palestinians under Israeli rule or end the
    occupation of Iraq by the United States and its allies.

    Diplomats say the Arab leaders will not call for the
    immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq or add any
    substance to the Middle East proposal they made in 2002,
    when they offered peace and normal relations in return for
    Israeli withdrawals to the borders that existed before the
    1967 war.

    Arab diplomats say the summit will endorse democracy and
    human rights, but activists say that without a timetable or
    a plan of action their promises could turn out to be empty.


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