TRIPOLI, 25 October — Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s government has decided to withdraw from the Arab League, the government news agency announced yesterday. The report, citing a statement by the Ministry of African Affairs, gave no reason for the decision.
However, Libyan officials cited the Arab League’s "inefficiency" in dealing with the crises over Iraq and the Palestinians.
In a statement by the official Libyan news agency, the ministry said an official notification has been sent to the League’s headquarters in Cairo. In Cairo, the League’s spokesman, Hisham Youssef, confirmed the 22-nation organization had received the official notice from the Libyans, and acknowledged that Libya had raised the possibility of a withdrawal with Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
"This is not a new idea," Youssef said. "It has been raised before but Qaddafi has told the secretary-general that the idea was put on hold." He said Moussa was returning to Cairo from a visit to Spain and had contacted senior Libyan officials, details of which were not released. An Arab League official said Moussa would travel to Tripoli within days. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, meanwhile, told reporters in Cairo that, in accordance with the league’s charter, Libya’s withdrawal becomes effective after one year and that he was certain that the North African nation would continue to contribute to joint Arab actions. He didn’t elaborate.
In Tripoli, Libyan officials said Qaddafi was unhappy with the League’s inability to deal with current Arab issues, mainly the standoff between Iraq and the United States and increasing violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Earlier this month, 50,000 people marched in Tripoli urging Libya to withdraw from the Arab League. They accused the Arab League of being unable to help Iraqis and Palestinians. Qaddafi has increasingly turned his attention toward Africa in recent years after African countries decided to break the UN air embargo imposed on Libya in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people.
