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POLITICS: Libyan Leader Thrashes All and Sundry in U.N. Debut

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 23 2009 (IPS) - Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, in his maiden visit to the United Nations Wednesday, made a highly predictable speech – long on rhetoric and short on substance.

In a rambling statement before the General Assembly, the loquacious Qaddafi thrashed the big powers for their veto powers, rebuked the United States for its military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and reiterated his call for a permanent seat for the 53-member African Union (AU) in the Security Council.

At the AU election last February, the flamboyant Qaddafi was hailed as the “king of kings” – an honour he readily accepted, perhaps as his political birthright.

Long reputed for his eccentricities, he never repeated his earlier call for the creation of a United States of Africa or the “abolition” of Switzerland, because most of that country’s banks are “safe havens” for ill-gotten gains.

But he went onto catalogue a list of “injustices” committed, mostly by Western powers accused of “looting” the economic resources of countries they occupied as onetime colonial powers.

He asserted that Osama bin Laden, who is described as a master mind of the terrorist attacks on the United States, is “not a Taliban nor an Afghan”.

“So why invade Afghanistan?” asked Qaddafi, who recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of a bloodless military coup that brought him to power in Libya.

The terrorists responsible for the attacks were also not Iraqis. “So why invade Iraq?,” he asked.

“We should leave Iraq for the Iraqis and Afghanistan for Afghans”, he said, pointing out that civil wars be best left to combatants on the ground in native soil.

There was no “outside interference”, he said, during civil wars in the United States, Spain or China.

But the 90-minute speech – one of the most long winded statements in recent memory – did not find its way into the U.N. record books.

The two record holders for sheer verbosity are Krishna Menon of India, who addressed the Security Council for eight long hours on Kashmir in January 1957, and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who held forth for four hours and 29 minutes before the General Assembly in September 1960.

Qaddafi’s statement, sometimes incoherent and most times muddled and disjointed, covered events going back to decades: colonialism, the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, the U.S. invasion of Grenada and Panama, and the hanging of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

He also showed his disdain for his pet peeves: international sanctions (which his country was subject to) and sodomy.

“It was vintage Qaddafi,” said an Arab diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t think he missed anything of political significance that happened over the last four decades since he came to power.”

Waving the U.N. charter from the podium of the General Assembly, Qaddafi detailed a laundry list of “violations” that have taken place in recent years, implicitly arguing that the charter was not worth the paper on which it was printed.

In contrast to Qaddafi’s meandering speech, most other world leaders were focused on their address to the Assembly Wednesday, the opening day of the 64th sessions.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said the international community should adhere to the purposes and principles of the U.N. charter and seek peaceful solutions to regional hotspot issues and international disputes.

“There should be no willful use or threat of force. We should support the United Nations in continuing to play an important role in the field of international security.”

South African President Jacob Zuma stressed the “devastating impact” of climate change on Africa.

“It will severely undermine development and poverty eradication efforts,” he told the Assembly.

“Developed countries bear the greatest responsibility for climate change and impact. We must therefore strike a balance between adaptation and mitigation,” he added.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the world is witnessing growing nationalist moods, numerous manifestations of religious intolerance and animosity.

He said it will be extremely useful to created a high level group on inter-religious dialogue under the auspices of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

“This is especially relevant on the eve of 2010, declared by the United Nations, as the Year for Rapprochement of Cultures.”