AL-QADHDHAFI ON TIES WITH FRANCE, ARAB AFFAIRS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: February 11, 1976
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
0 ?
V. 12 Feb 76 N 0 R T H A F R I C A
LIBYA C /
AL-QADHDHAFI ON TIES WITH FRANCE, ARAB AFFAIRS W>
Paris LE MONDE in French 11 Feb 76 pp 1, 2 ID
[Eric Rouleau undated interview with President al-Qadhdhafi of Libya : "Prance Is
Behaving Like a Gun-Seller, Mr al-Qadhdhafi tells us"]
[Text] Tripoli--"We have the sad impression that France is behaving like a gun-seller."
Receiving us at armed forces command headquarters, Colonel al-Qadhdhafi began by
Ppelling out his complaints. Dressed in sports clothes--black polo-neck sweater and
jacket and red pants--he added calmly: "Is it not our duty as friends to speak
frankly, to say that France disappoints us?"
The Libyan president recalled that his was the first country in the Arab world to buy
French arms, going on to assert: "Other fraternal countries have since followed our
example, and we congratulate ourselves on this. But sordid self-interest must not
take precedence over principles. This was the criterion which guided General de Gaulle.
The former French head of state imposed an embargo on arms sales to the Near East,'
without worrying about the loss he was inflicting on French industries. fie made the
right of the peoples take precedence over profit. The present Paris government sells
aircraft to a certain country, which I will not name, and missiles to another which
are used to down them. This profiteering is doing France considerable damage in the
Arab world."
The Libyan president also considers that It' Giscard d'Estaing's France is "less
independent" of the united States than was General de Gaulle's. To illustrate his
argument he cited congratulatory telegrams which the French head of state sent to
Mr Kissinger and the signatories to the Sinai agreement last September. "Yet," he
added, "Paris knew that this agreement had been imposed by the Americans and that it
did not correspond to the wishes or aspirations of a good part of the Arab world.
France thus assumed responsibility for interfering in an inter-Arab dispute."
By contrast, France's vote at the end of the recent Security Council debate overjoyed
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi. "The draft resolution, as ambiguous as you like, did not
satisfy us," he continued. "But I had to congratulate Mr Giscard d'Estaing on his
vote in favor since by opposing the U.S. veto he demonstrated his independence of the
United States and its European allies."
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi's final complaint concerns bilateral relations. ,in summing up
our cooperation over the last 5 years," he stated, "we note that France has derived
greater benefits than our country. I would like to see relations balanced, primarily
in the political field. While visiting Paris Mr 'Abd as-Salam Jallud attempted to
lay the foundations for our cooperation for the next 5 years. We have given ourselves
this period of time to make a definitive judgement on France's conduct."
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi read attentively the interview which Mr Giscard d'Estaing gave
to NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR on the West Sahara (LE MONDE dated 1-2 February); everything in
the French head of state's arguments seemed "reasonable" to him, although he disagrees
on one point: opposition to the creation of "mini-states." [paragraph continues]
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
? . 1-k .
V. 12 Feb 76 I 2
"We are in favor of large entities," he explained. "I even put our army at Morocco's
disposal to liberate the Sahara from Spanish occupation, and I believed at that time
(June 1975) that the territory would be incorporated into the Sharifian Kingdom. Not
only did the Moroccan army refuse to participate in the liberation war waged by the
POLISARO--to whom I started supplying arms at the end of 1972--but it also unleashed
atrocious repression against the Saharans following the Madrid agreement."
The Libyan president, who thus spelled out for the first time his attitude toward this
conflict, went on: "The essential aspect of the problem at hand is not to determine
whether an independent Saharan state is desirable or not. We are guided by two priority
concerns--to put an end to the genocide that is taking place and to give a voice
to the POLISARIO and the Saharans, who have not been consulted and who, I have learned
somewhat belatedly, do not favor reattachment to Morocco."
[Question] Do you have any intention of offering mediation?
[Answer] No, because I believe that the confrontation has reached the point of no-return.
[Question] Do you believe that there is a risk of the conflict taking the form of
an Algerian-Moroccan war?
[Answer] Yes, this eventuality cannot be ruled out.
[Question] Are you then going to side overtly with Algeria?
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi burst out laughing and replied:
"Don't put words into my mouth.. We are on the side of right. As the holy Koran instructs
us, we will support the -victims and help the agressors to get back on the right road.
Don't forget that both are our brothers."
Paying tribute to Algeria's "new political line" favorable to Arab unity, the Libyan
president noted that studies and negotiations are underway with a view to a merger between
the two countries. But, in contrast to his previous attitude, he. no longer makes any
allusion to the timescale of such an operation. "We would consider ourselves happy
if the present generation proved capable of preparing the reunification of the Arab
world for the next generation."
"Our Relations With Egypt Are Normal"
Contrary to habit, Colonel al-Qadhdhafi refrained from launching into diatribes against
other Arab countries. "The regimes no longer interest me. I only address myself to
the Arab masses," he said drily. "Relations between Tripoli and Cairo are normal."
"Egypt," he added maliciously, "is too occupied with its internal problems, inflation,
and the famine raging there; it is also too absorged with its dealings [demelees]
with other Arab countries to be attacking Libya."
[Question] That didn't stop them accusing you of masterminding the Vienna incident
involving the OPEC ministers....
