CAIRO, 5 March 2003 — Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said yesterday that he opposed recalling his country’s ambassador from Saudi Arabia, insisting he had not been consulted about the decision.
Qaddafi said he had been surprised to see a television report of Monday’s recall, which followed a live TV spat between him and Crown Prince Abullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, at last weekend’s Arab summit.
“This matter is the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry,” said the Libyan leader, three days after the row which was broadcast live around the Arab world from the conference venue in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The maverick colonel said a fit of anger could not so easily sever the links of brotherhood and friendship between the two countries.
“I believe relations don’t need to be cut even in the event of war,” he said.
A Libyan official announced on Monday that the General People’s Congress (Parliament) had decided to recall the ambassador from Riyadh for consultations.
The summit spat started when Qaddafi charged in a speech to fellow Arab leaders that Riyadh was ready to “strike an alliance with the devil” to shield itself from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Crown Prince Abdullah shot back at Qaddafi calling him a “liar” and “a slave of colonialism”.
Relations between the two countries have been strained several times since Qaddafi came to power in 1969, but have improved since 1999 when Saudi Arabia joined South Africa in brokering a suspension of United Nations sanctions imposed over the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
