The following article by D'ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer is culled
from
clari.world.africa.western,clari.world.africa.northwestern,clari.news.confli
ct.misc,clari.world.top,clari.world,clari.world.mideast+africa,clari.news.co
nflict newsgroups
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BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) -- The soldiers Moammar
Gadhafi sent to this African backwater speak no French or tribal
languages -- nothing the locals can understand.
When the Libyan troops want to make a point, they ram the
safety off their AK-47s and let the "click" speak for them.
Most visibly in the Central African Republic, the Libyan
leader is putting guns and money behind his decision to set his
sights south of the Sahara.
Since deploying here in May 2001, Gadhafi's forces have
saved the unpopular Central African Republic president, Ange-Felix
Patasse, from coup attempts three times. Libya's prize: a monopoly
on mining the country's lodes of gold, diamonds and uranium --
although Patasse's government has denied it.
Covert Gadhafi roles are also alleged, and denied by Libya
and its partners, in the gravest wars now roiling Africa.
The embattled Ivory Coast government complains of outside
backing in a 3-month-old rebellion shattering what was once West
Africa's most stable and prosperous nation.
Leaders of Liberia and Burkina Faso, both Gadhafi proteges,
are accused of funneling arms, cash -- and in Liberia's case,
fighters -- to Ivory Coast rebels.
In Congo, where armed U.N. forces are trying to wind down a
four-year, six-nation war, the government says Libyan planes in
recent weeks have flown in arms, ammunition and tanks to a pet rebel
group there.
"Liars," Libyan African Affairs Minister Ali al-Treiki
responded over the weekend.
John Stremlau, director of the Center for Africa's
International Relations in Johannesburg, South Africa, says "Gadhafi
has become a quixotic figure -- he's decided Africa is going to be
his playground now that the Arab world has ignored him."
"But he's not so loony that he gives troops away for free.
He's not a charitable organization," Stremlau added.
The conflicts are only the latest in Gadhafi's long African
adventures. He started them in 1969, with his own officers' coup in
Libya, on the tip of North Africa.
Alleged sponsorship of 1980s Arab terrorism led to
international sanctions. But Gadhafi has found himself free to dally
for decades in his role as Africa's godfather, without too much
Western objection.
At times, he's fought African wars directly, as in Libya's
invasion of neighboring Chad.
More often, he's fought them indirectly, cosseting fledgling
rebels into full-grown fighters.
Wannabe-warlords Charles Taylor of Liberia, Blaise Compaore
of Burkina Faso and Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone all got their
starts in Gadhafi guerrilla-training camps of the 1980s.
Taylor, who went on to launch a seven-year civil war in
Liberia, remains in power to this day.
So does Compaore, who ordered his best friend killed to take
power. Sankoh, a doped babbler who waged a 10-year terror campaign
to win Sierra Leone and its diamond mines, lost out, and awaits an
expected war crimes trial from jail.
At the same time, a generation of African leaders who have
fallen out with the West could turn to Gadhafi for money, guns and
friendship.
The Libyan leader turned his back on Arab leaders in
October, after the Arab League refused to join African heads of
state in condemning U.N. sanctions on Libya for the 1988 Lockerbie
airline bombing.
Now, the 60-year-old leader is throwing his energy and oil
wealth into the African Union, which he prodded into being in July,
succeeding the old dictators' club of the Organization of African
Unity.
Gadhafi today has switched his Arab Bedouin robes for the
African gentleman's bou-bou.
The stream of African heads of state traveling to Tripoli
has surged in step with Gadhafi's African ambitions. Since
September, 12 African leaders have made the trip.
The Libyan-African friendships have paid off in promises of
military training for Mozambique; a $360 million economic lifeline
thrown to President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, which receives 70
percent of its oil from Libya.
Gadhafi's coveted returns: The respect denied him in the
Arab world, a shot at a statesman's role a la Nelson Mandela, and
shares of the wealth knocking around unstable, resource-rich Africa.
Gadhafi-watchers say they note a change in the aging,
African Union-era Gadhafi, who seems more focused now on propping up
African leaders than toppling them.
"If you look at Libya's foreign policy, Gadhafi has turned
180 degrees from being this troublemaker trying to overthrow
governments to someone who protects the status quo," said a senior
Western analyst. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear Libyan
authorities could limit his access in future.
The Central African Republic is pointed to as prime evidence
of that theory -- although the alleged Libyan roles in Ivory Coast
and Congo rebellions would seem to shoot it down.
In Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, Gadhafi's
mustachioed soldiers man anti-aircraft guns. Libyan forces listen to
Arab pop music in front of rocket-launchers on the main road leading
to the airport, where two Libyan fighter jets stand ready.
Gadhafi's interest in Central African Republic dates to
1976, when he explored uranium and other mining projects with
self-styled emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa.
The deals fell through, despite a one-day conversion to
Islam by Bokassa.
But there are indications Central African Republic's new
leader, Patasse, has revived the agreements. Earlier this year, his
mining minister was widely quoted as saying Libya was granted a
99-year monopoly on the country's massive mineral reserves,
including gold, diamonds and uranium.
The government subsequently denied the reports and banned
all mining ministry staff from speaking to reporters.
"I am not saying anything," was all Libya's most senior
official in Bangui, envoy Issa Moammar Baruni, would offer when
asked about his country's interest here.
Among locals, sentiments against Patasse's Libyan allies
have swelled since a November 2001 coup attempt.
Then, Libyans shelled northern neighborhoods of Bangui to
stop the rebel advance, said Gbossokotto Maka, editor of the Le
Citoyen newspaper.
Residents show lone flip-flops, pools of dried blood and
other debris -- evidence of loved ones killed by their Libyan allies,
they say.
"Ever since the bombardment, Central Africans have had a
grudge against them. We refuse to accept them," Maka said. "These
Libyans are mercenaries. Even if the population is in front of them,
they will fire. It means nothing to them."
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