In March, Gadaffi announced plans for single a African identity and a union under which the boundaries between states would be scrapped, national armies merged and a single passport introduced. Amazingly, this vision seems to have been largely accepted by African leaders. It has also been decided that, besides the parliament, there will be a pan-African court of justice, a central bank and a common currency. Clearly with the aim of flattering Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, Gadaffi has proposed that the first AU summit should be held in Pretoria next year and should elect a president - presumably Mbeki. ***
11-07-01 - It looks like Gadaafi already has his foot in the door*** Harare: Zimbabwe- Libya's President Muammar Gadaafi has bought up 20 houses in Zimbabwe which seem likely to be used as safe-houses for death squads supplied by the Libyan dictator as part of his plan to assist the man he sees as his embattled comrade in arms, President Robert Mugabe. In addition Gadaafi has bought Gracelands, the gigantic Harare mansion belonging to Grace Mugabe, the President's young wife. The house is now to become the Libyan Embassy, making it by far the biggest embassy building in Zimbabwe, dwarfing the British and American missions.
In effect Gadaafi seems to be making a bid to save Mugabe which, if successful, would create a virtual Libyan client state at the far end of Africa. Already there is evidence of direct Libyan involvement in the violence which racked Zimbabwean farms in the last ten days. Relations between Mugabe and Gadaafi have been warm for some time but it is only in the last year, as Zimbabwe's shortage of foreign exchange has caused repeated fuel cut-offs that Mugabe has several times flown to Tripoli to plead with Gadaafi for deliveries on credit.
Gadaafi, who has despaired of his efforts to play a leadership role in the Arab world, has begun to use his financial muscle to make interventions right across black Africa where he has made Zimbabwe a special case, advancing Mugabe a loan of $100 million.
……. More sinister is the fact that Gadaafi insisted on calling into conclave Harare's small community of Indian Muslims, telling them that they must assist Mugabe's plans by declaring a jihad (holy war) to throw the whites out. If they did not do this, he told the Muslim elders, he would bring in strong arm men from the Pagad movement in Cape Town with which he had close links. There has long been speculation that Gadaafi might have links to Pagad, an extremist Muslim vigilante movement often linked to bombings and murders in the Cape, including bomb attacks on US-linked enterprises such as the Planet Hollywood restaurant on the Cape waterfront, but this is the first open confirmation of the fact.
The bulk of Harare's Muslim community, consisting largely of merchants and professionals, was aghast at this demand and has failed to declare a jihad ,a failure which they believe lies behind the sudden spate of attacks on Muslim shops by Zanu-PF youths in the last ten days. For heaven's sake, said one Muslim merchant, we all do business with whites all the time. We rely on them and most of us are appalled by what Mugabe's doing. It's obvious that those youths who were sent to attack white and Muslim shops were meant to be punishing us for not complying. ***
April 2002 - -- Libya threatens to cut fuel supplies over debt*** Mugabe has been increasingly isolated by the world in the wake of his controversial victory in last month's presidential election amid reports that Zimbabwe is virtually mortgaged to Libya in exchange for oil and money. The Libyans are said to have been allocated farms by the government. No official comment could be obtained from the Libyan ambassador, Mahmoud Azabi, who was said by his office to be out of the country. Reports in the State-controlled Herald yesterday said Libya was now providing 70 percent of Zimbabwe fuel imports. A 12-month US$330 million (Z$18,15 billion) oil deal signed by Mugabe and Gaddafi last year for Libya to supply Zimbabwe with oil expires in two months' time and Mugabe was reportedly anxious to secure an extension to avert another crisis in the tense period after the presidential poll.
"The bottom line is that Libya has been unable to get the products promised by Mugabe when the deal was sealed," another source said. "That is why Mugabe had to go and plead with Gaddafi." The deal, under which Gaddafi supplied oil in exchange for land, agricultural produce and stakes in key enterprises in the tourism sector, helped Mugabe reduce the magnitude of the crippling fuel crisis which started in October 1999. With the exception of Gaddafi, the rest of the world's suppliers had stopped oil supplies to Zimbabwe due to non-payment. ***
May 2002 - Libya pulls Zimbabwe's fuel plug***Libyan demands that the Mugabe regime hand over valuable farms as part of the deal have yet to be met, prompting fears from fuel-hungry consumers that the north African country will soon grow impatient with Zimbabwe. It is understood that groups of Libyan businessmen have been to Zimbabwe and visited vast commercial farms around the country. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi also toured some big commercial farms and identified some for his country's expropriation last year.
However, the mechanics of delivering this land to the Libyans seem to have been delayed, prompting cries of impatience from the Libyans. Zimbabwe is now so heavily reliant on the Libyans that the country will cease to function if Gaddafi puts brakes on oil supplies. Mugabe has paid a dozen visits to Libya in the past year to maintain Gaddafi's patronage. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe has virtually become a "colony of Libya". Libya's cut supplies have only been resumed after interventions at the highest level.***
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Now look at who's the latest beneficiary of Gaadafi's largess ***Source: Central Bank of Venezuela -Caracas proposed an emergency fiscal adjustment package May 30 that was designed to cut government spending and raise revenues. So far, this package has been a dismal failure. Proposed tax hikes are languishing, and multilateral agencies have refused to lend, forcing Chavez to seek a $5 billion bridge loan from Libya, sources say. Attempts to refinance Venezuela's debt have been equally unsuccessful, primarily because domestic and foreign investors are wary of the risk. Caracas was able to raise only around $4 million, or 10 percent of its goal, in a late-June auction of two-month treasury bills.***
Colonel Gaddafi wants the Durban meeting downgraded to an annual summit of OAU leaders pending the launch of the AU in Libya at a later stage. But diplomats attending an OAU-Civil Society summit here say his ambitions will sabotage any programmes intended to help Africa's recovery. "Mbeki knows that any move to put the AU under Gaddafi will immediately kill both the AU and Nepad because no Western country will pour aid into a programme or institution run by Gaddafi," said one diplomat.***
August 9, 2002 - Group Faults Libya's Nomination to Head U.N. Commission on Human Rights***UNITED NATIONS, Aug 8 (IPS) - A leading human rights organization has appealed to African nations to reverse their decision to nominate Libya as the next chairman of the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. "Countries with dreadful rights records should never be in charge of chairing the Commission on Human Rights," Rory Mungoven, global advocacy director for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thursday.
"Libya's long record of human rights abuses clearly does not merit such a reward," he added. But a spokesman for the Libyan Mission to the United Nations refuted the charges made by HRW. "They are entitled to their opinion," he told IPS. "Ours is an open society. We have nothing to hide and we are not in violation of human rights," he added. Moreover, he said, Libya's nomination had been endorsed at the highest levels of government - at a summit meeting of more than 50 African leaders in Durban, South Africa last month.
The original decision to nominate Libya was taken by the U.N.'s African regional group, comprising all 54 African members. It was reaffirmed by heads of state attending the recently concluded inaugural summit of the new African Union (AU), the successor to the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity (OAU). ***