[Answer] Our detractors made fools of themselves. How could we have organized an
incident which cost the life of a high-ranking Libyan official? I repeat, we are
against any form of terrorism, and if Israeli porpaganda attempts to implicate us in
such affairs it is solely to discredit the aid we give to the Palestinian resistance.
(answer ends]
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
V. 12 Feb 76 I 3 46
Throughout the interview our interlocutor refrained from using the name of the PLO.
What would his attitude be if the central fedayeen body agreed to subscribe to a se,t.tln-
ment advocating the creation of a Palestinian state in West-Bank Jordan and Gaza?
"The PLO does not have a monopoly on the resistance," he answered. "The struggle is
being waged by diverse groups with differing means and objectives, and no single one
of them represents the Palestinian people as a mole."
Suddenly bitter, Colonel al-Qadhdhafi exclaimed: "Why,are you asking me such questions?
We are from the Maghreb, aren't we? We have long been uninvolved in the Near East.a
[Question] That is not the view of numerous Lebanese, who suspect you of having given
generous aid to one of the parties involved in the conflict....
[Answer] This accusation is unjust. It is aimed at mobilizing opinion against Libya.
It is stupid because we"lack the means to ship arms to Lebanon.
(Question] It is a question of money, not arms...
(Answer] Those who accuse us are thereby attempting to distract attention from the
flood of dollars that they are receiving from the United States and from the intrigues
of the Americans and their local agents to liquidate the Palestinian resistance and
patriotic forces in Lebanon.
(Question) How is it that your sympathies are with these "patriotic forces" when
they include in their ranks Marxists and communists, to whom you have always been
very hostile?
(Answer] My judgement is not based on ideological criteria in such cases. All those
who support the Palestinian resistance, without distinction, are deserving of our
friendship. The same is true in Oman, where we are on the side of the I&iofar insurgents-.-
whether or not they are Marxists--who are resisting foreign aggression (from Iran).
I defend first and foremost the Arab nation, which is fighting for its independence and
dignity.
"The Compromise in Lebanon Has Solved Nothing"
(Question] Is it your view, as certain people believe, that Syria has imposed tutelage
on Lebanon?
[Answer] It is malicious to even support such a thesis.
[Question] Do you believe that the cease-fire in Lebanon will last?
(Answer] No, because the compromise that has been reached has solved nothing. To
restore definitive civil peace there would be a need for radical solutions and for the
destruction of the tribal and confessional system, which lies at the root of Lebanon's
troubles; an improved distribution of parliamentary seats between Christians and Moslems
is nothing but a fraud. Religion should be excluded from state affairs.
(Question] You therefore advocate a secular state, whereas you never stop proclaiming
that Islam must be the source of all legislation?
[Answer] In Lebanon, the political system could and should be based on the teachings
of the monotheist religions, with each group maintaining its own personal status.
That is not at variance with the abolition of confessionalism in state institutions.
[answer ends]
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7
0 40
V. 12Feb76 I4
Colonel al-Qadhdhafi attacked "frantics" on both sides and expressed the view that
the absence of ulemas from Egypt and Saudi Arabia from the recent Moslem-Christian
colloquium in'Tripoli was due primarily to the "intolerance" of certain Moslem circles.
In this connection he expressed the hope that the dialog that has begun will soon extend
to "non-Zionist Jews." But here to he gave no hints.
"There is a big debit balance to be put right," he stated. "I know that it will take
one or two generations to harmonize and coordinate the actions of all believers in the
interests of the whole of mankind."
In the immediate future he is going to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican,
to whom he will return a cathedral confiscated in Benghazi (used as the headquarters
of the Arab Socialist Union), which was sacked during a recent disturbance in the city.
The Benghazi rising and the plot discovered last August are, according to the Libyan
president, "natural phenomena" along the path of the building of a "democratic and
socialist state."
The fervor with which he speaks in his "Green Book"--chapter one of which, devoted to
democracy, has just been published--is equal to his conviction that he has discovered
the path to the emancipation of the whole of mankind.
Tripoli Domestic Service in Arabic 1730 GMT 11 Feb 76 JN
[Unattributed commentary: "Prime Minister Jallud's visit to France is an affirmation
of the Arab revolution's course vis-a-vis the world"]
(Excerpts) Arab relations with the states of the world depend on the extent of the
support of these states for Arab national issues in particular and world liberation
and humanitarian issues in general. The establishment of friendship and cooperation
between the two sides cannot be in the interests of one part at the expense of the other.
(?Prodeeding from this premise, the l September revolution has proclaimed since its
birth that Libya's political relations with the world depend mainly on the world's
position regarding the primary Arab issue and other issues of the Arab nation. The
establishment of bilateral relations must be based on the principle of equality between
the two sides.
RCC member and Prime Minister Maj 'Abd as-Salam Ahmad Jallud's visit to France comes
within the framework of Libya's revolutionary moves in support of the issues of the
Arab nation, world liberation issues, and the interests of humanity within the Third
World. Following a meeting (?yesterday) with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing,
[name indistinct] said that the meeting had dealt with a discussion of Arab-French
relations, the Saguia El Hamra and Rio de Oro Issue, the Somali coast issue, the Mayotte
Island issue, and the dialog between developing states and (?industrial) states to
find an economic system which would reflect the new economic realities and enable the
Third World states to play a role in the world economy.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/03: CIA-RDP05-01559R000400370035-7